Well, I finished my first forged piece today. I spent all these years collecting the tools and building the shop, but I never got around to forging anything until I made this candlestick holder. It was inspired by the items djhammerd produced in the thread about pineapple twists.

I was going to send it to the gentleman that sold me my monster leg vice, but my wife seems to have laid claim to it. I guess I will have to forge him something else.

The piece is made out of 1" square bar with a 1/4" plate base and a sheet metal top.

I learned a LOT in the process, mainly fire maintenance. The first day I spent hours trying to get enough heat out of my coal forge to even get a faint cherry color in the steel. Today I dug into the fire pot and found a bunch of clinker and misc. garbage remaining from a test fire last fall. I cleaned out the firepot and lit up the forge again and was able to get a nice orange heat with minimal effort. It became more of a pleasure than a total chore cranking the blower. I also left a few hammer marks during the drawing out process for the points (more practice required). Ahh, the learning curve continues...

Please provide any feedback that you feel appropriate.

Absolute first? or first presentation quality piece?

Either way, even I can see that is exceptional work.

How long did it take?

For a first forged piece that is wonderful work. I like the hammer marks btw.

great work - you obviously have a lot of confidence!

Absolute first? or first presentation quality piece?

Either way, even I can see that is exceptional work.

How long did it take?

Thank-you for the compliment sir.

When I first got interested in smithing when I was 16 (that's almost 20 years ago), I spent probably about 8 hours just doing some random banging (just making things like loops and flattening round stock), so I guess it's not my first time forging.

My equipment sat unused all these years through university, and careers away from the family farm. About 2 years ago I move back to within 30 miles of the farm and started building my shop.

Saturday and Sunday was the first time I ever forged a formal object (besides the random banging).

Time-wise, I spent about 2 hours with the grinder and cutoff wheel cutting the cubes in the bar. I spent about 5 hours doing the twist and drawing the point (this was the day I had the clinker problem and couldn't get any heat, so I probably could have done this stuff in about 2 hours). The remaining bending and the base and top plate took about 5 hours. If everything went 'according to plan' I could probably build one of these in a longer day (until I got better, that is).;)

Thanks for the kind words Charlotte and beth.

That is exceptionaly good for your first forging!
Very nice!

welder19

HiMark
that`s e very nice candle holder, and very original. At first it looked as a wall lamp .I woul have kept looking at all details, but had to quit to avoid a neck cramp, lol. Excellent ! Nelson.

Thank-you for the positive feedback everyone.

Hi Mark, that is one nice looking candlestick holder !!
I don't know why, but I especially like the tapered curl at the top...maybe because it's so much work to do on a 1" bar.
Did you use your power hammer for that ?
But in any case, it looks like it turned out great !!
The only suggestion I can give is to make one for the guy you SOLD your other leg vise to ;)
Just kidding, can't wait to see more !!

Thanks Craig. Yes I did use the power hammer for a majority of the taper. The hammer isn't wrking very well right now so I have a little work ahead of me.

Maybe that guy I sold my other leg vice to should come to the shop some day and hammer another one out with me...:)

That's quite a first piece Mark.

There's a lot more to actually planning and making a thing than there is just mashing metal.

Your piece is well thought out and excecuted with pleasing lines, proportions and finish.

Well done.

Frosty

Thank-you Frosty.

Actually, I didn't plan it out very much. I had a rough mental picture of a very basic concept, but the details worked themselves out as I proceeded. I kind of 'went with the flow' when making the bends.

This has actually led to a little issue that I have to rectify next time I fire up the forge. The candle platform is a little too far off from the centre of the base and the holder is a little tippy because of this. I will put a couple of small bends here and there to correct the balance issue but still maintain the the lines of the piece as much as possible (hopefully).

very nice work! keep the pics coming with new work.