Strine

I actually posted this as a reminder to keep your eyes open. As you can see it doesn't get used, it's in storage so the children don't have to cut my other anvil in half when I cark it. This was an eBay find, I was the only bidder and probably went for half price or even less. Here's the single picture in the ad. Sorry to here of your lack of mighty timbers Thomas but it sounds like you have it covered. I could have had a piece riddled with ship borer but thought better of it. Silly me. It would have looked a treat all polished up and covered in 3/8" worm holes.

The new Kohlswa. The kids call her Miss Sweden. Can you see her beauty spot? I was fortunate enough to be involved with the demolition of the timber wharf in Melbourne, Victoria where I was able to secure a 150 year old piece of the under structure for an anvil stump. It looks like "yellow box" or Eucalyptus melliodora . At 1100 kg/m3 to 1300kg/m3 (it don't float) it's any wonder it seems heavier than the anvil.

Thanks John B. We all have our drawbacks! I have the power hammer but no gas axe so cutting the blank will be the biggest issue for me. My current, (very flexible!) idea is to make each tine as a separate entity including a section of the horizontal bar; much like a very tall and skinny letter "T", except for the end tines which will be "L's". I will then arc weld them all together. I'm hoping the 1/2 or so length of the joint will be sufficient for strength.

G'day Glenn and thanks...must be at least five or six years, two beautiful grandchildren and a couple of jobs since my last! John B...I can sort of understand what you're saying but I'd love to see a sketch of the cut out blank if that's at all possible.

It's been quite a while I know, G'day all who recognise this poster. I have an urgent need to own one of these mulch forks but do not have the means or the justification in buying one. I thought perhaps someone might have a clue on the process of forging the fork from a single piece as the sturdy ones seem to be.

G'day All, Latest news is that we have this week, received a donation of $25,000 from the "Community Enterprise Foundation" Black Saturday Bushfire Appeal through the Bendigo Bank Hurstbridge, Diamond Creek, Eltham and Doreen, Mernda and Kinglake West branches. This money now places us in a position to purchase a 300mm diameter x 3500mm stainless steel billet. Next job is to forge this into the trunk which is scheduled for August after which the welders can hit their straps and start putting it all together. Cheers Doug

Hi Everyone, Well, we're into the hard slog now. So you all thought forging enough stainless steel to make a leaf was tough, then perhaps realised, hang on, forging the trunk from 3500mm x 300mm round will be really really tough. Not so, that's the easy part. We are now into dealing with the powers that be and the powers that wish they were. The next step includes feasibility studies, environmental impact statements, geology, traffic management etc etc etc. Pretty much stuff that has absolutely nothing to do with blacksmithing. I think we're in good hands though. There's a lot of smart thinking flying about the meetings. I may as well be a fly on the wall cos a lot of it goes over my head. By the way us blacksmiths are "stakeholders" now don't you know. In fact we're the major stakeholder so our wishes and desires are very much in the forefront of any meeting agenda, as they should be. Sadly we live in a world where we are governed, sometimes over governed, by rules and regulations and unfortunately, although the power of this Tree is beyond belief it still has to conform. Sadly too, this stage will take sometime to get through. Hang in there folks. It will happen in the end. The latest update at http://www.treeproject.abavic.org.au/news.html has a little more information. Cheers Strine

G'day Everyone, Just a quick update. We are very close to receiving the final design from the Structural Engineers. As soon as we do, we'll be able to forge the trunk. I'm sure there will be room to view this operation if you're near the forging facility. There'll be lots of happy snaps at least. We have always thought a 3m to 3.5m (10 to 11 1/2 foot) length of 300mm (12 inch) billet will do the trick. It seems though 250mm stock will be OK. This will be forged from the 250 (or 300mm) down to 75mm which is the base diameter of the largest branches. It should draw out to about 6 to 7m. A big branch of 3m welded on top of the trunk will bring the Tree to about 10m (30 feet) high. Also if we have your email address because you've made a leaf or two, an "e-newsletter" is not far away. Unfortunately a lot of leaves arrived in boxes with not much info as to who made the leaves. I'm sure the local collection point to which you sent your leaves will receive a newletter so it would be best to obtain a copy from them. In the meantime un update can be got from the Tree Project website although there is no new news since August. Hopefully there will be more soon. Er....we're a bit busy emailing leaf images to sponsors at the moment.... and our boss-woman/Tree Project Manager has been working away from home for the last couple of months. Cheers Strine

"Every day is a school day" or "a day in which you learn nothing is a day lost". I spent the day welding more leaves to Jeremy's branch today and stumbled across a couple of things about gas welding. The wind is not helpful was one. Another was that cleanliness is helful. And yet another was that if the filler rod seems to be disappearing with no addition to the weld area there's probably a pool of molten filler rod gathering on the toe of your boot. Nevertheless I'm slowly learning a new skill.

To beat the daylights out of something....from straightening something on the anvil until no daylight can be seen between anvil and the once bent piece.

And it was a pleasure having you as well Jeremy. I bet you didn't expect to be working with iron in the form of ironbark logs! Thanks again for tidying up the tree I had cut down the day before. (Ironbark = Eucalyptus Sideroxylon). The branch you were working on is actually Limblet(A) #2 of 11. It will eventually have about 170 leaves. The pikky of the model shows Limblet(A)#2 arrowed. BTW Jeremy do you want your gloves back or have you already replaced them?

http://www.treeproject.abavic.org.au/leaf-gallery_EU.html Try this Dave. It has been a long time in the making but worth it in the end.

G'day Tree People, Once again Dale has reminded us that nothing much gets posted here about the Tree. Sorry Dale we've been a tad busy with the hammer and hammers and keyboards don't get along too well. The best place to get news is to visit the web site. http://www.treeproject.abavic.org.au/news.html But for a quick update we are about to begin forging the heavy stuff having finished the 3800 other pieces, about 1500 of which have come from smiths the world over. If this includes you, dear reader this is a huge project and will still take a while yet to be put in the ground. We were gladdened recently to learn that memorials of this scale are doing well to be erected within three or four years from conception. It won't take anywhere near that long but we thank you for your patience in the meantime. Another thing is that we are now sending an e-newsletter to every supporter of the project across the globe. If you've made a leaf, you've sponsored a leaf, you've made cups of tea for the smiths or otherwise supported the Tree in any shape or form AND we have your email you should have received the first newsletter last week. If not, we don't have your email address. If you wish to be included on the list please email a note to TreeProject@melmailing.com.au Cheers Strine

Eh what?, Did I hear my name mentioned? News just to hand as Cliff alluded to is that the Tree maybe setback into 2011. One good thing is that it's a huge relief for me in that the talked about date was going to fall on my daughter's wedding? Ye Gods would that have put me in a predicament because there was no way I would not be a part of the Tree unveiling or planting. This is not a fabrication issue but an issue related to the Tree's final location. It's about land management more than anything else. It gives us a littkle breathing space. Anyway it maybe a good idea to put a circle around March for any intended trip. Cliff makes a good point. If there is going to be a gathering of blacksmiths from around the world to attend the unveiling maybe the ABA(Vic) should think about throwing a chop on the barby and putting some tinnies on ice. It would be just fantastic to meet some of the blokes that have helped bring this Tree to fruition. I shall watch this space and if there is some interest in catching a bird to Australia or indeed in hitting the road from some far flung locale in Oz we will get something going. Let's call it the Tree Project Debrief. Even if there's but only one visiting smith rest assured we will do our best to look after you. Cheers Strine

Hi Stew, Yeh, it was down for a short while but seems to be working fine now....something about maintenance at the server end!! Cheers Doug