How small can you go ???

[Yellow Hammer]

I just read an article about making open center cross and tried it yesterday. Has anyone with a jewerly saw ever made one out of 1/8 key stock? I used 1/4 inch key stock on mine.

Also I included a picture of a Mule head door knocker I made for my tack room just for fun.

RJ

[njanvilman]

Always fun to see how small one can go.  I remember reading about a tradition among Italian? immigrants who worked with a small silver dime to see what they could make.  Amazing small vessels under a half inch.  I do not know how they even held onto the work.  They had to have made tiny hammers for the work.

 

Nice job.

[Nick]

This is the smallest thing I've done in steel.  From end to end it's about the size of a nickel.

[Rich Hale]

I have not made any split crosses with stock smaller than yoiu did. I do one thing a wee different on mine. on the top part i draw it out long enough to roll it for a loop arouind the back to fit on a key chain ring....I have done alot of them at demos,,,precut of course...folks like to see them open up..never bring any home.

[Yellow Hammer]

Nick, That is one awesome stach, Mine is just like it only grey, I'm 61. That piece you sent a photo of is incrediable.

Rich, I really like the idea of leaving the top longer and rolling the chain channel into the cross one piece. Great tip, I'm gonna go make one right now.

You guys amaze me with your knowledge and talent.

Thanks

Ron

[ThomasPowers]

I've seen a sewing pin forged with the triphammer mounted on Ptree's hat.  Not a cross though...

[GNJC]

Small things... I have made a lot of tiny stuff in gold but only practical things in steel. I guess the smallest thing so far is a tiny crooked knife / twca cam for carving out tiny wooden or bone spoons for mustard and the like.

 

Off topic, but I must agree that it is a fine moustache; if you still have it why not join the Handlebar Club? You'll get a decent and unique tie; I was a member myself until I shaved, marriage...

[MRobb]

I remember seeing a post somewhere where someone made a ram's head from a welding rod.
Pretty cool.

[jeremy k]

Here's some items Ive forged that are small.
The hammer is made from 1/4" square
The large leaf is the standard 3/8" round
The small leaf is made from 1/4" round stainless
The wizard head (Mark Aspery style) was forged from 1/4" square 3" tall with a hot slit and drifted 1/4" hole on the end.
Of the punches for the wizard head, the eye punch was the trickiest to make

[Rich Hale]

Not fair JK..I think not alot of us have a 32 lb...(or wotever it is) striking hammer to work with...

[Yellow Hammer]

Nick,

Since we both have the same moustache, we must think alike, I started this quill pen a few weeks ago and I'm looking for the perfect turkey feather to cut down and put on the pointed end of this rod I forged. I really like your hasp hook. good work

Ron

[Yellow Hammer]

Jeremy,

That is some beautiful minature work. I just started playing around with all this Blacksmithing and really enjoy it. Maybe small is the way to go, it may be good for my carpel tunnel in my hand. Smaller hammers and lots less blows.....

[windancer]

You folks have posted some pretty darn nice work! Good onya!

Dave

[Nick]

Thanks, Yellow Hammer.  I like the idea of the pen holder.

GNJC, I'm a regular contributor to the Handlebar Club's online forum though I'm not a member of the club itself.  I might join up one of these days, though.

Jeremy, those are outstanding!

 

A tiny piece I've been thinking about is sewing needles.  I did some reading on excavated needles from Anglo-Saxon settlements, some were punched and some were welded. 

[Eddie Mullins]

Some very nice pieces! I've made rose and leaf key chains FOBs out of 1/4" round stock, but that as small as I have actually forged.

 

My wife makes jewelry so just for the heck of it I made some little riveted crosses using 2 different sizes of her aluminum wire. Used a finish nail as my punch for the larger wire that I had hammer flat, and a piece of smaller wire as the rivet. I've discovered her tools are much the same as mine, just on a smaller scale and she just works the metal cold.

