Svarttrost

Today I had another attempt at tongs and these turned out usable. (Sorry, I won't be spamming this topic any more than this)

Good point there Brian, I just made the whole tongs right away because I needed a pair.

Great videos Brian. Last week I forged my first tongs inspired by these videos, the tongs didn't turn out too good, I made the jaws too thin. But anyway now I have a clear picture of the whole process of making tongs and I'll be making loads of them. Here's the first try.

Welcome aboard!

Sukellos: Well there's a reason it's known as the land of the thousand lakes, thou there actually are just a bit short of 190 000 lakes in here Looking from there it might seem like the whole country is one big swamp but there's plenty of dry land as well. And yes it is Karelia, not Carelia had'nt noticed I had a typo there.

Woops. double post.

primtechsmith: Sorry to disappoint you but I only had time to snap that one picture before I gave the hook to the hero of the day. Thanks for your kind words people, please do continue on commenting.

So my godson turned 10 last tuesday and my memory being what it is, I had alarm set to my cellphone at twelve o'clock. So I'm at work and the alarm goes all beep beep. You guessed right, I had totally forgotten about the birthday so I start thinking what could I make that a ten year old little fella would like and wouldn't take all day to make since I had ton of other things to do that day. Anyway I thought of it for a while and came up with this. Piggy hook made from a railroad spike. I said to him it could be a hook for his schoolbag.

Me and my girl are getting engaged. Since blacksmithing is about to become my actual profession, it rules out using rings by my part so we decided to go and take tattoos around ring finger :)

TarAlderion: Thanks for your quick reply, turns out I did know what salt bluing was about, just used a different name for it. Helluva nice pieces are those, more pictures are encouraged.

TarAlderion: This "salt bluing" you're talking about is something totally new for me, care to shed some light on it?

I had funny day at work. Had my first few go at forging a corkscrew (with those great instructions by Mr. Hofi) and failed totally each of 'em, nevertheless it was funny, I even managed to set my pants on fire . I also started working on a small axe (for camping purposes etc.), now I just need to forge weld in a piece of spring steel to make the blade. All in all very funny day, maybe few cups of coffee too much. :D

Finally got some new batteries for the camera. So, here's a damascus ring I made for my girlfriend for christmas.

Horrible tragedy, that man has my compassion. Hearing this kinda stories truly makes me glad that my shop is solid concrete.

Thomas: The mask is not to be worn, just an wall ornament, about 30cm/12" high. The colours are made via heat treating. Smithy1: I don't have my own setup just yet but once I get my forge up and running next summer I plan on also setting up casting equipment. Thanks for your comments people.

Here's a coathanger I also made as Christmas present for my parents.

Hiya folks. A friend of mine ordered an ornamental Cthulhu mask from me to be given as christmas present to some other friend, thought to post a picture of it. To those who might not know, Cthulhu is an ancient god of chaos found in the literature of horror novelist Howard Phillips Lovecraft. I'll throw in also a pic from this demon head I made last summer by casting bronze, it was my first lost wax cast and I'm quite pleased of how it turned out. Happy Holidays to everyone.

Well I think that no roof is harder than that hook of yours so I wouldn't worry about the tempering. But I'm no expert in the subject, just my thoughts.

Nice job you have there, all though I prefer wooden stand for my anvil :)

I saw a video of this car somewhere back in the early nineties so i'ts been a while since it was made.

This is the most upsetting thread I've seen here thus far :)

Somewhat off-topic here but talking about cutting stuff: Just few days ago at a blacksmithing festival I saw one of the blacksmiths use one of the sharp corners of the anvil to cut the stock. seemed to be working just fine.

Well, to me it seems you have all you need to start making everything else you might need :)

Thank you all for your kind words, I truly appreciate it. Swordsmandp: I'll try and remember to take step by step photos of my future projects. Frosty: There are two blacksmiths at the local smithy, I was an apprentice there for eight months but then I had to return to school. This is my last year in the local school of arts and crafts and once I graduate I'll either go instantly back to the local smithy for two year apprenticeship or, I'll take a trip around Finland to work with and learn from several great blacksmiths I've come to know. Sorry about the blabbering, back to the subject. Here are some pictures from the smithy:

Now that's what I call recycling! Brilliant idea and work. -Svarttrost