ausfire

Thank you again for all of those replies. I appreciate the advice given.
Apologies if my question was sketchy ... I thought I had given all that was required - 2ft of 1/2 " MS to a 4" round taper. I assumed by hand and not power hammer. (XXXX I've never even seen a power hammer let alone used one).

Most of the pokers I make have a square taper but occasionally I do round ones. I would like to learn how to put a hook on the end as well as a point, but I haven't figured that yet.

I can only go by what I read in books (Loreli Sims is brilliant), by reading past postings on this site and by watching videos on You-tube. In this part of Australia, blacksmiths are not too thick on the ground and I have only ever seen one blacksmith at work. He is in a town 700 km away and doesn't often come north. On his last visit he showed me how to punch holes , but that was two years ago.

So I appreciate the smiths with thousands of hours of experience who show patience with those of us who have heaps of enthusiasm and a willingness to learn, but who are not life-long practitioners of the noble art.

Thank you for all your answers.
It's not that I want to do these tapers superfast or anything, I just wondered what the 'normal' was. I admit (especially after watching that video) that my technique in using the far edge of the anvil may be somewhat lacking and I will practise more.
My tapers usually take about 6 or 7 heats. About 3 or 4 to make the taper and a couple more to more to round it and clean up the hammer marks. Maybe I should hit a bit harder.
I agree though, that we shouldn't be in a hurry and I'm happy to go along at an easy pace, especially since I'm not under pressure to turn out stuff on a commercial basis.
I like doing the finials and twists etc, but find tapering a bit onerous. More practice required.

OK, you have a 2ft length of 1/2 inch square MS bar. No tongs required. You want to forge a 4 inch round taper for a firepoker.
I would like to know, from you experienced smiths, how many heats would it normally take you to accomplish that?

When you're in the habit of keeping your glasses in the top pocket of your overalls and you lose them, the first place to look is in the quench tub.
I mislaid mine and it wasn't till a month later when I drained the murky water from the quench tub that I found them lurking among the offcuts and bits of failed project in the sludge.

Thank you for the advice. I think I may have been a bit too aggresive with only red heat. I will have another go with more heat, and I'll try a piece of tyne for a punch.
And yes, I am indeed fortunate to have acres of this stuff to play with.

I have a couple of questions about old steel found on farm machinery. Apologies if this sounds simplistic, but I have a lot to learn about different steels.
I am fortunate in that I have any amount of steel from old machinery available to me. I took a piece of 3/8 “ control rod from an old plough to forge a few hooks, but as soon as I went to draw it to a taper, the end split into fibres and the whole thing resembled a worn toothbrush. What sort of steel (iron?) is this and is it totally useless?? Or was I useless in drawing it out? I used the same technique as with ordinary mild steel.
In the second photo there is a large horse-drawn stick rake and its curved hoops appear to be 5/8 inch spring steel. I want to make an oval shaped eye punch for ram’s heads and I thought I should try that steel. I know it's hard to say from a photo, but is it likely to be suitable for punch making??

Frosty and Ronin, Thank you for explaining 86ing. It is a term I have never heard before and it's certainly not used in Australia. After your post I Googled 86ing (Sorry, should have done that first) and was surprised at the number of theories as to its origin.
Anyway, I now know what it means should I see it again, and hope I am never on the receiving end of it!!

86ing???

Creative, imaginative work. Great photography too!

I wasn't sure about those hammers with a square flat on one end, round on the other. Perhaps they are body hammers. And some of those large sledge hammers look to be too pointed, unless you are a very accurate sledger. I didn't know about the sheet metal seamers either.
And what did this thing hammer?? Nearest I can guess is very big rivets??

What do you do with a big bunch of old hammers?? I think I was pretty lucky to have this little lot land in my lap.
An old scrap dealer, close to retirement, had been chucking aside a few interesting old items for years and he asked me if I wanted some old hammers he had. The box weighed a ton but they looked interesting and I thought it was too good to pass up so they came home with me. There are a few odd looking ones there and I have no idea what they were for. There were a few punches and old chisels as well.
He also had a bunch of old tongs 'and stuff' and some handled chisels if I wanted them, so they went into the ute as well. Some appear to be still usable and some have shapes I can only guess at what they held.
He didn't want anything for them (and gave me a vice and some other goodies too)but said he would like one of my junk sculpture birds, and I am quite happy to oblige.
I think I did all right out of that. Here's a couple of pics anyway:

 

Greetings All,
 
Here comes the big one....  When doing a demo always keep a completed project in the slack tub...  IF YOUR DEMO DOES NOT GO RIGHT.. and it happens all the time... Just pretend you are doing the final cool down in the tub and take out the good one...  OLD TRICK..  Most never know..
 
