Bryce Masuk

Very neat piece I really like it as a continuation of your personal style is seems a little different and brighter than your other pieces due to the finish being brighter and the background behind it. what does it say on the harp? I will look it up today and see what I can find out. I see that you a pawel guba are friends he was using your power hammer in your shop on youtube right? both of you produce great work in your own styles. I made a fruit basket somewhat inspired by the one you created over a year ago however mine wasnt riveted or as nice but it was fun to make.

If you just want a basic twist the whole length of the bar it would be easier just to buy a pre twisted bar or have someone put it in a lathe and twist it for you. this is the most consistant method if it needs to look near perfect its the only way to do it never compete with a machine to arrive at the same place you will never win that battle. if your making something handmade make it nicer than a machine can make it personally I would do it by hand and heat up as much as possible in the forge and twist it one way x amount of twists so it looks nice and then space it about 3 inches a part and do the same the other way and repeat so it has a pretty consistant pattern. you cant just go buy that up from a supplier if you just want a basic twisted bar http://www.twistedbars.com/products/TwistedBars.aspx

just look at the frost line if its about 3/4 of the way up its totally full, once the line is near the bottom its time to refill either that or tap the tank

Helmut was friends with donald streeter and donald gave him a lever lock (i think) which he has installed in his home he also worked with manuel gurrera in equador if the imbed thing doesnt work skip to here and there is a 9 min video showing making of locks in manuel shop there are also numerous pictures on the page you would like to possibly look at http://www.iron-to-live-with.com/iron/MGuerra.php lock making is pretty cool frank turley helped me learn about the basics of making a lock

I couldnt tell at all and apparently I work with metal I guess we all create what we want to see and that is the truth, I have seen alot of pennys welded on that look like they are welded in In my opinion we are creating some kind of impression if the work creates this impression then we have succeeded. I have been playing with the idea you are speaking of using the hammer to knock them down rough and do the rest by hand. I want to know how to do it good and I guess once you head in a direction its hard to change back, I am glad I didnt become a plumber I would probley be making nearly 40 dollars a hour with a mortgage and some longterm girlfriend, Once you make the good money you wont turn back because you get used to it and seemingly cant live without it. grinding fitting welding is all a part of the trade it has its place. if no one knows than you did it right

real nice I still cant get over how clean you snubs are on your scrolls I attempted to make a tool to help with the final clean up on those near the neck but I think I put the wrong radius on the top and forged the 1 inch round bar in too deep I posted the picture in my wine rack thread, maybe I can modify it and make it workable at least of the two. do you use a tool to make that area really nice or are you just doing it freehand? I keep finding that my problem with the penny scrolls and snub scrolls is getting the right space in between the end of the scroll and where it begins to curve mine turn out wonky. I have been driving the stem down trying to shift it to get the correct flow I just need more work or a better method

I said I wanted to make all the rivets, but I didnt once I welded it seemed like a lost cause fake rivets are kind of pointless I also wanted to make it nicer but in the future I can picture myself making something similar the way I truely intended in this case every piece was flawed in someway or another or I could have done it better and i wanted to but that will come in the near future here is my hinge I lost some other pictures somewhere when i find them i will post them lol

Thanks alot John, I am really interested to see how you are doing things learning how to do different forging methods would be a great help as well as to see how you as a (one man shop?) do industrial work and pattern making I will call you when I get out there before I am ready to head out I am spending sometime with family on this trip and then setting out on my own. I usually find that just watching someone do something I can figure it out maybe I cant do it but after some practice on my own things change a little

I think frosty made a funny. Hopefully people can still see this post I am hoping to make this a pretty random adventure. I am thinking I should buy a disposable cell phone in the states and post the number up on here so people can get ahold of me because I probley wont bring my laptop with me because I will be staying in hostels and whereever it works in the moment plus If I had to pawn it I probley would. I will be checking the computer as I can as I travel I have a little less than a month to figure it out or entirely wing it either way I am full commited and willing to work hard

I started this a long time ago and wanted to make all the rivets for it and do alot of other stuff to make it nice. I think this was one of the first things I started to work on after getting back from new mexico after I entirely redid my shop and made a new welding table and setup my hammer. But it just was made to be this way I started to feel like if i wanted to make it the way I wanted it I should have just started from the beginning and remade the whole thing. I figured lets finish it and so here we have it the next time I will have learned my lesson and i may try to use the power hammer with a jig to make the offsets next time because I bent my tool that this was made with. drifting the holes big enough to fit the neck of a bottle was pretty tricky since this is 1/4 inch thick material and 1 3/8 hole or something I dont have a swage block and using the hardy hole lead to alot of cupping and hammering it out and drifting numerous times lessons learned efforts made and good days ahead I have also added some other random pictures to the mix my new forge that I wont be finishing for awhile and some other random stuff

