Reading Creek Forger Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 My daughter has asked me to make her three archaeologist's trowels (shaped like a cement trowel apparently) as gifts for her professors when she graduates. Any advice? I don't want to rivet the blades onto the shanks and I am planning on deer antler handles so railroad spike trowels won't work. More keepsake then tools for use so tempering is not as important as appearance but I hope they will be functional.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John McPherson Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 A single brass or copper pin thru the antler will anchor the handle, if you choose not to just bed the tang in epoxy. Alan Longmire made a presentation damascus trowel and stand for his professor who retired. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 do you have a powerhammer? Or would all advice based on the use of one be wasted typing? I would think one made with the same techniques as a celtic sword or Anglo-Saxon swords would be nice. (The Celtic Sword, Pleiner) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reading Creek Forger Posted April 1, 2015 Author Share Posted April 1, 2015 Thanks for getting back so quickly Thomas. I don't have a power hammer so I will do all the work by hand. John, the photo you posted is absolutely beautiful. Makes me want to shop not forge but forge I will. The brass pin suggestion is a good one but I was envisioning an epoxy bed maybe a polished shotgun shell end as a ferrule. I don't know if the mix between antler and shell end would work well so I may save that idea for another project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 My understanding is that it is a small mayson's trowl. The modify them, i belive they sharpen the edges like a shovel personaly somthing on the lines of 4060 would work well. Not as cool as a patternd billet but functinal. As to forging, start with somthing, say 3/4 to an inch, forge down and draw out the tang, point the working end and draw out a nice point and then forge it out nice and thin. A flater is your friend Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 I think the shotgun shell would work and give you a place to engrave the persons name. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremy k Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Also you could make a small one with a bottle opener on the other end as I did for a local block layer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Perhaps a very small one to go on a key ring as well (I like the bottle opener idea!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reading Creek Forger Posted April 1, 2015 Author Share Posted April 1, 2015 I like all those ideas. The bottle opener is especially cool. The steel choice is helpful too. What do you think of a piece of leaf spring as source metal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 For a using version yes, for a keyring perhaps a low C stainless? Though the cowboy hat Dave Hammer gave me is staying nice and shiny just being mild steel.High carbon helps not only in the springiness and being able to make it thinner and so lighter but still strong; it also is more durable in use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Truck spring should work fine. Shovel blades are an example of high c steel in simple tools. Be nice to know what their respective specialtyes are, and a bit about them. That way you can make somthing more personal. One might apretiate a cork screw more than botle opener... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Or what language should be used---what's the cuneiform for "this end towards dirt"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Those collage types need all the help they can get ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reading Creek Forger Posted April 1, 2015 Author Share Posted April 1, 2015 The struggle has begun. I started with 1" x 1/2" bar stock from a scrap yard. Forged a flat taper at one end then began to draw a small square taper for the handle and the shank. So far so good. It seems to be taking shape as I envisioned but I won't know more until after lunch. I'll post pictures when I get done if its not too embarrassing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Shoot generally takes me several goes at something before I get one I'm willing to send out of the shop... You might make a gag version too---say take one and curl up the trowel end in a nice spiral... Note: Not directed at the poster, random comment: It always amazed me that someone who will try 90 times to get through a video game would expect to get through a project the first go at it...(especially when the project is one that an expert would expect to struggle a bit with...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John McPherson Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Ooohh, Thomas, I like that! Ceremonial 'killing' of a trowel the way the Celts killed swords to be entombed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 I suppose it's too late for me to suggest finding an old discarded shovel for stock? I'd use coil spring before I used leaf, it's less work to get to profile believe it or not. I agree with John, ceremonially killing the trowel is a perfect retirement gift. Any bogs close?Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkmas Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 I'm not sure what Marshalltown or W Rose uses for the blade, But we masons prefer to call it a "pointing trowel". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 (edited) Now dont go muddying up the water with facts! Lol. Who desided a trowel and a paint brush were digging impliments?! Edited April 2, 2015 by Charles R. Stevens Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkmas Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 Sorry Charles, I aint much but I'm all I got. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reading Creek Forger Posted April 2, 2015 Author Share Posted April 2, 2015 (edited) I love all the comments. The question has taken legs of its own. So much the better. To clarify my daughter is graduating college this spring and she wants the trowels as gifts for her professors/mentors. She is the one leaving not them so destroying the trowels seems inappropriate as gifts unless she gets bad grades. Thanks again for the suggestions and the humor. I never got back to the forge today but tomorrow is looking good. Retirement looks even better.. Edited April 2, 2015 by Reading Creek Forger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 I have dabbled enugh in masonry to apretiate a person who makes a living at it, lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 I carried hod and mixed mud for a while when I first moved to Alaska. My respects to masons, hard working guys.How's this, jelly roll some nicely contrasting steel. Split the billet and forge the trowels from from the inside of the cut. Or quarter it and do the same. Now I suppose if a Father were to get fancy he could forge a basic billet and incise or grind the shapes of an artifact or human bone through the lamina and forge that into trowels.Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 Hmm now that would be a strictly ornamental version---laser cut with "artifact" outlines. Making a plaque with a brass plate engraved: "This trowel was used in the excavation of the Motel of the Mysteries" would make another nice gag...Pushme-pullme trowels, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkmas Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 I made a pointing trowel out of a piece of 3/4" square bar in 2013 just because I did not have much to do one night. The handle, shank, and blade are all in one.I'm trying to figure out how to get pics from my iphone to this site (I know that I'm way behind in the times when it comes to this simple procedure.). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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