Dan Crabtree

the last part of making a rose is the best! getting to see the rose at a bright red... its awesome.

starting material was 2-1/2" x 5/8" bout 20 inches long I believe

It found a good owner at the repair days auction and helped out the musuem which makes me happy. I wish I could describe the construction breifly but it was a pretty complicated doing some forging and then some grinding and then some forging again and some more grinding. Ill try and put together a series of photos the next time I do something along the lines to help explain. Once again thanks for the comments.

I didnt get any construction pics but there was alot of grinding and sanding everywhere. lol Like alot of sanding

Here is a peice i just finished up for the Repair Days auction at the Metal Museum in Memphis, TN. Its about 28 inches tall made from mild steel. Forged and ground to shape and then alot of sanding and polishing. Pictures are not the best but if I find some better ones ill post them as well.

Made the basket out of 1/4 in. mild steel and forge welded the blade made out of an old file into it did some tig welding in there too before the final weld. The tang was bent at a 90 degree angle and left sticking out after the welding and then I wrapped it around the handle. Its out in Colorado being tested on an elk hunting trip.

Im 21 been employed as a blacksmith for a few years I'd say go for it man.

Yo mang! Im in Lebanon, IL I ussually get steel from Lickenbrock Welding in O'Fallon IL. They got good steel at a good price theres the awnser im sure you were lookin for.

Just get a 50lbs little giant sillys...

But seriously, my main forging hammer is a sledge style hammer. One of the faces is flat and the other has a convex shape to it. I prefer the convex surface for drawing steel as opposed to the well accepted cross or diagonal peens. Using the peen on a hammer creates to deep of hammer blows for me sometimes that later turn into hot shuts and then develop into problems. When I am really trying to move some steel by hand I will hold my hammer crooked and strike with the edge of the hammer, but this radius is not nearly as sharp as any of my cross peens.

but anyway about the original question, In my personal experience it is SLIGHTLY quicker to use the edge of the hammer and the edge of the anvil, HOWEVER I prefer to use the edge of the hammer on the face of the the anvil to move metal quickly, HOWEVER I prefer not to move metal so quickly and (I know someone is gonna come after me for this) dare I say sloppily as the 2 methods listed above. I would much rather just forge it out on all four sides nice and even and at a decent pace instead of trying to murder a poor defenseless piece of steel with the edge of my hammer.

Just my 2 coppers

Well, I was just about to post pictures of the table I finished up and ouch... you owned me. ill have them up later but geeeezzz, Way to go!

Fast, effective, wirebrush4tehwin

you can wire brush on your way to the anvil then forge normally. I think using water on the anvil is counter-productive as far as time goes. Putting water on an anvil and putting your hot steel onto the anvil is going to cool it rather fast, especially on a thin blade.

Or you could just get one of them grizzly belt grinders for knife making and leave as much scale as you like.

Moya thanks for the advice on places to look. I went to college for welding and got my certification. I can tig weld aluminium and stainless (I believe im better with aluminum than stainless) in all positions and make a fine looking bead once I get the machine set up how I like.

Aside from college I weld for my brother on race cars which involves alot of AL welding and a good bit of MIG. I can also stick weld but would rather not because its dirty hot work and I still want to be able to come home and put my heart into what I really enjoy and thats my own work.

The program at swic our local community college was very in depth and I'm confident that I could pass most weld test the only thing that may throw me off is very thin stainless I could use more practice on that.

O man. Games like world of warcraft, and dark ages of camelot < my personal fav. are already addicting enough. I would say that dark ages of camelot actually got me interested in smithing. Your doing a great thing lol. I quit playing mmorp awhile ago but if features like this are implemented in the future I may just start up again.

Frogvalley how do you usually bend your pipe? I like the idea of running the wire through before bending the pipe. I sand pack my pipes before bending and was going to do that on a lamp, this piece originally was going to be a fountain and then after the pipe was bent I decided to go with a lamp instead. Will dish soap deterirate the coating? Because that is what I tried to lube it with before I tried using a vacuum.

Ok so yesterday it was 66 degrees outside here in Illinois, Im close to St. Louis. Today its about 60 something and its been raining cats and dogs all day long and there have been tornado warnings.

Its normally freezing cold this time of the year so what is goin on?!

Global warming? Just a freak thing? or am I just too young to know stuff like this happens?

Honestly if ya ask me keep up the global warming if its gonna make it 65 degrees in December.
jk jk save the planet, green revolution, ect ect.

also has anyone noticed how big corporations have taken the "green movement" and turned it into a marketing tool? Yet they still dont put the ingredients on tooth paste.... hmmmmm

I havent checked into the toothpaste thing yet but apparently theres some nasty stuff in there. I hear your better off using baking soda, but still using aqua fresh here.

Oh, and what day is our new president inaugurated?

anyway thats about all the off the wall topics I had in mind let the opinions fly!

We tried the lube trick that didn't work, neither did just pushing a string or wire thru. Those are two great methods and much more practical but for such a tight bend it needed the vacuum. Did not know they made lube specifically for this wow, learn something every day.

Start of a series.... maybe. I imagine my next lamp will be similar in style but a floor lamp not a table lamp. Thanks for all the compliments. Happy hammerin

Ours burns pretty orange and runs on all different types of fuel, you can use diesel, kerosine, and some types of oil.

Not trying to hijack your thread but iv'e always wondered how safe are these things to use in a closed up shop? This is my first year using one.

Figured since this is the welding section I might as well throw in some welding info about the table I mentioned in my previous post.

