Les L

Hbmasa, I’ve only forged a few pieces of cable, and am not an expert, but I only forged it at welding heat until I had a solid billet. I used a v swedge and rotated the cable in the direction of the twist while working it

Great job on them, The pewter bolster and caps set them off very well.

It doesn't look like you had any trouble pulling it off to me. They both look great. Sorry about the finger, been there done that more than once.

Jason, Great job and nice pattern

Templehound, I always get excited when I see a new post from you and you never disappoint with your work. As already stated, simple elegance

JHCC, good find on the sleeves and hard hat liner. When I was welding in a shipyard, back in the 70’s, I would get 1-2 months service out of sleeves like that. I did a lot of overhead welding, with flux core, and after a week the arms would stay bent up in my welding position when I took them off, but they did reduce the number of burns on me.

Wirerabbit, AIA has a copy of their specifications that shows the model 804-7-2 a 75 lb. cast iron anvil. They also made a model 804-7-5 that was 75lb. ductile iron.

That may not have been hot enough. When I first started drawing mine out I noticed a couple of spots that were trying to separate so I started working it at near welding heat and didn't have any trouble after that. It may have been, or probably was, beginners luck, but I'll take that anytime. Starting to get in the holiday spirit so I made the wife a decoration.

Goods, that’s beautiful! Bluerooster, I forged the cable in a V swedge while turning it in the direction of the lay and had no problems with separation, kept it at welding temperature while doing it

Great job, I've wondered what was the best way to make one and you sure made it look easy.

White Fox, thanks for the compliment. This was my first try and I was very happy with how it came out, probably lucky, but I’ll take that anytime Das, thanks a lot for the compliment. Your right about how you feel about the results, when it comes out right I am really surprised about the orders I have received for the tomahawks and blacksmith knives. I made my first for our clubs conference a couple of years ago and can’t believe the interest for them that I’ve had in my area

Thank you, I’ve been enjoying seeing the work you have posted lately

Thank you

I have to apologize to everyone that's been posting for not taking the time to comment on their great work. I've been running in circles lately taking care of issues that have been popping up and keeping me busy, but scanning the posts every few days and enjoying seeing everyone's work. Been working on a few commissions, in between phone calls that shut me down for the day, but I have gotten some work completed and delivered. Seems like every time I complete a tomahawk and Blacksmith knife I get another order, the interest surprised me and I'm not complaining, I have another order to complete this weekend, plus two more hawks to complete in the next two weeks. I had a customer, that has ordered several items from me, order two hunting knives so I tried my hand at those, plus my first try forging cable. 1 1/2 cable by hand was a little tough, but it was a fun project. Looks like I messed up and posted my work in the wrong place. I meant to post in what you did today.

I contacted Stampman to make mine and highly recommend his work. I PM'ed him from here and he contacted me in less than 30 minutes to discuss what I wanted, 30 minutes later I was contacted by someone in design and shortly after I had a proof in my email. Less than 2 hours it was on order.

Alexandr, I’m amazed, as always, on the quality of your work

Billy, great hearing from you, I’m just getting around to reading this thread, I’ve been pretty busy the last few weeks and haven’t taken the time to check IFI. I was wondering last week if you had put up the decorations yet and what you had done this year. Looks like you’re having fun with them again.

Jennifer, I love that hawk, I have a couple of pieces of wrought iron that may be enough material for me to try one out. I just hope I can make it look a fraction as good as yours

Chad, I like it, good job on the twist

In our area the pots were used for wash tubs, rendering fat and cooking big meals for large groups. I have two that I use to cook in, a 25 and an 8 gallon. They work great for jambalaya because they heat on the sides and don't burn the rice. I can add a gallon of oil to my smaller pot and fry several pounds of fish and never burn the oil, all the breading goes to the round bottom and doesn't burn because the pot is heating on the sides. In southern Louisiana it is traditional that Mondays are red beans and rice day because Monday was clothes washing day, where they used the large pots to wash the clothes, and the beans could be put cooking without someone having to stand over them while they cooked.

I haven't posted anything lately because I've been busy and just taking a couple of minutes every couple of days to scan a few posts, but I'm seeing a lot of great work posted in the last few weeks, too many to address individually, so congratulations to everyone. It's been too hot here to fire up the forge in the last month, except for two mornings a couple of weeks ago , so I went out early and forged a wrapped eye tomahawk and a blacksmith's knife to put in the auction at the conference our club will have at the end of the month. I still have to make the sheath for the knife, hopefully I'll get a chance to do it today. I enjoy making the tomahawks and I want to thank Jennifer again for the great video on how to make them.

You can use copper sulfate dissolved in water to get a copper finish.

Billy, the old folks gaffed them, nowadays most people are bow fishing for them

Gar are good eating, we mostly fish for the alligator gar because they have more meat. Smaller ones we use tin snips to cut along the back then peel the skin off, big ones we use a machete to cut a strip off the back then peel it off you can smoke, fry, or best of all we make fish balls or patties. Cook the balls in a gravy and fry the patties like crab cakes

Billy, Good to see back on the site. Looks like Max is having a great time, keep it up and enjoy every minute. my youngest daughter used to go with me almost every time I hooked up the boat, until she turned 13 and got other ideas in her head. When she was 8 she hooked a 5 ft gator and fought it all the way to the boat and got mad at me when I cut the line because she wanted to bring it home to show her mom and older sister.