Good discussion, I feel much the same as everyone else I just figure when I am in the flow with life that I can feel it and when I am not I dont feel right. I really like this piece because it seems like it has something to say or something to be, I have really liked your work you have posted you have been working hard jake. money or not something was earned

Great work dave I saw it on your Blog and was impressed, with the forge, the shop, the mantel its obvious you have been working really hard and making alot of headway, your doing great I hope it all pays off for you. honestly I would start with a higher price and let them negotiate with you or remove details in order to get the work. at this point you want to build a portfolio, it will help you get work later on the real trick is getting it down to a process if you made numerous of the samething you could make more money per piece because you can work constantly on things and not get held up. I really think the key to blacksmithing is knowing because once you have the metal hot you can get alot of work done, but lighting the forge and cutting steel and cleaning does the exact opposite. but if you waste your heat and have to go for another one and do it a couple times all of a sudden you have spent 6 times as much time to produce the same thing Try to notice what sucks up time, and try to either get really good at it or avoid it lol

I am going to go where ever ohio sounds good to me. maine sounds like a really cool place as well I havent been to either and I would like to go. If there isnt anything for me to do where I am then I will head where ever there is. I am trying to get immersed into experiance in whatever ways I can find Im 24 years old its time to see what this world is about the only thing that is a constant is my desire to blacksmith. I will go wherever that it leads me I like to call it Chasing The Phoenix lol

Thanks frosty, I am doing something up your alley right now hahaha Installing a snowplow for my buddy on his 4runner its just a small plow but its made for a bit bigger truck and it wont bolt on so I needed to make a mount so it can bolt up. amazing how I keep working on vehicals yet I dont even own one. after this the washington guys are going to think I am trying to avoid them or something heading to new mexico to learn how to blacksmith and then head to the eastcoast, while great people are just across the line. I want to head down to their meets and stuff but I dont own a car, having the powerhammer was more important to me lol usually to install I need a hand or a lift so I just get people with a ride to give me a hand. I usually do everything backwards I dont intend to though, it just happens.

I am coming to ontario near Milton, hoping to come meet blacksmiths in Ontario and New york. I will probley begin to travel on December 5th or something like that but I will be out there on the 30th of november I will go where ever the fire is burning, willing to do anything to help, I am not expecting anything for my labour. In the circumstance that classes that I am interested in are available I willing to pay to learn. I will be around until I either have no money or credit left. hoping to learn as much as possible and meet interesting people, I have no expectations so I cannot be disapointed.

Thanks Sam its definately better than what I was doing before I have alot going on right now, but things are about to really take off I have a Trifecta now so everything is really going to grow I can feel it. Plus I have some absolutely amazing girl in my life right now, last weekend I got a blackeye so at least my life is balanced someone choked from behind while I was talking to one of my girlie friends from years ago and got a weak punch in there I had his wrist in a good lock I was thinking of bringing it home with me, but unforunately it would have been 20 against 3 so I left him on the ground and ran away sometimes being a man means thinking of the bigger picture I am the type to forgive and forget I never ever saw the guys face so i wouldnt even know who to fight Btw I am coming to the east coast pretty soon I will be incontact I have never been to newyork So I have to make it in anyway and everyway possible

Like they say, Stay true to yourself The World, Women and Metal are all the same The more you try to control the more likely you are being tricked into something else do you want things you dont use? probley... were programed for that stuff nowadays I say Did it! Not DO it I will use whatever makes me happy, if it doesnt I always have a hammer

thanks to everyone you guys are my inspiration I have somewhere that this can go to but I need to find my place sort of the market is somewhere I just need to find it, luckly I can always make utilitarian things and pay the rent. I am trying to focus more on the business side of things but I am working mostly on getting my skills to a good level, producing somethings really doesnt teach you much basic welding is basic welding and so on. I have been making alot of tools and setups for my hammer I can now make my own cap rail and so on I am going to make a bunch of 1 piece roses and market that for christmas and valentines day I think that it should open some doors. I have been thinking about making a big board with sample hardware that I can take to places and so on the reality is I am spread too thin working on too many things and I need to focus on a few things and get those done. I am trying to finish up all unfinished projects and begin anew. for now i am going to focus on making a couple dozen roses and a nice picture to put in stores and so on

profax makes a good pedal for a decent price the genuine miller ones are pretty overpriced hand control works best for me but I am used to scratch start

