Klatchianmist

Looks good Conrad, what type of steel did you use?

12 minutes ago, Dave51B said:

What part of the Hoosier State holds yer shadow?  

I'm in Morgan county Dave, the problem is I work 5 or 6 12 hour shifts a week. I did meet up with some very nice folks in December and made a few contacts.

Thanks billybones, this is probably the most practical advice.

Thanks Les glad to help with ideas.

Golfishunt thanks for the suggestion, that looks really nice and smooth.

Thanks, I'm looking for more things to make that are similar in difficulty to practice my technique. Any suggestions are welcome!

About three months into it and had a decently productive day. Tried some different hooks.

Thanks gazz! This is an excellent idea. Researching jewelers rouge now.

Nah pnut it's from the show trailer park boys. Bubbles really likes cats. But indeed grumpy cat has left us. A sad day for the internet.

Thanks Frosty! It's a nice kitty.

Thanks for the clarification. It wasn't something I was considering. But I might look into it.

I guess I'm confused exactly what smelting is.

1 hour ago, ThomasPowers said:

Are you confusing melting with smelting?  In general artisanal iron smelting iron is done with a bloomery.

I am indeed confused

It's pretty much pure ferric oxide. I don't know anything about smelting iron I doubt my gas forge will get hot enough. I can smelt copper but that's it. And yeah the blanks are  disks with a handle on one side. Thanks for the input!

Hey folks, hopefully this doesn't get buried in the shuffle but I had a couple questions about things that I have access to and if anyone has any input. Firstly I can get my hands on ferric oxide powder. I did a few searches without any results as most what came up was about scale. This is a very fine and dry red powder. Also on hand are blanks that go in piping. They are anywhere from 1/4 inch to half inch thick and various sizes. The only marking I see on then is the size. Ex: 2" 150 . Not sure what they're made of and if they could be any good. Thanks in advance! 

Going to a fondue party later so I thought it'd be funny to make a fondue fork to bring.

Thanks crazygoatlady. Wolfjaw is a brand or style?

Thanks Billy. What kind of tongs do you use for something small like this? I guess I need to size it to the hoop I make first. I was doing them both at the same time. For some reason I think I need three pieces in forge so I can keep hitting something between heats.

Got forge 3.0 going after curing the ceramic wool and tried to make a brooch that I saw someone make on youtube. The pin is way too long but I'll try another one tomorrow. I need good beginning projects. Ive only made some tongs that are terrible and now this.