Bryce Masuk

you probley wont need to worry too much about a slab with the size of hammer you are planning to get it might be nice but if it were me I would probley just build a quality floor for the whole building and go with that. people have ran much bigger hammers without a slab under the hammer obviously with larger hammers you can notice the increase in hitting power quite abit but with a 60kg hammer or less you wont notice much if the foundation is good it would still be nice to have but obviously if your building a shop you have bigger things to worry about

I guess making the drawing small saves alot of time making drawings takes me alot of time I usually do a couple to think about everything the fact you can just blow up your drawing it up 40 times bigger and work off that is impressive to say the least. no wonder it is so clean I have been working alot to get my drafting methods the best possible I have been trying to draw full scale as well as use autocad for straight projects (straight bars) autocad is really quick but I havent figured out how to do too much with it yet.

looks like you nailed the drawing and the piece your doing it all by eye on paper? I dont see a grid or anything I have to draw a grid to make things even connect and they dont connect like that lol

looks practical you definately need either sleeves or long sleeve shirt its the arms that take the burn usually not your hands I have gotten a couple wicked burns on the bicep and inbetween the bicep and forearm even one high amp weld can do it I made a truck rack out of aluminum and I had it out of position I had 2 welds one about 4 inch's and another 2 inch's I was wearing shorts because I wasnt thinking I would have to add these extra brackets it sunburned both of my shins for nearly 2 weeks usually the arm that gets burned is the not the one holding the torch its the other arm that might just be how I position myself though

looks picture perfect lol I thought you were talking about the other type of crane at first

As far as I know historically master had more to do with being accepted as fully qualifyed to work on your own as well as teach and start your own apprentices. so therefore if you do not teach you cannot become a master you could but you would never practice your mastery in germany they still have this system in my metal design international 2008 it states that norbert finke had to get his master certification suddenly, as he father passed away I dont know why the book does not explain that, but it may have to do with tradition or the ability to teach and train others In England they have medal's of sorts does gold make you a master? or just of the highest reguard? I know bronze is journeyman and silver is an esteemed journeyman of sorts. but once you are a journeyman you can have an apprentice like how a days I dont think any terms really matter technically everyone is a fabricator, because we use welding, if your taking parts and welding them together your fabricating it doesnt matter if you made them yourself or bought them its the same process. all the terms and controversy over small things might make me give up and work on wood exclusively :P

I bet that hurts but life is like that sometimes, I was going to comment that I am personally not a big fan of "artwork" cut on a cnc plasma table but since you cut it by hand.... :D

I want to know too lol I made a thread about dies on the powerhammer forum hopefully some of the knowledgeable people on here will give some ideas to experiment with

I was meaning the smaller press might not have enough room in between the frame for all the tooling. yours is a 50 ton? it looks like it has enough room but a small one might not you would also need to figure out how far you can go with the drift because it needing more travel could have you put the 2 slitting chisels right into themselves without noticing. can you setup a friction press with a stop easily or do they have one built in usually? with a hydraulic setup you can just add another cylinder or cylinders as long as it fits in the frame.

I guess you could setup 2 stations side by side but they wouldnt be able to run independantly both would always run unless you had some type of setup to engage and disengage. if you had a slitter and then a drift it might be a bit weird because the drift needs to travel further than the slitter to do its job. a tricky blacksmith could figure it out but you would need enough room in the frame to fit everything in there you need 2 spring loaded plates to support the bottom or different sizes holes in plates you swap out which would probley be best if the press isnt A BIG ONE you could make it work do you use your friction press for drifting? I see you can be pretty delicate with the beast, friction drive is pretty interesting setup lots of power for sure

yup thats what got me started but I didnt have a computer at the time I just tryed to remember what he did I missed a step of putting the spring on i was pretty much expecting it to move around too much but was feeling experimental. I got my swage tool to work I just had to take a bit more off, I am going to make a couple more I made 20 or so leaves earlier doing the taper by hand and then the rest on the round drawing die the way he shows making them to a certain dergree lol video is the closest thing I have to getting to learn from someone around here I need to make the same die he has for his gulotine for mine I cut the upper with the torch and found a piece for the lower just need to clean them up and grind the bevel on and soon I will be busting balls lol

Well now that I am kinda sorta used to using my hammer I am trying to come up with ways to be more productive. I attempted to make a leaf die to make a leaf blank but it wasnt well thought out I am going to re try it I had attempted to do it without the spring on using some pieces of flat bar as a guide to keep one piece on top of another but it didnt quite work out. I was thinking that I should make a couple leaf dies and ball dies and a few other things that might be interesting. I will be making them out of mild steel for now I know its not the best choice but its what I have for now, besides after yesterdays attempt lol I need to make it happen and make it work before I worry about anything else. I made a tennoning setup but I think I need more of a radius on the edges of the holes because it ate the steel and put some lines in the bar does anyone have some examples of cool dies they have made? I know grant knows more about this than I ever will, eventually I will need some other dies I like the bamboo dies and wood dies those I would buy over make but I should be able to make some more basic dies

I paid 900 for my 375 pounder and its not flat do i regret it? nope I try not to think of all the girls... that I had, or could of had then I realize they are all out there to be had. if your looking for them they are looking for you, anvils are the same way I just hope that they dont fall on top of me like a drunken pixie.

that video is awesome grant reminds me of a light saber when that thing picks up the heat I really want a giant press and induction rig I can find a use for it lol the only disadvantage to the friction press unless you have a pair of them is that you cant set up it to do two operations like you can with a hydrulic setup and it seems a little less easy to control once it goes your on your own for drifting that might make it tricky to keep stuff centered or prevent it from breaking tools and whatnot.

