Eric Green

This is Why I asked for help, lol. I didn't think of any of that. I'm still a novice and sometimes my creative thought is over complicated >.> Why no Sheet? I dunno, it feels "cheaty" and more production line versus something special. I believe I've watched that [video] before. the design is familiar. Please do not quote everything you're responding to. If you haven't already, go read The Quote Feature

Ok as the Thread title states, I could use help with this Daisy. I'm in the planning phase and have looked at a lot of Videos and examples of Forged Flowers. Now I know a popular option is cut the shapes from sheet metal and "add texture" by shaping with a hammer. I don't like this option and this is not a project for profit its more of an artistic piece as a special gift for a friend of mine. I asked her what her favorite flower was and she said Daisy, I was hoping for a rose or the bell shaped Lily I've seen, those are much easier, lol. So What I'm asking is some ideas or pointers. My resources are VERY limited. I don't have much in the lines of tools and my skills are novice at best. My Idea I was thinking about was to forge the petals individually like a Forged Leaf and then forge weld them to a ring or metal and that could be flattened once they are get connected. the pollen/seed section and stem would be separately forged and the seed/pollen part would hold the petal ring on and I could rivet it to the stem. Am I over complicating things? Should I do something different? Some suggestions would be very much appreciated. I want this to be something I'm Happy with giving her.

Thank you very much Jon, that's some great information. I don't want to sound arrogant but it is something I considered. I know i'm very much a novice and I know that I'm no where near their proficiency. It just means mine would take longer and not be as pretty. I do like the farrier set down to be honest. But I also know when I'm in over my Head. I found a different Video by Christ Centered Ironworks(love this guy his videos have taught me a lot.) he uses 1/4 x 1" to make some bolt Tongs. he started with 10" and drew out reins then moved to the head itself. I feel this would be a better method for me because Drawing out is something I need more practice with. Shalev Zohar, my Anvil is several 5/8" plates welded together and then sandwiched between 2 2" thick mild Steel bricks. it easily weighs 50lbs and it hasn't gotten a Horn yet. I'm thinking of putting together a real stand today and mounting it on it. right now it's loose and on top of some Cinder blocks that I laid some boards on for more stability and to keep the cinder blocks from crumbling. It doesn't move to much. But I do feel it stole a bunch of my thunder when I tried to forge the bar stock from the OP. Whelp time to get rolling. I need more fuel for my forge and I'm thinking I want to make a better anvil stand.

I watch a lot of You Tube. I learn visually easier than reading from a book or forum pages. TBH, the method I saw making tongs from a single 3/8" x 1" x 18" looks easier than the traditional method of making Bolt Tongs. I have practiced simple tong blanks with Rebar. and now that I have something closer to a real anvil all the techniques are falling into place. It's pretty difficult to practice the techniques used on an anvil when you have a vertical railroad rail. for reference, this is the video I was talking about. I understand he has a striker in this video. I also understand that he does things based on the idea of a competition so there is a few things i can skip, like using the flattening hammer, I don't have one yet. He also used a striker through the video and one of his hammers is a fatter cross peen. however he only used it for making the gap between the boss and the actual grabbing part of the tongs. splitting the tongs will probably consume a lot of time for me since i don't have a striker and the hand cut off. My weakest point atm is Drawing out. i have several feet of 3/8" rebar that will get cut into sections and I plan to make a mess of Rebar S hooks to practice Tapers. I do fin with double tapers like when I make a Leaf but I still don't quite have down "putting a point on something" My Punching is better. I really wish i had a Pro I knew around here i could do some classes with and bounce questions off of. anyways, time for sleep, got a lot to do tomorrow.

I realize I used the wrong terminology. I was doing the first set down for a Tong blank. Sorry for the confusion. I know the 5/8x7/8 is a bit big but I seen where 5/8 square bar is used for tongs quite a bit. atm I have a piece of 3/8 x 1" 18" long that I'll be making some bolt tongs from. I watched a tutorial for it on Youtube of a WCB competitor doing a practice run. I'm worried a little since I don't have a couple of the tools he used or the striker for that matter but I think I should be good. I'm broke and out of welding rods otherwise I would make a quick tool I could use on a vise or something that would replace what he used.

