JustAnotherViking

Very clean work! I think I was trying to put too many elements together and ended up with a mess. Think I'll go and practice scrolling on the vertical again today and try to keep it a bit tidier.

Today I finished off a candle holder prototype... I say prototype because there are several elements I am not at all happy with, but it was past the point of correction and I was just making scale by trying to touch it up and fix things. I was attempting to have a penny end scroll transitioning into a twist, then scrolling the rest on the diagonal, and flaring out the other end of the scroll into a leafy type shape. The base and the holder ended up just being what little pieces of flat I had about, so not entirely happy with the dimensions of those either.... but it's a start. Hopefully I can practice my technique and by version 5 or 6 it'll be in a better shape. A college's wife carves candles, and I thought it would be fun to try and design a holder to compliment them... truth be told, I may have bitten off more than I can chew, but we all have to start somewhere.

I hadn't realised you had done one, so i'll get to watching it soon. I only subscribed to your channel the other day, so I have a fair bit of catching up to do. Plenty of content to get through. Thanks again

Very true, there was no Wales back then. He was a Briton and spoke a language which is thought to be an ancestor of the present day Welsh language, and likely came from somewhere which is located in modern day Wales. Better?

Many thanks for taking the time pass along that info jlpservicesinc. The guy demonstrating to me yesterday trained in England, and is from the school of no flux needed, but your point is very valid. Why make it harder on yourself by not using it. We're fortunate to have commercially manufactured forges and farriers coal, so at least that part remains consistent for practice. The chain links went pretty well considering I hasn't tried before. I now have two sets of three links. Not the prettiest, but it's a starting point. They stuck together so I'll call it a win for now.

Ouch. Hope you were at least wearing eye protection. Doesn't help your neck, but could have been much worse.

Very nice. If it were me, I would consider cutting the display pieces to the same length to make them more uniform, and possibly stain or oil the wood board to prolong its life. Assuming you want people to pick up the pieces and interact with the display, it won't be long until the raw wood gets dirty without a protective coating, and it make look more finished and deliberate

He was quite likely Welsh. Kidnapped by Irish raiders, so the assumption is the Welsh coast, although not actually known. Made to work as a shepherd, about 35 miles from where I'm sat right now.

Sorry, just a pet peeve of Irish folk Though we do usually soften up after a pint or four. My family heritage would be ulster scots; Scots who settled in the provence of ulster during the plantation of Ireland.... Hard headed stubborn drunks. The best/worst of both cultures depending on who you ask

Out of all of them, the smallest is my favourite (maybe not in pink wrap), but something about the proportions and finish I really like.

Paddy not paty.

I didn't get a chance to try this today, instead i was making some chain links, but I will definitely give it a try soon. I was advised today that one of the most overlooked part of fire welding is the actual fire. Most people demonstrating or skilled in welding just do it without thinking to mention the fire itself. Keep it clean, hot, and piled up high. The deeper you stick the work, the closer it is to the blower, and you get more oxidisation, making for a dirtier weld. Keep the fire high, and the piece high, and you'll be more successful. Under the right fire conditions, even high carbon can be done flux free.

Ebay or similar online shop if there's nothing local? Might cost slightly more with shipping, but save you time and travel costs trying to track something down locally.

'hand forged with passion, one of a kind item': all about the marketing

Surely you can just grab some longer bolts rather than worrying about max thickness if it gets in the way of your design

Excuse the video quality... I was trying to balance the phone on the anvil. Hope this explains a bit

Maybe you've found a new production technique for perfectly formed eye punches.

No doubt someone more knowledgable will be along shortly, but i'd hazard a guess that it needs heat treated again, and cooled more frequently when in use. I've made several punches from coil spring, and put them through a fair bit of abuse to date, and none have done this. Even striking them into cold steel to make a guide mark doesn't really affect the heat treated tips.

Similar situation in the UK. Schools used to have rooms filled with lathes, mills, welders, and many even had forges and anvils. Got to the point that everything was practically unusable by the time you had the machines covered top to bottom in guards, extra safety buttons, then liability and insurance reared it's ugly head and it was just too expensive/risky to continue teaching.

Oooo lovely stuff! My favourite whisky. Enjoy!!!

Thanks for taking the time to do the illustration jlpservicesinc, that really clears it up! I shall definitely be trying it out next weekend. The baskets I did for practice were much simpler... two pieces of round, bend them in half so you have two U's and slot the two 'open' ends together... much less welding, and no messing about trying to hold or tie the bits together. Not as nice as 6 or 8 piece baskets, but a very quick and easy way to practice without investing too much time on failed attempts and burnt steel. The following pic is an in progress shot of the tree I am working on... I will either do some file work to cut some notches into the branches, or some bending with the oxy-propane torch to add hooks for the key rings to sit in... have just hung them on for illustration now Before I get that far, i'll need to make some roots, and i'm thinking of either wrapping the roots around a small rock, or for a twist, I might try making a rock-like shape out of wood, and curl the roots around that.

Many thanks for the advice jlpservicesinc, i'll have to see how I get on next weekend when I get back to the coal forge (the gas one I have at home is too big for my burner to get up to welding temperature.. might make a few internal baffles out of the remaining castable refractory to reduce the size when I get time). I made a start on a scarf weld between two pieces of square bar, got a light tack done, then couldn't get it up to temperature again, the pieces separated. Later, I pulled a HUGE donut of clinker out... needless to say I wasn't the only one welding in that particular forge yesterday . Didn't feel the need to get annoyed at myself by failing repeatedly, so moved onto other work instead. littleblacksmith - great job on the vice cleanup. I assume just wire wheel and oil? Something about that finish looks great!

Today I was doing some fire welding practice and made a few basket twists... Next I'll have to practice a few scarf welds and join them onto something Have also been working on the small metal tree as a display stand for leaf key rings, but still have some tweaking to do before I share (first time using tig to join branches up. Now that is a fun way to Weld!!!)

This is a very subjective question and without understanding how an individual measures success, its almost impossible to give a meaningful answer to. Is successful being able to put food on the table and paying your bills on time, or is successful owning your home, workshop, boat, having a team of employees under you and vacationing in the tropics twice a year in your second home.

I would interject that this is a bit of an extreme comparison and not quite applicable. A boat would be a huge capital investment, and as you mentioned, the friend couldn't afford the running costs and upkeep in the traditional 'hobby' sense. In contrast, we know blacksmithing can be done on a very tight budget, so in most cases, people can happily run it as a hobby on a small amount of disposable income from their regular job. There are only so many leaf keyrings, and fire pokers you can make for family and friends... you make them to practice, and because you enjoy hitting hot metal... so after a while, running your hobby on the small budget, you end up with 'stock'.... sell it on for a low price, and suddenly you have a little extra disposable income for the hobby. Maybe buy a new hammer, coal, gas, upgrade the forge, buy more materials... who knows. Not a business plan, but it is one of the few hobbies with a realistic prospect of funding itself to some degree.