Blacksmith Jim

Thanks for the advice guys. There is an art store right next to where I work, and this time they actually had something useful for me. I picked up a can of Krylon Crystal Clear Acrylic Coating 1303. We'll see how this works out. The whole thing is one big test anyway :)

Say, does anyone have a suggestion for a finish to apply to this? I tend to just use beeswax on most of my pieces, but this will go outside. So should I use something else? I have sprayed on black rustoleum on a small fence piece a while back. Not horrible, but unsure if I want to cover up that much..

Looks cast, which can be a big pain to weld.

110 welders can be very deceiving. Even though they only need 110 volts, they likely need more amps then your standard house hold circuit can handle. So you can plug it in, but if you weld with it, you will keep tripping your circuit breaker. Very annoying. It is worth it in my opinion to get 220 installed.

I have not yet. My friend has some, and we discussed using it on this project, but it was late, and out buried in his van somewhere. We talked about making one, etc. Seems like a handy thing to have. The rivets I did over the horn of an anvil, as I could slip the end of the horn in between the scrolling.

The freezing process might break or deform the metal. Water does expand when it freezes.

Two rivets through the scrolls, and a tenon on the end of the lower bar with the hook. One thing I did mess up, was trying to flatten out the places for rivets on the scroll. I should have scrolled and flattened where I needed to after, using the horn of the anvil. Instead, I scrolled what I thought was the right amount, then used a ball pein as a set tool to make the flat spots. I ended up flattening the scroll in the totally wrong place because of this. You almost don't notice it, but it is sure there... Also, one of the rivets doesn't sit flat against the scroll.. It has some real rough spots on it, but it was fun The next one will be better! hehe.. :)

Howdy folks, Lately I've been focused on some basic, traditional items. I've wanted to do sign holders for a while, and I thought a hanging plant holder would be a good place to start. I did this piece from start to finish last night. It was the first one I've done like this so it is a little rough. The scrolls are all done by hand. It would be nice to get a jig set up so that they are a little more even. They aren't the best of pictures, but please feel free to offer any advice or critiques. I think I will be giving this to my Sister as a belated birthday present.

It's nice to see a number of different folks around Oregon on here Are there any good scrap yards near Roseburg?

Someone with more experience, etc., may come along and say something else.. But I don't think you want your punches crowned at the edges at all. You want them sharp so they can cut through the metal.

This just happen with the bigger scrap yard in Eugene as well. Schnitzer's Steel. They are now only buying. It gets loaded directly on to a train and moved up the track a ways to their mill. There is a smaller place that still has an open scrap area, but not nearly the selection of odds and ends.. I need to look farther south, maybe the Roseburg area anyway though. I think I heard there was a yard down there...

Looks great :)

jkeller, thats great! Lately I've spent a fair amount of time thinking about trying to find a post vise to use. Fantastic! Nice landlord btw..

I've already got a good recipe for my Clinker Breaker IPA! I was thinking about the marketing potential too.. Selling T-Shirts that say "I got hammered at The Forge"

I've been home brewing a fair amount lately, and was thinking of trying to come up with a name that incorporated "Forge and Brewery". Not sure what the first part should be though. There is a brewery down in California called Ale Smith. That seems to use a blacksmith theme for their marketing. I sent them an email at one point though, and was a little disappointed about their response.. Some day I'd love to open up a small bar called "The Anvil" and have one side be plexiglas, and on the other side of the plexi would be the blacksmith shop. I figure people would get a kick out of watching people smith and drinking some beers..

Look on the bright side. You have a shop! :)

Looks like a fancy pry bar of some sort, but its got a point at the end, so I guess it probably isn't.....

You can hand forge H13 easy enough. You just need to work it at a high heat, and not try to work it any lower. It might not move like wrought iron, but you can move it ok. Especially if we're just talking tapering 5/8" down to 1/4" or so.

Forge it down to the size you want..

You might be able to order H13 punches from a blacksmith supply or maybe mcmaster or something, I haven't looked. I purchased about a half dozen 8" pieces of 3/4" rod from a farrier supply store. All I have to do is heat it and shape it. I would plan on getting the material and making my tools, as opposed to just finding the tool to buy. I would typically plan on this because I think it would be quicker, and I would get what I want (hopefully). I tend to try to buy or make tools once I actually have a use for them. Saves money, time, space by not just hoarding things I think are neat. Not that I have any problem with that. Its really handy to have something already there when you need it.

I hear yea. For getting THE MOST out of it, you should air quench for sure. But I think if you talk to a lot of people, they will 'forge and forget' air hardening tool steels. I know I hear people talking about 'forging and forgetting' H13 and S7. I'm not claiming to be an expert or anything, and I'm not forging for my income. Just a hobbiest. But I've only had to dress my slot punch once I think... If warm oil is working for you though I think thats great. It's not hard to quench in warm oil, I have oil to quench tools made from spring. So maybe I'll give that a try in the future.. Thanks.

I try to religiously quench coil spring made tools every 3 strikes. I only have 1 h13 punch (buncha blanks tho) but I'll let that go 7 or 8 strikes before quenching. The h13 has performed marvelously, the coil spring punches have gotten the job done, but I redress them a lot more between heats with a hand file. I've heat treated coil spring tools, and not, and found it a lot better when they are treated. But again, they work to a degree. H13 is air hardening, so you can forge it to shape, give it a good heat, and let it slowly cool. Then dress and use, no fancy heat treat.