JME1149

And what does the bottom look like? Flat, hourglass impression, capsule impression, all could be indicators of brand.

Not to rain on your parade, but since you mentioned your customer wants to produce these for re-sale to the public, make sure you've thought about the liability aspect if one of these picks fails because of a faulty heat treat and somebody gets hurt and wants to sue.

Google Wayne Coe, should be the first thing that pops up

1/4 X 3 X 12 will not make 1/8 X 6 X 13. Close, but you'd have to cheat one of the dimensions, and as mentioned above, factor for scale loss.

Personally, I wouldn't want to try to stretch the width (/reduce the thickness) that much, especially with 4140, but if you really like hammering....

Das, what I really enjoy about your creations (and Ausfire's too) is when I take a second and third look, I always seem to find some new detail I missed the last time through. Like the dozen butter knives used as the underside feathers. Love your creativity and execution, and looking forward to seeing the completed armor-dillo.

From what I can see, the only restoration needed is to start hitting hot metal on it. Please don't grind, weld, or machine anything of that beauty. Wire wheel and a coat of oil maybe, but anything more aggressive than that could do more harm than good.

Body shape looks like Trenton or HB, that marking was typical of Trenton, but usually located on the front side, under the horn. Maybe the reversed the base when they bolted it on. Other than the waist being missing, looks like it saw very little use, the corners are sharp as is the nose. Just need to build a taller stand.

That turned out pretty nice and is going to be a lasting symbol of some quality father & son time. What more could you ask for?

Donniev, that's a Champion 400. Do a search under the Bellows section here, lots of good information already posted. If it turns smoothly without a lot of grinding noise, there's really no reason to take it apart and you may do more harm than good by taking it apart. They can be finicky to put back together to get the proper alignment that has worn in over 100 years of service. No grease required, add a little oil occasionally and it will splash around to lube everything.

If you do choose to open it up, the top cover has two screws. Remove those and SLIDE the cover toward the back of the gear housing. SLIDE back, do not pry up or you will break the casting.

Thanks for sharing. I think I enjoy seeing your approach to tooling and the forging process you go through as much as I appreciate the end product.

Watching people of your caliber work inspires me to try to do better myself.

Very nice, I personally like the bold contrast of the low layer count.

Thank you for sharing, very informative and well delivered presentation.

Another vote for sticky!

10 hours ago, VaughnT said:

I guess I could be talked into taking some pics and doing a walk-through of how I go about the carving......

Yes, please.

I like the bow tie design, haven't seen that style before. Now if you could tie the knot, that would be really impressive.

On 2/25/2017 at 8:17 AM, littleblacksmith said:

Now, since your drift was a taper, your eye will be a taper. put the handle in from the small side, and wedge it from the large side.

This is something I've been wondering about lately, do you drift the taper only from one side (the top), or is it drifted from both the top & bottom for the hourglass shape as Swedefiddle indicated?

That's a fine looking blade Das. The pattern shows up very well. I can't tell from the photos, did you insert a piece of copper tube in for the lanyard hole? If not, it might be a good way to protect the little chunk of wood behind the hole.

Very nice, can always count on you for something creative and unique. Any reason in particular for the orientation of the tang, or is it a "just because I can" thing?

Another approach that avoids the forge welding entirely would be to cut a 4 pound piece of the spring, then re-shape it to a hammer blank size block. For example, a 1" thick X 3" wide X 4-3/4" long piece could be re-shaped to a 2" Dia X 4-1/2" long hammer blank. No need to add mass, just move the volume to where you need it. Of course this all depends on the tools available, such as power hammer or striker, and your determination.

Depends on which side of the door you are standing.

I refer to mine as My Precious

That is just way too cool Das. The roller chain face really gives it character. Great job as always.

Love the sculptures. That's also a neat looking hammer rack in the background.

17 hours ago, CTBlades said:

I don't have a drill big enough to make a clean out hole in the bottom.

Shouldn't the clean out hole be in the rear, under the tail?

Pretty sure they are all the same gears, just different fans & housings.

Thanks for the link to Alec's video, I really like the idea of a short stand for this one.