Shabumi

Might be "funny farm" with Chevy Chase, but it's been so long since I've seen it I can't remember.

Maybe that shoe was for a tap dancing horse?

Wow. That is an amazing piece of art. Have you thought about the spray on truck liner? It might cover up some of the intricacies of your amazing work, but it would add the right texture for the skin

Rojo, Yes they did have a tailgaiting section, but it wasn't as large as I was expecting, maybe 6 or 7 tailgaters, and they were picked over pretty good by the time I made it out to them. There was a 10 ton fly press i wish I could've afforded after I got to use one in the pendulum contest, but I can't justify spending more than $500 on any tool. At least not yet.

Frosty, I lucked out, it was at my local fairgrounds so it was only a half hour drive for me. I haven't been able to go to any of the other "local" conferences because I'm so far out myself and can't be gone for more than 1 night. I got alot of comments on how jealous everyone was that I got to sleep in my own bed every night 

Das, I think I heard one of the event planners say that there were a little over 300 people who showed up for the event, not counting volunteers, demonstrators, or family members who came to watch. There were 5 or 6 other demonstrators that were there too, but I didn't get to see what they were doing, so I didn't mention them earlier.

E-Box, yes that is a fully functional Lego power hammer, they even had a lego guy with a leather apron and tools to use with it, someone had grabbed him to look at when I was taking pictures though so no pics of him.

Thanks Aus.

I had a blast this Thurs-Sat at the CBA spring conference in Grass Valley CA. It was my first ever BS conference so my head is still swimming with names and information. Made a ⅞ inch slitter in the education area with Mark Aspery and Victoria Ritter in the education area. Mark showed me that I needed to loosen up my tong shoulder to be able to swing the hammer more smootherly. Joined a pendulum contest and won!! You can see it under "Show me things that move" in the metal sculpture and carving section). 

The Stenico brothers, Martino and Jadran, from Italy made a beautiful grey heron as their demo.

Megan Crowly from Colorado was making vases out of different sized pipes for her demo.

Did a link making contest for destruction testing. They couldn't find the 3/8 in round stock so we made 1/2inch links instead. They took a 20ton press and rigged it to pull, and put a device that measures the pulling force in 5 lb increments. We had to stop halfway through because the press started warping at 22,000 lbs and wasn't safe to test anymore. That link didn't break either. The lowest tested was 6000 lbs, and that one looked like the weld didn't take, so even though mine wasn't tested I know it'll hold at least 6000lbs

Won a decorative lantern and a rr spike letter opener at the iron in the hat.

And there were alot of cool things in the gallery.

It needed to swing for ten minutes for the contest, so the judges asked us to start them at the same time and then leave for 20 so they could watch and judge. When I got back this is what it was like.

The bases were supplied and the clearance was 4 inches between the legs. The one with the wind chimes hit the leg around the 2 minute mark, so it didn't go the whole 10. The other 2 went the whole time. One of the scrolls on the second one in the video spun out of alignment but it kept going longer than the blacksmithing one. And yes that one has a fire in the "forge" for a bottom weight

And here's a better up close picture of ours at rest

We had 24 hours to make it, and I think each team used about the same amount of time in the shop area, but while everyone else worked for a few hours at the start, then went to watch other demonstrators. We stayed till about 9 that night and finished most of the pieces, then we only had final assembly and a bit of tweaking to do the next day.

These were our competitions pieces

Thanks Frosty, here's the video. We got done with it an hour and a half early, so we had a bunch of time to tweak it to get it to swing the way we wanted, the other teams all finished at the wire and had to see how theirs swung at the judging.

Josh

Well I'm having a blast at the CBA spring conference. I entered the pendulum contest and we took first place! Much to my surprise, I was just happy to join. We were to only team with 3 people, all the other teams had 4, so we decided to keep the design simple. Though some of the stuff my teammates wanted to do were pretty difficult. Bending a 2"x⅜"x10' bar into a tight 12" spiral, the hard way, keeping the rest of it as the bar, then we split a ⅜"x12"d circle a quarter of the way through the hard way and sandwiched that on the other end of the spiral to have the 2 main weights. We had made a smaller proof of concept model to see how it would work out of 1"x⅜" bar that we made into a 6"spiral and that got added to the to top section with a couple birds we made for more weight, and to make it asymetrical.  And Flavio Parra from Chile put a hand on the pivot bar to wave at everyone just for some more whimsy. I wish I could say I did alot of it, but sadly my skill set wouldn't allow it, so I mostly held the pieces while the other 2 who knew what they were doing could do their thing, but I was shown how to make the birds so I made one to match the one used to show me, it only took me 2 tries. I also did the rivets. But just being there, watching and learning how to do those more advanced techniques taught me alot. It swung for 25 minutes before we had to stop it to carry it to the gallery, but with how much swing it still had we could have easily kept going for another 5-10. 

I'm on the right. With Larry Imel in the middle and Flavio Parra on the left.