Black on red and whatnot, I included some pictures of the process I couldnt tell you how long it took to make it more than 40 hours though I am sure of that I made this for fun and it was pretty fun to make, So I concider it a success I have something else cool I am finishing tomorrow, its pretty rough but it suits the piece also a learning process with more than 30 offsets and 30 holes split and drifted its medevil but I cheated and it doesnt have traditonal journey but honestly at this point it was hard enough for me to even make it fit together lol I want to head down to the states and work but I am also thinking of spending all my money and buying all the steel needed to make a intense driveway gate for our home but I wont get money for it so it is also a fun project but eventually someone will want me to make something like that but I have show that I can do it, First

very cool the snubs on your scrolls are always really nice I like how you use a thick bar and draw it out it looks really good. the details of stuff like this make the difference. the work you always do is really neat and tidy recently the shop I used to work in was doing a rail of brass or rather modifiying and fixing it it came from argentina. (i still do aluminum stuff there because i dont have a setup at home for it) they were bending everything cold and boy was it a slow process they used the press brake with a similar setup that you were using with your press with half of a large pipe. but they were marring it pretty badly and trying to do the whole panel at once eventually they had to weld up the gouches and polish it out. they also took some of the panels and had them put though a huge set of rolls and most of the welds cracked and had to be rewelded. most of this was because it was done wrong and whoever built the rail ran away with the cash.

I was just going by what the anyang site says which is 1045 chinese steel I am not knocking your product http://www.chinesehammers.com/cp7.html the small upper key just takes a little more effort to take in and out vs just a regular open key without a lock

Thanks for the video you did a pretty good job of putting it together. i enjoyed it

any bolt will loosen up eventually, doesnt mean it will fall apart a casting is a pretty solid structure if its done right. one thing with a saymak is that if either cylinder was to get ruined you can swap it out like a volkswagen. might be expensive but at least its an option. I dont think that they make a fabricated hammer because its better but because you need to be setup to cast it on this kind of scale is a big setup. but it also harder to make a fabricated hammer because everything needs to be machined pretty accurately because you have numerous parts. I have never seen a fabricated engine it just seems like something like a hammer with castings and various other pieces that are machined or cast and have different rates would loosen up because of the fact its heating up and cooling down and the expansion and contraction eventually will do something. plus the vibration lol If I could have afforded it I probley would have bought a saymak but anyang offered me a deal not even you could refuse I waited 6 months to get it though. the saymak is nice though because you can swap the dies faster with big keys you can hit easily. the dies are easier to make they are also the same as the kuhn and shahindler sp? so you might be able to get them easier.

I bought my anyang straight from the factory because it was cheaper, usually the dealers tune them abit and check over everything. I also stripped mine mostly apart which probley ruined the top tup seal I had a few problems and spent 10 hours playing with it and I also blew out both the upper and lower tup gaskets I made them myself to replace them which was quick and easy it took sometime for the hammer to run right but once it broke in it has been great its just as good or better than any air hammer I have used. its really nice and it has plenty of power. I cant picture myself needing anything bigger at least for a long time but i hope to have a few hammers so i can do multiple operations without switching tools or dies. the fact the frame is one piece that is cast is pretty nice it wont flex or loosen up like the saymak hammers they are a piece of 1 inch plate on one side and then 5/16 or 3/8 on the otherside the only thing for anyangs that isnt the greatest is the steel used for the dies is just chinese .40 carbon steel its not as nice as s7 or as hard as the dies on the saymak units. I have seen a few anyang hammers with the center worn down on them but they may have no been as hard back then either. the upper die on the anyang is also harder to make but a lower die is the same as a saymak, you have to be careful on the anyang hammers because the key can potentialy damage the hammer honestly though I am really happy with my hammer now it just took sometime to get it running really nice. I also suggest taking the treadle and mounting it on the base and not extending the orginal one down with tubing, but directly doing it this way I had it both ways and the control was much better with it pivoting off the base. Ironkiss is a nice hammer with a utility hammer its ALL about the valving It seems to me that most of these hammers are just built with what is on the shelf and not really engineered to really run right. selfcontained hammers have rotary valves and a direct manifold from the other cylinder so it can move tons of volume easily, obviously the iron kiss has had alot of testing to get it right but some other hammers with tiny little hoses and spiderwebs of lines, just cant pass enough gas quick enough which is why you need to run super high pressure to force it though and then all the little parts wear out. I think utility hammers get a bad rap because of lack of engineering, or the fact they were orginally designed to run on steam. the reality is that if you have enough air and can move it quick enough they should be the same or maybe better in someways because you have control of the speed. the self contained hammer is wasteful in someways alot of the time they are idling wasting power when the utility hammer wastes nothing. but then again if the air isnt there when you need it then it isnt much fun I would also like to add that even though I did not buy my hammer from James Johnson or John N they both were very helpful and encouraging to me. James helped me quiet abit, on the phone even and though email and he is on the ball for customer service I think my problems I had in the beginning were from the treadle or break in process or maybe even a small air leak. It could have been all three! my hammer was also setup with the linkage's out of square (out of parallel) it hit really hard but had little control, I think any of the problems that I encountered would have been taken care of my john or james if you bought the hammer from a dealer.