Hans Richter

Unfortunately no BBQ or picnic in these days and we have to eat our sandwiches alone (or share with the ants ). I think I will have much more time to work on my sculptures soon because I am now also quarantined as an auditor in the main profession. Thanks everyone for your kindly feedback.

Shabumi, Besides spark flight and ventilation, there is another problem you also mentioned, namely that of condensation not only from the roof but also on the surfaces of all metal parts that do not heat up quickly to the same room temperature. Had to temporarily exchange my old shop for two overseas containers in the past. After a few months, this turned out to be not a good idea because all the equipment and machines started to rust HEAVY through the condensation. Even in my current studio, I still have condensation in special weather conditions despite of 4in insulation of my roof and 6in insulation of the walls.

Don't really stay in my room, but do stay in my work shop (and solitary). Et voilà, there they are, the hybrid "Marble Ants" a mix of stone and scrap. Almost ready to the varnish layer and a decent pedestal ("darn" the hardware store is closed). Hope that this time of imprisonment is over soon. Until then, like all other creatives, I have been handed over to our dear lord and the Belgian health system. Pray for all of you, and our family that even this chalice (such as SARS, MadCow-desice, AIDS, etc ...) will pass us by. Extremely happy to have the activities in the studio as an outlet, because what is happening is hurting my nerves and peace of mind. Sleep restlessly, and listen to every cough and sneeze in our house. Above all, stay healthy, and be welcome @ F & F Tumulus when the storm dies down. Cheers, Hans

Aric, congratulations with your second daughter, you take Genesis 1:22 very literally . Wish you and your family all the best, good luck, prosperity and a lot of health.

Bonjour Mathieu, welcome to IFI, one think for shure -the people here like pictures

Aric, thank you for your compliment, as far as imagination is concerned, let me tell you that 8.5% Belgian beer and my stock of scotch whiskey are very helpful in the realization of such a project. Anyway, just before the Christmas holidays I started with the 'Shark Sub 1.0' with multiple attacks of 'creative constipation'. In the meantime, a commissioning work has been completed, 'The Eight B (e/a)ll lamp' a quickie of 3 days for a customer who needed a bell at his counter for waiting customers and suppliers who need attention. Everything brushed and deburred again. Including the processing of his company logo in the work. The challenge here were the welds, given that mild steel (tubes & fittings) and the ball bearing rings (CrV) had to be welded together. If these connections are welded with 'under matching' welding additive material (S355 MIG weldings) there is a risk of brittle fracture. Not important for small work but of great importance for load-bearing constructions. I used the good old stick welder and AISI 309 electrodes for these welds

Hi Arkie, I have the opportunity and the blessing to be in contact with many customers whose welder manuals I have ever written. In exchange for a few crates of Belgian beer, I have their permission to occasionally 'dive' into their scrap bins. Am also friends with a schoolmaster of a technical-creative school whose trainees dismantle production lines that are no longer active. That gives me the opportunity to make a hand out of special scrap items that would otherwise end up irrevocably in the melting furnaces of a scrap recycling company. That starts with special stainless steel valves from the food industry and ends with titanium F 16 jetfighter turbine blades. Unluckily, it is not always the scrap that I need to complete an ongoing project.

welding post = welding device (mig/mag-welder) let us know your progress on the offered oportunities from Les and Arkie. btw not novice at all

Agree with Marc and IDFC, much overpriced and to light for real smith work. Even some rail road track have more wight then this. Look futher to find a some anvil with more 'body'.

Boba, your knives and damascus work are fantastic. Just visited your imgur website. Can still learn a lot from you when it comes to knife making! Regarding the welding, try to get a MIG / MAG welding post or limit yourself to larger tack welding. In my case I am going to edit this type of welding with a grinding disc (no flap disk because of the dents that you grind uncontrollably anyway). Work away the grinding marks with a coarse/rought wire brush. I camouflage these operations with an additional heating in the blacksmith fire and the ringing milling scale that I then brush away (psssst ...do not tell further). Good luck.

Guys ............ some of my 'black & white' stick weldings (mild steel to Cr-aloys) looks the same, and I'm happy with my SMAW-welder. Just started back with TIG welding and already afraid to show pictures of it

Thank you Chris for the valuable information. I will process the titanium blades outside under the open shed of the forge with adequate ventilation and take the necessary precautions. Keep you informed of the progress and the results.

Thank you Chris for the exclamation marks. I really appreciate this. Thomas thanks for the suggestion but he already has his last undigested meal (flying fish) in his mouth. Think more about a nail manicure to cheer up your black forge hands. Do you also think this is your permission?

Last weekend I did the final work on the latest creation, the 'steampunk shark submarine'. Work for a large pump manufacturer who wanted to see scrap parts from his own pumps incorporated into the artwork. This creature too is very cuddly and invites you to go on a journey of discovery with your hands and eyes. First of all the last work for the animal collection (8 pcs), I think I am going to forge it again (titanium knives) and bronze casting (face cast of my daughter Lisa)

Frosty, thanks for loving the Trilobites. At this moment I mostly busy to replicate the existing models by giving workshops (Cast In’s ) to friends how went home after finishing, with their own piece of bronze sculpture or device. The models already known like the heel axe, the Venus types, the ammonites, the masks, knuckle bones, fibulas, anvil types etc.. Also busy to build up a stock of ingots made from worn out molten bronze pump impellors to get a good source of pure material. Funny to realise that the impellors pump the excrement’s of thousands of people during their duty in the sewage treatment plant. After finishing my actual scrap sculpture a steampunk shark submarine, I will go on with bronze casting of a face cast of my daughter Lisa.