I most'y have been working 3/8" round stock. I think I'll try to do a soak. Soon as I get some Welding Sticks I have an upgrade for my Forge. It's a Side blast but i found some 1/4" plate that's enough to make an 8"x8" bottom blast fire pot with. anyways, TY for the responses, I'll try again at a later date Got a couple things I'm doing first and I have limited fuel atm.

So my little brother brought me 2.5 ft of 7/8" x 5/8" stock. I was over joyed because it would be perfect to make some tongs from. Well I heated it up in my little forge. A nice bright Orange. I take my 2.5lb Cross peen and try to make the first upset. barely does anything. I give it several more whacks and it moves a bit. I gave up on it, my arm was trying to lock up after that work. Upon reflection I have come up with 2 things. Either I'm just still a bit weak from lack of upper body strength or the 2.5lb hammer wasn't enough weight. Unfortunately, I don't have a 4lb hand sledge, next size i have is a 6lb sledge with a slightly shortened handle. EDIT: Before I worked the Steel, I did a spark test. it had an Identical spark to some Known mild Steel I had on hand.

Well I have some things, the revamped anvil stand for my vertical track. And the ASO under construction. so first is the revamped stand. I may screw a 2x4 to the bottom and redrill the holding bolt hole. because as you can tell I may have made it a little too short. I'm unable to use my Mini Horn. and I could have used it for the S hook I made and some other work I did. Next is the new "anvil" I started welding together.it's made of a bunch of 5/8" steel plate I think was part of a switch track assembly. I cut them in sections that matched my "base" which is the bracket that rails sit on. The full welding is not done but it's holding nicely. the 2 thick chunks are weights from collapsible bleaches. the rebound is not amazing but it's mostly mild steel anyways. regardless it's good at moving metal. a little touch-up work along with a horn and I'll have a servicable anvil until I can afford a real one later on. now about the Horn, I was thinking of a method to better secure it to the anvil. When I assemble small models for table top war games I will use a method called pinning. I'm thinking of using a pin about 1.5 inches in length to help support the horn since it will take a bit of a beating.

Well here's my contribution. however, a couple weeks ago i redid the stand and shortened it up. I too like 3 inches of the 3 boards and removed that chunk of RR Tie under the rail. it now sits on a huge 5/8" plate I screwed to the bottom of the boards. the height is much better and my hammer blows are better. this stand was too tall. that track alone is 2.5 feet long. However, I'm in the process of making a new anvil. My little bro brought some more rail steel. bunch of plates from a switch track i think. and a couple 2 inch thick bricks about 14" long and 5 inches wide. He contracts and does a lot of work with a guy that does gymnasium bleachers and stuff. these bricks are the weights from the gym bleachers that retract. they're not high carbon but i did some like work on one and it doesn't deform to my regular work so I'm making an ASO that is made for 5/8" thick steel plates and a couple 2 inch thick pieces. I'm planning on a Leaf spring for the face soon as I get a torch to cut one out of an old camper my Little Bro has. as well I want to get a 3"-4" piece of Round steal to make the horn from. leaning more 4". I'll also make the face a little short to give me a Step at the end of the anvil at the base of the horn, like a traditional London pattern.

I wasn't sure where to put this, i didn't find a topic or sub topic. I plan to eventually sell my blacksmithing. I have no plans of a full blown career in it but after awhile of practice you end up with extra stuff so why not rent booth or shelf at a flea market or fair and sell these items? well that will be my first part of it. I do intend on getting into Sword smithing and such but there is only so far i can go atm. regardless i want to get to a point where the hobby can "support itself" so to speak. what does this bring me to? a touch mark. I have an idea of what i would like to have for my Touch Mark, a sideways Fedora. A little insight to this, the only hat i own is a couple Fedoras. If i had the suit to match or something that would go with it, i would wear a tophat as well. Fedoras are the only hat i regularly wear. This includes the Fedora i have specifically for when I'm working the forge. I plan on calling the forge/business Fedora Iron. so i guess this also comes to a question, has anyone seen a fedora or a touch mark yet?

That guy is pretty interesting. I would rather go up a notch and go clay tiles!

Found this Video, wish i found it before i failed with my first set of tongs. he shows you how to work the Nippers. The series is really nice to. a guy is restoring a Blacksmithing shop at a museum.

