dognose

I studied the one in my kitchen drawer last night over dinner, it does appear to be a tear drop shaped stock bent the hard way around a mandrel. I'll have to try it though to be sure. I'm wondering why all the xtra effort, was it a style thing, or does the worm have less friction going into the cork? It may also have less volume than solid round worm which would displace the cork less making it easier to remove????

I was looking at the "members projects" forum and found a link to a page showing a collection of corkscrews. From what I could see, there are basically 2 different types of worms that were used. The first being made from standard round stock, pointed and wrapped around a mandrel. The second is throwing me for a loop, I can't seem to figure out what the stock looked like before it was wrapped in a spiral. Here's a link to what I'm referring to. Were they cast, or am I just missing something that is fairly obvious? http://corkscrewsonline.com/corkscrew_guide_bearing_assisted_corkscrews.html

While on the subject of crosses, check out this. http://www.google.com/search?q=hill+of+crosses&client=safari&rls=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=qWQNU662FdPdoATiuYGACw&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1635&bih=858 Lithuania takes there crosses seriously. Kinda strange seeing it was one of the last european countries to be converted to Catholicism. This is actually a very moving place, I think Pope John Paul even held mass there.

Thank you all. Here's a link to a page showing many more designs. http://www.google.lt/search?q=geležiniai+kryžiai&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=tmMNU_2GJ8b9oASGm4KIDg&ved=0CC4QsAQ&biw=1635&bih=858

I like how the stand echos the shape of the drum. Simple but elegant lines. Nice job. Did you have any issues forging the arc where the metal is thinner at the mortises?

On the backside, I lightly countersunk the rivet holes, then chiseled a couple notches into them so that when I formed the rivet head, the hot metal would embed itself into the notch holding the pieces in place.

My plan is to install it in the yard of the Lithuanian church my mom was involved with. She passed away from cancer a couple years ago and I wanted to gift it to them as a memorial in her behalf. I still need to find a decent sized pine tree that I can sink into the ground and mount it to.

This cross took me forever to make, but I finally finished it. I'm not a particularly religious guy, but being of Lithuanian decent, I have always been fascinated with iron crosses. These were placed at entrances to villages, on church steeples and in cemeteries. Their designs ranged from fairly simple, to super ornate. I chose one somewhere in the middle to try and reproduce. The most difficult part I encountered was how to hot slit the three smaller cross arms and then forge the two "legs" back to square and appearing uniform. After much trial and error, I think I finally got pretty close. The first image is the original black and white photo that I worked from. The rest of the images are of the cross I made. I tried to keep in the spirit of the original by using only "old fashioned" methods of joinery. The finished piece measures about 39" x 54".

As I said in the original post, the stock is rectangular, 5/16 x 1 1/2". There is no change in the dimension of the stock throughout the entire length of the finished piece. you may be having a hard time envisioning the twist because it is only a 1/4 twist over the entire radius. As you can see in the pic, on the left, the bar starts outs bending the easy way then gradually transitions to bending the hard way by the time it reaches the end. Not sure if I could do any better describing it? At no point is there a square or round in the entire piece.

Thanks for all the suggestions to this point. I just made a crude clay model in a much smaller scale. Hope the pics help give a better visual for what I'm attempting to do.

Now we're getting somewhere!!!! That second image is close to what I'm describing, although it appears to be on a much smaller scale. Where the scroll leaves the parent stock is correct, but it fails to transition all the way to flat (or 90 degrees off the starting point) by the time it gets to the end. Also, mine would have no taper at the end. I'll try and make a model to post but even cardboard doesn't want to bend the hard way. I like the scroll in the first image as well. Hard to see what's happening at the transition from the pic, is it a simple 90 degree twist, or is there forging involved?

Jim, so if I'm understanding you correctly, I should first find a way to make a transitioning 90 degree twist on a 56" bar while straight, then form it around a non twisting ring heating it in small sections as I work my way around?

The drawing is 2 dimensional. Perhaps I should have drawn it in perspective, where it actually shows the twist. Not an easy drawing to do either. I thought of trying to make one out of clay, But it doesn't hold up when stretched to such lengths. I may have to issue a challenge, where I put up some cash to the first person that can forge one. One tip someone gave me is to use cold rolled steel, as it is a consistent alloy throughout the material and would not have any surprise soft or hard spots one could encounter in hot rolled.

