Shainarue

Day 2 of the Tractor Show demo is in the books. Tomorrow is mostly just packing up and there's just two stations so I won't be driving out to help. I took better care of myself today. Drank more than double the water I had yesterday, in addition to a vitamin enhanced water. Today's heat was worse than yesterday which forced me to take more breaks. Lots of previous members came by to chat and a few more potential members. I used one of my breaks to walk over and buy some homemade ice cream made in a churning bucket operated by a hit and miss. Delicious, of course. After everything was loaded and locked up for the night, I swung by to visit with a blacksmith artist local to that area. Overall it was a good day.

Day 1 of the Tractor Show in Ottawa KS is in the books! It was in the 90s but humidity below 50% and mostly shaded so it wasn't too bad. Had a few bundles of kids that were very interested and said multiple times how much they really liked everything we were doing and how cool it was. One of the kids came with a very supportive father and they took a pamphlet home after asking when and where we have meetings. So overall it was a pretty good day. As usual, I worked too long and didn't drink enough water so I feel kinda crappy now. I did remember sunscreen though so at least I'm not burnt! Tomorrow we have a club meeting over the lunch hour which will force me to take a long break so tomorrow should be better. Enjoy this rare photo of me that another member took, lol

Ah, that makes sense as well!

This past Friday & Saturday, I was out at at one of the Garden Show stops with the Free State Blacksmiths Club. I forged for about 7 hours each day. We had a light rain most of the day on Friday but lots of traffic regardless! I didn't take any pictures but the big thing I made was a 6ft shepherds hook with 2-prong stake that I made using the fold-over loop forge welded at the top, then split the loop to make the two prongs. It was quite difficult maneuvering that long bar! I grabbed a nearby chair and set that up behind me just to have something for the bar to rest on when I wasn't needing to hold it vertical! I don't recall what else I made that day but I remember working, lol. The club got commissioned to make a woodworker's holdfast soon after we had emptied our forges to cool down so I said I'd work on it in the morning and he said he'd stop back by the next day. We had a beautiful sunny Saturday but oddly enough, not much traffic. I got the holdfast done first thing, tested and approved by a fellow member who also does woodworking. The guy never showed though, lol. Since I had already cut into the 1/2" round bar for the holdfast, I decided to do some button flowers & leaves to make a little sculpture that I could taper the end of for another garden stake to add to the table. It was a long day in the sun, and by the time I was ready for the welding, I think I was just done. The first few welds didn't take. A fellow member came over to help and it failed that time as well. I filed the pieces so they were down to bare metal and we tried one last time. When it still failed, I chucked them into the slack tub and said I'd try again at home - using electric weld if that's what it took, lol, and bring it to next weekend's event. It was a bit frustrating because I had done this exact style sculpture twice before without issue. But not in full sun and with someone else's setup. But oh well. It happens! When I got home, I discovered that I had a pretty brutal sunburn on my right side. My neck was purple, ears and arms a dark red. I soaked in the tub for a few hours, drank a bunch of water, and went to be early. Sunday, I started a new batch of charcoal so I was outside all day again, splitting logs in the sun for a few hours and in the shade a few more hours (I usually split for future batches while the current batch is cooking - so it's supervised but I'm still productive.) The handle broke at the head of my large maul so I did the remainder with the axe. A few more swings but a lighter tool so it probably evened out. Last night, I came home from work and headed out to make some "simple stocking hangers". I was having a horrible mental health day and really should have just skipped forging all together but I was hopeful that forging would fix my brain. It didn't. Ugh. So I basically wasted coal because none of the hangers worked. I had watched some videos of other designs and the gist seemed to be that the top part that rests on the mantel needs to be such that the back bend of the hook is in line with the back end of the top. I guess I need to go watch those again because I obviously missed something as all 3 of the ones I tried, in various designs and various angled bends and loops, failed. I at least knew better than to attempt the forge welding, lol. I did get the angle grinder and cleaned them all up real good. Today hasn't been much better in the brain department so I think tonight I'll just strip paint from my portable forge parts in preparation for painting.