Forge on and make beautiful things
Jim

  
That's a great bit of advice! A bit of slight of hand and no-one's the wiser. I'll remember that.
I have a couple of completed roses on display in presentation boxes but I keep one that is 'hot off the forge'. What people don't know is that I have curled and uncurled the petals on that one a number of times. It takes a long time to do a full rose at a demo, and people like to see an item in the finishing stages. A bit devious, but hey, I can live with that.

 

I modify tools all the time both for re-use and for "art".

Bottom of scrapped gas cylinders have been made into dishing forms, the valve protectors sold as wind bells.

.

Sounds interesting to make a bell from the valve protector, but not sure how that would work. Could you explain please??

Stove,
That's a very nice find. I have a few of those blowers too, but I have never seen one with such an elegant base. Most of mine are three-legged affairs that are a pain to move round. Most leg vices you find seem to have parted company with their springs - I'm sure you will adapt something to do the job. Interesting post - thanks.

 

You only turn the finial scroll on a hook backwards at demos, same for countersinking punched holes.
 
Frosty The Lucky.

Absolutely right. I've done both of those. That's when you explain that when working steel small mistakes are usually reversible and proceed to correct same.
Anyway, blacksmiths never make mistakes; we make progressive design modifications.

Thanks for all replies. This is a lot more serious a subject than I had thought. I'm going to investigate one of those respirators that fit under the welding helmet. I don't know if they are available in Australia but if not, I'll try the Millers one (Canada?)
The tendency is to be a bit blase about this, but as you point out, it needs to be taken seriously. I appreciate the advice.

I apologise if this is not the right forum for this discussion but I am wondering how you guys who do scrap art get on with welding some of the different metals we come across.
We have all experienced the toxicity of zinc oxide from welding galvanised stuff. Any gal pieces I want to use in my sculptures get a bath in HCl first. But some of the fumes that come off chrome-moly spanners, some high tensile steels, stuff with nickel coatings etc are a bit suspect and I wonder if they compromise our health.
I have an exhaust fan which helps, although I think it exhausts the argon from the mig too. You can't fit a respirator under the welding mask and I'm not sure those small particle masks exclude gaseous fumes.
(And contrary to popular belief, drinking heaps of milk doesn't cure the headaches from a dose of zinc poisoning from welding gal. Not for me anyway.)
So what do you do to protect yourself??

Nice work, Smoke. I like the way you get the tempering colours on the fish's body. I use plough disks for bases too; their concave base makes for extra good stability. Old satellite TV dishes work well for big things as well.
And I do like that cast frog.

Andrew, I have only just caught up with this project of yours. Mate, I'm absolutely blown away. Can't find the words to describe the beauty of this creation. I have spent some time looking over your pics and identifying all the parts - the tinsnips, the cultivator points, D shackles, gears, cogs, towballs, the drill tips down the mane ... all things I use in my scrap sculptures, but your skill in placing them so perfectly makes me feel sadly lacking. You are indeed the king of scrapology!!
I bow to your Greatness! And doubly so cos you're Australian! Onya mate.

 

That is amazing. How much does he weigh. ?

Sorry, I missed your question. I haven't actually weighed him but it takes two of us to lift him into the ute. The two brake drums used for the top of the legs add some weight. At an estimate I would say about 60 kg. Don't know what that is in pounds.

Clever. Can't tell the size from the pic. What size stock did you start with?

I don't much enjoy getting burnt, and a safety one I always keep in mind is this one:

All that glitters is not gold; all that's black is NOT COLD!

(It's not original; I read it somewhere. True though - we tend not to burn ourselves on red hot steel, always the black stuff!)

Nice work, sir. I like the way you have done the eyes on the dragonfly with the spoons.  I have done dragonflies with kitchen knives for the wings, too. They are just the right shape.

Now, how do you get on with the welding of the stainless steel and all that plated stuff you have in the guitar? Some of that stuff is pretty toxic (cadmium, chrome etc), and it's good headache material.  You can only hold your breath for so long!!

I use only charcoal in my forge. Mainly because it's easy to get - I just drive out into the bush and find it. besides, I don't know where I would find any coal or coke here. Ferocious freight costs from the south prohibit the thought.
I have found the charcoal I use (mainly eucalypt) is very hot. I have melted the leaves off hooks and the heads of snakes on occasions when I have been distracted or inattentive, or someone else is turning the blower for me.
I use charcoal by necessity, but I like it - cheap, clean, easy to light .. and hot.

Wow! A dragon on a grand 'scale'. A spectacular piece - great work!!