Chris V

I have had good results making roses using 3 or 4 metal discs of 3mm about 60mm diameter. I drilled a 4 mm hole in the middle to enable me to screw the finished pieces together. Each disc is the cut into 5 secments roughly 72 degrees, leaving 5 mm from the base of the slot and the centre hole. I use a piece of wood and marked the points so I just needed to mark out each disc once. I have a metal cutting disc in an old saw bench which makes cutting the slots easy. I rounded an old ball peen hammer head and use it to spead the five segments into petals. I use a small plier to roll the edges and make the outside first, then reduce the next disc by pushing the centre into a small piece of pipe or squeesing them with a large pair of pliers. I used a push rod as the stem after cutting off both ends and tapping a 3/16 inch thread inside one end. I found that you can use a flat screw head and tighten all discs together and then squeeze the centre petals to hide it. I got the idea from a wed site : artistblacksmith.com. and found it very easy to understand. I have made them as small as 50 mm diameter using 12 gauge sheet metal. I sprayed red oxide in the leaves and the girls love them. Good luck with it

I recently made a 4mm hole punch for leather work. I used a car coil spring for material and found it hard to machine at first. I think I need to normalise the piece forst to soften it. I then hardened it with a red heat and quenched it in water, then annealed it back to a purple before quenching it verticly in oil. It appears to be holding up well as it is being used by teenagers at a school camp.

G'day, I am about to retire from the Victoria Police after 31 years. Now I have the time to concentrate on my interests in Horse drawn vehicles. So it seems logical to learn Balcksmithing to fabricate or repair metal parts on the vehilces. My first project is a Milk delivery cart that I recovered from a friends back paddock last year. The thing was left in the bush for the past 20 years to his knowledge, there is no timber left on it and all the steel work is rusted. Where I live is in the Dandenong Ranges, an area that is high fire danger, and today in fact is the 25th Anniversary of 'Ash Wednesday' where 8 people lost their lives and hundreds of homes were destroyed around the State. I am currently building a small smithy in the backyard because during our summer we cannot have a fire outside. So I am interested in building a suitable forge and chimney. If anyone has some information on the proper size and positioning of the forge and it's construction I would greatly appreciate the advice. Thanks