ausfire

I have searched this but didn't find any references, so would welcome your suggestions/ideas.
Rose leaves have a fine serrated edge and I would like to achieve that on the very thin leaves of my roses. My method at the moment consists of clamping the hot leaf in the vice and chiseling in the small indentations, one side at a time. Works OK, but perhaps you guys have a way of making the serrations a little sharper, neater and more regular.
Another method I tried was forging the leaves from 10mm threaded rod, pushing the metal so that the threads made the serrations. Some success but not really what I'm looking for.
I thought of trying to make a special tool using the curved jaw from some pliers.
All suggestions gratefully received.

If you're not in a tearing hurry, submerge them in a 10% molasses solution for a couple of weeks. They'll come out spotless.

 

like this

 
Nice arrangement there, Steve. Is that a couple of gum leaves and gum nuts I spy bottom left?? Little bit of Australia there?

Mate, it's pretty easy. You just get a brass brush from your hardware store. I usually take the rose from the forge and sandblast the scale off the hard to get at parts and then back into the forge to a warm heat - not red hot.
Apply the brass brush to produce the burnished effect where required.
Be wary when buying brass brushes. Some are falsely represented as brass, when in fact they are brass-coated steel. No good. Easy way is to carry a magnet with you. If the brush is attracted to the magnet, it ain't brass.

That's a nice idea to wrap the vase with vines and leaves. And the fact that you made the vase from a lump of pipe is all the more special. Nice work.

Half a tonne of scarifier points!!!! I hesitate to ask how you came by such a huge haul. My guess is that you are in a broad acre farming area or something where these things get worn out. I'm ashamed to say that I desperately needed one for the other half of an emu beak and I had to resort to a new one through mail order!! I have since found a few. I live in an area in the hills where they are not used much, but then again, I have an abundance of mining gear and old hammers and picks etc which make great beaks. Here are a couple of crazy birds with pick beaks:

Fantastic! That's one serious looking eagle!

Andrew, I posted a couple more pics of the kangaroo in the other thread.
Those tillage tips would make good dinosaur feet. I have made the feet - just need the rest of the dinosaur. Speaking of T-rex, have a look at a BIG old Stilson wrench - I did a T-rex out of one of those. The head is just about already made. The back took some bending though.

Andrew,
Thanks. Yes, I do have access to lots of scrap. I invite people to dump their metal rubbish on my property instead of taking it to the rubbish tip. I'll dump what's rubbish.
I was interested to read your comment about 'use your best bits'. A good principle, because there is a tendency to 'save' the best bits for a future project. My wife agrees - she gets out the crystal for a glass of wine.
Anyway, here are a couple more angles of the kangaroo. Yes, the elbows are made from tug hooks from the horse hames. No doubt you have a few of them too. Interesting that the flat of the hook is stamped with the maker's mark and many of them have a kangaroo stamp. I was told they were made in England, ironically. There's an "Emu" brand too, in the shape of an egg. I tried forging one of those hooks once. Not as easy as it looks.
Anyway, here's more of Skip:

Thank you all for the positive comments. A very simple project, but something nice for the kids. Neil, if you make some please post pics - it would be good to see others' interpretations. Lots of scope for variety and innovation.

 

you have all the interesting creatures there, all we have here are haggis, strange things that have long legs on one side and short legs on the other for walking round hills in Scotland.
 
done any Drop bears for the tourists?

 
Drop bears! Now there's a thing! That would get the tourists in. Perhaps a Bunyip or two as well!

 

I disagree Ausfire, you can sell creativity.

Yes. I take your point. I guess I worded that wrongly. It's just that some people see the piece is made of junk and think it's easy, disregarding the creativity involved.

Thanks Frosty,
Yeah, have sold quite a few of this type of thing. Trouble is each one is different, and when I finish making one I want to keep it. Our place is full of these sculptures.
There's an art gallery in our town which sells my stuff and they always want more. The pieces do take a fair bit of time - a constant process of problem solving, fitting just the right piece etc. It's a bit hard to keep up to the demand.
And how do you price something like that? You can't charge by the hours of work, and people think that because it's made of junk it has to be cheap. You can't sell creativity.
I've sold a few wall frogs like the one below. They are quite popular here in the tropics where we often have real tree frogs crawling up the wall.

Andrew,
This is absolutely amazing. You have just got everything so right. The glass adds vibrancy and colour. My scrap pile has so much of what you use - dozens of horse hames, old bar mower points, valves, insulator hooks (I always melt the lead off them) and so much more. Even your workshop looks like mine. I see the slag hammer on the floor - all arc welded??
You (and your wife) must be very proud of the peacock. I like the curvature of the neck and his stately look.
My wife is clever with glass too, (tiffany lamps, copper foiling, that sort of thing) but rarely have we combined the two art forms. You have provided food for thought, sir.
Enjoyed your photo sequences very much. Thank you.

There’s a little girl who comes to my demos (her Mum works with us) and she keeps asking me if I can make a butterfly. The boys are more interested in knives and spears and snakes, but she wants a butterfly. There is probably a granddaughter or niece or neighbour in your life who would like one of these.
I like to do junk art so I thought perhaps an old hinge might be a good starting point. I realise there are probably many ways of achieving this, but I have outlined my procedure below:

Step 1: Select an old rusty door hinge and mark out the shape of a butterfly. The holes in the hinge will add interest and help with maintaining the symmetry.