WEWT!!! So I taught myself to weld today. the main issue i have come across with the Railroad Anvil is the very small area for working with. so, I watched a Training course on the Tube to learn welding techniques. and Today i put them in practice. I welded some 1/2" plates of Iron together in a sandwich and next i'll need to clean it up and mount it to my Anvil Stand. On another note. with the nicer weather i'll be working the forge more and building my skills so i can start my first Project. My lady friend's favorite flower is a Daisy. Pretty sure you know where i'm going with this.

Loesch!!! Welcome! I'm in Pittsburg Btw.

I need to get a little more on Side blast Forges. the tip of my steel pipe i used to deliver the air from the vac got melted. and the hottest coals were right next to it. so this answered a lot of questions I had. mainly the first part where he explained the fire set up.

I really want to make a few Knives from Rasp myself. I love that pattern from the files. Welcome, I'm really new and only played with a 55 Side Blast forge. beat some Hoof Nippers not done but they will be my first Tongs.

The shop Vac has a shut off valve on it, mostly closed to restrict the air flow. Well separated the nippers today, when i tried to shape it last the rivet loosened up. So, I used c-clamps and ground some of it off then used my hammer and a punch to pop it out. Also made me a table to keep my stuff on that's not hot. Probably firing the forge up tomorrow, see if i can finish the tongs up.

Well that was an afternoon and learning experience. did some shaping without removing the rivets(no metal bits and broke) ended up burning a little of the tip of my Tongs so i practiced my cutoff and got rid of the little section where it burned. I used a lot of time fighting the fire. I learned a lot and decided to switch to wood until i get a better Idea of forging. i used most of my 20lb bag and didn't get much smithing done. well time for bed, 3am comes quickly.

Well some digging in my crate and found a nice Delta Electronics 120mm Fan. 12v and if the specs i found on a website are correct it will output 75cfm. just need to build a box to screw it to. Wired it up to a 12v AC/DC adapter. now. . . about these nippers. do i need to drill out the rivet? because i don't feel i can do a rivet at this time. pretty sure i could make one without the rivet tools people have made but, I don't think i have the right barstock >.> I'm looking at them and it looks like it's going to be easier to work them with it removed but I don't know if i can replace it.

So, I Been an idiot... Being a PC nerd/IT Tech I have a crate, or two, of old PC components. In these crates i have a couple 80mm and 120mm case fans. Since I decided from about the beginning I wanted to do charcoal,coal was convenient due to being free. Now I believe a little tinkering and i should have sufficient airflow for charcoal.just gotta build a small box that I can screw a 120mm and maybe a 80mm case fan to and attach it to my air intake on the side. Picked up this stuff today after work. what you're supposed to see is the 20lbs of lump charcoal, the hoof nippers, the 1/2" bar stock and the little bit bottom middle of a plastic shut off valve(air gate if the PC Case Fans are a bust)

Sweet TY JHCC, I looked at a few articles. some with pics for construction, that, sadly, the pics are broken links and i didn't get to see em. Should i remove the Rivet? or try to make the tongs with it in since i don't have the easy tools for making rivets. On another note, I did my first fire today! using a bunch of scrap wood and a shop vac in reverse mode. that Shop Vac moves the air. Going to get some stuff to make a simple Air gate(shut off valve) until i find a better source for airflow. this set up i could only get the fire hot enough for Dark Red, and it cooled very fast.

PROGRESS!!! It's simple but effective! A chunk of RR Tie with 3 2x8 pieces screwed to it and each other 1 at a time. then a 1x6 screwed to one side. drilled a hole and stuck a bolt through. I need a new bolt though. slightly longer and I would like a wing nut as well. just gotta jury rig the air supply with a cut-off valve for airflow control and I should be able to test fire this weekend. gonna stop by my brothers friends tomorrow to get some f his coal and test it for forging viability.

Welcome aboard, I too am a Newbie and may possibly be doing my first forging this weekend.

thanks Arkie and Thomas, info is appreciated. Not gonna round the hammer. probably find a hefty ball peen. or just wait and get good hammer from someone here =] so is there some modifications i can do to some Farrier pliers to make some makeshift tongs? its the kind with the nail clipper tip. the guy with the hand crank fore blowers at the flea market has a bunch of these in varying lengths. they're worn and a little rust but still good. I figure a little shaping of the clipping end and i could get a decent pair of tongs for working with things like RR spikes.