Shakeypm

Tireif, Congratulations on two great things! Great balance on the plaque, nice air brush work and the use of the pike poles and the Maltese cross! I bet your a proud Dad and your son is probably very proud of Dad for a job well done!! Steve Christensen P.s. I'm at the other end of that career http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local-beat/Daring-Helicopter-Rescue-Saves-Two-Men-114992669.html

Dan, I know that I am a day late and a dollar short because you wrote this so long ago. I think you nailed it as to producing a teaching tool! very informative and to the point! I love doing Repouse' and use it regularly to highlight a piece of work. a small star or heart or any other "Detail" seems to add a great deal to what otherwise might seem a simple piece. I did a "leather fire helmet" in steel that got Repouse' on the front shield that was made of copper giving a very "leatheresk" feel to that piece. Thanks for the post! Steve

well done petef Steve

Phil, So I had an extra piece of 5/8" square bar and here it is: 5/8" square bar 11.5 inches long. Subtract 1.5 inch and have a twist length of 10 inch. 10" bar single twist length change following corner edge total 10.25" overall length change Negligible. 10" bar 2 full twists length change following corner edge total 10.5" overall length change Negligible. width between edges from 5/8" to 9/16" 10" bar 4 full twists length change following corner edge total 14.25 overall length change 9.75". width between edges from 5/8" to 7/16" 10" bar 8 full twists length change following corner edge total a pain to find overall length change 9 11/16". over all diameter from 27/32" to 3/4 " All dimensions gave up something in the twist. at about 6 twists in 10" almost all measurable length was given up converting to decorative round rod. until an equilibrium was met between a square and round shape. so 10" of 5/8 rod twisted 4 times gave up a 1/4" or 2.5 % TaDa, Steve P.S. I also accomplished some iron work today

Phil, I don't know how to link photos from the gallery but here is a link for a pretty simple twist www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/32465-a-series-of-reverse-twists The reason I wanted to include the link is so we have common ground to work from. In this twist you can see that the length of the corners as measured along the corner in the twist is much longer than the length of the bar from the start of the twist to the end measured in a straight line. this is the amount that the bars width or mass along the bar is increased. in other words if the bar was 2" square and spun into a very tight twist the overall diameter of the nearly round rod would be close to 2.8 inchs, where do we get this increase of diameter? we get it from the length of the bar. so the bars length decreases up to 44% in the length of the twist. Clear as mud! If you hold the bar in a rigid clamp not allowing it to shorten you will diminish the width of the bar proportionately to the amount of twists. because you are trying to make the corners longer without adding mass, thus the dimensions of the bar decrease to give the corners the length you are forcing upon them. Does this help? or am I not explaining myself correctly? Steve P.S. anyone going to the ABANA conference in Memphis next month?

Hi Everyone, I hope this helps, sorry it is so boring! I have learned that as you twist a bar of steel, you increase the outside diameter. especially when you do many twists back and forth in a short length, so essentially you are tuning a square bar into a round bar with ridges. so the width of the bar is changing from the original width to the width from corner to corner. using the Pythagorean theory of "A squared + B squared = C squared" you can have an increase in cross section up to about 44 %. which means a decrease in length of up to about 44% in the section you are twisting. All that xxxx being said I would generally do a test piece to measure my finished pieces length versus my starting length (there will be slight variances between two twists because of temperature of metal when twisting). or just test the shortening of the twisted sections length for the twist pattern you are doing. this is especially important if you are fitting the piece between two fixed points. remember that if the piece is a little short between two pieces you can do a very slight "drawing" of the piece to make it fit. conversely you can "upset" it slightly to shorten it. Steve Long Beach, CA

DiverMike, Thanks for the post, I am hoping to do some of these tomorrow. you gave some great photos and pointers. Again thanks! Steve

Howdy, I'm happy to see you got the gas burner fired up! is it what you'd hoped it would be? Did you get the coal burner squared away? I'd love to here the stories of the class with Hofi. Steve

Alex I have had the whisper momma for years and love the thing! it is great for general work and I love the front door for larger things. it made it convenient to heat small billets for pressing drawer pulls. I now use the Chili forge cayenne because I needed a larger firebox and burners for some large hinges I was making. I still use the whisper momma when teaching as I can get more irons in the fire. I hope this helps! Good luck and most of all stay safe and HAVE FUN! Steve

What a great location!!!!! I am next to the freeway and under the landing path for Long Beach Airport. All you can hear is the din of cars going by unless the sounds of nature (Cars) are interrupted by the coastal patrol of F16's, Jet Blue airways, UPS Planes,or the famous C-17. AW the sound of nature. On the lighter side I don't bother my neighbors to much! Steve

I have familial tremors a genetic parkinsonion type shaking similar to essential tremors. you wanna have fun with your hands shaking try being a paramedic for 20+ years starting IV's, and the good news is it's genetic so you watch your Dad get worse and worse through the years (he was a locksmith and he still could drop those little pins in the lock cylinders every time). Well we finally had a good Doctor with an easy thing that helped us ALOT! just take a B complex vitamins everyday. apparently the B complex vitamins help with fine motor movement and diminishes the fine shaking to almost nothing on most days. in my case this is a pretty big deal so there are still shaky days but thats when you brace the shaker. I hope this helps! Steve

Wagonmaster, Have you mastered this yet? a trick I was taught was keep the iron high in the fire so you are not oxidizing (Too much air has played havoc on many forge welds), wire two pieces of 1/4 in square stock together bring up to a gentle red, flux (or not) put the iron back to the fire and don't get in a hurry. when the iron gets to a nice yellow bring it out and tap it on the edge of the forge (should stick). tap your iron with a light hammer on the edge of the forge. back to the fire to yellow and to the anvil to shape. This was a lesson to learn to recognize the temperature for welding and to learn not to be to heavy handed. the small stock cools very fast so a trip to the anvil can be just to much cooling. charcoal makes a great welding fire for something this small. but don't get over zealous with the air. the air increases the volume of heat but yellow hot is yellow hot. whether it is in a small area or a large area. you just need enough heat to weld not heat the smithy. I hope this makes sense, Steve

I have been around IFI for awhile for the blueprints and links, but I never signed up. I have been the Blacksmith at Rancho Los Alamitos for about 6 years. I have been doing restoration work, garden ornamentation and things to sell in the gift shop. The latest projects for the barns area restoration are Seismic hold downs for the Stallion Barn (in a traditional forged look whatever that means) and Strap hinges for the old doors and new gates around the barns area and stables. I hope to join some of the varied discussions here and learn and share. it sounds like fun. Steve