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Don't have a good name, but that's a pretty design!

You hit it right there. From my perspective, its all about time. Time is the only thing with real value. Do I care how much $ it takes to run the tig? Nope. How much juice the inductor draws? Nope. Is this huge machine I paid 10K for "gettin' paid"? Don't care. I'm a one man show and want to do it well and need to do it fast. If there's something out there that makes it faster, or "more efficient", lemme know cause I'll pony up the cash and surely won't look back. Said it before but one more time - if I was going through the learning stages and gear acquisition again an induction forge would come before any major squishing tool...power hammer, press, whatever. Having a incendiary heat wherever you want it makes your arm bigger and you get to spend your time forging. Well, until you cant keep up.

Another tip for rivets is to chamfer those edges by sanding or even filing after cutting your round stock. Sharp edges promote splitting.

"I'm gonna make a motorcycle themed motorcycle". Thats funny. From an aesthetic standpoint I found the riveted bike to be, uh, ugly. The whole genre seems to have run it's course. Makes me think about art and decoration in my life. Most everything around our house is useful save for a few paintings and photo's. Funny how I spend my time making things pretty and all I want is things that do something.

Heres the link to the video. RD 66 is the code. http://umbaonline.ning.com/page/dvd-library-1 Beth - Yeah you just get a good weld on two matching sheets. Tig is fast and its actually really easy to gas weld these, and you get some practice. Square shapes work better than round, hence the pillows in Mrs. Brimm's work. Leave a little spot to weld a pipe in there.

Forgot to give the props, this technique is associated with a lady named Elizabeth Brimm. You can get a sweet video of one of her demo's through UMBA (upper midwest blacksmiters..).., she's the real deal.

Here is a vid. And a shot of the piece before heating.

What I like is although awkward, this is still hammer and anvil type stuff. When you get into machine assisted forging or metal moving its usually in a very linear way which is constricting and arguably takes a bit of life out of the piece. This guy is running around his anvil using nooks and bumps and even a stump and he has got some oomph in those hammers. Looks like its one heat at a time, let the compressor catch up., plan your moves. He is really sculpting the material. Another set of hands would be useful, I bet he has a helper around somewhere.

Here's a fun job from this summer. 11 gauge mild steel, embellished and inflated.

Welcome. You are pretty close to Centaur Forge in Burlington, thats a plus. They have fun tools and books, full retail prices though. I grew up in Germantown. Have fun!

I'm with you on not having him near me too, MB! The work is worth more. Rich people love guys like Dave, they got a real live one there. What I meant to comment on was the fact he's got it thought out, his business I mean. Thats worth a lot, a lot of folks just let it ride. I hate it when people ask me the price though. Usually it's never people interested in buying, just the ones who gotta know. Or even worse, guys who are in the biz. I think that's a personal question. I'd rather talk about the metalwork.

Nice work. How did you do the wraps without a torch? Man, you could use a torch. I might have one I could sell. It's the bottle's though, huh? Well put thoughts on your price schedule. One thing I hear from people is "I can't expect my clients to pay for my education" and I think that's rubbish. You are doing exactly that and it seems everybody's happy.

You can get a five pack of ball pein hammers from Harbor Freight for cheeep, like 10 -15$. Get the one's with the wood handles. I usually have a few boxes kicking around, they are a good starting point for top tools, and fly press tooling, and raising hammers, and.....

There is a photo on page 35 of the Hot iron newsletter in the 2006-3 edition of a fire screen featuring a similar form. The guy nailed it. I would go for pipe because you could individualize them real easy. A dent here, a bit of a poof there...The bulb doesn't seem to be the hard part though, that flat bit is going to take some r+d to make "right". heres a link to the HIN page, a silly huge resource. http://blacksmith.org/forums/content/231-Hot-Iron-News-Archives

I recently started using the citrus shield product. I was doing some work on a science school and the campus was "green" and they were serious about VOC (volatile organic compound) levels, Johnson's was a no-go. Great stuff. Burning toluene is bad bad.

Jaques- That's a real nice firepot, all the metal in the right places. Thanks for sharing!

That looks fun. What all did you have to do for this job?

Nice. The asymmetry of the backplate is attractive. What motivated you to do it that way?

Way more production, way less wear and tear on you, and you might as well keep the prices the same.

Those shells are rad. Will you be producing them for sale? Seems like a cheap way to get folks up and running, simple simple.

I have always made hooks from rr spikes. The bulky heads are suited to this and I love it when you get one with some interesting pattern, lettering, weathering, or hammer marks from the guy who blasted it in the timber.

Nice technique, I'm filing that one away. You could use that with all sorts of different objects. I immediately think towards the organic like rocks and even wood for a form. Or stuff like perf metal that has an open back to poof into. I've been playing with little air hammers in a similar way but this screams detail! Nice nice nice.

You nailed the mouth. Nice work.

The thing I learned about belt grinders is that I use them alot. More than I like to admit given my aversion to grinding. I don't make knives and I sprung for a KMG and don't regret it at all. The unit is HEAVY which is real nice in a grinder but I sure don't like moving the machine. If you have more time than $ the Beaumont Metalworks website is set up so you can buy the necessary bits and build the machine yourself, plans are around. And they answer the phone. The HF unit looks good for sharpening but you probably wont be removing much material.

Our condolences for your loss, you are in our thoughts often. The "5 Good Tools, Cheap Price" blueprint has always stuck with me.