Dan Crabtree

Im glad you asked about the wood grain tool, good luck trying to duplicate it. It was simply luck that I made it. One day I was making some powerhammer tools and I came across a piece of steel that was cut with an Oxy/act torch that looked exactly like wood grain. I welded a handle on and whala! The branches are TIG welded on. I'm not much of a traditional smith, but I guess TIG welders have been around long before I was born. btw. the wood grain tool has a flat face, if someone cut a rounded notch for round stock it may make the job alot easier. I was fighting the 1 inch bar after i rounded it up trying to make the flat tool give a round surface an even texture. Thank you frosty, its always nice to hear that I can create something worth buying. LOL

Shes only 12. But its a gift that will last for generations. Also its titled "The Crabtree" our last name so I'm sure it will become a family heirloom.

This is a jewelry tree I made for my little sister for Christmas. The trunk is made of 1" Solid sq. the branches are made of various sizes round stock. Shes probally a little too young to appriciate it now but hopefully she will in the future. Its textured with a wood grain tool that I made for the powerhammer.

I bent it by hand around a jig. The railing is made of pipe not solid round stock. It was sand packed and and bent around a jig. Thanks for the compliments

Wow. Thats just amazing. Wild, but still amazing. I like your style keep it up.

Here is a picture of a handrailing I made a few months ago. The pictures got lost somewhere in the computer. 2 handrails were made only one was installed when the pictures were taken. I did not paint this and more work has been done on the paint job since this picture was taken and it looks much better now, not such solid coloring.

I think the 1/4" thick plate will be fine for casual use.

I considered some sort of powder coating or plating, I believe they would work. I didnt use powder coating because of the cost involved.

i would recommend tapering the tang on the firetool drilling out a hole in the antler slightly smaller than the largest part of the taper. Then put epoxy in the hole and on the tang and drive the handle on. This will create a traditional friction bond and have the epoxy to back it up.

Well my customer decided that he wanted one of his "people" to finish it up. Thanks for all your help. I will get pictures up of the sign as soon as its installed.

Thanks for the very nice words. If you dont know my background im 19 years old and have been blacksmithing since I was about 14. I am trying to work full time but it is becoming a challenge. I am looking into doing retail instead of custom work. I was doing fine with custom work but felt limited and decided to start focusing on what I wanted to create. Unfortunalty my wallet has not been agreeing with the decision. I would apreciate any advise anyone has to offer on getting into selling more of my work. Thank you

This is my sea themed foutain. It consist of 3 tube sea enenemies and 1 clam at the bottom. Unfortunatly the finish isnt lasting and its begining to rust, so this peice gets to stay part of my personal collection. Next time I am going to be using copper or aluminium for a fountain regular carbon steel isn't cutting it even with several coats of paint. This fountain has that spray on stone as its final coat.

Should I use some sort of baking soda solution to neutralize it? is that what you mean by basing the chemicals?

So I have a customer who ordered a plasma cut out that was to become a sign for his buisness. The man owns a bison ranch and the cut out is of 2 bison in a field grazing and an indian riding by on horseback. He wants a rusty finish on it so it looks rustic. I have the cut out ready for the rusting process. I was planning on having it sandblasted and then rusting it with a muratic acid/distilled water mixture and spraying with hydrogen peroxide. My question is once I start this rusting what is the most effective way to seal and prevent it from rusting any further. I was thinking either a matte finish clear coat, I also heard wax is a good way to preserve rust. Maybe I should use a beeswax/oil mixture heated and apply although this would need to be redone once a year or so. Whats your opinion?

Interesting, I made a sea themed fountain about a week ago, Ill try to get pictures up tonight it has 3 sea enenemies(sp?) and a clam. I wish I would have thought of a jelly fish very nice.

This is my sculpture that won an award of merit at the Gateway East Artist Guild. AND A KITTY!

I sprayed a ton of paint on the inside of the pipe and shook it up, im pretty sure that it is entirely covered. It hasn't show any rust so far. The exterior was covered with several coats of paint and then given gold highlights and sealed with a clear coat. It appears blacker in real life and not as silver as the pictures show. The pump is an air pump for an aquarium. the same kind you would hook up to an airstone. when you have about 2 gallons or so of water in the bucket it creates enough pressure in the bottom of the bucket so that the water cannot be pushed out the bottom by the airpump instead the air pushed water up and out the only way it can go, up the stem. The fountain is probally about 26" tall

I listen to a pretty broad range of stuff, quite a bit of rap, alot of classic rock and 90s rock, some reggae and even some classical stuff from time to time.

I got the idea of making a fountain from a road trip I took with a few freinds about a month ago. We were driving back from Giant City State Park in southern Illinois and came across a small "hippy" town on the way back. We saw 2 men playing a bango and acordian and pulled in. After about 20 minute of looking around we found our way to a shed where I found a man making fountains out of copper using leaf shapes. He also had an amazing display of bugs and dragons and other figures in the garden area behind the shop all cut out of sheet metal and formed to shape. Well, I finally got around to making a fountain of my own it has 3 roses tig welded onto a 1/2 steel tube that the water is pumped through by an air pump. The bottom "bucket" I formed from 3 peices of 22 gauge sheet steel. the fountain is ran by an aquarium air pump, it works based on water pressure and the air moving water out the top. If there isn't enough water in the bottom the system wont work. The air just pushes water out the bottom of the tube instead of moving it up.

Did you tell your town to review the constitution? I believe some where in there I believe somewhere in this part called the second amendment It say that we have the right to bear arms. What has happened to this country. good luck having a burgalur take you seriously with an airsoft gun. I dont know much about zoning regulations but our shop is 50x50 and I only occupy about 30x20 of it and its a pretty well loaded shop.

I made a one handed hammer similar to that. It was not very useful for most jobs but I found a few uses for it. Ya im scared to even go near my shop in white yet work in white. I think ill stick to black jeans and a black shirt. cool video thou

Hey everyone. I recently got an order for a fence that is about 62' long. The folks that ordered it want a finial welded on the top of every other stake. The thing is they do not want me to forge the finials, rather order them in (bummer, huh?) Well I was looking the Kings metal supply website and they have cast steel finials which look nice and I almost refuse to use any forged finials... i dont know just something about buying a forged finial irks me. I was wondering does cast steel weld just the same as regular steel, It is going to be welded to a 1/2 round bar. Thanks for any advice.

Yes, you could learn how steel moves by using scrap metal. The only difference is that your high carbon steels that you would use for blades are harder to forge, meaning it takes more force to move the metal than for example mild steel. It took me quite a few tries before I could forge a blade accuratly but you can do it with a little practice.

I think I figured out what the problem was. I noticed the liner (its one of the coil spring kind of liners) was longer than it should have been and I believe it may have been kinked a bit so I cut off about a 1/2 inch and welded all day long with no problems. The wire is in pretty good shape. Thanks for all your help. This might not be the end of my problems but it certainly is not as bad as it was.

I have a syncrowave 250 TIG/Stick. I use the stick for welding gates and heavy bar stock and plate. Tig I use for welding on more delicate things such as roses or a job where the weld should be left and look very nice. I ussually just grind my stick welds flat. I also have a millermatic 200 thats about 20 years old and it gets used for all kinds of projects. Its good for working on cars and right now my brothers roll cage in his drifting car. Also have an oxy/act setup and a plasma cutter that is very useful for fabrication and some plasmacutter art.