Chad J.

A little filing and it's done. No leaves this time, next time though...

I think I'd need a bigger hammer...

Middle of the town. My neighbors like me and I check with them often to make sure I haven't been too loud. Very blue collar area. My house was actually the farm house for the land that makes up a good chunk of the north west part of town. So this is my shop..

That looks great Das. What size chain are you using? Almost got all the branches on and flared out. Welding wire to bar stock is a pain.

Had a first time Smith in the shop today. I walked her through doing a j hook with a leaf and a twist then have her a piece of 3/8s round. Explained to her that an s hook used the same techniques as the j hook and let her go. I answered questions but let her work through it. Actually did really well. She made an s hook t with a twist that actually stopped at 90 degrees so she could hang out from a specific spot. She stated a couple of times "pretty good for a girl" before I pointed her towards Jennifer's instructional videos. I also heat treated that big knife, assembled my horse shoe trivet, and the horse shoe wine rack.

I couldn't help myself. I had a railroad anchor and I watched a couple episodes of forged in fire with my daughter and her boyfriend. Someone made an oversized tanto that I liked the design of and I had to try to copy it. Blade is 16 inches long 1 and a quarter(ish) wide, and balance point is around 4 inches in front of the handle. I'm also working on some of my horse shoe projects but I didn't get pictures of them. I also started the bonsai tree project. I started with 1 inch rebar and hot cut some branches in the top. I had been folding the others out of the way of the branch I was working. I'm planning on 2 more sets of three branches spaced evenly down the trunk. They'll be shaped and split before I weld them on.

That lily looks great Les, I'm glad to hear you are working your way back to the shop. I made a stand for my 5 inch post vice. I found an i beam in the scrap at work, had some square tube laying about, along with some nice flat stock. It's a beast but I did some chiseling in it and there was no movement at all. I made use of the guillotine to make my first candle stick holder out of a pipe.

As a jarhead and a smith I shall toast him this evening and ring the anvil for him tomorrow.

My kids are both in their 20's Frosty. I have considered hiring someone

Got a guillotine and a jig for S Hooks off Esty, very nice construction and got here a week early, then my shipment of grinder belts came in. My oldest is supposed to be here with her boyfriend today and I've been trying to clean up so that it doesn't look like I've been neglecting the house. I don't dare take the stuff out to the shop. I'll end up starting up stuff out there instead of cleaning my kitchen.

Thanks for the tip Das! I have plans for trivets and wine racks. I haven't successfully made a nice heart yet but I now have plenty to practice with.

Got a nice sized I beam from the scrap at work. Trying to figure out how to cut it to make a stand for my new post vice. Also got a box with 20 pair of 00 diamond horseshoes from Centaur for various quick and fun projects to help make my next craft fair more profitable.

It feels like more than 70 but not much. The screw and box are great. No visible makers marks. The guy I bought it from had to many hobbies and was giving up smithing. Told him he could come visit the vice if he wanted.

I got a great deal on this 5 inch post vice. It's marked with a 70 and that's it from what I can see. 4 inches have been running around 200 or more in the area and I got it for a 150.

Billy, those are some great decorations in the shop. JhCc, nice!

Cast iron is extremely fragile. Bending is not something I would recommend trying.

I cold shape mine out of light gauge as well and I've been playing with the design of the pedals a bit. I'm leaving mine so that they look to just be opening. I go with reducing sizes and number of pedals for each layer and work them so that it looks like a continuous spiral. I ground down a small ball peen to give it the texture and veins I like as well as shape them, and then forge the leaves and stem. I actually have parts of some old bearings that I use as dishing forms and tonight I ground the head from a rail road bolt down to fit into a 35 mm bearing shaft. I like how mine turn out and I'm getting better with each.

Holy cow that's a beautiful idea Frosty! Gonna have to learn to braze... Thanks everyone for the suggestions, I'm going to try a few different ways on this.

Made a few scribes and set up my display for the first time today, looked at what I had for wares and decided I need to add stuff. Knocked out a couple quick triangles with fingers and holders and took a shot at making a couple beverage holder stakes. Took longer than I would have liked so I made a jig. Here's a shot of the drink holder and my first ever display. Yeah the display is pretty basic. I ended up hanging more stuff from the frame and using deer antler and decoration.

I'm in the initial idea stages of doing a banzai tree. Just got some 3/4" or so crane cable. This may ultimately go as a centerpiece on a live edge table with a large crack in the middle. My current plan is to forge weld the cable for about 8 to 10 inches then have it so that the cable unwinds as the branches and roots. Now, I could also forge weld several shorter lengths and then stick weld (or TIG if I talk to the neighbor) them into place for the branches and roots. The beauty is that the welds don't have to be pretty. My other thought was going with a piece of black pipe and working it down though my preferred way is the cable. If both of those fail I'll go with round stock stick welded, twisted and textured. This is likely the easiest way but I like the idea of the stands of cable, I think it would give it a more organic curvature. Anyway, the only thing I haven't figured out is the foliage. Short of making individual leaves, I'm having a hard time envisioning how to do it. I could go with a textured steel plate or some light guage but it seems like a cop-out. Suggestions? I thought I posted this in general, could a mod please move this?

Well, I've hung off of one of the big hooks... these are just basket twist s hooks, I went with 1/4 inch for the twist and 3/8 for the ends. I drew out the center after I welded them and squared them off. I'm happy with the look. I sold several last week when I did a demonstration so I decided to make more.

Made several basket hooks today, I've got the number I want for my both at the craft show now so I'll move on to the next set of items. This was fun to see though. I tend to give my gf stuff that I make, my first rose, and apparently I gave her a couple leaf rings when I first started making them. Check out this progression, I was actually shocked at how clearly I progressed on them.

The three that I've finished lately. The first is a nice sturdy combo camper skinner, second a handy utiliy knife, and the third is a bearded ax with a hickory handle. All of them are 5160.

I've been on a tear lately. Tonight I did a quick trivet from rail spikes, I cheated and welded it for now, I'll drill it and rivet it tomorrow. Worked a rose I started yesterday, (a couple small adjustments and I'll be happy) and knocked out 8 S hooks from 3/8 stock. Yesterday I did a few bottle openers, cut out the blanks for 4 roses, forged the leaves for the first. Sunday was putting the shop back together, Saturday was an 8 hour live demonstration in front a store I have stuff in. That convinced me I need a stake anvil or a 50 pounder. I moved my 200 pounder on its base, lifted it to the back of my truck twice and back out twice.

My little horbart did just fine and leaves it hot enough still to work the ends to what I want. I tried forge welding again over the weekend in my coal forge. No dice. It's getting plenty hot, lemon yellow with sparks just starting but maybe I'm not getting it clean. I'm going to have to go watch Jennifer's chain making video again to see what I did wrong. But I want to try and get to a couple craft sales this summer and I'm in a push to get stuff finished