beammeupscotty

Although I have never really kept close track of exactly how fast I consume coal, I think I must get at least 20 hours of forging time out of a 50 lb. bag. of smithing coal.

I would say your best bet is to make a fuller for your hardy hole roughly the same size and shape as the hammer you are using for the texture, and with that working both sides at once. That's how it do it when I want to do other textures on flat stock or around round stock.

I have done tongues on dragons. I forge them as a separate piece, then drill an appropriate sized hole in the mouth and sweat solder the tongue in with silver solder.

Yes, that's all true, but in nature bark patterns are not consistent, they are pretty random and that's why I use a hammer rather than a struck tool.

I was bored today and decided to do a bottle opener playing with a couple of different textures that I frequently use, though never in the same piece. Each texture was applied using it's own modified hammer. The bulk of it is a sort of parallel groove pattern that I typically use to emulate a woody/bark type finish. The other texture, set off by parallel grooves across the handle, is a random crosshatch patter. The tricky part was containing that crosshatch pattern within the limits of the parallel grooves. Sorry but the latter pattern doesn't render well in this photo.

I think that could be a salable concept in an urban market. I'm in the S.F. Bay Area and with all the tech workers around here, something like this might appeal to them. I think I will borrow your idea and make up a few samples to offer for sale. Hope you don't mind.

If you want to bend black iron pipe into something like a circle, you might be able to do it hot using a conduit bender.

I smoked for 30 years. 2 packs a day for most of that time, and tried to quit at least 15 times. In 2003 my son was 4 years old and I developed a persistent sore throat and cough. After six weeks I was convinced I had cancer. I finally decided I needed to know for sure so I could make plans for my son, who I was raising by myself. 5 days before my appointment with a ENT doc, I quit. The doc told me I just had inflamed vocal cords and did not have cancer. In 30 years I had not gone 24 hours without a cigarette and having just done 5 days without a smoke I knew I need never go back. There were never even any close calls. I simply knew I would never smoke again. Quitting was hard but without question the most difficult part of it was the dreams. Every night I dreamed I was smoking again, frequently profusely. I would wake up with a start thinking I had lapsed and it always took several seconds before I realized it was just a dream and I had not started smoking again. I continued to have these dreams virtually every night for two years, then intermittently for another 3 years. For those of you have have tried to quit and failed, you know how awful that feeling of failure is. Imagine having it night after night after night. Man, am I glad those days are over.

Yes, the article is pretty ridiculous but Åhman is a pretty accomplished smith and his video on this subject is pretty good.

Welding the reins on is a good way to avoid all that drawing out, but if you feel you need to do it the hard way, I find a bottom fuller of about a 1/4" radius is more aggressive at moving material than my anvil edge. Also try to use the heaviest hammer you can comfortably swing. When needing to move a lot of material, I use a 1.5 kilo hammer, sometimes even a 4 lb. hammer, though the latter is at the limit of my ability to use properly.

I believe both are high carbon and can be used, assuming you have the wherewithal to forge them into useful forms. Don't forget roller bearings... pretty much the same thing as balls but closer to a usable form.

Thank goodness for a voice of reason.

I think this topic is mostly pretty silly and I would never publicly assess myself in this way. That said, I also do not agree with your statement that, "Only Important Judges are others not yourself." Grammatical peculiarities aside, other people by and large, are totally ignorant about blacksmithing. That is why you get people who think some cold bent and welded wine rack from pottery barn is the equivalent of a hand forged, tenoned and collared piece that does the same job. It is gratifying when other people appreciate your work but it is in no way a measure of how good that work actually is. I am a hobby smith, but I have been doing it for 25 years and the bottom line is, I blacksmith for myself, not for other people. I like to sell my work and frequently do, but if a piece does not sell I do not assume it is because that piece is not beautiful or well made. The only people whose opinions I value are those whose competence is far beyond that which I will ever achieve. In my area that would be people like Austin, McClellen, Clausen or Bondi etc. I can assure you, after 25 years at the forge, even though my skills are still quite limited, I am a far better judge of good work than the average Joe.

I would fuller down to smaller than the required diameter, then drill, then tap.

It is worth pointing out that thicker walled pipe can be used as well and though it takes a little longer to forge down, it is somewhat easier to keep nice and even than thinner walled tubing is. 3/4" black iron gas pipe is the correct I.D. for a candle cup too and lots of people have some left lying around after building their propane forge. The same pipe and much the same technique is what I use to forge California Poppies. When making thicker walled candle cups I also keep on hand some home made tools that are the correct size to fit inside the pipe to help forge a round consistent bottom to the candle cup.

Along with those hooks and hangers I posted recently on the "Show Me Your Hooks" thread, the same woman who asked for hooks also asked me to make some door knockers for her crafts show in October. I decided to take a stab at a knocker this week and it very nearly kicked my xxx. I made the back plate first and that seemed to go pretty well. The raw stock was 2" x 3/16" and I was reasonably happy with how it turned out. Then I tried to make the knocker part and nothing seemed to work. I spent 5 or 6 hours over a couple of days on my first two attempts and both of them ended up as scrap. I decided to take a break from trying to make the knocker portion and took a stab at the saddle that would hold it. First two attempts at that also resulted in failure. I was trying to do that with 1/2" square stock. The saddle I was attempting was forged in one piece with a 5/16" square tenon on the back. Back to trying to make the knocker...third time I felt I was on to something only to overheat the mass I was trying to build up on the end through folding it over and doing a faggot weld. The mass just broke off at a thin point. Rather than start again from scratch, I forged a tenon on what was left over and forged a separate sphere from a piece 1" square stock, about 1 1/4" long. Drilled a hole in that and silver soldered the tenon into the hole. I was finally able to make the saddle by starting with 3/4" square stock instead of 1/2". i have not put a finish on it yet.... I think this turned out o.k. but I can assure you I will never make another. Way too much work....

Naturally, sounding like a rocket ship would of course automatically make it more dangerous.

Keep in mind that you can run a propane cooktop or range indoors with little or no ventilation at all. Your lung problem likely has nothing at all to do with the forge and everything to do with the building.

Yes, adjust the jet in or out until you can maintain a burn at the end of the torch. Make sure it is aiming straight down the pipe and is centered in the venturi. The sort of mounting arrangement you have used for holding the jet in place is going to make keeping it aimed right and positioned right a bit difficult.

Bottom line is no, there is no real substitute for forging. You could drive a lot of 16d nails to help your hammer accuracy but that's about it. You need a forge to learn to forge. A teacher helps alot too.

i'm not sure I fully understand your question. As far as twisting goes, I am not sure it would have any significant impact on the look because the texture pattern is so random to begin with. The tools are just made with a 4 1/2" cutoff wheel in a side grinder.

I toyed with that idea but decided I didn't like the hook enough to invest any more time in it. You are right though, it would look better with a collar.

Yeah, me too. I felt compelled to at least try a scroll but it is not really my genre. The scroll one, by the way, has the bottom part plug welded. On all the other ones the elements are tenoned and riveted into a countersink on the back side of the mounting plate.

Very nice and very different from anything else I have seen. I really like this hook.

Thanks.