I have a video of it in motion, but my phone won't let me put it on, will add it later

I guess frosty was right, my drawing was confusing. Funny, it made perfect sense to me when I drew it. But hearing how others perceive it, I can see how it would confuse. I hadn't meant that the bar would bend up, instead I thought it would bend towards the blows on the edge, along the flat of the bar. I did, however, have a brain lapse and forgot the basic principle that metal moves away from the hammer, not towards it. Too busy looking at the forest, I forgot to look at the trees, or the ground it's growing in.

A quick follow up question about Frosty's method. Should you normalize periodically to relieve stresses from working the metal cold?

JLP, that was interesting to watch. I didn't realize that steel would move like that. Another thing to try out when I can get a little more free time. My first thought when I saw this was "Wow, what an easy way to make some bolt tongs. 3 hits and it's mostly done."

Yes that's makes it more clear. And I don't know why I thought it would bend towards the blows, as soon as you said it I had one of those DUH moments and slapped my head. Thank you for the clarification

I'm just making sure I understand this

You lay the bar(black) down flat on the anvil and use med light blows on one side(blue), causing the bar to curve(green)? 

I'm going to have to try this one. I also saw JLPs video of a non welded ring that might work for your project, I was going to try it out as well.

Found these while looking through back issues of the CBAs newsletter. Haven't tried them yet, but I figured id share them here if anyone wanted something different to try.

Here's a 4 way opener I made. Started as an eyed opener, but the eye broke so I made it into something better. I only took pics of 3 ways it opens, but the recipient showed me a 4th. The finger fulcrum method with the base.

Thanks everyone. It was about 5 inches when I started. I cut a # from one end half way through with a hacksaw to get 9 legs, broke the middle one off to get 8. Somethings I would've done different is I'd shape the head before I cut the legs. It didn't work trying to upset it without being able to get a solid hit. I'd also hot cut the middle leg to get kind of a beak. And I won't work the legs so cold that they break.

A squid is a great idea, there's plenty of material to peen into a mantle. I thought it would make a good spider too

Das, that looks great. I'm sure once you start getting your name out there people will be lining up for your work.

BillyBones, nice work on the beanpoles, I'm going to have to steal that idea for the garden.

I had a scrap end off of a 1/2 inch square bar so I tried an octopus. Broke one of the legs off while bending them. Learned alot of what to do, and alot of what not to do.

TP, close, but in the story it was a meter long. Look up giant isopod and you'll see what it turned out to be. It may not have been Crichton, but it read like him. A mix of fact and fiction, with some government conspiracy mixed in for good measure.

Moto, that drawknife looks nice, I would like to see how it works out.

Mudman, the jaw and boss are really clean(besides the cold shut) now to make another one exactly like it... Without the cold shut

Jlp, Don't be so modest. You may not see the abstract, or do sculptures, but your work is very artistic, IMHO. I'm at the point with iron/steel where I'm still trying to make it into what I want first. Once I get that down I'll try reading it to see what it wants to be. If I ever manage to get into a welding class I'd love to start scrap art, but every time I sign up there is a waiting list of 20-30 people ahead of me. I'm headed into town near the community college tomorrow, so I'll stop by and see when sign up starts for next semester to see if I can catch it early.

Frosty, wow, there are some interesting 'alien' creatures there, I can see how my doodle reminds you of them. It reminds me of a Michael Crichton(I think) book where they found an alien in the ice that turned out to be a ancient sea dwelling wood louse.

Yeah, the only time I have to doodle now is when I'm on hold on the phone. Not like the copious amounts of time a teen has when their teacher is droning on and on.

Jlp, it was a 6in square. All my doodles tend to turn into creatures... sci-fi, fantastic, or real. I generally didn't set out to draw anything in particular. I start with a few random lines and see what  comes from it. I immagine that's how scrap artists like das and aus start their sculptures.

My grandfather taught me this exercise to me to help "see" things that weren't there. Start by closing your eyes and drawing 3 lines... Straight, curved, curly, long, short, single, or crossed, doesn't matter. Before you open your eyes, decide what it will be a drawing of, then open your eyes and MAKE the lines work for your idea. Sometimes it would be pretty abstract, other times it would meld nicely. After a while of making the lines into what I wanted, I began to see what the lines wanted me to draw instead. He was a wood carver, and this was his way of teaching me how to "read" the material I was working. I never was any good at carving, but the exercise has stuck with me with my doodles, and now hopefully with the metallic arts.

Das, I just saw the frame question. I never thought to frame it, but it is a good idea. Now to find the right material for it

You seem to have fun playing around with this one

Thanks. I think I like this less Paul better than the original

Thanks Frosty. I did the ivory soap trick, when it turns black it's ready, or so I've been told. I went back and finished the background. I expected to reanneal with the texture, but I managed to get everything done on the first go with no more trouble than the first breakthrough. I was surprised how quickly the texturing went too.

Thanks das, I was feeling a little sluggish so I didn't do the background. Will finish it up tonight or when I can spare a few minutes here and there. It's nice getting to practice a little hammer control without having to fire up the forge.

That looks great JLP. Is that one going to have a video too?