Step 2: By whatever means you like, cut out the rough shape. You could forge it and chisel it out or use an angle grinder as I did.


Step 3: File it to shape and remove all burrs. No point in working with sharp edges when they are easy to remove.


Step 4: Decide what part of the hinge centre you are going to use and cut off the excess. Keep the pin for the body.


Step 5: Adjourn to the forge. Use heat on each wing in turn and hammer out to the shape desired. A small ball pein hammer leaves a nice dimpled. I tried to leave the holes untouched to keep the idea of the hinge intact. I also left the makers name (Davies, Australia) visible on the hinge leaf. I balanced it with my own touchmark on the opposite wing.
Step 6: When all four wings are thinned out to the size you want (you can go paper thin if you like) take all the different punches and markers you have, to create a pattern on each wing. Try to keep the symmetry. If the recipient of the butterfly is handy, they might like to suggest what shapes or patterns they would like.


Step 7: I kept the hinge pin, upset the top end a bit and forged a little head on it. Taper the tail end (not too sharp) and a few little bars add interest. Or maybe a twist in the tail end. And I know from experience that kids like things with eyes, so I punched a couple of eyes in the front. On another one I discarded the hinge pin and used an old engine pushrod instead. It already had a nice swelling for the head.
Step 8: Optional. I gave it a bit of a blast in the sandblaster to remove any unwanted scale and then back into the forge to heat it enough to burnish the wings. I like the contrast between the brass finish and the darker metal. Blue tempering colours look good too. If you want to get really flash you could solder on a pair of curly copper feelers.


Step 9: Preserve with a bit of oil, lacquer, wax, whatever your preferred finish is.
Of course you can make these by cutting shapes from plate. A small piece off a plier handle makes a good body, as they have a knurled texture. Lots of options … and one happy little girl.

I made this bunch of roses and we found an old brass artillery cartridge for a vase. I usually put a bit of brass burnishing on the roses, so the vase matched well. This vase has had some handles soldered on in the past. These old shells are not uncommon in my area of Australia and I'm sure secondhand stores around the place would have them. Common trench art objects. Here's a pic:

Australia has two monotremes (egg laying mammals) - the echidna and the platypus. Here are my junk sculptures of this Aussie pair:
The echidna is built on a car muffler. The platypus is, well, anything I could find, starting with a small axehead (widened and punched in the forge) and a couple of ball bearings.

Love the attitude! great stance , clever use of  the  'right'  part  , - well done mate ,  what is your next masterpiece?

 
G'day Scrap,
Next masterpiece? Well, not sure , but as you would know, there's always something in mind. I'm thinking a ringtail possum on a branch with forged gum leaves and gum nuts would look good. we are indeed fortunate in Australia to have so many great animals to draw our inspiration from. I like to do snakes in the forge, red bellied blacks and copperheads. My scrap animals include echidnas (a catalytic converter and a hundred or so three inch nails), platypus, lizards and crocs, scorpions and bull ants, and a few domestic things like Oxy (the gas bottle daschund), cat doorstops and potplant holders. chooks and roosters, gas bottle pigs etc.
Just finished a cassowary. Wouldn't call it a masterpiece, but here's a pic anyway. The casque on his Head is an axe, scarifier beak, ballbearing eyes and lots of scrap bar.

 

You have to fill us in the US as to the conversion rate for au$ to US $.   We could better weigh in.  Are anvils very hard to come by in that part of the world?

 
Yes, about 88c U.S. at the moment. And anvils are pretty hard to find here, I guess like everywhere. I know that many were scrapped and melted for the war effort and so many were just dozed into holes (along with lovely old steam engines and stationary engines) on rural properties. I've heard stories from people that come to my demos about how they used to have a big anvil but .....Some would make you cry.
And BTW, I do not approve of these clowns who get enjoyment out of lining up two lovely anvils base to base, filling the void with black powder and blowing them sky high. If you don't know what I mean check it out on You-tube. Vandalism.

Lovely work, Colleen. I do a lot of hooks (leaves mainly) and never thought of using a twist top. You have perfected them, and they are very attractive hooks. Well done!

Lovely idea. A lot of hearts there. You're a patient man!!

Andrew,
As a fellow 'scrapologist', I am enjoying looking at your creations. I like the comical nature of the kangaroo. The cam legs look great and you must have an enormous supply of scarifier points. I use them often too. A couple of them welded together make a convincing emu head.
Looking forward to seeing more of your work.

Very clever! I too, have done a number of waterbirds like this. I like the way you have lifted one leg. My yard has dancing brolgas similarly posed.
What part of Oz are you from?? Flooding? Bundaberg or Rocky perhaps???

That's Smaug alright! Great work!! Tolkein would be proud!

Here's a pic of my scrap kangaroo. The head is mounted on a bearing so can be in any position. The are two Bosch spark plugs on his front. I call him Skippy the Bosch kangaroo. (My fellow Australians will understand that!)
Yeah, I know. Too much time on my hands.