*note i am not talking about the entertainment stand in the picture*

I had to attach a 1" sq bar (that is the legs) to the 5/8" sq bar (that is the table top).

Well being as I see myself as a blacksmith first welder second I forged the last 6 inches of the 1" bar down to a 2" x 5/8".

Then I beveled the top of the 2x5/8 bars to make V

Then Tig welded the beveled legs onto the table top with about 5 passes per bevel. This is what is called a single V groove weld right? I welded a section beveled to a V to a flat piece so is that the correct term for the weld? I got strait A's in welding class and blueprint reading about a year ago but my memory is terrible I think I might go break out my books in a minute.

I use TIG on alot of my work for a couple reasons the entertainment stand was stick welded purely to save money as it was a project for fun more than a product for sale. I like to use tig on my work because

1. Very sturdy
2. Clean and No sparks or spatter
3. Less toxic than most other methods and my shop doesn't have great ventilation. Someone please correct me If im wrong.
4. Leaves a nice looking weld I usually don't grind down my welds with tig because they don't look bad, a lot of times they are hardly noticeable once finished.
5. Tig is just super fun

Also Iv'e been considering getting a welding job for a steady check since I haven't been getting a ton of orders lately for blacksmithing. What are the chances of finding a Job where I can just sit there and TIG weld all day around St. Louis.... Does this job exist? lol

Im painting a table right now... well Im typing right now but the paint is drying. It will either be posted in the sculpture/art or blacksmithing section in the next few days to come its a MUCH more forged piece. It has scroll work and a a forged design for the table top and forged and twisted 1" sq bar for the legs. Im going to call to have glass cut on monday so keep an eye out.

Being as that i have grown up in the video game generation, im 19 yrs old atm. Im familiar with the Wii. Ive been blacksmithing for 5 years so i also have experience with that so let me see if I can help ya out.

When forging metal on an anvil the what ever you do on one side is more or less duplicated on the other. The angle that you hold the metal and the angle that you strike is a key factor as well. The strength of the hammer blows is also a factor as well as the heat. The bar also cools at its smallest point quicker than the larger points.

Heres how I believe forging a scroll should work on the Wii console.

Lets say we start with a 1/2 sq bar about 3 ft. long.

We begin by making a point.

Heat the bar in the forge. The intensity of the heat in the forge could be controlled by a cranking movement of the hand with the right handed controller (assuming it will be a coal forge)

Once it reaches the correct temp. pull it out of the fire using a jerk with the left handed controller.

Bring it to the anvil and adjust your angle. I would say raise the left controller to about 15 degrees from level and then with the right controller which would represent a hammer at an angle and swing down with the hammer angled at about 15 degrees the other way.

Turn the bar or left controller 1/4 turn and continue to hammer as stated above. Harder swings would be necessary at the beginning.

Heat and repeat as necessary. Until a point is achieved the smaller the tip of the bar gets the quicker it would cool and the lighter the blows must be so that you dont just flatten the now pointy tip.

The scrolling would be done on the horn of the anvil. hold the left controller level and then mimic hammering over the horn with the right controller by swinging it at a downward angle and also moving the left controller downward.

This is just a basic example of what I would imagine a Wii forging simulator to be like... I have often dreamed of one of these if you have any questions I would imagine I would be the go to guy for your questions I consider myself a well established blacksmith as well as a huge fan of videogames. PM me if you would like some of my contact info I wouldn't mind discussing this over the phone It may be a bit easier to explain. Also If by the rare chance your located near me I would love to help work on a project like this.

Also get with a local blacksmith or smithing club and get into the shop explain your motives and learn how the metal works yourself.

The top pane of glass is supported on each of the 4 corners and then again in the cross in the center. The 2 bottom panes are supported on each corner as well.

Heres some picture of an entertainment stand one of my friends and I built. We used some bolts he got from work. He climbs radio towers and got some old bolts that were about 3" long. We came up with a design he cut out the pieces and I stick welded them together. We put together a wooden base and had glass cut. He gave it to his younger brother as a gift. Let me know what ya think.

I have always wanted to do a lamp and have gotten use to working with tubing lately so I finally got around to it. Its not quite done yet, I need to secure the bulb and decide how i am going to finish it.

The hardest part was fishing the cord through the tube. Some of my friends an I hooked a vacuum to the bottom and sucked a shoestring into the tube. It went around the loop and out the other side. We then tied the cord onto shoestring and pulled it through.

This method was the only thing we could get to work after about 30 minutes of trial and error. Let me know what ya think.

It was Myth Busters where they did that test. The test was to see if a hammer could EXPLODE. They found that hitting them together will not cause an explosion of over hardened carbon steel. They did however make it clear that hammers do CHIP and can cause serious injury.

This reminds me of a project we did in highschool making chisels. We were told to forge the chisel then anneal, grind to shape, harden, temper, and then sharpen. My chisel made it way thru the bolt after about 3 or 4 swings. One other student who didn't pay as much attention just hardened his chisel and did not temper it.... He made it thru the bolt in 1 swing. However on a 2nd try the chisel broke. I dont know how hard the bolt was but...

The lesson to be learned here is yes you can make a chisel that is extremely hard and can cut thru something else that is hard, but dont sacrifice safety. Someone could have been hurt. Now I'm not saying that you couldn't make a chisel that was safe to use and could cut a hard nut or bolt... Just something to consider for anyone who tries this... Safety First!

I would say just make your own hammer and save yourself a ton of money.