Helena

Oh I've wandered the halls of that old building getting photographs before. Now it's all closed down and too dangerous. Good fun for awhile there though.

Oh how I wish I had a forging press... Would make some stuff so much easier. Lol! Heck, even a flypress would be nice. Maybe one day.

That looks fun and all JHCC but maybe add an adjustable hard stop so you don't end up squishing your hand. It can save you a broken finger or two. Just a suggestion

I've not met a smith IRL or seen any other shop off of the internet. I'm just self taught. Nothing stopping me maybe.... But with bad anxiety and the sense that I don't really belong with all the guys.... *shrug*

Lol, it works. I'm just not happy with how it looks. But I guess it's ok for 30 minutes

Wow! Great work. I just had a lazy day. Needed an "easy" win and made a crappy little bottle opener. Only challenge I had was starting with 3/8" square stock. Upsetting and pulling out the material to the right size was a tricky thing and of course I got a bad cold shut. It was a neat experiment I suppose.

Cool! The more ya know. Thanks for sharing.

Is that a side blast forge? I thought the back duer had to be cooling the air pipe for that to not melt down. Perhaps I'm wrong though...

Lol! Alright, good points. You've convinced me. Thanks for the great tip ☺️

Oh! I can see that being a little useful. Fortunately, the base is lower than my eye level so I can still see them just fine. But I'm a tall woman. Shorter people may suffer.

Thank you! Why would I put them in the other way? I don't mind doing that, but I'm curious as to why. They're resting on wood, so they're not gonna get damaged I don't think.

Wow everyone's work looks so good. I needed a better way to store my hammers. I was just keeping them on the bench so I made this thing out of bits I had laying around. Not perfect, but serviceable. The one side is smaller than the other so different size hammers can fit. I also made an over-the-door style hook out of some flat bar I had laying around and came up with a slightly different way to store my punches, chisels and drifts. Then I made a quick little bottom swage. It works, so I can't really complain. Lol

Thanks so much Frosty. Good to know you didn't lose any limbs. And thank you for the kind words. I'm really critical of my work because I know it's not as good as it could be yet. I'll get there, it just takes awhile.

Aww, thanks TJ. I'm flattered

Thank you George. I've recently been working on a couple projects so when they're further along I'll share. I do love reading the posts here though and being inspired by all the amazing talent that is present

This wasn't exactly today, but rather this past week. I hurt myself badly when an angle grinder kicked back and almost lost my hand. The surgeon repaired the two tendons and nerve and I'm much better now. It was a crappy angle grinder that my brother gave me. I never had the protective shield to it but I'll not use an angle grinder without one now. Either way, I took it apart, removed all the copper, melted that down and formed it into a bar and then forged a little leaf keychain out of it. Now I'm back to making stuff in the shop. Sorry I'm a pro lurker, but just wanted to share the journey.

I know I haven't been around much, I'm a professional lurker after all. But I finally (after dozens of failures and years of trying) made my first pair of tongs. They're ugly, but they work! And I made the rivet myself, the rivet tool myself and drew the reins out. There's definitely room for improvement, but I got them together and they work. Pretty happy right now. Oh, and they're like 4140 or something...

Thanks for the video for sure. Gave me some ideas. Had to mute it though... Sorry but I work professionally in video and film so... But the images were good and the info is solid. Thank you!

It seems to work, I just am not hitting accurately enough in the center during the making of the rivet. I'm going to be using the fancy heading tool for only one side, as I want a flat rivet head on the inside of the stand. I don't know what video you're referring to though.

These will be half inch diameter rivets I want to use for an umbrella stand I'm working on for my mom. Still haven't made a successful rivet yet... But I've got a few tries in. I'll try again tomorrow and when I get something that looks more like a rivet I'll send some pics.

I finally broke down and bought a real drill press. And I tried my hand at making some rivet setting tools. IDK if I'm doing this right...

Holy bananas Alexandr! Your stuff is amazing! Need an apprentice? Lol

Well, if ya don't mind the bad roads, bad services and high crime, then Detroit is great! I have run an angle grinder at 2 am here and no one says a thing. Course, I also have to ignore the shouting, banging and gunfire from my neighbors. It's a trade off!

Wow!!!! That's very beautiful work! Super impressive!

Great pointers Glenn! I'll try it, thanks!