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potential first project


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I'm trying to find a first project that will be easy, let me learn, and will still be exciting.  This looks easy to me but I don't know what I don't know.. are there elements in here a beginner probably won't be ready to tackle?  I'm especially wondering if the ring can be welded onto the holder in a simple coal forge (where the candle goes)

I covet your comments

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/126874914478842355/

dragon 01.jpg

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The ring looks to be welded in that photo, but it could very easily be riveted instead.  The only element I see there that would be outside the capability of THIS beginner would be the dragon's head, I haven't even attempted such a thing yet after 1 year in.   The rest does indeed look like a good project to me, all basic elements.  Go for it!  And post a pic when you're done. 

(BTW, if that is your actual name and not a forum pseudo, I LOVE your name, seriously - it just SOUNDS like a blacksmith.)

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ah yeah you're right.. that head does look hard... devil in the details. Thank you for the comments!

Name is just a pseudonym. I happened to discover ifi right when the website was changing over to a new software platform and I was having trouble registering. The only thing that worked was facebook authentication. I keep facebook on a short leash and don't have any external sites accessing it, so I made an account just for these kinds of situations. Glenn fixed up my account but I was so anxious to get busy I had already started posting under this name so I figured I'd just leave it. :)

 

 

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Don't be to scared of the dragons head, there is a good tutorial floating around on the web of it. You will need a good vise, chisel, and some punches ground to different points.  My first ones looked more like Scooby Doo than a dragon but my 8yr old son was happy with them.

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TP - yes that's kind of what I had in mind too. I have a couple tongs and a hammer but none of the chisels he uses. I was thinking of hitting the flea market up for scrap tools to modify first. The S shape of the body and twist section for the candle holder resembled some of the first learning tasks in the books I'm reading.   "The adventure [knowledge] is in the journey, not the destination."

"heat shrunk in or forge brazed" - thanks I'll check those methods out!

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  • 2 weeks later...

This entire piece would be a challenge for a beginner, but then, that is how beginners become proficient, by attempting challenging projects and completing them.  I would urge you to be very critical of your own work.  Take what you learn doing such a project the first time, then do it again using what you learned.  One way to advance yourself without getting too frustrated with failures is to break a project like this down and work on elements of it in simplified form.  For instance, rather than trying to make that main element with the long sinuous curves ending in the dragon's head right off the bat, cut some short pieces of the stock you are going to use and just make dragons heads until you feel like you have it down.  Then perhaps draw a long taper as will be needed for that central piece and just practice making those scrolls, without making the dragon's head end.  Just practice the scroll... etc. Then after you more or less master the main elements, put them together in the finished piece.  

Flea markets are indeed the hot tip for getting stuff to make tooling out of.  You can pick out the ugliest, most rusty old cold chisels, ball pein hammer heads and things like that, pay next to nothing for them and take them home and make them into tools that will be useful for what you are doing.  Things like old crow bars are also pretty decent stock for making this kind of tooling out of.  

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That sounds like a prudent approach Scotty.

There is a flea market here with a selection of cheap crowbars, chisels, and hammers (smaller mass ball peins and claw types), usually around the $3/ea range but might go cheaper if I buy several.  Any recommendations on what kind of tools I could consider making from those types of things?

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All sound advice , never thought of using valves for tooling ! Shamus , I purchased an animal eye punch from Dave Custer,proprieter of Fiery furnace Forge on ebay for cheap. Good quality and craftsmanship. And helps support a fellow blacksmith . On YouTube Gary Huston gave a tutorial on one way to fashion an eye punch . Good luck ,would like to see how your progress goes with this project ?

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