nuge

His book was my first teacher. Man, the drawings! That guy was the ultimate scrounge artist (in a very refined way), and true artist. I don't use that word too much, either. I made a set of his bowl gouges and they are so right. I am going to have to get that book back from my bud. I bet there's some good juju in that hammer, might be worth the coin.

That's great. Even comes with it's own roof. Just goes to show you one day all of our gear is going to be on craigslist. Can't take it with you, right? Thanks for the photo! .

Weygers hammer? What side of ridiculous are we talking about?

Hey man, sorry to hear about the knee. It would be good to make a plan, even if its long term, to get it looked at by a pro. Bad things can happen if you ignore injuries like that for too long. If it's locking up you likely have ligament trouble. One of my ski buddies ignored his knees for years and now he's having very scary things happen. Chronic pain syndrome and MS like symptoms. Truth is though, I have worked through plenty of stuff like that and wish I was a bit more lenient on my body. Good luck!

Not sure a lot of guys would have made the same call, what with the arsenal of squishers you have up and running but one thing is for sure, you get stuff DONE. Nice work Larry, looks tip top.

Flat dies are more versatile but there's nothing like drawing out tapers and reducing cross section with a radius-ed die. Its so much more efficient and pleasurable and you're moving metal properly. I have flat dies as well and use spring drawing dies with them and it kinda stinks, it's not precise. You're 50 lb'er doesn't have too much surplus power so why not help it out? Get some combo dies in there. You could turn the low profile flat dies into something like the bolt-on system Little Giant sells. http://www.littlegianthammer.com/pdf_files/50pound.pdf

That is real tight. Looks like a guy could bang out a whole set of those in a day. The factory dies are nice but those look just as good, and if the end result is the same.... Kinda on the same topic I had a guy in the shop yesterday who does large scale bronze casting for sculpture at a big foundry in Denver and he said there's trend towards fabrication in the "arts" because of material cost. Thanks for the pics, you are going to get some mileage out of those dies. Must be getting hot in Tucson.

Man if you get a minute I would like to see how you rig that up in the hossfeld. Thanks.

Maybe pewter? Fairly easy to cast, you can melt it on your stove. The color is right and it weathers fine.

Nice light touch with big material.

Maybe its a bit cluttered? Lots of scrolls competing for space in there. Hard to believe nature came up with that design. Most of the fiddleheads are a single tight fuzzy scroll, right? Might be worth it from the budget standpoint to simple it up. Fiddlehead ferns are yummy sauteed in butter and garlic.

I agree with Mr. Rusty. If you can weld with gas, all the other processes come easy. Plus you get the ability to heat metal with the torch which is indispensable. If you buy new, this might eat the whole budget as the tanks aren't cheap. If you have a little time you should be able to craigslist the torch and a buzzbox, which would be a be a good compliment to the oxy/acetylene.

Nice. The solder looks like a good match to the metal. That stuff must be soft, there's no warpage huh? I did a big hood this fall where the designer wanted the same type of corner, a nice curve that grows in two axis's. Lets just say it made me stronger.

Designers are a great source. Of course you have to account for their "take". If they have a showroom and you are consigning work plan on 30-40 percent. Thats not where the money is though, you are trying to land commissions. Fireplace fronts, furniture, railings and all sorts of stuff can come from interior designers. In that case you can negotiate your fee and they will mark it up however they like.

Man, my bud has been gone for two months. It plain sucks. He went quietly laying on his spot outside the shop doors where he spent a lot of time. That was a great gift, I am so glad I didn't have to make the call to put him down. Good luck.

Theres nothing like being able to walk across the room and punch a 3/4 inch hole. Never gets old. If it does, punch a square one (or a slot). Nice job, takes alot of dedication to pony up that kinda cash.

How bout a cage, er, I mean crib?

Nice work! Please tell me his middle name is all heavy metal!

You do nice work and you are good at taking photographs . The thing that's a bit distracting is all the different backdrops, they seem to clutter the site. As a buyer i would rather see the work and only the work (against the same neutral background). Maybe look into building a lightbox. Nice stuff.

Man, thats what I like about this project, and the way we can toss around ideas and information. You can take what you want and kind of invent the rest. This guy is going for it. Perfect? nope, but...When there's nothing to compare it to, its the best. Thanks for the photo's, they make (some) sense to a wannabe machinist.

Thanks for the action shot. Any chance we could see a detail of that joint? It looks like a nice one all nestled together but I cant quite see how you made it. I'm going to post something really cruddy of mine so y'all can tear it apart. Critique is such a great tool for improvement, we all need to be a bit more honest about our work and the work of others. Such a fine line though.

Hey Fe- I like your design and execution on the bases. How did you do the mortise and tenon on the diamond? It's really tight looking. Something about the slabs seems a bit "off" to me, maybe its that natural edge. Or a bit too heavy looking for the size of the base material which is quite elegant, seems top heavy. Hope its ok to truly "critique", I always like input on my stuff.

The offset divot with the little hole looks nice. Whats it for? Never made one. Heres another twist you might like when your hammer gets air. Its simply reversed a few times and then the whole thing is gently tapped on the flat dies on the power hammer. Started as 3/8 square and now its almost round.

I figured you knew that trick, Dave. It's such an easy way to give a visual clue that the piece is handmade. After all, thats what the client is paying for. I disagree with the power hammer unless you have a ton to texture. Too easy to make it look mechanized. You want a bit of irregularity when you are going for a "rough" look. Still have to have good craftsmanship though, rough doesn't mean poor. It's not something you want to do to everything but I think it would enrich this piece. I met that Clay Spencer guy one time, what a character. He was telling me stories about his whitewater canoeing adventures back in the day. That must have been a fun class. Thanks for posting your work.