February 15, 201214 yr One thing I noticed was that your coal was dry... if you wet it you'll find that you have a better fire and get more work out of your coal. The dusty fines will coke into nice chunks instead of sifting through your clinker breaker.
February 15, 201214 yr Thanks so much for the tutorial video. It answers a lot of questions. Mark <><
February 16, 201214 yr Author Thanks to all. Great tutorial !! I like how you show making the inertia bend. It seems counterintuitive but it is the best way to make that bend, at least for me it is.
February 18, 201214 yr 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 :)!
February 19, 201214 yr Author 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.
February 20, 201214 yr Thank you for taking the time to make and edit this tutorial and sharing your hard-earned experience. I book marked it! Dave
February 20, 201214 yr 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. I use a wedge to taper the horns as the first step. then a double swedge to start divideing the horns the example is poorly done. I bend my face without cutting or welding and try to keep the face short. and narrow nose 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. 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 though 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.
February 21, 201214 yr 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.
February 21, 201214 yr Author Metallmangeler, Thanks for posting the way you do it. I will give some of your methods on the power hammer a try. It's always good to learn new ways to get it done.
February 21, 201214 yr Author 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.
February 21, 201214 yr 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!
February 21, 201214 yr wow thats incredible!! respect to you Deloy wherever you now may be, beautiful :)
February 21, 201214 yr Author Those small heads are indeed incredible. I will have to try that on a welding rod but first I have to get 20X lense for my magnifier.
February 23, 201214 yr Author 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. I made a video of the attempt, enjoy.
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