Junksmith

Great ideas guys, Thanks!

I FINALLY got around to making a bell from an 02 tank! It's not too fancy but I'll have pics soon. The question in my mind is what kind of finish, if any, to put on it. Rust wouldn't be the worst thing - though I'd have to accelerate the process - and I can always paint it, but I was wondering if anyone had any experience with this and any suggestions?
Thanks!
Joe

This one has a lot more tools and dirt in/on it these days but it comes in pretty handy. The wood box fits in the metal one beneath and sits on top of it when I'm working to keep everything where I need it. The top of the box has a number of holes bored into it to drop in hardies and hammers & tongs go on the bottom. It is heavy (and is only getting heavier). Maybe one day I'll add some wheels.

Hey Dave!
Like you, I am taking lots of different hooks. Almost all varieties sold well last year and they're inexpensive and relatively easy to make. When you think about it, the bread and butter (or meat & potatoes if you prefer)for a lot of us is some variation of a hook!
Other things that did well that I plan to make more of are hoof picks made from horseshoes, wall hooks made from horseshoes (lots of horse people in my area) and railroad spike knives. I did not expect to sell as many as I did. I made six and they all sold within the course of about 3 months at an average of $50 each. Since I've only been showing publicly for a year or so this may be an anomaly, but people snapped them up. I also made and sold two tomahawks made from spikes. It's been said repeatedly in this forum - and I tell my customers honestly - that spike knives are more of a collectors item than a decent knife. They just seem interested in the novelty of it. I do use high carbon spikes (marked HC on the head) and when I'm done I follow the heat treating procedures in the blueprint "Metallurgy for Blacksmiths". I'm convinced that while they will never be "great" knives, the process makes them as good as they can be. Just food for thought. Even if they don't sell as well this year, they are fun to make and cool to have lying around!

Very nice work. And 1 inch bar is very ambitious starting size. Good job!

All very nice. How did you get such clean rivets on those rose centers?

I made the candlestick for one present and sold the spike knives to buy a few more. I also made a few Christmas ornaments by arranging old carpenters cut nails into a star pattern and brazing them in the center. Down, dirty, and fast but they seem to be popular. No pictures on those yet.
Merry Christmas All!

Dateline 12/20/09, Central Maryland.
I suppose I should have "cowboyed up" and got something done on the anvil, but I'm not sure I could find it!:o

Chicks DIG roses! Much to the chagrin of my wife!

Good work. Ingenious tongs too.

Beautiful! Copper & iron - it's like chocolate & peanut butter!

I'm not sure if it was mentioned, but I like to braze copper when attaching branches to rose stems and so forth. It's a little more difficult than soldering, but the joint is strong and I think brass looks better against copper than solder does. Brass looks nicer as it ages too.

This is a picture of a Military Portable Forge, from a 40's military welding manual I have. 3 June 1943

Leave it to the Army to take something as handsome as a forge and make it so plain and sterile (out of necessity of course). That being said, it would be a right handy demo unit.;)

I like it. I keep shying away from animal heads - except fish, which are super easy. I'm not sure what's keeping me. Mostly production I guess. Maybe after the first of the year I'll try something like that when the pressure is off. Seriously though, I know a lot of people who would be tickled by something like that. Very good start.

Rest in peace Mike. You and your thoughts will be missed.

'Atta boy!

I bought a 4" at a flea market in MD for $55. Of course it had no spring or mounting strap. I probably got screwed, but they aren't as easy to find around here. My 6" post vise was a gimme - if only I'd gotten that one first!

Let's not forget the combination tool - angle grinder WITH wire wheel. It excels at accelerating broken bits of wire into your abdomen with enough force to make them stick up like porcupine quills.

A wasps or bee sting can be quite painful. My grandfather would put a little tobacco on where you were stung. And it will take away the pain. You have to wet it first any type works. I have use it on my kids it kills the pain on contact. If you do not smoke or chew they do make a spray that does the same thing fyi

baking soda works well too.

I was working on some farm equipment a short time ago and the wasp had decided to build their nest in the machine.They stormed out and I was holding a spray bottle of half acetone and half meracron transmission oil that I was useing as a penetration oil.One spray with the concoction and they fell out of the sky and were eaisly disposed of.I wouldn't use it around an ignition source but it sure is deadly on wasps.

I had a very similar situation and found starting fluid (ether) to do the same. Only in a pinch though. Like you said. No ignition sources nearby.

Congrats on your first show. Well done! The best freebie I ever got was a hammer; turned out to be my favourite.

I'm curious...what type of items sold best for you?

Mostly small & medium-sized hooks - particularly the find that mounted on a wall (as opposed to say, "S" hooks or beam hooks). Keychains were another big one. Particularly ones with a rolled rose or a fish. We have lots of fishing enthusiasts here. One of my demo items was a souvenir horseshoe made with a 4.5 in length of 1/4 in square bar. They only took about 6 minutes to make. I gave a few away to kids, but a surprising number of people offered to buy them. I just charged $3 apiece. No pictures of those yet.

Good fair Joe, that vise is a beauty.

I like your anvil, it says more about what it means to be a blacksmith than a textbook smithy.

Frosty

Thanks Frosty! One fine day I'll find (and possibly afford) a more traditional one, but I don't think I'll give that one up even then. That rounded bit on the top makes drawing & tapering a snap and easy to control - particularly with a Hofi (czech knockoff) style hammer.

That's a pretty even "S" hook for a beginner. I like the gravity hooks too. These days I always make it a point to do those little outward-facing curls on my hooks whenever I can. They look nice and keep the hook from poking through things that might be hanging on it - or the hands that put them there! Good work.

My first actual selling show was this past weekend. I had a blast demoing but tear down was a killer (after 8+ hours of forging at home I just shut off the fire and go inside). It ran Saturday & Sunday. I only made a couple of hundred bucks but I'm OK with that in this economy. What really made the show worthwhile (besides the experience) is shown in the last photo. In the middle of the 2nd day, a gentleman came up to me and asked if I was interested in a vise and gave me his address. Well, I went over there last night and picked up a 6" monster in near-perfect condition for FREE! He also threw in a broken rivet forge pan with a salvageable tuyere! He wouldn't take any money, but I did give him a piece of my work out of gratitude. I think my 4" vise will now be my "portable" travel unit. Sweeeeeet!

Beautiful! I almost like the stump it's sitting on just as much. That is some gorgeous spalting in the rings.