Jacques

I've got the Lindsay reprint, and I will consider myself a real blacksmith the day I can do every project in that little book.

I recognize Tiaan's axe in the middle, and on the left was made by Neels. Is the top one by Hylton? Who made the others?

Now this is really nice.

I think it is heavy enough not to move while bending. So far I've done 1/4" flat bar without a problem. I don't really have a good place to put it, and I cannot anchor it to the floor in the position it is in now. And I need to be able to move around it. It is now outside the workshop under a lean-to, and that is why it is dusty. The workshop is clean. (Coal dust is clean, isn't it?)

The original use of this table was the side of a machine that was already cut into pieces at the scrapyard. I bought it because I wanted to strip all the pneumatics and other components of it. The original plan was to sell it back as scrap and then I realized it would make a nice bending table. I had to make the legs, fortunately my steel supplier had some off-cuts, and then I mounted my two benders to it. It has a 10mm thick top, and there were enough drilled and tapped holes in all the right places so I didn't have to drill any holes into the table. It is as solid as anything I could wish for and will make a very useful addition to my little workshop. The color is because I had it.

In the end it comes down to how honest you are. As one guy said he always try to copy the great craftsmen's work but he hasn't managed it yet. There is a similar thread now at Sawmillcreek.org, and they quoted something from Fine Woodworking magazine.

Nice article, and I really like that clock. Maybe another project?

I really like it.

7bcf4eb14ca67da1166bc25531e6768b

My new anvil stand for my 100kg anvil. My old one was just a plywood box filled with sand, it served me well for a few years but I decided I need something more robust. The steel is 50 x 100mm channel from the scrap yard, and lots of grinding and welding later I ended up with this. A piece of hardwood between the anvil and stand, and two pieces of angle holding the anvil to the stand. I also drilled and tapped 8mm holes around the stand so that I can attach anything to it. I already started making holders for a tool tray.

Thank you, I've saved the link. And a bit of a rant on my side, but it irritates me when people lump everything African together. It is a big continent, and there is a lot of difference between different cultures. I like to tell people that Nigeria is closer to Germany than South Africa.

We have got a little saying in the workshop: "When you buy a machine you pay for the things you cannot see." These things are the little tweeks that the manufacturer did to make the machine good. It may not be much, but it makes a big difference in the final performance. If I could afford, I would buy new. Until then, I've got this idea for a belt grinder that has been knocking around my skull for a while......

This little 3' x 2' x 1" steel table top I found at the scrapyard a while ago. I made the legs and then had to figure out how to pick up 200kg and mount it on the legs. It will be a useful addition to my workshop, weighs twice as much as my anvil. I am still trying to figure out what to use the jig on top for before I grind it off. The steel bin is fitted with in and outlet piping and an overflow. 1.4m long and 700mm wide, 400mm deep. Not sure what I am going to use it for, but I am sure it will be very useful. The rollers already got another use.

This is my first go at forging an axe. Starting material was EN9 (1055), 40mm round. The eye was punched, and the rest forged out by hand. Handle is laminated oak with rosewood insert, finished with linseed oil and beeswax. I made a lot of mistakes, starting off with punching the eye off-center. Took me about 12 hours over a period of 5 weeks, a lot of that time spend fixing mistakes.

I took an old tin, painted it black, filled it with sand and push the flower stems into the sand. Works well but not very classy.

"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." I only had a 3 ft piece of chimney lying around and we always have lots of empty paint tins. The result were very good. A bit windy today, so there were some smoke blown sideways but at periods all the smoke went up. I am now very keen on a decent chimney, I never thought it would make such a difference.

Suddenly I've got a tiny little project for tomorrow.

I actually had my dollies and slapper out for planishing and decided that between my lack of skill and lack of time it had to be good enough, so left it as is. My inspiration were Hagar the Horrible, but I did google to see the right helmet but decided the horns would look cooler. The little flower on the top is copper with a leather insert. When I drilled the hole for the river the drill broke off in the hole, in attempting to sort that out I managed to break another drill, and had to hide the resulting mess somehow. Nanowrimo is National Novel Writing month. "National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to creative writing. On November 1, participants begin working towards the goal of writing a 50,000-word novel by 11:59 p.m. on November 30. Valuing enthusiasm, determination, and a deadline, NaNoWriMo is for anyone who has ever thought fleetingly about writing a novel."

It is this balance between what is correct and what is the cheapest and easiest. But the idea was to be cool, so thanks for that. I think you almost insulted me there. :lol: But at least you didn't ask me to paint the horns blue.

I got invited to a Nanowrimo kick-off party this Thursday. And we were invited to come in costume. One of the symbols of Nano is a viking helmet, so this is my version of a historically incorrect one. Frame from 3 x 25mm flat bar, welded together. Paint tin lids bashed into the approximate shape and spotwelded to the frame. Rivets are upholstery nails that were epoxied into small holes in the frame and clinched over on the inside. Horns were cut on the bandsaw and sanded to shape on the belt sander, no idea what sort of wood it is. Axe, 16 mm rebar and an old saw blade, all edges and corners carefully rounded. Total time: 8 hours for the helmet ( most of the time trying to figure out how next) and 1 hour for the axe.

From my local scrapyard. 5" medium duty castors, 75 in total, 28 usable as is, and I know where to get wheels for the rest All for the price of 2 new ones.

I sometimes use Draftsight. Developed by Dassault Systèmes, good support, I get weekly emails from them, and it is free.

From the local scrapyard, a very incomplete 3" and an almost complete 5".

Welkom. Nice to have another one here. Whereabouts are you?

It was done with a creativity grant, and it is definitely creative.