Fe-Wood

Daniel Miller came out to California for a week and a half for 2 hands on demo's. One was for CBA and the other was a private event. Here are pictures of a piece I worked on. All I can say right now is Daniel is amazing!

I have watched Richard Bent and Mark Aspery do forge welds with out flux repeatedly.... There has been talk of current steels not needing flux to form the bond. Tom Ferry stopped using flux in his knife billets a while back too... Me? I need practice...

Bringing this back to the top. Hoping someone knows how to do this and is willing to share...

I'm in the process of learning to tin plate copper and have seen reference to using "whiting" or a mixture of Calcium Carbonate and salts as a resist. I cant find any recipes or further directions for the proper use and handling. It is surprising to me that such an age old tradition as tinning has very little information available online. Anyone here know how to make, apply and remove whiting while tinning copper? Thanks for any help-

I'm sorry to hear that you sold the lathe although I understand your point about focusing on one craft. Learning to spin metal without hands on instruction is an exorcise in frustration. Been there, done that...

Some clarification may be in order. Do you want to punch the hole? Meaning you will remove some material or do you want to slit and drift a hole, meaning you will not remove any material?

Really nice tumbler! Thanks for showing it!!!

I don't know of any studies that measure sound absorption with straw bale walls. If your jurisdiction hasn't approved straw bale construction before then you may have to educate the building dept. Even then, some are hesitant. If you want cheap, straw bale isn't it. They can cost 10 to 20% more than stick built and much more than a steel sided building. I'm not trying to talk you out of straw bale its a good building medium when used in the right situation. Another system to think about is CIF or Concrete insulated forms. Not the Styrofoam ones but the ones with polystyrene balls suspended in a concrete slurry. http://www.rastra.com/ is one supplier and http://www.performwall.com/ is another. Again, I don't know what sound absorption factor they have. They don't have any of the issues straw bale does (just other ones). As a structure it could be stand alone without the need for a steel skin. You might be able to have the building engineered so you can hang your bridge crane from the walls depending on how much you want to lift with it of course.

If it does split, it loves to forge weld... Again forge hot hot! Have fun!

Great looking tongs Daniel!

I don't know if this has been posted before http://www.abana.org/resources/education/Grille/Grille.shtml It comes with video shorts on specific aspects of the grill.

Nice video! I've always wanted to do some split mandrel spinning. Haven't been able to justify the time to make the mandrels yet... To many other projects to do... It is fun to watch the "Aha" moment in peoples eyes when giving a lesson/demo. As said above- Any more video's?

Your right that is very thin and will cool super fast. I would definitely try the punching process in thin sheet stock before a demo. Do the homework to get the procedure down. Nothing like working out the details with an audience. Use a pre heated bolster plate.

Hey Michael- Welcome! It'll be nice to have someone to discuss spinning work with! I started out as a cabinet/furniture maker. I do a bit of same every now and then. I'd like to get more into furniture design and build using more smithing as the structural parts. I spin stuff because I like the way the metal moves... Haven't been able to make much $$ at it yet... Nice pictures you posted of your grandfathers work-

Awesome! Thank you for the tutorial! I'm in the process of doing some right now. I'm working with a diamond shape. The way I registered it was to put an outline on the paper around my image. Then I tape the image to the copper and using my stomp shear, I cut to the outline. I didn't pre heat the copper so indexing was pretty easy. The paper was the exact size of the copper... The one thing I would add is using a thin cotton sheet over the paper. It will help the iron move around on the paper easier.

Dale- There is a curriculum of sorts in the form of Mark Aspery's books.

I challenge you to do just that! Cold form it in 10 minutes, no prep. If this is truly how you work then you are ready to make something harder. It is up to you to do it. As mentioned before, we don't have an apprenticeship program here anymore. It is our own drive and desire that teaches us. And the people we choose to learn from.

Dale and all, I'm part of the CBA education team (education-north@calsmith.org). We have talked about these very topics at length. There was a proposal to build a national curriculum through ABANA based on various projects and input from the various groups. It is a HUGE task. I don't know what is going on with it at this point. Seems to have died on the vine so to speak. I get the desire to have a certification process. For some its more about being accredited by ones piers than having a piece of paper to brandish upon request. It gives a sense of confidence. The CBA level 1, 2 and 3 certificates are based on the end projects of the gate latch, grill/scrolls project with the journey level being reach by completing the level 3 grill. These projects are the final exam, if you will. How the knowledge and skill required to make them is acquired, thats really up to the maker. Blacksmiths in general don't follow rules. The skills acquired over the years is based on the projects chosen rather than a set standard approach. At least that is how it is now. When I was an apprentice woodworker, one of the very first things we had to learn was how to take 2 hand planes and a tune them up. We learned how to sharpen them, adjust them and then cut a perfect shaving. Then, as the test, we had to take a rough cut piece of pine and size it to dimension on all 6 faces with only the use of the 2 planes. The piece had to be perfectly flat, parallel, square and to a specified size. Otherwise, you had to do it again. For you Dale and any others interested, It would be helpful to work with one of the many CBA instructors available. We are here to help our members with direction and suggest when someone is ready to move to taking the test of making the level 1, 2 or 3 projects. If you PM me, I will see what I can do to help you find someone in your area. I know several smiths who work in Yosemite in the summer months... Hope this helps-

I would be interested as well. I've picked up some "brochure paper". Seems a bit thick but I'll be running some samples...

Those look great! Whats the mix ratio of acid and peroxide? Were does one get magazine paper?

Hi all, I wanted to let everyone know California Blacksmiths Association is hosting a 3 day workshop with Daniel Miller in Loomis California May 31 to June 2nd. Loomis is about 20 Min. from downtown Sacramento. If you know his work, you know what a great workshop this will be. If you don't know his work this workshop will change your work! He IS that good! here is a link to some of his work- http://millermetalsmith.com/gallery/index.php Link To CBA for details- http://www.calsmith.org/events/calendar/2013151-daniel-miller-workshop-rare-opportunity-/ Hope to see some of you there PS, you need to be a CBA member to attend, Insurance you know....

metalmangeler- Yours are fine rocks and holders. I didn't mean to imply they are inferior! I just wanted to show that out here in California we take rock hanging VERY seriously. Keep up the good work!

Out here in California we take our rock cages very seriously! At our Spring conference we had a competition. It was a blast!!! Here are the first and second place winners.

Looks like a nice grinder set up! Congrats!

I've made a few of Mike Porter's burners. Yes, they do need the flair on the end, its what holds the flame from blowing out. One suggestion I have about Mike's design- He says to solder the Mig tip into the burner nozzle pipe. I upset the pipe so I could thread the mig tip in. Solder will melt if the heat back drafts up the burner tube as mine did once.