beth

nick i like how youve  made that - i love that way of making a ball on the end, although ive never tried it. i imagine there is some satisfaction to that. ill keep looking to see how it turns out :)

chuck you made me laugh about what your wife said :) - im sure like you said, thats not really what you heard. your ears just playing tricks on you :)

chuck - its scarey times when the mpg is in single figures... : (  10 is more like the start of a feasible conversation about a trip out! i reckon we dont get  more than 15 out of this.... trouble is, like i said, its stored where you see it on the kerb, in the rain. its criminal..... :(

ian - i was just about to say the same! debbie im in glos - your MORE than welcome to come and visit my workshop, im an artist before a blacksmithrelly and truly, but i like to make all kinds of things, and depending on what kind of things you want to make, i can maybe help a bit. alan who ian just mentioned, is the real deal, and indeed, yes an awesome chap :) and a genius and proper artist smith. he lives near me. what kind of metalwork do you like or want to make? what are your areas of interest? :)

chuck its amazing. specially as it was you fathers!  i love that shape truck, where its so long out the front - you had that shape longer than we did here, ours flattened out! i totally hope you have some time some day to work on it - its a fabulous looking bus. its the cost too though isnt it : (  i have an old bus myself, 1959 so bit younger than yours, its a bedford s type bus body with a mollycroft top on it, on a 4x4 bedford rl chassis. it is in ok condition, but needs constant maintenance as it is kept outside in my rainy damp country. i read a book years ago called some turtles have nice shells, by roger d beck      which is full of trucks like yours, and i fell in love with them then! its all that wide open space you have - you can afford to have these huge long things! youd get stuck in the misty lanes here.... sorry, i wont mess up the thread any more - saw the picture on another thread and just had to comment this time :)

 i like that too chuck - i like the way youve fixed those radial looking spokes - it looks cool! i bet its quite tactile too. 

by the way i LOVE your bus. thats insanely good... what is it? 

dont know where you are toby, and there are millions of books you could buy, but you cant beat hands on, just starting trying a few things - i would suggest going to the blacksmiths guild in devon, john b who represents them on here does lots of courses covering all sorts of things, ive been on a couple and they are really good. thats your best bet if your south, if your north there will be others, but there is only so much you can learn from books! good luck! :)

nice mellow answers from the guys here :) i completely agree with all of you - sletteng just make what really interests you, thats the work that you will be best at anyway - it would be dreadful if we all made the same things in the same way...

sorry andrew i was confused  -  thought it was daves thread -  nice one - how wonderful to help make your own hammer! i would love to do that. a special tool indeed :)

dave that looks so beautiful! it is a piece of sculpture even if it wasnt useful. heaven :)

thats lovely! the whole shape is good, and i love that youve been brave with the colors -  too many boring chandeliers out there! works well in its wooden surroundings too :) 

ok slowish, but steady rhythm ...

dodge its great! that looks lovely and i think the mosaic pins are SUPER SWEET!!!!!!! :)

hi dan :) in lovely cornwall!  im in glos - the beautiful shires, am an artist if im anything at all, and i love finding out what i can do with hot metal - im glad you got the bug, this is a high quality activity :)!!! 

are we saying anneal to get it soft enough then?

im always impressed when people make hammers :) seems so USEFULL compared to what i come up with :) i like the look of all that matt. 

thanks james yes that does help - it is tricky for me without any manual with pictures to know what it where and how - i wont take that off at all then, just fill up with the new oil and experiment withe the rate of drips :) thankyou very much!

nice one andrew - thanks - and good luck with the show and whatever is next :)

thanks for the oil info fe wood - and about the over oiling,  i am probably mistaken, but i thought i remember reading do not overfill, rather than a comment about the drip rate of oiling for either part of the hammer... i guess i will see if i have damaged anything when i take the oil reservoir off..

excellent!!! i LOVE electric light on sculptures - please photograph it lit if you can - id love to see that :)

ps blue shades would work well against an english sky......!

andrew its looking great! my favourite bits are the brushy bits round those lovely colours, and the bits on the very outer rim -  i hope your pleased with him?

have drained most of the old oil ( will have new oil on monday to start working through)

a couple of things, the oil in the sump - is that a kind of dump sump, i am assuming that is waste oil, but not sure where it has drained from... there is about half and inch or less of used oil and nothing else i can see, and also no external indicator of the level, although i usually just drain a bit off when i remember and that seems to be ok. the other thing, if i take the oil reservoir off to clean it, is there anything complicated and pinging off-y in there or should i open it carefully, is it just a reservoir and these valves your all on about? 

 i have lost (unfortunatly) the manual, or rather the pamphlet i had, which was not at all comprehensive or helpful, but was at least something, in it i remember, when i first got it, it said in BIG BOLD LETTERS not to overfill with oil... the thing is, the glass indicators on the front of the oil reservoir are completely useless and dont ever look any different ( i remember something about the top one needing to be half full or something similar) so, in my paranoia of UNDER oiling i am worried that i may have been contributing to my problems by overfilling ( because i usually just fill it up to the top when i add oil because if these gauges being useless) and somehow have damaged or jammed up the valves inside there. 

thankyou! 

ian, am sat at that very same table now, and your absolutely correct :) 

thans john, but you didnt supply mine remember - i went rogue and got an ebay one..... :ph34r: (second hand but only 20 odd hours use, not run in - all sounding reassuringly like the problems on this thread)  your help on this thread is fabulous though -  THANKYOU!

fe-wood no its not to late and thanks - turkey baster nice idea! i will source one. its saterday so i have been unable to get the oil i want, i could only get a thicker one locally, and alsorts of other ridiculous domestic annoyances have got in my way this morning, but i am warming the hammer up as we speak to at least get the old oil out, i have a little bit of the correct oil from a machine my husband uses, but perhaps not enough... anyone have any idea how much i would expect to need? its not a massive problem i can guess and have surplus if i have to...

moony i knew you were a class act :) and you dan! loving the skin test - id have believed you anyway :) i might even have to try this, i refuse to believe it is a man thing....