Mike Ameling
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Everything posted by Mike Ameling
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Johnny D, Big Al, and Harry meet to discuss ... business. -
I made up these reproductions of Copper Culture artifacts for Grand Portage National Monument - to use in their displays of pre-European contact Ojibwe village. -
Occasionally I sew up some mid to late 1800's carpet bags for the cowboy/old west guys. -
I love my little whale buddy. Based on two originals from New England, I made it up from a section of old truck leaf spring - so probably 1080 to 1095 steel. Heat treated hard to function as a flint striker. The other version has the tail turned to lay flat instead of in correct orientation with the body. I've made a couple dozen over the years. Kids and women really luv them. More functional historical ... art/sculpture. -
Me, Tom, and Tony making our weekly run of 'shine down to Dubuque. I ... borrowed ... the choppa for this run. Tom owns the truck, as well as a 1927 Lincoln(?), and is helping restore a 1926 Whippet. Our Living History club participates in those 20's/30's gangster events, as well as 1870's cowboy/old west, and WWII. -
la Belle French style iron handled clasp knife
Mike Ameling posted a gallery image in Member Galleries
Base on several crates of original iron handled clasp knives recovered from the wreck of la Salles ship la Belle, which sank off the Texas coast in 1685. Like the common "jambette" clasp knives of the times, but with an iron handle. Only three pieces: blade, u-shaped handle, and pivot pin/rivet. -
la Belle French style iron handled clasp knife
Mike Ameling posted a gallery image in Member Galleries
Base on several crates of original iron handled clasp knives recovered from the wreck of la Salles ship la Belle, which sank off the Texas coast in 1685. Like the common "jambette" clasp knives of the times, but with an iron handle. Only three pieces: blade, u-shaped handle, and pivot pin/rivet. -
la Belle French style iron handled clasp knife
Mike Ameling posted a gallery image in Member Galleries
Base on several crates of original iron handled clasp knives recovered from the wreck of la Salles ship la Belle, which sank off the Texas coast in 1685. Like the common "jambette" clasp knives of the times, but with an iron handle. Only three pieces: blade, u-shaped handle, and pivot pin/rivet. -
la Belle French style iron handled clasp knife
Mike Ameling posted a gallery image in Member Galleries
Base on several crates of original iron handled clasp knives recovered from the wreck of la Salles ship la Belle, which sank off the Texas coast in 1685. Like the common "jambette" clasp knives of the times, but with an iron handle. Only three pieces: blade, u-shaped handle, and pivot pin/rivet. -
Grease lamp with spike hanger. A little cotton cord laid down in that "spoon" bowl with cooking grease/oil poured in. Pull the "wick" up to just above the point of the bowl and light. Similar light to a tallow candle, but without having to do the work to clean up your used cooking grease and dip tallow candles. -
Base on originals from various grave and village sites. -
Base on an original found in Denmark and pictured in the book Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga -
Simple trade arrowheads - based on a string of 25 found up in Maine. I cut/filed/ground these out of a wooden whiskey barrel band. The remains of the last quench tub. -
Two simple trade knives I forged up from a piece of ... agricultural steel - like the piece on top (a Disc Mower Knife from Farm Fleet) Most likely 1080 carbon steel. -
The oval flint strikers (also called fire steel) is one of the most common shapes/styles in North America. They start showing up in trade goods lists in the mid 1700's, and continue into the mid 1800's. It is probably the style taken along by Lewis and Clarke on their Voyage of Discover. Forged fish hooks - with flattened ends instead of eyes. Zigzag canoe awls -
Sheet iron pans made to cook/bake over an open fire/coals - before the cast iron dutch oven came into use in the mid to late 1800's. With and without little legs on the bottom to help hold it up above the coals. -
Top: Mexican/Spanish Colonial coffin style R & B - mid 1700's Colonial American Bar - early 1600's French Crown & double curl - 1700's British 2 Sled style - early Roman 1st to 3rd century bottom left - from a French painting dated 1566 bottom right - French 1630's - the Brits and Dutch had similar styles -
Cut out and hammered up from 20 guage. Seam not soldered - it seals up in use. These were made in the same shapes/styles as the clay trade pipes. -
Leaves forged from 3/8 round stock. Fish pattern cut out. Brushed with a brass brush while cooling for that bronze coating. -
Pipes hammered up from sheet iron - common trade item showing up in the mid 1600's down in the Tunica Indian sites along the Gulf Coast, on up through the original 13 Colonies in the early 1700's, and all around the Great Lakes fur trade area up to around 1800. And one reference to one in 1700 near present day New Ulm Minnesota at Fort Hullier. Originals also made from sheet brass. Just formed/bent to shape. The seam seals up naturally in use - no solder. -
Top - Burgundian - mid 1500's to mid 1700's Bottom - Irish 1700's Note the similarities -
Left side: French 1630's Seneca 1650-1680 -- probably Dutch British mid 1700's Right side: Whale - late 1700's New England Scottish 1700's English/Italian late 1600's to late 1700's -
Hi, from that grumpy ol' blacksmith out in the Hinterlands
Mike Ameling replied to Mike Ameling's topic in Introduce Yourself
Yeah, you just want to oooogle the "toy" we are standing in front of! And then there is that 1926 Whippet, and that 1927 Lincoln (if I remember correctly). Some of the "gang" are also extras in a new gangster movie coming out soon called Public Enemies. I'll see about posting some pics. I make a lot of fur trade era flint strikers, muskrat spears, ice chisels, and flint strikers from any time period from very early Roman times B.C. up to the present. I have some on display at the National Museum of the American Indian, Grand Portage National Monument, the Museum of the West, and even the Museum of Welsh Life in Wales. Yesterday I made up two 1700's era small shovels. And I need to get Jay to post more of the forge projects on his Big River Forge web site - like that larger than life deer skull with full antlers we forged up, or that pair of interior wood doors I covered with random sizes rectangles of copper glued and nailed on with brass nails. Or that coffee table in the shape of a tree - with the branches holding up the glass top and the roots curling down around a group of rocks to form the base. The ... toys ... we play with. Mikey - that grumpy ol' german blacksmith out in the Hinterlands -
Hi. I've been blacksmithing part-time for several decades, and pretty much full time since 2001. Most of my work is replicating historical tools/items - from the early 1800's on back to early Roman times. I am more interested in the tools/items of everyday life over the centuries. I also help out Jay Hisel at his Big River Forge workshop over in Lansing Iowa. So I get a bunch of modern structural/sculptural iron work mixed in. And now these ... infernal machines ... take more of my time. Just another newfangled language to learn - at dial-up speed! Mikey - that grumpy ol' german blacksmith out in the Hinterlands p.s. In my avatar, I'm the guy on the left with the ... choppa. Part of our living history group.