ausfire

There were one or two spaces where a rail spike would have been a perfect fit, but I resisted the temptation!!

Have been working on this bench for the last couple of weeks. A variety of scrap used here, but this time, not ONE rail spike!! The legs are support brackets for the running board of an old logging truck and above them I used two picks for the backrest supports. The sides and arms are mainly leaf spring sections with the scrolled eyes left on. There are two steering control arms on the bottom at each side. The back just happened to be the right size for four brake rotors and the top is one long leaf spring filled in with rings, spring shackles, hames hooks and a bike sprocket. I added the Valiant Regal badge as a bit of bling. The seat is from ironbark slabs and the backrest is N.Q. Maple. Now we need a matching side table to put our coffee cups on!

Made a fire poker and a shifty lizard today. Nothing special … except it was special because it was the first demo I have done for the last 10 weeks! Our Historic Village was allowed to open with limited numbers and social distancing observed, so it was nice to see visitors around the forge again.

Hans, I have looked back over your work again - there is just so much to see there. I have a small Facebook site here dedicated to scrap art . Would it be OK to post your Anglerfish photo? I'm sure others would love to see that?

Hans, welcome back. What a great pleasure to scroll through all your wonderful and totally unique sculptures here. The cassowary is especially appealing to me, as I live in cassowary country. The lantern fish is so creative - a real masterpiece. Your work is truly inspirational. Could I suggest that you create a platypus? I'm sure your take on that would be astounding.

Sounds like a good idea. Actually, a barn owl would be appropriate because we don't get horned owls in Australia. I make mine with horns because it helps give a curious look, especially with the head tilt.

Had a bit more time for scrap art. Our historic village is closed for the time being, so my daily blacksmith demos are no longer. On the day before we closed, a lady really wanted my scrap owl that I had on display, so I sold it. Had to make another to replace it and here it is:

G'day Peter. Your red gum block looks the part. Got a big lump of blue gum myself. Love the beer sign!

Thank you all for the encouraging comments. Thinking of another bench now using some old steel wheels as end pieces. Not a new idea, I know, but all these things are unique in their own way. And it won't have a rail spike anywhere near it!

This is the second rail spike bench seat. The first has exactly 100 spikes and this one has 110 spikes. The reason is that the railway came to our town in 1910 so there's one spike for every year since then. The chair will be on our station platform and will commemorate 110 years of railway here. 107 of the spikes are the steel round head type but the Clydesdale shoe in the middle was a good spot to place three of the old wrought iron 'dog spikes'. The cast iron door knob in the centre adds a bit of interest and breaks up the line of spikes.

Hey, fellow Australians. Just caught up with some posts here. Hope you're all well and getting in some blacksmith time. My daily demos at our historic village have come to a grinding halt, but I still get a bit of forge time at home. More time to spend on scrap art now. Not much to say really, just checking in to say g'day.

Brilliant. The tentacle spike opener is just amazing … not only decorative but also very functional. The top twist I call a spaghetti twist, as suggested by a young visitor to my forge.

I think we have found the answer. It's the business end of an old style syphon pump similar (but not identical) to this one. Here's picture from an early 1900s catalogue:

Nodebt, I do actually have another one of these, but I don't think it's what you're looking for. Anyway, I took a photo because it's easier to see than the one on the pelican. No one seems to know what it is.

Found a thing that looked like a pelican's head, so made the rest from an old buggy spring, a couple of picks, a water pipe and a pair of U-bolts. It's heading to a beach house down on the coast. Anyone know what that head/beak piece is???

Hi Everyone, Keeping myself amused forging little lizards out of old threaded rod. And building up some stock of longhorn card holders.

Thanks all. I don't get much time to do scrap art … still trying to keep up with the touristy stuff at the daily demos. Visitor numbers have dropped markedly recently though, so I may be able to do more junk sculpture. The crocodile I did for last year's local show gets a lot of attention at our museum. Now, I need to think of something to create for this year's show.

Just a funny bird put together with scrap from around the workshop. The bit of bike sprocket for the crown and the curly neck 'feathers' give her a regal look. I call her Princess.

Been running a bit short of mild steel for demos, so resorted to some rebar. I've come to quite like working rebar - it comes in a variety of sizes, different patterns and polishes well. And I still think it makes the best snakes!

Loads of wrought here, Bonnskij. Very happy to give you some to play with.

Nice work on those small knives, mate. Would like to see one in person. Take a drive up the range to my forge at Herberton Historic Village and we'll compare ideas. Lots of old steel here (and wrought iron) if you need some.

After two weeks of waiting we now have the internet back. Good to catch up with some of the posts I have missed. Thanks to Brasso, for posting this during our dark ages.

Thanks for posting the video and photo Morris. This is from my phone ... it does some strange things. Hope to have internet back at home by end of month. Telstra is being a pain.

Beautiful roses KC. Yep, that's my demo for tomorrow!

We are not doing too badly here in the tropics, but our hearts go out to those caught up in the 'mega blaze' (journo term) in the southern states. We do have serious fires up here from time to time, but not as explosive as those being experienced at present. A firefighter said that the concentration of eucalypt oils is much higher down there, and those crown fires and ember attacks are just unstoppable. We count our blessings here in the north, where we have more rainforest trees and a wetter climate. And I concur totally with Marc's comments about hazard reduction burning. Don't want to make anything political out of this tragedy, but the Greens have a lot to answer for, and their time will come a the next election. Meanwhile the fires go on and on. We thank those of you on the other side of the world for your concern and kind thoughts.