Wesley Chambers

Thanks to all who took part in the show today I hope you all enjoyed watching as much as I do working, one last appology for the poor video quality Ill get that upgraded as soon as I can afford it!

Link to the rose album http://imgur.com/a/ynKWf

 

ifi still giving me problems uploading these days. maybe later.

 

 

Thanks again!! feel free to let me know what you would like to see made next time!! 

 

 

Wesley 

I enjoy how people are taking your gods title and converting it to their "god" a bit too serious methinks. May your gods lend strength to your arm and heat to your fire!! 

 

Edit: There is always imgur.com  

The wobble is a product of the folding aspect of the this design. I've use it for a number of days and it works great with no problems and its a bit over a year old now.  I still need to add wheels to complete the full idea I had in my head. 

I like the side blast a lot and its the only option if I want to use a sand pit forge. Though the bellows is not viking era accurate its a lot easier to work solo than a two pump setup. 

double post, more upload errors

If it helps at all this is what I built for very cheap and it took all of an hour or so to do.. I'm in a make it work I'm broke as hell scenario.

 

basic layout of back/side walls, not all lines are cuts, some are bends

Front wall and flue opening

Section cut out

Sides bent and welded

This section I didnt photo before I cut, its a simple Z bent rectangular piece used to form a smoke shelf to aid in draft as well as the lower section raised to let me pull any lost fuel back into the fire.

bottom up shot before I added the face/top. You can see here where the shelf extends 3/4 the way to the front of the box, this shelf will cause a pressure vacuum as the hot air races past. 

Face section welded, I learned after my opening was too large but I can add doors or a new face section to reduce the opening that will allow less cold air from the side to be drawn in. 

I have added a small ring at the top to hold the flue pipe and an extension to the overhang to direct the fire into the opening, this is not needed once things get warmed up but helps before that.

When I rearranged my shop and forge the flue was no longer aligned with the hole in the roof/forge so I had to add this awkward double elbow. I have no insulator between the shed roof and shingles and have had no issues to date with heat and I have run full blast for eight plus hours. Each section of five foot flue pipe was about 9-10$ at lowes yea it should be something else but it works so I use it.

 

Hope these photos help! 

Hahah I know your fear all too well as at my last show (without horns at the time) parents would let the little ones wander right up to the fire!!! I even had ropes up... But the plan for the next show is to try and have a better table barricade set up, no one should be that close to my forge but myself and the wife, and the next child I catch trying to go under my barriers will be put to work gathering sticks for the evenings fire! Appreciate the safety call though, I do pay my insurance for a reason and I grew up in a world of learning by burning ones hand on the stove so if the parents not doing its job heh they better start. I can freeze most little ones in place with a dirty bearded glare ;)

Did a bit of work today on my dragon bellows, added his horns and faceplate. Still need to design a nice set of eyes to burn in! once done I can finally sand and oil the wood to keep it in good shape. Had a bit of this work being done on my livestream video feed if anyone caught it, I like the idea of a window to my shop on the internet for all to see. 

 

 

http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/10211-slitter-geometry/

Great meeting everyone in person. Many thanks to Lewis for his time and shop space!

Sorry to hear fiery, will do lewis the badger and mouse hole left

Wife and I will be there at 11, not sure how long we can stay but were playing it by ear

Great idea Jim! 

Its a lot of fun working out projects like this with different heads to deconstruct the problem in many different ways.  

You never know how easy a solution might be that you just haven't thought up and someone else just might!

Appreciated as always Ted I hope things are great in your neck of the woods!

 

We all have room for improvement, and a lot of times we don't even know it!

Being able to show what and how I do things opens a door for interpretation and as you said exchange of information that can be very beneficial to all involved!

I tried to talk them into paying for some wrought but I think the sticker shock for a few hours of mild steel work was almost too much hahah  Would have been much easier on the welding thats for sure!

Also the piece in the photo was recovered under a pile of ash from Hirschstein Castle at Irsham that was destroyed in the late 1300s not sure of any other intact pieces that have been found

Taken with my tablet sorry for not resizing

 

I made it in a bit of a rush so I would change a few things next time, mostly the left post I cut it a bit short and the lever wants to slide off a bit but still works. The right post you can see has the slot cut to accommodate the prior link without deforming the shape when turned. The first plan where I wanted to do end welds works on this jig also I just change where I set the stock to start the turns. For end welds I start with the tip of the stock just past the left post and make one long turn on the right post then two short turns on the left post to close the link. For center welds I turn the "J" with the stock equal/center on the jig. 

Trust me Smooth Bore halfway through I was hating life lol why I am leaning on my knee in the scarfing section, I looked for options in my shop but found nothing for a quick remedy. If I ever get another order for these, things will change before production!

BF-your method is one I use for chainmail and one I tried with the first chain, I had one problem... I would sometimes not pay close enough attention and weld the wrong dang link and have a three directional chain! You are correct on weld placement, end welds are much stronger and I attempted a few but a few things happened either the link would slightly stretch or the tap would slip the two tiny scarfs apart.

Jim- The client was very specific about the size he wanted and the fastest way to for me to replicate uniform production was the jig. I only tried two the circle horn way and my end result was not very pretty, I didn't think of your fixed round stock idea though, that might have made a big difference.

FTC Thanks man!

So I had a requested to create some replica chains that were used to connect your weapons to your armor, as I am told it is to keep them attached while on horseback. These chains can be see on a lot of statues and tapestries but only a few real pieces remain intact, I would guess because of the small size of the stock they do not age well. The order was very specific on the dimension 1.5"x5/8" in 1/8" square stock. Was a bit tricky to get the hang of welding these little links but after a few dozen I figured it out ;)
Forgive the shop mess, I am prepping for a road show while trying to sell my house so things are a bit crazy.

The Goal:

If I can talk the wife into it, Ill be there. 

Using two heats per nail like I do lets the single piece of stock reheat while I head after I cut. I've tried more than one piece but my fire is way to hot to keep more than one piece of 1/4" near the action :P 

I think for that one I started with 3/4 round, upset one end to give me some mass. Got a real nice heat of the upset section then hot fit it to my pritchel almost like crafting a hardy tool. From the top I used my E-head nail punch from my shoeing tools to give me the proper square shape with a slight taper, this was only about 3/16-1/4 deep. From the under side I picked a slightly larger diameter bit than the desired nail shank and drilled till I hit the bottom of my punched section. This way I get a snug square grip under the head but the rest of the shank is free to drop in and not catch the sides when worked why in my videos the nails drop loose with only a slight tap if at all. Hope that makes sense lol 

 

image shape is a bit exaggerated 

Thanks for the luck Jim, Never tried the five, mostly just threes and fours.

 

BF Thanks for that tip, I can see how that would be handy. I hated bent shanks with my first few nail-header so the next few I made I hot fit the bottom end into the pritchel first so I can "set" the tool while I work and keep things from tweaking.

Incredeble! What propted you to make so many nails?

They're great practice and warm up work, been spending more time working to sell my house than smiting lately and they help get my arm back. Also I use them in projects and sell them at events but even after a few hundred of them they are still getting better as I practice. You can never have too many nails!

Made two sizes but the overall uniformity could be better

 

125 Hammer Blows per nail on average with 1 nail (with reheat time) about ever 1:00-1:30 so three dozen nails in around 35 minutes = 4500 hammer strikes, close to 9000 swings per hour, or 72,000 swings in a work day. 

beats XXXXXXXXX  a rock, and if its the only thing you can find 200 is a deal, whats the weight about 150?