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I Forge Iron

Goods

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Everything posted by Goods

  1. Long day today outside the shop. I dropped two smallish trees piece by piece. (They were just too close to the house and the red dogwood in the front yard.) One sugar maple and one mimosa, both never leafed out in the spring. I’ve been trying to get a lift rented for months and finally found one available. I’ve got family in town, so I had some help cleaning up, which was great. We’re going to do some sightseeing tomorrow, so Sunday I probably be back at it. I’ve got a bunch of dead limbs in the back yard to get down while I have the lift. I also want to pick through the wood and get some good pieces for the wood turners who setup by our forge during festivals. The maple has some good spalting and the mimosa has some good color (and I heard it’s good for turning?). There was was good burl I saw as I was cutting, but I’m not sure I’ll find it again. Keep it fun, David
  2. I usually make mine from 1/2” square bar with an inverted pyramid preform, forge down on the diamond, and draw width with the peen. Keep it fun, David
  3. Now that’s good! Certainly made me laugh out loud. (Not sure that it will help with supporting the jig block though.) Keep it fun, David
  4. To bad I don’t have a lathe to make custom posts for it… Well, I don’t really have space for a lathe anyway. Keep it fun, David
  5. Last night a long awaited fixture plate was delivered. (Long story of how I came across it…but no cost.) 30”x15”x6” 4140 pre-hard material with 5/8” threaded through holes in a 2” square pattern. Now I have another project on my to do list: make a hefty stand! Keep it fun, David
  6. I would stay on the smaller side for the shop vacs. Scale and grinder dust gets heavy fast! Keep it fun, David
  7. If you’re wanting to support a local smith, you could post to the “Indiana Blacksmith Association (IBA)”Facebook group. I’m sure one of the guys there is jump on it. Expect the same questions, so you may want to put all the information in your first post. Keep it fun, David (IBA member)
  8. Goods

    Spoiler alert

    For file guides, I saw an interesting trick on YouTube. The person took a cheap ceramic kitchen knife and cut it with a diamond abrasive wheel to make the faces of the file guide, which he epoxied in place. I’m not sure how long it will hold up, but it look like a good idea… Keep it fun, David
  9. I agree on the hat rack, but again it’s not my style. I am really drawn to the clean lines and simplicity of the crosses. Keep it fun, David
  10. If I had to guess, I’d say they were MiG welded then wire wrapped. I like the idea of slit and drifted with a heat shrink fit. Not sure what to think about the hanger. It’s just not my style… I would agree with you that it needs a little more of something. Keep it fun, David
  11. Keep in mind that using acid to dissolve coating that may be hazardous make the acid itself hazardous waste. If the coating is cadmium, it could take a lot stronger acid to dissolve it off. If it does the waste created is much more hazardous than if it was hexavalent chromium which is your typic yellow zinc plating that is pretty nasty in it own right. Keep it fun (and safe), David
  12. Dave, the demo was at Fort Vallonia Days in Vallonia, IN. John/George, I have never setup at a craft fair. So far, I have only done sales at demonstrations and only if sales are allowed or even expected. Either way, I would be traveling to and packing a lot of gear, the inventory is minor compared to tools and materials. So, the sales are a nice benefit that goes a long way towards offsetting my costs. Personally, I have received many opportunities for commission work, but passed most of those asking to the other smiths who are more suited to commission work. Between work, family, and other responsibilities I can’t always guarantee time in the forge. At this point I’d rather forge the items I’m interested in to my liking and hope that someone would have interest in them, if I’m willing to sell them. Keep it fun, David
  13. I picked up a patina forging in the sun this weekend, although its not what I would call “rainbow”. Keep it fun, David
  14. George, it really felt like the sales were lower that last year for me. The smith I was with seemed to be doing pretty good. However, when I got home and counted the revenue, I came out a little better that last year’s total. I think the main difference was having more inventory, so even with better sales, I had more to take home. Of all the items I forged during the demo, only one of the fire pokers were left unsold. Honestly, these events aren’t about sales for me. The main reason for me to attend is the demonstration itself. The sales are just a bonus. (This is only a hobby for me, and I’m really not wanting to take the enjoyment out of it.) Keep it fun, David
  15. The demo went well this weekend. I haven’t taken many pictures before, but I got a couple this time around. Basic pictures of the setup (not the best pictures…): Here are a couple of the items made while demonstrating: BBQ fork and spatula as well as the a few leaf key chains and pendants. This flower was going to be just a key chain. It just kept growing, with the aid of a few forge welds. Overall, the crowds weren’t as big as last year, but a lot of people seemed interested and the weather was good. It is a completely open air forge, so it would have been a lot easier if it was cloudy all day. Two full days of forging and interacting with the crowd made for a pretty good weekend! I’ll try to get better pictures of the setup next time. Keep it fun, David
  16. Will the joint on the hood rotate? If so that should give you a vertical connection. If not, I would cut that off square and put a 45 elbow on it. You may even be able to get a straight adapter to replace the 45 degree adapter that is on it now. Keep it fun, David
  17. Here is another example, but not really suited to the end of a bar: Keep it fun, David
  18. JLP, no I haven’t started a journal, but I need to. I’ve got one in the shop for that purpose, particularly for keeping track of steps/sequences and dimensions that work out good for me. I just get rolling and don’t take the time to write things down. It comes back to bite me when I try to make the same item a year later… (I would be a little scared to see how much time I have in some of these items.) Chad, I like your scoop! Doing these in batches makes consistency a little easier. The side profile is pretty close on these, but the top profile, eye transition and blade thickness/taper, varies considerably. Most of that was me trying to get the process down for the eye transition I want. Still not quite there yet. (Another reason I should be using that journal!) The knives I pretty much have the process down, but I also work these through step by step in batches. (Cut all the blanks the same, marked the set down at one time, drew all the handles out… they’re small, so not really wasting residual heat between steps. I’m not sure I would have the same efficiency on something larger like hatchets.) Keep it fun, David
  19. For my large quench tank (basically 5gallon steel bucket with about 4gallons of oil), I just heat up an old sash weight to a red heat and that usually gets me pretty close to 120F. For my small quench tank (3” Square tube about 15” tall filled to 12”) I just heat it up with a propane torch. Both methods don’t take much time or effort…) Keep it fun, David
  20. All the forging, heat treating and sharpening is done: (Tomahawk at the bottom has a little bit of delamination that showed up at the quench , but it’s not too bad. It may end up as my target hawk…) Now on to leather work… 3 days till the festival! Keep it fun, David
  21. I watched a YouTube video of the guys at Coal Iron Works talking about the effort that has gone into the self contained hammer and at the quad state they did an introduction/unveiling of it looking for feedback. Even with serious engineering work, it needs a lot of fine tuning. (I should have made it to quad state to hang out with them. I would have love to see Kurt putting it through a work out… Keep it fun, David
  22. 8” double wall may not fit inside a 10” vent pipe. Might want to check before committing… Keep it fun, David
  23. The other thing to remember is that most of the modern ceramic belts need fairly high pressure to stay sharp. As the ceramic dulls, the high pressure causes fractures creating new sharp edges to cut with. If the pictured grinder was available for $50, that would probably be a good starting point. Not as flexible as the “modern” knife maker type grinders, but you could get a lot of work/learning done with it. Keep it fun, David
  24. Do you have an image of the grizzly 2x75? They have a couple different styles listed on their site. One or two of them look like they would work, but may be under powered. The others I wouldn’t mess with… They also listed the belt size as adjustable from 2x72 to 2x79, on at least one model. Keep it fun, David
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