the fern was way way nicer though I liked it before I fell on top of it when it was welded together and bent and broke it, at some point when stuff is free i really just have to finish the project and begin the next or finishing the next. at some point I was thinking the same thing I guess inpatience got the better of me i was thinking I could grind/polish the welds I would have needed at 1/4 inch angle grinder or the right abrasives for a die grinder to do it though to be honest I really had no drawing or idea's I just started making parts at one point and some were added to the lamp some not, I vaguely pictured it in my head at the anvil and just started pounding it out. usually I am unhappy with what I make in a few ways hopefully I will become better I am really hoping to journey the states but I might do ontario first because I can legally work there and down south I work for food and maybe shelter I really want to do craftsman style work and learn how to be really accurate and make elaborate symetrical stuff with jigs and eventually come back to more free flowing alive natural stuff later on once I have good skills at that. I am hoping to be making that big gate for a customer its more of a fab job than anything but the customer wanted that design and really that is the most productive way to build that gate for sure. the blacksmithing lifestyle really seems to me to be a juggling act of sorts I really dont know where I am going... I am just chasing the phoenix so to speak I am supposed to be a artist, craftman, and business person and to know when to give and when to take. it makes it tricky to be focused entirely on anything.

I finished it awhile ago I dont have a computer really anymore or television, I spend more time with hammer and pencil, I make alot of stuff but dont sell much usually I just give it away like this lamp and the stand and the cross the gate wont be free though lol I am working on a winerack with alot of offsets right now the neck of the bottle goes into a 1 1/2 flatbar slit and drifted to 1 3/8 inch its pretty medevil, hopefully soon i can get a computer again but i am not rushed I plan on heading stateside soon for as long as i can until i am broke Ciao, Bryce

Looks good

High quality thread I will definately read over it a few times I have downloaded both of the cosira books along time ago the thing with them is that the amount of information is so much that you really have to be smart and pick one thing to do and plan it out well and work on it. after I head into the states to do some journeying my plan is head to the UK and do the same maybe for a longer period of time if I can manage. the value of info on this site is always huge

Maybe we should ask them about what it was like without a washing machine and microwave? Life was different back then sometimes I think that people that were blacksmiths and other professions had alot less distractions no internet television and so on but then I rember that back then people worked all the time just to prepare meals and have cleanish clothes and they walked to work and to get anything unless you were rich. just as much as life was worse in the old days it was also better in others, people in 3rd world country's usually are very tight family's it takes everyone working together to make it, here people fight over not being able to watch what they want on television and children scream over not getting toys and things like that and none of us are above it in north america. reality is we live with our own perspective and that is it if you have little you make due, if you have too much your bound to waste it how many people have too much junk piled up in the garage and need to take trips to the dump a couple times every year just to be rid of it? it seems like Skill of the hand has been diluted if you look at old things you would think that they used machines to make many things but it was all done by hand to perfection. I dont know how some people became so skilled but they did and I dont think that many alive today can compare to the masters of the past.

those are some nice jigs in your link, why do they hinge? did anyone ask that previously I have noticed I made few errors from johns post I uses the end as a starting point which caused distortion from stretching I imagine. what I intended as a barrel was essentially tapering out a flatbar really thin and rolling it up into a circle like you would make a barrel on a hinge but not overlapping it for a weld just open on the inside most of these problems are probley from lack of time invested I can do them just not like you guys can I will have to invest more time and patience into this often I find I think I have things right and then they arent so I re-do whatever it is, thanks guys I will re read these posts and make use of them

I have a question I forgot to ask, I have been playing with barrels and pennys on the ends of scrolls I have made a few nice jigs that are as good as I personally can get. my problem has been making the scroll look right with the penny or barrel on the end of it I have made a new jig to try that I attempted to design it with the purpose of having the space for the end of the scroll it seemed like it was going to work but when I put it into use it doesnt look right. any tips?

Nice looking project, thanks for the idea's I want to make some asscanthus leaves now lol I notice that your C scrolls are to be cut and welded together usually I attempt to make stuff in one piece and its pretty hard to keep it consistant and accurate. I will try your method it would probley work better for me

the funny thing is the fact that the point we are at now is all so minor. I am part anti technology in the fact I wouldnt want to be dependant on it but we will we fully dependant on it in the next 25 years. But the again I am using it right now and no one will know jack about farming (not that many do anymore) no one will be able to draft or draw without a computer most people dont know how a measuring tape works let alone a level or plumb bob I love the old books finding stuff from the early-late 19th century is always amazing http://books.google.ca/books?id=Ti8DAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=ornamental+drawing+and+architectural+design&source=bl&ots=TZdKvqg3cV&sig=6-4J0VKotNcPE5Az1MXYJAod1vo&hl=en&ei=My9DTO-lHIb6swO12NWaDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CB8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false http://books.google.ca/books?id=rCwDAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+illustrated+london+drawing+book&hl=en&ei=hy9DTKyIC43UtQPM1fjKDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false and its exactly what will end people as we know, but the reality is evolution evolve one way too much in the wrong direction and you will up shite creek but that is the nature of things go too far on the see saw and things flip around on you and as far as I can see things need to be flipped

I have also seen people use 1/4 inch round bar of tool steel like A2 or something and weld them to a plate for texturing. your dies look pretty nice but it probley was alot of hours in total to make them all just right. but once you have them and they work you never look back.