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In the pancake coils there is a central "intensification" magnet and magnet powder in between the outer rings. It has to do with efficiency of the field. Interesting to note they makers use mica for a heat barrier. I have used pieces of soapstone to good effect whe you want to lay or wedge something against a coil. Grant researched a bunch of different materials for insulators, he said triggering the overload on the machine was bad form. You can also mill some soft brick as an insulator/mini kiln.

Often when viewing work I am more drawn to the little things than the big picture. Cool joinery, a subtle texture, a bit of flair, lets see 'em!

I think the "plate bits" are well done. Maybe the seat could be thicker or you could have added an apron to give the illusion of weight but they do work well with the composition. Great work.

Here are some interesting coils that popped up on ebay recently. I wonder how much the magnets help.

Man, the work in post number 4 is masterful. Anyone know anything about the maker? Just a great forging, and the wire works so well with the tail attachment, and the photo is spot on. Good work all around.

Yes, there's a lot of recycled content is steel but it still has to be transported, recycled, transported, re milled, transported, sold etc. I think the rr spike is less of a cliche and more a classic test-piece for the post industrial modern day smith. "what can you make with this?" hunk of metal that's been laying around since the coming of the interstate. Sure a lot of dudes make the same stuff but that's just a part of learning, we all want to make something cool and the improving in the craft is all about process and repetition so by all means crank out some beer openers and meat flippers. If you can get someone to buy it, yay, they got something handmade, that is a big deal. For me i always have a few laying around and toss them in whenever there's a lull or I am just messing around. I almost always make the same form, a hook, but never really try to duplicate. Just a fun little project journey I have been doing for years and every now and then something pleasing happens and I roll that way for awhile. The photo is a few new ones from this spring. Have fun with it.

Definitely I've been thinking about this one and why I love to work old rusty stuff. Am i that cheap? A bit but the deeper truth is I try to make the act of buying, at least buying a new product or material, way down on the list of solutions to a problem. I have this dream that the next U.S. president would put a one year moratorium on anyone buying anymore new crap so we would use all the old stuff that litters our world and learn to fix stuff and make do.... Seriously, in this country we have all the stuff and its way too easy to buy. Travel to any third world place and these rr spikes would be used for a purpose. In business this isn't so easy. The cost of time you take to acquire any type of reclaimed material is a killer and can you keep up with demand if your product gets hot? As for no longer looking like spikes, that the deal with anything good, isn't it? Would you rather see a deck post made from a 4x4 from home depot or a custom milled 5x5 from somebody's back woods? The 4x4 is common, uninspiring, and your eye passes over it without a thought. The comment someone made above about just leaving a whiff of the previous life of a re purposed material is a powerful move. And I do believe there is old power, life force whatever you want to call it, in some old stuff. When you get hold of an ancient spike with the waffle marks from the hammer of some old boy who had to whack them in all day you can't help but to think about that story. Awhile back I saw somebody was selling some very old wrought spikes and their marketing ploy was all about the two known times Lincoln had passed over them, once he was in a casket. So cool.

Hooks. Like others I am infatuated with remnants of industry and transforming these things. Taking a bit of the old life and giving something new, for better or worse.

Toys and games baby, that's about perfect.

The picture of the children is during an after school class, they were enjoying themselves.

Here's a few pics of Santa Clara. The drop hammer worked with a simple cam and what appeared to be leather wadding around the shaft. There was a pig pen about ten feet from this clamorous contraption, talk about animal cruelty. Another one of a youth class and one of a worker cheating..

I was fortunate to spend a month centered in Santa Clara de Cobra, working in a bunch of the copper shops. Well, I mostly shoveled pine bark and looked over shoulders. The state of Michoacan is maybe my favorite place in Mexico. The craft scene around Santa Clara is intense, there's a town that makes guitars, the next one does woodcarving, another specializes in black pottery, on and on. Colonial architecture abounds and the landscape is beautiful conifer forest. Real nice place to be.

My "ranch store" usually has black oxide grade 8 bolts in any size $ by the pound. They are hex but I forge them square, pyramid, whatever. Or you can buy the cheepies and remove the coating with a little muriatic acid. With a some ingenuity the hardware aisle becomes a playground. Carriage bolts sure look like rivets to me.