Yahoo2, I should've mentioned the piece is 18" in diameter, that would be a tall order getting an 18" pipe to work around. Even my cone mandrel doesn't get much past 12". Billo0, If I had remembered to mention the diameter of the ring, you may have realized that that would require heating a 56" long bar evenly. I could see trying to heat 24" evenly, but not 56.

Unclear as to what you mean by the "twist point"? Theoretically, the twist begins an 1/8" from either end and changes incrementally along the circumference. Trying to envision your method but for my brain it's lacking too much info. Thanks for trying though.

Let me start out by saying that this is not a long taper forged into a ring. What I'm attempting to do is forge a ring made from stock that is the same dimension throughout the length of the piece. For illustration's sake, let's call it 5/16" x 1 1/2". This drawing is a floor plan where the narrow section represents the 5/16, the wide section the 1 1/2. There is a 90 twist that slowly transitions from one end to the other. In other words, the 5/16 is standing vertically, and by the time it wraps around is laying on it's side at 0 degrees. I'm confused as to how to go about making this? Twist and then try and bend? Bend the easy way around and then try and twist? A combination of the two, or build a form and heat the stock with a torch as I work my way around? I can envision the form working, but it sounds complicated to build with many different angles. Is there something I'm not thinking of? Any ideas???

How did you form the "fitter", the piece of the lamp that holds the shade, and what mechanism did you use to secure the glass to it? Nice work.

Not sure, but I may have Thomas beat. I'm tossing in this with the ocean view from my house. Don't ask what the rent is. 66°FObserved High1:25 pm 52°F Partly Cloudy CHANCE OF RAIN: 0% WIND: NNE at 4 mph Details WedJan 29 74° 53° Sunny CHANCE OF RAIN: 0% WIND: NNW at 7 mph Details ThuJan 30 67° 55° Partly Cloudy CHANCE OF RAIN: 20% WIND: SSW at 13 mph Details FriJan 31 60° 47° Sunny CHANCE OF RAIN: 0% WIND: WNW at 10 mph Details SatFeb 1 67° 47° Partly Cloudy

Assuming you have two of the same pieces of a known type/alloy of steel, let's say S2 for example, would the sparks appear the same to the eye if one of the pieces were in an annealed state, and the other in a hardened state?

In the manual pictured, there are charts/graphs showing the temps for normalizing, annealing, hardening, quenching and tempering various types of steel. For H13 under Quenching, the term (do) is used. All the other methods mentioned for different alloys I can understand, such as air, oil, brine or water. Nowhere in the book can i find what the letters (do) stand for. Anyone?

Chuck, it seems the older I get, the easier I'm moved to tears. What a moving, thoughtful piece. Things that come from the heart have a way of showing up in the work. Thanks for sharing.

My question has to do specifically with drawing a temper. I think I have a clear grasp on all the procedures up to the final step. In previous posts, there has been mentioned drawing a temp of approx a 1,000 degrees and holding it there for the required time (depending on thickness) and then a gradual controlled cooling. I have access to a small programmable kiln, so I am able to do so. One of my questions is, if I use this method, it seems the tool will have the same hardness throughout, from end to end. All my experience with drawing tempers on other tool steels involves leaving the struck end of the tool in a softer state that the working end. I ask because I'd like to avoid marring the face of my hammer if possible, or is it better to just use a sacrificial hammer for striking hard hand tools? I've made H13 chisels before where I just slowly heated the working end with a rosebud to a yellow and then quenched them in oil. So far, those tools have held up well, I'd just like to be better informed and make tools the best way possible. Many thanks.

Thanks for all the kind words. 90% of the time I wonder why I try at all, or, if I'll ever get the point where I feel some connection or flow, like I'm working with the metal, not against it. I know it's mostly time and perseverance, but that doesn't always help with the frustration. When I see what some of you are capable of producing, I'm just amazed and in disbelief. Not looking for pity here, as I assume I'm only one in a long line to feel this way. Today was just one of those days where the scrap bucket grew in proportion to how much my ego and self esteem shrank.

I made the detail on the handle using an eye punch and then small needle files around the punch marks. Time consuming to say the least.

The owner of a local industrial steel supplier often lets me pick through the drop from their saws without charging me much, or often anything at all. As a return gesture, I decided to make him a flesh fork to show my gratitude. As somewhat of a newbie, I came close to scraping this fork on several occasions. The end result looks nothing like how I intended it to, but in the end it came out alright and I learned a few things along the way. Not that I'll remember any of them.