[Fe-Wood]

How about some pewter tongs... Forged cold from 1/8" round pewter.

[anvil]

back in the '80's I knew of a traditional smith who specialized in hand forged doll house iron. he did gates, railings, hardware etc. all working stuff.

I once did a firescreen for a nursery in a house. it was a perspective drawing executed in iron. at the focal point was a gate about 5" tall, and to scale. initially I hinged and latched it, but thought better of this and finished it non working. all was tennoned and collared. very fun.

[the iron dwarf]

was at an event last weekend with dave budd from here, he shown me some of the miniatures he had made, think the smallest knife has a blade about 1/8" long

[Joel OF]

I recently had a go forging with pure iron, if I was going to make anything really small I'd want to use that, it's like plasticine and not brittle at all.

[adam cyphers]

This tiny leaf is about as small is ive gone. Somewhere ive got pics of a doll sized seachest with forged hinges I made.I love small intricate work :-)

[SpankySmith]

I make the very small Frederic's crosses, they're a bit tricky because the tiny size means they lose heat almost as soon as you begin to work with them. But people are fascinated with them, seem to enjoy them. I mostly use 1/4", have only successfully made one out of 1/8" inch...tore several trying to make it that small. I use 1/4 and 3/8 a lot for them, they make a very neat cross.

[JimsShip]

Pictures please!

[SpankySmith]

Here's an early (and bad) photo of one of my first attempts at a small one, 1/4" stock held in vise grips to cut using my not-really-portable band saw, which is mounted on a wall in my shop. My newer ones are better, I've taken to flattening just about 1/8" on each of the 4 "legs" just a bit, gives a nice look. But they end up in people's pockets really fast! Stupid friends. Sigh...I consider it first year marketing, they all have to promise to wear it and tell people who made it!

[Ted T]

Forging Small (Tiny)

I enjoy this thread for the reasons of the gratifying challenge of managing heat control.

Due to issues of health, coupled with the loss of muscle mass common to aging, I was compelled into forging very small items such as “Horseshoe Nail Rings”, just to start with.

 

What seemed to be a simple task at first thought; of just bend a horseshoe nail into a perfect ring shape was soon overshadowed by the challenge of forging the blade of the nail into a decretive (eye appealing) band along with a pleasing pattern forged into the head of the nail.

 

The reason I started to make horseshoe nail rings was due to a request made from a church group for me to make 136 rings for them in just two days. 

 

They called them “Prairie Diamond Rings” do to the fact that their ancestors traveled across the prairies of our country by pulling handcarts, and also in Horse and Ox powered wagons.  They had to use what was available to them as a wedding ring, and that would be to use a Horseshoe Nail as a wedding ring.   

 

Due to my lack of experience of forging small tiny objects I immediately discovered there was a new learning curve for me to conquer.

And that was that I had to elevate my skills in the use of Heat Control to a higher level.

I found that my skill level to conserve heat in a tiny piece that I was forging demanded much more than just reservoiring heat (pooling heat within the part).

 

But; I found it was the use of combining of several elements of forging skills used in combination with each other that gave me success.

 

I soon discovered the following forging skills (aspects) should be in mastered, or at least considered when put into the practice of forging tiny pieces.

·      Banking Heat (storing) heat in the piece.

·      The use of heat Sinks for storing heat.

·      Pre-heating the holding tools.

·      Pre-heating the anvil face used.

·      Use of a “Hot Box”. A hot box is a small steel (open) box placed in the forge to contain small pieces of steel so they will not get lost in the coals, but will maintain forging heat.

Note: Speed (skilled guided SPEED) is essential.

·      Dry Run (with cold steel) practice, Practice, Practice.

·      Each tool laid out (placed) for fast access. 

 

Please Remember: This is only my experience with forging tiny pieces and attempting to reach a higher skill level of using heat control.

 

My best to you as you enjoy the rewards of forging tiny.

[Francis Trez Cole]

this is about as small as I have gone with a hammer it s smaller than a quarter.