October 25, 200619 yr G'day all! I decided I'm gonna chuck one of these up every week or so, or whenever I get around to it. Comments, suggestions, requests, all are gladly accepted. These are some bowls I make from time to time. They go great as gifts, and remind me of pots I useta make in primary school. I could only find one I made from rebar - ignore the rust - I finished with spray, rather than beeswax.
October 25, 200619 yr I'm spending a lot of time on large building sites. How do you reckon 2" (50mm) reo would go?:)
October 25, 200619 yr Author You *could* do it Couple of metres of rebar, a water pump, and you've got a nice water feature! :)
October 26, 200619 yr Mr. Smith, When you use these as ashtrays to you tighten them up again after dishing to close up the gaps, or just weld them from the backside?? Pretty clever. -Aaron @ the SCF
October 26, 200619 yr Author Yep... doing ashtrays, I get em up to a red and carefully close up the gaps, with a smaller hammer. It makes for a shallower bowl, but it's quite the conversation piece. You may want to consider putting small divots in the last "wrap" somehow to hold a cigarette in place.
December 31, 200619 yr Hi Mr Smith. That's a lovely idea would they look better if you tapered off the other end also, or flatten it so you could hang them on a wall. Keep up the good work.
January 1, 200719 yr Author Nice idea, Frank! Here's some photos I was looking for when I posted the original... this will give you an idea of what else can be done. I think the first group were made from 8mm and 6mm rod. The second were made from thin rebar, approx 5mm. Anyway, enjoy, and thanks for the interest!
January 11, 200719 yr Hm.... How about other "vessels" made of coiled barstock? Like teapots, or vases, or wash basins? Sounds like a college art class project, but could turn out pretty interesting indeed. Your comment about the coil pots made me think of this, as one option in my college ceramics II class was to make a complete place setting (sans silverware) in the building technique of the artists choice. This could produce some interesting results:) -Aaron @ the SCF
January 12, 200719 yr Author The wash basin would be easy enough, and the teapot may need several parts but I would suggest you braze the gaps shut, for obvious reasons. For vases, etc, or any other container where there is only a single vessel, it's all the same, except that you may need a form to work around. The original bowl works, because the coil you laid down on the previous turn gives you something to bend the free end against. Bear in mind, though, that that double bowl took up three metres (10ft to you guys) of rod. Any more and someone's gonna lose an eye! :)
January 12, 200719 yr If you have a friendly lumberyard or construction business: re-bar is often shipped with heavy soft wire holding the bundles together (over 1/8" thick the last I picked up) They will often give it to you for free. You can also make a dandy candle stick for pillar candles by pointing the end of the wire and bending it up so when you coil there is a point sticking up in the middle and then when done coiling bend up and over the end of the wire to make a handle---got that off an Anvilfire link removed at the request of anvilfire.
January 14, 200719 yr turn up a simple greek urns shape out of soft wood you will find it needs to tall and thinnish till you get the hang of the shape ,paint it with a clay wash when dry wrap with your rod i used the gascutter to warm the rod i fix a spiggot on the bottom to hold it in the vice ,when its all coverd ,burn out the wood .
January 15, 200719 yr Author Okay... this is getting kinda technical, perhaps more technical than it needs to be, but how about a circular form that can be expanded or contracted somehow? Or, how about a "vase" shaped form that can be broken down within the vase and pulled out bit by bit? Perhaps a good idea for a blueprint...
January 15, 200719 yr Am I just seeing things or did Sam and Bruce have the same idea at the same time? Weird. Actually, what I had in mind was (supposing an urn shape) building it up in seperate sections and then joining the sections together. This is one method used for making tall vessels out of clay using a potters wheel. So for the typical Grecian Urn, you would first make a flat bottomed bowl, that would widen as it rises. The second piece would have a bottom the same size as the top of the bowl, and would taper down from there. The final top piece would have a bottom the same size as the top of the second piece and would flare back out to make the spout. This saves the problem of captured forms, and also saves the problem of twenty feet of rod swinging around in an arc in the shop. Now for the UBER creative among us. Make the vessel out of individual rings, and join them together by weaving copper wire between them. Would it be completely useless and impractical for holding water? Yes. Is there someone out there whole would pay Booko Bucks for such and Objecte de' Arte? Of course there is! -Aaron @ the SCF I knew that art minor would come in handy sooner or later:)
January 16, 200719 yr Author I reckon a fruit bowl made with rings and copper wire would be awesomeness personified! Consider that idea well and truly stolen! :)
February 6, 200719 yr let seee a blueprint iwas checking youtube videos for blacksmithing, and ohhh tis the sound of glory! Anyone else find the banging of cling and clang attractive ? ?
February 13, 200719 yr Smiddy, The Japanese have been using locked rings in armour and in decorative boxes and such for hundreds of years, look up some of the chain mail sites and you'll find examples. Essentially it's large rings with much smaller link rings that are 'just' big enough to go round two of the large rings and hold them tight. It makes geometric forms that are fairly stiff and looks amazing. I've seen boxes, jewelry, all sorts of things. A bowl would be no problem if your willing to spend the time making it.
November 17, 200718 yr Hallo Mr Smith! Great idea with the bowl thing thanks for sharing! Do you have any other how to projects? If you do please post them, people like me need all the help they can get! Thanks Bb
November 18, 200718 yr Author Dude, I have loads. My advice to all starting blacksmiths is to keep a small (A5 or A4) sketchbook. Draw up diagrams for *everything* you do, or see, or read, that's related to smithing. It'll pay off in the end. I used to knock up a "how to" once a week or so. Usually this would be an A4 sheet, with all the details required to complete a project from go to whoa. Glenn would convert these into a blueprint. I'll have a bit of free time in a couple weeks to draw up some new'uns - any takers for some more???
December 10, 200718 yr Ian, you said you could make bowls out of "chain-mail". Check this out: Google Image
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