bembrey

Frosty, I'm picking up a couple sections on the way home from work today... our little local hardware store was close yesterday when I got it all back together...

Evenin' all... got a new little rivet forge recently for a really good price. It needed some legs and I went ahead and took the little blower apart and cleaned/oiled the gears (they looked like brand new). It's a stamped steel forge, so I'm playing with it with no liner at this time, I may add one later, don't know. Wanted it so I'd have a portable/demo rig. The first things to come off of it is the Brazeal style horseshoe heart (pony shoe), the double headed nail "mini swords" and the hair picks. Started a railroad spike garden trowel and decided those will be done on the big buffalo forge... this one is better used for smaller projects :)

Very nice. Like the rasp snakes, I have a couple of rasps to try that with but haven't made the attempt yet. Really like the horseshoe letters, very creative and great idea.

Beth, thank you for the feedback. Frosty, my Son-in-Law dubbed this the "Combat Spork"... and the primary reason I made it is for a particular meal served at our Ren Faire, stew in a bread bowl... it is challenging to eat with plastic cutlery, I do not believe I'll have an issue this year :). Chinobi, I hot cut the fork end and drew out the tines and then rounded and shaped around the horn on my anvil... I will admit that on the next one, I'll draw out the 3/8 stock before splitting and making the tines, these were about 3 inches long! Had to cut 'em back to a more functional length.

dcraven - Thank you sir... this was made with 3/8 square stock (for some reason, I have a bunch of it laying around) and took about an hour to make. I have a Salt Fork Craftsmens swage block that has the spoon forms in it, so making the spoon part was really easy. Some light filing and sanding and an overnight soak in vinegar cleaned it right up.

We have a Ren Faire coming up that we attend each year and the Thieves Guild has this thing with "spoons"... have a spoon, don't get robbed ;) I decided I needed my own spork for this year so made this yesterday. Learned in making this one, how to make the next one easier/possibly better.

'02 GL1800 Goldwing, '02 BMW R1150RT, '05 BMW Z4 3.0i...

Very nice... attractive and functional items from the start... so many of mine were either burned up from leaving in the fire too long... or are just "frankenmetal" pieces that sort of resemble what they were supposed to be... great start.

I have read countless threads and articles about RR spike head markings and have found a lot of interesting information... but what I haven't found is what the markings on the these spikes denotes... I have about 100 of these. Regardless of what it means, they'll make good trowels, coat hooks, hat racks, etc. I'm not so much into making knives and I know that regardless of head markings, RR spikes make nice novelty knives, not so much quality working knives. Thanx for any information anyone may have concerning these markings.

Nice shop area... and I love the "go big or go home" approach, jumping from a brake drum forge to a self built, two pot forge... nice. You wife looks like she's having fun "helping" :). Isn't it great to have a wife that backs up our desire to try new things? My wife has been very supportive of my desire to learn this art... {she thinks it's sexy.... LOL}

Thanx guys... I joined our local blacksmiths guild and in just two meetings, have picked up a lot of great info... Being a "beginner", I don't have any fancy hammers or an excess of any tools but I did learn that it just takes a little work with the 4 1/2 inch grinder to make a cheap harbor freight hammer have the face you want! It seems that at this point in the adventure, I spend a great deal of time making tools... Making tools to make tools! After I get a couple of punches, or a pair of tongs done, I usually get to then make a "something"... You will see a lot of heart themes from me, my wife loves all thing heart. Going to start working on the framing in of my smithy in the next few weeks... concentrate on getting it covered, then walls... Hope to end up with something very similar to Pughman's... love that shop!

Haven't got to play for a while, got my forge moved to a new spot and fired up. Made several tools, hardy hot cut off from a jackhammer bit, nail header from a leaf spring, square punch (to make the nail header)... Do not have any pictures of those items, but here are a couple of hearts I did... Pony shoe heart, and the heart hook is from a hay rake tine.

Those are awesome! I really like the small details that were added, very nice.

Howdy all, I'm Bill. Been lurking a while. Decide to post a couple items and introduce myself. I live in Oklahoma, south of Tulsa... Started wonkin' on hot metal about 6 months ago using a a brake drum forge I made and a 12" x 12" x 2" piece of plate for an anvil. Did that for a couple of months and then tracked down a nice 100# Trenton anvil. About three weeks ago, I got a deal on a Buffalo forge w/ Vulcan 14 firepot/tuyere and a Cannedy/Otto hand cranked blower. Spent a day tearing down, cleaning and rebuilding the blower... Works PERFECT. Found this site about a month ago and have been truly amazed and inspired by some of the creativity here. Watched all of Brian Brazeal's videos... This is my first attempt at one of his horseshoe hearts. I know I want one of his rounding hammers, that is one nice tool! I'm having fun, learning lots and my wife loves watching.., hope to post more soon.