GD85 Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 Good morning, Managed to post a few pictures of me, my work, and my shop. Looking now there are not too many examples of forged work. I get the camera back Sunday so I will try to gather everything I have at my house that hasn't been given away or sold and take some more photos. Most of these are found junk art type things, but I only had a few minutes the other day at lunch with the camera to snap a few shots. Note that the house is different in a couple shots, this is because we just recently moved to a renovated unit a few streets over. BIG thanks to whoever helped me out and deleted the license plate on the Jeep for me! I had a minor panic attack last night after I noticed I forgot to delete it myself, looked up and down IFI for how to delete the photo so I could submit an edited one. Anyways, here we go... What led me to blacksmithing and all sorts of metal work: First branding iron, and commission: My outdoor, super basic smithy: Turtle#2 . . . people seem to like these Wife has a "brown" thumb, but she can't kill these...sold a bunch like these too. These guys gaurd my shop from thieves while I am away. Vicious, vicious beasts: That's all for until Sunday. I'll get some more forged work up here. Hope you enjoyed taking a look at my primitive setup. I welcome any comments, good bad, ugly. Had to delete a few, check my gallery. There are a few more pictures there. Thanks, -Grant Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisB Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 That turtle is cool. Is that a lathe dog you used for the head? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markb Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 Cool stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drako11 Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 Great stuff! Those legs on the turtle and the petals of one of the flowers look like those big rail clamps from the railroad track, I have been wondering and wondering what to do with those, great usage of them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TechnicusJoe Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 Really neat set-up!;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GD85 Posted June 19, 2009 Author Share Posted June 19, 2009 Thanks for the comments. I think the heads on the turtles may be lathe parts. I found them in a pile at the scrapyard that had other machine shop looking parts. I just assumed they were some kind of broken clamps. Also, those are rail tie downs. I have found many uses for them. Take care, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 Yeah, your turtle's head is a lathe dog. Nice work all round and I'd like to make your alarm system's acquaintance. Best darned alarms in the world. Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigjohn Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 How much for the turtle? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GD85 Posted June 20, 2009 Author Share Posted June 20, 2009 (edited) Turtle runs $65-$95. Seems high, however finding the head takes quite a bit of time... usually at MINIMUM an hour and a half of searching which, to me counts the same as shop time. The way I see it is, time is time. As I said before, they were found in a pile of parts at my local scrap yard that appeared to come from a machine shop. In it, there is everything from jacked up truck grill gaurds and bumpers, to massive 1" plate steel sheet with various shapes cut out, to the occasional rattle snake sunning itself (like... the scary reptile that can kill you). Whenever I get a request to build one, or I just feel like making one, I have to play a junkyard version of Jenga to find a piece that is to reasonable scale of a typical differential cover. There are at least a dozen there, out in the open, ripe for the picking (from me digging) that are just way to big. Not even an artistic license could justify one of these suckers welded to a typical differential cover... it would just look plain goofy. Anyway, the reason the price is where it is because of the effort and time expended to find a similar piece and the risk involved. Sure, there are other options to make a turtle's head, one including forging. With the exception of pounding out a shape, I have yet to find a piece of scrap for an alternative as good looking as the "lathe dog".The beauty (to me, and clients) of the piece is that it makes use of scrap "junk" and welds only to create a whimsical representation. In conclusion, that was a long winded (as usual) explanation. It was originally intended to be private but I decided to make it public so it would be open for critique as well. I would like some good, honest opinions on my business practice. It is an age old question of "how much do I charge?" which plagues me every time I get a commission. Is it ethical to charge the same amount for scrounging time as you would forging/shop time? I go back and forth because yes, anyone can pick through and sort a pile of scrap metal to find what they are looking for. However, if the same person could also be forging some beautiful object, or electric welding, grinding, wire brushing etc then he/she needs to be compensated for that time, Regardless of what process or step it is spent doing. Please enlighten me to your opinions. Again, good bad,ugly etc. Thank you, -Grant Edited June 20, 2009 by GD85 spelling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 I think your pricing is fair. People aren't buying scrap or new stock and a few minutes of welder time, they're buying your expertise, knowledge and education. If they could make it themselves they would. Frosty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GD85 Posted June 20, 2009 Author Share Posted June 20, 2009 Nice chevrons branding iron too! Thank you Sir. That project caused me more stress than any other yet. It was also my first branding iron. It is very hard to represent the idea of "Thank you Sir, for over twenty years worth of much better than "plain" Honorable Military Service, to the point of rising to the highest possible pay grade, and being in charge of leading all enlisted below you, as well as being the example to which they follow". I put many, many hours into that brand. Looking back, there were a few steps that could have gone a bit quicker (mostly finishing) but it was worth it. It is hard to put a price on a commission like that one, especially when you think of how many YEARS the recipient spent (and his family) busting butt for less than glamorous pay. -Grant Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orgtwister Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 nice stuff there good work on it all so is that a m38a1 or a look alike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GD85 Posted June 20, 2009 Author Share Posted June 20, 2009 nice stuff there good work on it all so is that a m38a1 or a look alike It is a 1956 CJ5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
element Posted June 21, 2009 Share Posted June 21, 2009 Nice place you got to work there. That turtle is so cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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