John, that test piece with the flat swirl is fascinating. I'm guessing each end of the bar is held in place (but not tightly) so that as you twirl the center, the ends can move in? David, I've never seen a tripod like that and I love it. Also that's a really nice set of serving ware. And all one-piece items it looks like? As attractive as riveted handles can sometimes be, I just don't like 2-piece serving ware. Gewoon, I REALLY like that table! Alexandr, I'm really enjoying seeing your in-progress pics

CGL, the first one took me 80 minutes last night. Tonight, I worked on two at the same time and finished in 2 hours. So I saved about 40 minutes by doing two in one session. Or maybe I just got a little faster. What I really need to do (should have done) is keep track of measurements. How long to draw out the stem that wraps, how far in to set down for the mounting plate, where to start the bend. A lot of my time tonight was the back and forth of adjusting the bend to look right.

Thanks for the advice, Frosty. If it's not raining tomorrow then I'll give it a try. I assume 1/2" would work just as well? And the inside of the hairpin is what slips over the exposed threads with flat against the nut? Ridgeway, That's a nice start to your Level 1 items. The piece with the tenon and punched hole had me scratching my head for a second till I remembered. I'm slowly working on Level 2 so that I can be listed as a certified instructor for Level 1. TommyVee, that looks nice. A few years back, I watched one of JLP Services videos on YouTube forging the colonial style utensils. Yours looks similar. I should really give that video another watch and try it. Tonight, I used the last of the 3/8" square stock and made two more plant hangers for the club table at this weekend's garden show.

Tonight I started to work on dismantling the post vise so I could repair the jaw plate that broke off earlier this summer. I soon realized that the bolt which holds the moving jaw has likely not moved since the vise was assembled a good 100 years ago or more, lol. Gonna take a few weeks of daily soaking with acetone/atf mix and patience to get that moving. I could easily put the parts back that I had already removed but I think for now, I'll just work on projects that don't require a vise. So I fired up the forge instead and made another item for the club table to sell at the Garden Show this weekend. I like this plant hanger enough that I think I'll go ahead and make two more out of the remainder of the 3/8" square bar I have. Last year, I had made a few dozen leaves and attached to cord and to keyrings. They sold out. I haven't made any leaves yet this year and I haven't seen any other members bring leaves. I'll be at the event all day Friday & Saturday though so I figure I can work on leaves then.

Genius! I'm definitely tucking this idea away to implement when I make my new anvil stand!

CGL, we all have those nights! Helps us appreciate the successful sessions, lol Tonight was a (mostly) successful session for me. I did more on the forge sprite. Apparently the slot punch I was using needs addressed because rather than shear the slug out, it pushed everything to the point of cracking at the eyes. I'm going to hit it with the flux core welder tomorrow and clean it up. Then I started (and finished) two decorative heart garden stakes. The stake portion is forge welded.

I thought for sure I'd soak the wood (male & female) in water before trying this.

No lessons, I like my way thank you very much. It makes me laugh or at the least, smile. Both female/male wood dies is what I was envisioning you meant. I have never attempted to move that thick of material in wood before though. We'll see how it works out. I'll try to remember to update in this thread as I go forward with this project and any others that manipulate the rasps!

The funnest part of a basic pun is emphasizing the basic pun! It's the ultimate "get it? (eyebrow wiggle)" Frosty, regarding the method you described - would that be wood on both sides? The wood bowl cavity and the wood punch driving into that hole? Or a pick-one scenario?

The trade item for the October club meeting is "something made from a large file". I have 3 rasps. I didn't wanna do the same thing I see everywhere - snakes, axes, knives - so I was trying to think of other things that had a similar texture that I could use the rasp for instead. I came up with: raspberries, dragon eggs, fish, wings of an insect, or just cut into strips and twist - use as handle for something? keychain? I REALLY love the idea of raspberries just because of the play on words: RASPberries - I'm still sorting out in my head if I can make that work though. When I said I had come up with a different idea that would work without spreading, the raspberries is what I was thinking of but it later occurred to me that the rasp is SO thick that it might be tough to form the shape without thinning it some. I might just cut a square chunk off and play though. Maybe I can make it work...

