Im just curious if anyone has used or made a leaf swage for the vein pattersns? Or do you just prefer to use chisels/hammer peens for the veins/texture? I was thinking of making a leaf swage to try but Im wondering f it will gives the leaves to much of a "production" look?? Whatdya' think :D

Depends on what kind of a die you make.

If it forms the whole leaf, then yes it'll look production. However if all it does is vein it then no, it won't look particularly production. Simply use a cold chisel to incise a leaf vein pattern in a piece of plate, 1/4" minimum. Then place the partially formed leaf on the die and give it a hearty smack. Viola!! veined leaf.

Frosty

I "Cheat", I use a veining chisel for the center vein, then a Chisel hammer for the side veins. The hammer I bought from Harbor Freight, it has sharp edges on both ends similar to a welders chipping hammer.

I use this for the center vein:

Veining chisel holder - Blacksmith Photo Gallery

Edited September 26, 200916 yr by unkle spike

uncle spike Brilliant!!! gotta make me one o those!

Frosty said:

Depends on what kind of a die you make.

If it forms the whole leaf, then yes it'll look production. However if all it does is vein it then no, it won't look particularly production. Simply use a cold chisel to incise a leaf vein pattern in a piece of plate, 1/4" minimum. Then place the partially formed leaf on the die and give it a hearty smack. Viola!! veined leaf.

I have some thick 5/16" 5160 about 4" wide.I was thinking of making a veining die out of that..Ought' to hold up good. What do you think?

Heres a leaf swage in action.

YouTube - Forging Vine Picketts part 2

This guy's all business. From his production skills to his speaking style. Impressive.

That's OK if you have to make a lot of leaves that all look the same. I do a lot of leaves for demos and each one is unique. Sorry, but IMHO uniqueness is what it's all about. Not the factory look. My 2 cents. :)

No reason to be sorry. If you have to bust out hundreds of leaves and not have it hurt or ending up costing you, watch those vids and take notes.

Oh yeah, Unkle Spike - that chisel holding device is O(utside) T(he) B(ox)... OTB! Lovely.

Edited September 27, 200916 yr by nuge
unkle spike

I have some thick 5/16" 5160 about 4" wide.I was thinking of making a veining die out of that..Ought' to hold up good. What do you think?

I'd use the 5160 for something needing tool steel. Mild is plenty good enough to knock out a hundred or more leaves, then toss it and make a new one, they're really easy to make. Then again, if that's the piece you have it's darned near perfect. It's also big enough to make several leaf vein patterns. Straight, left and right curved.

The pic is a basic leaf die from mild steel. You can see a person could put a couple on the same piece.

Frosty

Edited September 27, 200916 yr by Frosty

Another something I need to try... Thanks Frosty!

That video is serious. If I ever have a job that involves making 700 leaves I think a set of dies like his are in order. Maybe making several sets to create variation would be an option, but definitely not hand forging all 700 leaves!

Phil

uncle spike your chisel holder is wicked! what a great idea - i will def make that! thanks!