Jump to content
I Forge Iron

Ram's Head for a poker


Recommended Posts

thanks ciladog great tutorial - i love to watch videos, so much easier to learn from. i made one of these years ago, and never have since - but i should - and oddly with all my stressing about forge welding, that first one was absolutley beautiful.... i love you way of doing that bend - i could use that alot, am always finding myself with difficult access when bending things, i will undoubtedly use your technique - cheers :)!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you all for the kind words.

I have made these ram's heads out of stock as small as 1/4" round and as large as 1 1/4 square.

In the attached images the small head was made from 1/4 round (that is a 5/16 nut holding it up) and large head was made from 1 inch square.

The one in the video was made from 1/2 inch square.

post-3873-0-06966600-1329660842_thumb.jp

post-3873-0-49993100-1329660885_thumb.jp

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ciladog thank you for your post I tried to post some pictures of more power hammer options to speed up the process, my last attemp failed so I won't bother with so much written info on this one. Hopefully the pictues if they work will be self explanitory. I use 2 hammers which helps to get more done in each heat.
Wild sheep have short upright faces.post-2097-0-53096400-1329779414_thumb.jp
I use a wedge to taper the horns as the first step.post-2097-0-41628800-1329779451_thumb.jppost-2097-0-17458900-1329779526_thumb.jp
then a double swedge to start divideing the horns the example is poorly done.post-2097-0-57066000-1329779482_thumb.jppost-2097-0-56103900-1329779556_thumb.jppost-2097-0-71542100-1329779614_thumb.jp
I bend my face without cutting or welding and try to keep the face short.post-2097-0-78154800-1329779657_thumb.jp and narrow nosepost-2097-0-69855900-1329779679_thumb.jp
Then I use a face swedge, this needs to be made for each size stock that will be used, it is just a well made face driven into a hot block.post-2097-0-40903600-1329779709_thumb.jppost-2097-0-62957000-1329779727_thumb.jppost-2097-0-16427300-1329779756_thumb.jp
I texture my horns with a set chisle only I swing it as this speeds up the process, it is not as exact as what you are doing thoughpost-2097-0-33666400-1329779799_thumb.jp
In addition to the scrolling tongs I use some tongs that reach across the curl of the horn to help close straight sections. I do this out of the gas forge rather than with a torch.post-2097-0-98490000-1329779824_thumb.jp

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Very nice work ciladog! Your smithing is well rendered but you also deserve kudos for such a good job using a video camera in the shop, your video efforts turned out a high quality result. Very well done. Great job editing too, BTW.


Ferrous, thank you for the compliment.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice job! Amazing what can be done with a ram's head. I've done a lot with twisted horns. One twisted one way the other the opposite.

You were talking about ones in 1/4" stock, check these out. They were done by Deloy Larson of Utah. He passed away this past November, but look what he was capable of! Yea, the one is on the end of a welding rod, without breaking off the flux! Amazing!

post-1310-0-75179400-1329836745_thumb.jp

post-1310-0-93410000-1329836759_thumb.jp

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well Randy, I went into the forge this morning and gave it a try. I have a new respect for Mr. Larson. This is not an easy thing to do mainly because the forging is so small that the heat dissipates in an instant. I'm happy with the way it turned out for a first try at it. The flux did break off as the process went on. But all in all, I think it is an OK attempt.

post-3873-0-02416400-1329962975_thumb.jp post-3873-0-80977600-1329963029_thumb.jp post-3873-0-44622300-1329963060_thumb.jp


I made a video of the attempt, enjoy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...