I've since come up with a different idea that won't require any spreading. But I am still curious about this in the event I ever revisit this concept CGL, do you mean to basically recreate the scales? LOL, that's what I'm trying to avoid.

I had an idea to use a rasp as the material to form a fish with scales. I'm curious if anyone has had any experience with spreading a rasp while minimizing the loss of scale texture. Watching some videos of people making cobras from a rasp, it looks like my best option is going to be spreading as much as possible from the edges and just accepting the loss of texture in those areas. I know I can shape in a wooden stump but that won't spread it. I'm looking to spread, if possible, while keeping as much texture as possible. Any ideas?

I had to go looking, lol I was hoping for an all in one in-progress-to-finish compilation but didn't find anything. I follow Leah Aripotch on Instagram. So you can scroll through her IG feed and watch the various build videos there. Also does some amazing sculptural blacksmithing art so it's worth the scroll in my opinion. https://www.instagram.com/leaharipotch?igsh=c3dzbGF0aTJrMXhi If your just want to see shiny finished pictures, here's a link to the gallery of that project on her website https://www.leaharipotch.com/functional#/baba-yagas-forge/

I was working on a piece of 2" wide flat bar last night but didn't have any tongs that would hold it well. After knocking it loose a few times, I decided it just wasn't safe to continue with the tongs I had so I set out to modify a pair I bought for $1 and have had in a bucket for the past 2 years or so, lol This is the UGLIEST tong bit I think I've ever made, lol I wasn't able to spread them far enough to hold 2" stock but I got them spread enough to hold the width I had already tapered (maybe 1-1/2"?). At one point during the spreading process, it occurred to me that I should have just forge welded a forged-to-size bit on there. And I'll probably still do that before I work on the 2" flat bar again. But for now, these held the piece very securely so I could continue on with my project. Behold, my ugly but functional tongs:

That is SO COOL! Have you seen the baba yaga forge? Some of these people are just so creative AND motivated, lol

That's wonderful, John! Frosty, not sure if you can tell from the pic but those leaves are about the size of my fingernail. Pretty small. I think rolling only the tips of the leaves would make it hard to tell they were even leaves anymore, lol For these, I think I'll just bend the "stems" of the leaves so they kind of fold back toward the parent stock. My next batch will start from larger stock to get a larger leaf. Another alternative is to fold-over forge weld the 1/4" stock to get more mass.

Have you already watched this one with John Williams covering collars for Level2 Curriculum? Here's a screenshot of the slide when he's talking about the jig and here's a link that goes directly to that timestamp in the video. https://youtu.be/3lF_J3npqyY?si=-czsL3qfjoZF6gz3&t=1349

Correct - but not likely to be tread upon. Not impossible - but whenever I've seen them in use, they've been along garden borders and with a few inches below the curl showing above ground. So even if they were running a hose across the lawn, the hose would be elevated from the grass enough that you would notice and step over it. Now that you've pointed it out though, I think I'll reheat & turn that a bit further so it points down instead of up. Just in case someone trips or something

Yes, for a garden hose. Although, their design would lend them to also being helpful in propping up long-stemmed plants and such.

I worked on getting some inventory made for the upcoming garden show that our club will be demonstrating at and have permission to sell as fundraising for the club. These are hose guides. I thought with as small as the leaves are, that I didn't need to mark in the veins but I've had one person so far tell me I should still put them in.

That's a good tip that I'll try to remember when I do my next pair. Someone else has this pair now as it was a trade item for today's meeting. There were 6 trade items and all cut paper at a minimum, and only one could cut string - if it was held taught. So we mostly made gardening shears, lol, because EVERYONE'S could cut stems!