Chris Comtois

Yes, I drilled the insulator using a diamond spade bit for glass. Actually several bits - the 3/8 bit for the final hole was apparently too big to drill through all at once and I broke a couple insulators as soon as it broke through; I had better luck starting with a very tiny bit and then gradually increasing the size of the hole. I like the copper end cap idea. I originally used pipe flanges but they looked a little large and cumbersome. There is no real finish on this yet - I just used black steel pipe and brushed the heck out of it with a wire wheel.

Not really blacksmithing, but I chanced across a supply of glass telegraph insulators with a cool industrial look and was inspired.

I have a hammer head very similar to the one on the bottom. Best my local club could come up with is a really big fuller.

Headers for really bog bolts?

Not the kind of problems you're probably thinking of. I'm going for a rust finish on a project for a friend. Living in Michigan, I've left it outside in the damp for several weeks. A good start, but some areas aren't rusting. I poled around on here and found a concoction of H2O2, salt and vinegar which sped the process along, but not fast enough in certain areas. The areas that aren't rusting (tips of the horseshoes shown below) were parts of the horseshoe that were stamped with the brand name - I used torch welding rod (sorry don't have the brand or composition right now) to build up these areas. I suspect that's the issue. Any tips?

Dustin yes the smaller branches are all welded on.

....your own phone contains more photos of gates and other iron work, than the children and pets.

That's sweet! How is the slab attached?

"#2: I am the master of my own house, actions and belongings – including my blacksmith shop - but that is not a measure of skill." Heck, I'm married so I can't even claim that one!

My daughter saw a jewelry tree in a fancy store and asked if I could make one. Here is my first pass. Learned a few things I would do differently, by we're both pleased with the result.

D'oh! There you go being all logical. Dustin, the copper rings are pre-cut plumbing attachments I found in the bargain bin at Home Depot - yes they are basically just short lengths of pipe that I split lengthwise to slip around the hoop, then crimped together. If I did it again, I think I would do it the hard way and slip the whole bit over the bar, then bend, weld and paint the bar so the pieces aren't cut and crimped. But they were kind of an afterthought as a way to attach the dreamcatcher.

Made this for a friend who gifted me a boxed DVD season of Game of Thrones. 3/8 inch square bar. The top ring I bent around an old oxygen cylinder, the bottom ring I used my new pipe bender tool. Bottom platform is woven and riveted to the ring - I will not do that again, unless I can think of a better way than heat one strap, bend it out of the way, heat another strap, bend it back, etc. It came out very lumpy in the end and I spent way too much time trying to flatten it back out.

Yeah the feet are to stick into the ground to anchor it. If you look the main stem also goes all the way through a hole in the base and sticks in the ground as well - I figured with all the heavy wool stuff it would be good to keep it from falling over. I cheated with the basket twist - I welded four 1/4 inch bars together, then welded that piece in between the main stem and the pointy piece on top.

My Uncle and Aunt are members of a Revolutionary War reenactment group and go to a lot of demonstrations. They wanted a rack to hang bags and other items on while in camp. Here's what I came up with. Made from 1/2 inch square. The whole thing is about six feet tall. The feet come off for east transport and storage.

Wife said she'd like a trellis in the garden. I saw this as an opportunity to purchase the oxy acetylene cutting torch and pipe bender I'd been looking at! Frame is half inch hollow square brazed together, heron, sun and waves are freehand torch cut from eighth inch plate and the reeds are hand forged.

My first attempt with a scrap I had lying around. Not sure of the size, but it's pretty beefy in the hand.

Visions of all the blacksmiths I know wearing stretchy pants........

When I worked on a mobile drill rig we used a tool very similar to that, called it a "rod dog". When you are pulling a long piece of tooling (pipe) out of the ground you use the dog to put a bind on it, to keep it from sliding back down the hole while you adjust the hoist. Ours were beefier, but they looked very similar.

I'm not overly adept at the small stuff, but I figured this would give me a chance to practice. I thought about the basket twist but wasn't sure how to go about it, being hung up on using quarter inch - wire is a simple and elegant solution for that. I love the acorn idea - I wanted to do those first, so I'll put some old drill bits to work for me on that one. I don't even want to think about the heartache and frustration a quarter inch dragon head would cause - you're a better man than I!

I'm doing a project for a friend who wants to display chandelier crystals in her window, like a sun catcher. She wants it relatively small - about the diameter of a pencil and 18 inches long, so I'm thinking quarter inch since I happen to have some laying around. I'm looking for ideas for finals on the ends - like a tiny curtain rod. Besides a curl or leaf, any suggestions for tiny finals?

Thanks gentlemen!

Apologies for resurrecting this oldie, but I couldn't find my answer elsewhere and this seemed like a good spot to ask. I need to remove the zinc from about a dozen, 1 1/2 inch washers so I can tack weld them together. I figured I'd soak them in vinegar since that process was mentioned and I happen to have vinegar available as opposed to HCl or muriatic acid. My question is, how long do I need to soak them (until the zinc is gone being the obvious answer) and how do I know when the zinc has been removed? Will the washers be visibly different than when they went in? Thanks!

So what it sounds like is, if I make a casting or otherwise "exact" replica of somebody's work it's bad (which makes perfect sense and I agree with totally) but if I see a piece of work on the internet or art fair and decide to make my own it's OK? I don't necessarily mean legally, since we're blacksmiths, not lawyers. Is it kosher to do a google search for "candlesticks", get some design ideas, make a few and sell them?

Hang your horseshoe with the points down, so the luck runs out over your forge. Especially when forge welding!

A 250 pound anvil weighs more when you are 36 years old than it did when you were 26.