Gayle Brooks Posted September 13, 2010 Share Posted September 13, 2010 At Dragon Forge we have been pretty busy with some fun projects. Recently we had a client, on the 11th hour, decide he wanted a railing with some metal aspen trees. With a very short turn around time, I had to get started on the ASAP. So here are some pics of what has happened. Please feel free to ask any questions. Ill do my best to answer. To start off were the aspen trees. These have copper, brass, bronze and steel leaves. I forge these a little at a time. Here is around 150 in 3 days. Next is to clean and start brazing clusters of 2 and 3. One finished tree at the top of the stairs. I was working on this while at the job site the treds were getting installed. When they are ready I show up to get a template from this set. Because this isnt a common run I need to fit to what is built. Using a piece of 3/8 round bar and some flat stock, I build the template. Putting the rake and run in the round bar, I place the flat bar on the nose of each tread. When I go back to the studio I place is back as close as I can. My control points are the flat bars and the top where the landing is. They must be level with as little torque as possible on the template. Thanks for looking :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gayle Brooks Posted September 14, 2010 Author Share Posted September 14, 2010 Day 2 of assembly. Had an idea for a extra hand. This tool is pretty rough but does the job right now. I will make a cleaner one when I can. Pretty self explanatory. Each joint can tighten down and lock. Basically hang the picket from it and be able get my hands free. I had already laid out where the pickets will go. Level them up and start workin down. I did not aggressively weld them being I didn't want the railing to rack from the heat of the welds. Took me a little over an hour to get these in place. I put the lamb tongue in place temporarily to give me an idea of where this is goin. The stringer of this rail has been bugin me. I ended up putting it on hot. Keeping in mind this rail has a rake, run and radius, I really didnt want to spend alot of time hitting this. I spent the rest of the time bouncing my welds around, cleaning and detailing. I rough fit the aspen tree in on the base. Thanks for reading :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fosterob Posted September 14, 2010 Share Posted September 14, 2010 Nice set of pics and good explanations. Thanks for sharing, it looks good. Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beth Posted September 14, 2010 Share Posted September 14, 2010 great work rory - your posts are always really interesting - you worked fast with the leaves i reckon! make sure you post finished installed rails thanks for bothering to put that post together! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted September 14, 2010 Share Posted September 14, 2010 Quite the project, thanks for the pics. Frosty the Lucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdaleh Posted September 15, 2010 Share Posted September 15, 2010 the step by step is great to see thanks for sharing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanR Posted September 15, 2010 Share Posted September 15, 2010 Looks great Rory, thanks for the step by step pictures, Love the tool, great way to clamp an awkward joint.Being a Horticulturist by trade I appreciate the fact the leaves actually look like Aspen leaves. Looking forward to seeing the finished article. Cheers Ian Ross Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Double Y Posted September 15, 2010 Share Posted September 15, 2010 Nice work and pictures. Please add more when you have the railing in place. All the best, John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gayle Brooks Posted October 6, 2010 Author Share Posted October 6, 2010 Well the railing is pretty much done, waiting to instal it this week. Here were some left over pics from various states. started carvin little bugs on em and to go with the railings also doin a fire surround with more aspens thanks for looking! Probably be a while before I can get portfolio shots after its installed, but will post when I get em. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dillon Sculpture Posted October 6, 2010 Share Posted October 6, 2010 Nice!! That ant is over the top! Very cool pics as well, you guys hire on a full time archivist? B) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HWHII Posted October 6, 2010 Share Posted October 6, 2010 Thanks for the detailed pics. Exspecially the ones of your template on how you lay out your stairs and your hand rail fixture. These ideas will be very helpful for me in the future. The Aspen trees are cool also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beth Posted October 6, 2010 Share Posted October 6, 2010 I LOVE THE BUG!!!!!!! you got the touch :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted October 6, 2010 Share Posted October 6, 2010 It's looking better every time you post a pic Rory! This aught to put a BIG old smile on the customer's face! Beth beat me to it. Love the bug! Frosty the Lucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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