J W Bennett

jrhd, The leaves are cut from 14 gauge steel and shaped in the swage block, The candle cups are made from 3/4" black pipe necked down to a 1/4" x 1/2" long stem to rivet the leaves together. The finger ring is made from 1/8" x 1/2" flat stock and riveted to the leaves with a brass rivet (piece of brazing rod piened over on both ends). John

AAAAAAGGGGHHHHH, Great job on the tool, the visual is... well... as the others have stated painful. John

Been busy in the shop and didn't get the bandsaw guide pics up that I promised. Very simple 2 pieces of 3/8" x 1" flat stock and 4 c-clamp vise grips. Made a pusher stick out of the same 3/8" square stock the crosses are made of to keep my fingers out of the blade too. John

I read about this in the summer issue Vol 17 #3 of the hammer's Blow and thought they would make nice Christmas gifts. Finished this one this evening. I have 3 more done except the finger ring. I hope to finish them tomorrow evening. John

Bentiron, Keyfobs are $6 and Necklaces with a leather strip are $8. They sell well, I put 2 coats of clear enamel on them to make them shine. John

Thats cool, What gauge metal did you use? Good work John

Jason, Nice work, I like the feather best I think. thanks for sharing john

Stan, Nice cross I remember you showing that to me when I was at your place. Thanks for the link also. Oak Hill Forge, Bandsaw withe guides clamped on both sides of the blade to keep it centered and a push stick to keep the fingers outta the blade. I will show post some pictures of the setup this evening. John

I have made several in the past. I think 2" from a small single axle trailer is what I used. When I get to the shop I will measure. Its just wide enough to bend the sides over at the bottom to keep it from slipping of the leg. John

The crosses start out as 3-1/2" of 3/8" square. the finished cross is 3-3/4" tall and 3" wide the celtics are a little bigger. good size for a key fob or a necklace either one. It takes longer to mark and cut them than it does to forge them. The trick to forging is to keep everything straight as you go. Reidster, How did you do the texture on yours? I like that. Also the starting dim and finished dimensions if you don't mind sharing. John

Beautiful work, the alternating twists and wraps are really nice. John

TLMG, Once you unfold the cross you take another heat and drive a drift thru the center opening. Actualy I use 2 drifts, one smaller and then 1 large and drift it out in 2 heats. John

Starting making crosses for a show next week making 70, got 44 done. 42 of these are regular crosses and 2 are Celtic crosses. The remainder will also be Celtic crosses when they are done. Thought I'd share. John

Nice work, you must be a patient man John

DKunkler, City Coal yard in Brazil Indiana. about 20 minutes from the shop. West Virginia coal. John

CurlyGeorge, It's just the reflection from the lights. They're just wire brushed and clear coated. Made from 1/2" round stock. Thanks for the feedback, John

A good customer of mine ordered a curtain rod and a set of pullbacks. She left the design up to me. I finished the pullbacks this afternoon and will start the curtain rod later on this evening. I took the finished pullbacks over for her to see and to make sure they are to her liking. She is very happy with them. Thought I would share some pictures. John

I agree let's see it and you hammer loops too! After all a picture is worth a thousand words. John

Got up this morning with several goals in mind. Haircut, 1/2 ton of coal, a stop at the steel supplier and shop time this afternoon. At the barber shop at 8,Barber shop doesn't open till 10am. Maybe next week.... Head to city coal yard, gotta call ahead to make sure he'll be there. No loader so I shovel 1/2 a ton on to the truck with a scoop shovel. Been trying to lose weight anyway. 1/2 a ton of coal $163.00. Get home shovel the coal into the coal bin and 4 - 30 gal. trash cans. At least it's alot cheaper by the pickup load. Wind is blowing a little so the leaves are blowing into the shop and catching under everything. So I rake the leaves outside both shop doors and burn them. At least it's not snow, Go take lunch and run to the steel supplier. 100' of 3/8" HRRS - $30.10 300' of 1/4" HRRS - $41.50 100' of 1/2" HRRS - $43.00 8" drop of 2-1/8" 4140 round stock $16.00 yes that is 8" 10" drop of 1018 - $6.15 Guess I better quit goofing off and get some work done. John

The Block is a bolt on. The bolts holding the block to the hammer were still tight. It's welded back together and I finished the hooks with no problem. I called Big Blu and they said to call back first thing Monday and they would get one out to me. I can't complain this is the first issue I've had with it. Just wanted to know if anyone else had ever welded one up before. We'll see how it does tomorrow. John

I have an order for a coat rack with 8 dimple hooks and thought I would make some extras while I was at it. I got 24 started with the dimples drove in the top and had three tapered,and done and started on the next 3 when the top die came loose on my Big Blue. I tightened it back up and started up again and I hadn't finished the next heat on the 3 pieces when it came loose again. I got to checking and the top die block had cracked 3/4 of the way across. Not a good situation. Soonest I can get one on the way is Monday. I put it in the big vise and squeezed it back together and held it there. put a big c-clamp top to bottom and lined it up in that direction also. Tacked it on the end then V ground it down as far as I could go with out it breaking in 2 and then welded it up. It is cooling now and then I will try to grind it from inside and weld it solid again. Don't know if it will hold but it's worth a try. Anyone got any experience with this sort of repair. John

Kevan, I am glad to hear you and your wife enjoyed the poem. There's lot's of good writing in the story section of this site by people like us. I recommend everyone take a little time an read some of the stories there. John

There are plenty of plans and explanations of both gas and coal forges on this site and others. I have built and use both types in my shop. I use gas for production work and coal for forge welding and single projects. I am looking at building another gasser for damascus this winter. I believe you would be well served to build both. Coal is probably the quickest by far to throw together but consider a gasser project for winter also. John

I found this one yesterday on Mark Aspery's site http://www.markaspery.net/Articles_files/Bears%20head%20article%20copy.pdf It's a bear head I want to try. John

I try to get a handle on the shop and put things away that didn't get put up the night before. That way I'm not hunting for tools and stuff right of the bat. I wrote a poem of sorts(it doesn't rhyme) awhile back because one of my favorite things to do is sit in my shop and hangout. Here's the link if you haven't read it. I Forge Iron - S0042 I like to sit in my shop John