Arthur210

Sad news indeed. I never had the chance and privilege of meeting him in person, but his words will be remembered. Rest well. My thoughts to his family. Arthur

Nice work CrazyGoatLady, nails take practice. Sometines the head gets away from us too. Keeping the head even isn't easy. I've been doing some nails today as well, after making another header last Monday to replace the one that shattered. This one wasn't quenched at all. So far so good, though my nails have a tendency to stick inside the header. I'm thinking my punch had too gradual a taper.

Lac Mégantic (in Quebec) was also caused by criminal negligence and badly maintained equipment from the rail company. Let us not forget the 47 people who were killed. (I'm from Quebec)

Just checked, and the piece I used is defined by suppliers as a rail anchor, more specifically what they call a "Unit V" anchor. The material it is made from is 60Si2MnA Chemical composition: C:0.56-0.64, Mn:0.60-0.90, Si:1.60-2.00, Cr:≤0.35, P:≤0.03, S:≤0.03 Source: [rail-fastener(dot)com website]

Yes, it is some sort of railroad iron. Very tough alloy.

The original, I would certainly agree that it was probably wrought iron and not hardened. My "left unhardened" comment was referring to my reproduction of it. Here are pictures of the reproduction that I posted a few years ago, along with the original stock. I can confirm that it is tough enough for my great grand kids to head nails over it.

Thanks Frosty. Not my first setback; I see those as learning experiences. I did temper it somewhat over the forge fire right after the quench, but obviously not enough. I was aiming for straw out of ignotance, but JHCC mentionned I should have gone for blue or purple. As a comparison, the Mastermyr version was left unhardened. But it is a massive tool that wouldn't need it. And I used a rail anchor to make it (those shaped like a &), which is a tough alloy.

So, I tested the nail header this morning. Made a decent nail. But on the second nail it shattered. The grain looks ok to me, so I don't think it was a bad quench. Maybe I didn't temper it enough. Or I simply forged it too thin (1/4"). I'll make the next one twice as thick to see if it helps.

Haven't tried the new nail header yet, that should be tomorrow morning. Not my first header, a few years ago I made a reproduction of the nail header from the Mastermyr find in Gotland. It will be interesting to compare how the two compare. The tool is just a bit over 12" long, so the handle is about 10" long. That is indeed a double action box bellows. I knew from the start that it was a thight fit behind the hood, but it didn't have any trouble in the almost 8 years since I installed it. Trouble this time was that I've been using wood scraps lately instead of charcoal. (Just because I'm getting rid of a lot of leftovers I collected along the years.) But wood means more flame than charcoal, and working with the large piece meant more fuel and heat.

After an epic fight with a piece of leaf spring (which I realized was much too large for my purpose), I made a nail header. I measured the hole and it is almost exactly 5/32". The tool is just a bit over 12" in length. The loop to hang it was slitted and drifted. The battle was not without casualties. Yesterday, some of the increased heat required for the large piece of spring transfered to the back of my side hood, and my box bellows started to smoke. I had to doused it with some water to prevent it from bursting into flame. I took it down this morning. And swaped it with my Champion blowet to complete my project. This made me realize that it is easier to reach a higher heat using the blower rather than the bellows. Not sure at this point if I will fix the bellows, redesign it, or just keep using the blower.

Thank you for the long comment. It is quite true that many will prefer to purchase something that will be unique and visibly made by hand. I would add that even so there are some circumstances where people wilk look for closely matching items. With hinges, for example, you want to be able to have a reasonably matching pair, or the end result will look crooked. The pulls might end up in that category, for I suspect that some people to want to use them for chest handles. I do most of my smithing in a medieval recreation context.

That is exactly what I did. One of them is still slightly longer then the others. Not much, maybe 3/8", due to a combination of drawing it out a bit too much and the curve that is slightly flatter. Nothing to worry about for its intended purpose.

Long time without posting. Not because I haven't done anything, but I wanted to catch up on what people had been doing here before loosing all the goodness being shared. Finiched those yesterday, a set of handles. They're not perfectly identical, but as close as I could make them at this time: About 7" in length. Made from 1/4" x 1/2" bar. Wire brushed and sprayed with a clear antirust finish.

A pair of leather couches followed me home while on their way to the recycling yard, just long enough for me to harvest most of the nice leather that was on them (some of it had been damaged by a cat). I'll be able to use to make some leaf bellows when the mood strikes me. Or maybe some leather aprons. Or both. There quite a bit of it -- I'd say about 3-4 square meters.

Thanks. Fibulas of this type are fairly easy to make, and good practice for a variety of twists and textures. It can be, but it's not always practical. In this case, since they are not perfectly circular (because of the omega shape), a tighter bend would limit the wearer to a single angle for the pin. Indeed. There are basically 3 types of fibulas: penannular, bow and plate. Of the penannular type, the Omega style is the most common. Bow fibula are shaped a bit like an oversized safety pin. Plate fibula are basically made like modern brooches, with a spring needle under a decorative plate shaped like an animal or an abstract design/shape, and often embelished with precious metals or stones. Fibulas date back to the bronze age. Even during the iron ages, they were often made (partially or completely) from bronze.

Last Saturday, two more penannular fibulas (also known as Viking or celtic brooches). Made from 5/16" square bars.

Very nice! Yes, I remember reading that forged hair pins are usually considered too heavy. The one I made is from 1/4" stock, so I don't expect it to really be useful as a hair pin. It was more of a test piece on reverse twists (those were the first I made and thus uneven) that I turned into something potentially useful, if only for display.

I think he was referring to the hair pin at the bottom of the second picture. Of course, I called it a hair pin but it could also be used as a chopstick or a magical wand.

I was able to spend some time is the shop yesterday and this morning. Made a few things the were new to me. First, a pair of simple penannular fibulae (for scale, they are 3" wide): Then this morning I practiced making reverse twists. Turned the first few experiments into two pendants and a hair pin. Then made another fibula: Very satisfied with them. Learned a lot and nice results.

A spoon:

Very nice! Good(s) job!

Just finished fabricating a number of tools for the shop last night, made over the last 2 weeks. First a portable hardy hole, because the one on my anvil is uneven and slanted, and I did not want to have to remake all my tooling if I ever decide to change my anvil again in the future. The surface is welded together from pieces of 1.5" x 3/8", the hole is 1" (to fit square tubing that I'll use for tool stems) and the legs are filled with sand. Then I made a pair of tolls that should make shaping spoons and the like much easier. And finally, a small guillotine tool (for 1" x 1/2" tools), also welded together using 1.5" x 3/8" bars. My welding is getting better too! Looking forward to the next time I light up the forge. Probably not today, it is rather chilly at -13 Celsius.

Made a few changes in the way I make small split cross pendants. New batch took me half the time of the last one. Still experimenting with the size of the split and general proportions.

Followed me home from my trip to France. The title translates to "Gaulish metallic objects from the Lacoste site". Quite similar to the Mastermyr chest find, but much larger. And some flint from the Perigord region. The stuff is everywhere.

Actually, I'm keeping the collar for the next tool I plan on making, namely a bick. Felt it would need the shoulder more than the hot cut.