Yeah, I wish mine was bigger too! :) The pancake coil you describe is useful but the ones I've made don't seem to pump out the heat. It's tough making good coils, kind of a dark art, exiting when you roll a good one. I have also seen a multi-purpose coil with two different sized openings in one. Have yet to try it.

I still disagree with the much respected Mr. Larson. Check the pics. (for reference, I have the 15 kw machine, the smallest one, which is single phase) #1 is a piece of 3/8 square that doesn't match my coil at all. 37 seconds later, after "scanning" it through the coil (much like waving your torch), about a 3 inch length is orange. Another 10 seconds and I could have it yellow. If the coil matched (was smaller) the heat time would be about ten seconds total and then the material would be burning. Even at the higher length of time this heat cost me less than 3 cents in electricity. John does bring up a good point indirectly, my biggest gripe with the process, changing coils is a pain. Even though it takes less than a minute, somehow you don't want to do it that often. Must have something to do with being spoiled with the insta-heat. So you tend to build up piles of work for different coils. No big deal. Pics 2-4 are of a beat up ring from the scrap pile. I think its 3/8 round. It doesn't even fit into the coil. You can take advantage of the eddy currents and still get efficient heat. 16 seconds later a goodly section is yellow. The final form took under 5 minutes to complete. Not the prettiest thing but you get the idea. Pic 5 is a handle I made from 1.5 inch round bar. Thats pretty much the top end in size for my little machine. My gas forge would have to run for ten - fifteen minutes from a cold start to get the first heat on this, by that time the piece is done with the induction heater. I work on a big variety of different stuff any given day, and I too would surmise 90% of the forgework rolls through the induction. To re-emphasize one of the many virtues YoungDylan brought up, my time is everything to me. Don't really care how much the material cost or the fuel cost or how much I paid for the drill press, I only care how long its gonna take me. Thats the big #1 rule of running my clown show, er, i mean business.

How so? My advice stemmed from the fact that this guy said he liked hand forging. So do I, well I used to anyway. Now I reach for the smallest hammer possible but I put in a lotta years w/o any other help. Also, I am a bit altruistic in the belief that just because you can add more power doesn't mean you should. At the early stages, that might be tad offensive to the material. Get to know her a bit.

At your level, I would say neither. Too soon to add power as you are still learning to move the metal by hand. If you are going to spend some dollars I would get an induction heater. Heat, man. That's the best first tool, the heat in the material. Without it we got zip. With induction you will have instant heat whenever, no time waiting more time smithing. And you will be always working at yellow colors, the proper temps, your arm immediately gets bigger because of this. Your hand smithing will progress faster and your output will be way higher so you can sell junk to pay for more stuff. You can get into a single phase unit for 3-4 grand, the price of a used hammer. Think about it, that's what I would do.

Sparex is the go to for non ferrous metals. As long as your metal is sanded properly, it will polish easily, but you will typically pickle before sanding. Sorry, things don't come out of the pickle shiny.

Cool,thanks. Spendy stuff. How many colors do you have? I like that red, are they all the same "earthy" tones?

Cool finish. Could you tell us about the stain?

Put it this way, a gas setup will - Heat big sections with a rosebud heat localized sections to set a rivet or do a tight bend, wrap, etc,etc weld braze solder cut preheat for welding tool steel heat for applying waxed finishes or patinas anneal non ferrous metal work anywhere there's no power or if the power goes out draw a temper for punches and such thaw your pipes in the winter an arc welder will weld

If you learn to gas weld, the electric process' will come easy.

I'm a big fan of flat bar. Really useful and strong cross sections, great for the coat racks and shelf brackets you mentioned. A taper on flat bar is easier and more pronounced than round or square shapes, you get a lotta bang for your smack. Seems to fly off the stock rack, especially when making things people are buying. 1/4" x 1", 3/8" x 3/4" are favorites and easily forged by hand.

It was pretty obvious that there is a weld in there. I think a lot of guys view others' work through their own tenet's, especially the more traditional minded workmen, hard not to. Do your thing! The piece is good, some nice metal moving, and the bundle is a real focal point. Get a better photo....its gonna be gone soon.