redd1981

What an odd and vague post lol.

Does the carnauba wax darken the steel when applied?

Thank you for the reply. My idea was to buy a cheap HF hammer and hit it with a combo of cutting and grinding disks to make an irregular crosswise pattern. Would it be not safe to do this? I have read warnings about messing with hardened hammer faces. Of course who knows how hard a chinese made HF hammer hear really is lol. and I guess I didnt really mean "tree bark" but just something that makes the eye think of a tree.

Has anyone made a texturing hammer? Im going to attempt a tree bark pattern. Is there a better way than just taking an angle grinder to it and making a pattern of inconstant lines? any advice and/or pics would be appreciated. I am also concerned about the safety of cutting into a hammer head. Thoughts?

Wow I love those scrolls on the ends! Great work!

 Thank you for posting that template, the measurements are pretty much perfect for getting that nice diamond in the center.

Here are a couple I made from RR spikes earlier using your formula.The one on the left I decided to use the point of the spike for cut A.

Have you met the neighbors and told them what you do? You can gauge alot about their feelings on the subject by bringing it up casually in a conversation.

Also try not to use the term "hobby" or "weekend". When you talk about your forging. The term "part time" sounds alot better. you are asserting that you do this to help pay the bills but at the same time you might consider any special requests like waiting till a certain time on weekends or something like that. 

People will usually complain quicker  about a noisy hobby than they will a noisy profession. especially if its just during hobby hours.

Bob Im sorry I didnt see this post earlier. It seems I had the same problem the first day or two. The problem I have is too much airflow from a blow dryer even on low. My solution was to start my fire with a nice heaping load of dry charcoal to get everything up to heat. After the first forge full starts to get smaller I add pre wetted charcoal around the outside edge of the pile.as it it moved closer to the actual fire ball it seems to dry out before it actually makes it to the fire. I use a nursery pot with drainage hole in the bottom and pour a load in there and give it water until it starts to flow out of the bottom and stop. I do that 3-4 times before I add more to the OUTSIDE of the fuel pile.

With that said you may want to try what the more experienced smiths suggest first.This is just what has worked for me until I buck up and rig something to restrict my airflow.

BTW I think that 3-4 hours of continuous forging for a small bag of royal oak is about right. I like to pick up a small bag after work every day or so I have 4-5 bags stocked up by the weekend and doesnt seem as painful as buying in bulk even though you are actually getting a better price. YMMV.

Sorry to repeat but that barrel is a beautiful piece!

marka where are you located?

Haha the wife just suggested a chastity belt . Thats why shes a keeper.

lol ya.I bet it it would make a great gag gift at the bachelor party though.

How about a ball and chain.

Im watching now. I like it. I wont give any spoilers but I will say so far it is NOT what we were fearing!

A little bit of both I guess. I have tons of spikes and no barstock besides rebar and I guess I just wanted to see if it would work.

It did take me an embarrassingly long time to finish it though. Not real certain I will do it the same way again.

Thanks for the compliments guys.

This was two spikes forge welded together  point to point and I ground a little off the small side of one of the heads so I could bend it back and have a little more to draw out.

This was my first attempt at a forge weld so I took your guys advice and put the two mating surfaces to a grinder until they met real nice and made a flux paste and wound them together with wire.

My first attempt turned out to be a bust. The weld took nicely at first but it failed after beating on it a little to cold......about an hour after I thought I had made my first weld. talk about disappointment So I decided to call it an evening and try again the next day. Next day repeated the process but made sure it was hotter than I thought it needed to be and it took for good.

For the tines I made a loop at the the end and welded it back to its self and hot cut it in the center of the loop.You can see the cold shut in that one. I did my best to normalize that spot a few times (not even sure if that will help but I figured it couldnt hurt) and have tested it on logs bigger than anything his fire pit will ever see so Im pretty confident it will hold.

First and foremost thanks for all the advice on everything from fire control to forge welding. I still may not know what the heck Im doing but without this site I would know a WHOLE lot less!

Looks like a little flux left on the steel in the last pic haha.

What color are you moving the steel at and what color do you stop?

 What kind of forge are you using?

Try your best to answer the rest of the questions asked. It will help people answer your questions better. (If that makes sense)

Frosty and Dale....please dont give up so easily on us new guys. All you guys here have helped me more than you know.

Young forge.... sometimes apologizing for giving vague information and giving thanks to a ton of information already given to you goes alot further than being confrontational with the masters you are trying to learn from.

Now lets get some non-vague answers from you.

from what I am reading you have used files and leaf springs. but you also said you have used bar stock.

Are you assuming your files are 1095 and treating them so?

Are you assuming your leaf springs are 5160 and treating them so?

What was the composition of the bar stock you had? did you order it as something specific or did you buy some mild welding steel from the hardware store?

You said that you make knives all the time,how many have you made? stock removal or forged?

Try to give very detailed answers so these guys can help you better.

Have you answered about forging it too cold? What type of forge set up are you using? Does your forge not get hot enough to get your steel brighter than dull red? Any pictures?

What type of steel bar stock did it happen on? As others have mentioned are you forging it hot enough?

Is it cracking during forging or during the quench?

That is one wicked looking fork!!

Also as Thomas said do you actually need more spikes? I have more of them than I will need for a while. They arent the HC ones they have a letter V  and either a 3 or 8 after it so not real sure of the composition.

thanks I was thinking the same thing.the decorative part would be the only part I would feel comfortable doing and even then Im so new at this I wouldnt even know where to start.

Has anyone ever done this?

A friend of recently moved into a new house on the river and he sent me an e-mail saying they needed a new lightning rod for the house. I havent responded because Im not sure of the safety issues, specifications, or even codes or laws regarding things of that nature.

I guess I need to ask him if he actually needs a functioning lightning rod or if he is referring to a decorative weather vane for the roof.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

When Im looking for artistic ideas for a workpeice is just use google and type in whatever Im trying to do and look at all the images to get basic ideas and think of ways to tweak them to fit my personal style.

I also cant draw for crap. Im ok at sketching but drawing takes a different skill. having worked with wood before you are already ahead of the game.

I would think creativity and persistence Is more important than artistic ability.I mean unless you are doing abstract folk art or something like that.