That’s how I switch from one bottle to the other. Made a T-split from one 66 lbs (because of freezing) to another 66 lbs cylinder especially while running the foundry. Every cylinder got his own pressure regulator, own no return valve, own hose rapture protection and comes out to one flame arrestor behind the burner(s) line. This made me able to change the sources quickly if one of the cylinders is empty without to change connections and tool time (and chilling the ladle). If I see, one of the cylinders are empty, I close the main valve and open the one of the full (new) cylinder, the inner heat of the forge/foundry takes care of immediately ignition of the ‘new’ fuel source.

According to the source, -the blades belong to the compressor side and are more valuable than the ones at the turbine side. Thanks for H&S tips, ones I grind and cut the stuff I will wear at least a FFP3 mask. For me it’s important to keep the sharpness of the blade as long as possible.

Didn’t follow me home, but brought to me by a very good friend of my, - a whole bunch of titanium turbine blades of an Airbus airplane and F-16 Jet fighter. In this stage there already able to grind/cut out some decent letter opener or small daggers but I like to forge them in to more body to make a serious hunting knife or kitchen knife of it. Any suggestions about quenching, hardening, sharpening or OHSAS-issues are more than welcome.

Welcome to IFI, Art Student, Thomas is right and the melting temperature is not also the pouring temperature. That means in my case the melting temperature at 1053°C didn’t mean the super heat pouring temperature at 1150°C. Regarding the soft fire bricks K23 there are strong enough to resist the temperature without physic contact. Remember the bricks are worn able when distressed by contact (in a forge) but quite durable in a foundry we talk about. Have a look and inspiration at the pictures of our foundry. I use the soft fire bricks (1inch) as a flame face with the backup of 2inch 23K ridgediced Superwool insulation. However read the advice and tips in the ‘casting section’ of IFI to be prepared of any other Health and safety item. There are many more items to take care about, because melting and casting of bronze are no ‘Monkey business’.

To return to your original question, to this explanation about the possible use of otoplastics. These hearing protectors are custom molded plastics from your ear canal that are equipped with special filters that allow communication but attenuate the dangerous sound frequencies. I use these plastics in my workshop but also with other filters when riding a motorcycle. The great thing about these plastics is that they filter out the harmful sound, but make communication and perception of the ambient sound possible. To the fact that I have forged and grind 25 years plus without hearing protection, I am now partially deaf. In order not to aggravate this situation anymore, I have been wearing this PPE consistently since the last decades. In Belgium and Holland, the production of these customized plastics costs on average between 70 and 100 euros. But it allows you to continue to communicate and protect yourself. With regard to the source control, I will certainly also use it, fully agreeing with the 'Rubber', 'Silicone' and 'Chain' method, but there are slight doubts about the 'Magnet' solution. If the average noise level in your workplace is higher than 85 dBa, it is recommended to wear hearing protection anyway. There are currently lots of free Apps for your smartphone to download, so check out Play Store for an application, I compared these outcomes with a calibrated dBa meter and found that these apps are fairly similar.

Will framed this in the shop and looking up to them. Wise words. Thanks for your replay and encouragement.

DearJHCC, to take away some worries and a short explanation. As you can see on the pictures, it is about busbars from a discarded control cabinet. These are usually made from low-alloyed or pure copper. Here there are only traces of some alloying elements such as nickel, cobalt aluminum and sometimes Beryllium (0.4%). With real Berilyum copper there is> / = 3% Beryllium which is used in spark-free tools, is very expensive and actually very dangerous for your health when machining or forging. See the Wiki link. At the start of my foundry activities I myself made my own bronze of 9 parts of busbar and 1 part of tin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryllium_copper 2.1285 Becopper.pdf

Use this on all my anvils works fine. But allready shown in the post Marc mentioned. Good luck.

Hi George, I m glad that in addition to the pieces of forged ironwork (flemish poppies) you have found something else in the work that interests you too. I also collect (and as a German) a collection of old paper money and coins from that time. That is also the courancy and the chance to trade these artevacts. You are right, the bell itself is a discarded oxygen cylinder and not a projectile. This is another metaphor to recall the green + cross poison gas atects that were conducted during the battles at Paschendaele (Ypres) in this days. Glad to hear that you have served your country as an LC, respect, I myself have never had to serve with a broken neck (diving in shallow water when I was 17). This was the reason that I now have to earn my money with an office job instead of staying in a workshop every day. Cheers, Hans

Thanks for your feedback, that means a lot to me. The comments show how well and deeply the images are viewed. Aric - in fact, special locations, for example, the ant was shown in the tiled basement of an out of duty slaughterhouse. Here still the traces of the activities (withdrawn blood on walls and ceiling) present. It was like a scene from the movie Saw. George -you have very good eyesight it is a German 77mm obus that is part of my bell sculpture Ypres 17/18 together with a gun barrel of a Mauser rifle. As you can see on the photo, it was fragmented and completely empty. Unbelievable how the Flemish clay has preserved the details, so you can still read the time scale and 'Reichspatent Doppelzunder' on the igniter itself after more than 100 years. The origin and intention of the sculpture is described in my blog of the website of Forge Furnace Tumulus.