April meeting!

[Frosty]

The April meeting is NEXT Saturday! April 18th. at Jim Hutto's shop. It's an open meeting, the ONLY member only activity is club business and that's usually over pretty quickly after lunch or whenever the guys can hector me enough to call the business meeting to order. Lunch is potluckish though Jim's better half usually puts out a crock pot of something really tasty, a side, general nibbles, beverages, etc. are always welcome.

Whether there is a proper demonstration or not sort of depends on which or how many of our really skilled members can make it and depends on if they have a home, sportsman's, etc. show they're committed to. They have families to support you know and have to strike while the iron's hot so to speak. <wink>

No matter we have enough members who can demonstrate on the fly if it comes to it, even me. Jim's a pro and does some beautiful work we can probably talk him into demonstrating if we're nice enough. Heck, I believe he has a horizontal vertical band saw to make Fredrich's crosses easy and I've been messing with slumping torch work glass into the negative space of Fredrich's or spread/split crosses. I've been trying to develop a backer so the melted glass doesn't stick to every darned thing. I'll be bringing along the latest incarnation of slump clamp (what i call the things) and some some various colors of torch work noodles and frit to play with.

There are artwork glass suppliers and if someone were to buy some various torch work RODS it'd be cool. All I have available or been able to find in the Valley are the long flat ribbons they call "Noodles" and I think colored rods have a REAL potential for things like eyes and other shapes, etc. slumped onto iron work. think dragon's eyes. Hmmmm?

It's a thought and I'll be bringing my so far as I've gotten slumping kit with me.

If you're interested just curious or have something interesting to demonstrate, toss in iron in the hat, you're more than welcome you're more than welcome. So, COME ONE COME ALL! Be there don't be square!! Directions to Jm Hutto's Nanook Forge (Oh I hope I got that right!) Follows.

Frosty The Lucky Aka. President (silly beggars elected me while I was in a COMA!) of: The Association of Alaskan Blacksmiths, Jerry Frost. (cell num. three five five dash five two seven three)

1.  Take New Seward HWY. south

2.  Exit at HUFFMAN, turn left toward mtns.

3.  Go up Huffman about a mile & turn right on Pintail

     ( Grace Church is on this corner)

4.  Stay on Pintail as it curves to left

     and turns into TAIGA

5.  I am down on right about 8 houses

     Three eight zero zero, Taiga Dr.    ph# Two four four - Five four one four (If you don't already know Alaska's area code look it up if your visiting attend or to call I'm in the book)

 

[teenylittlemetalguy]

I am really looking forward to it. My shop time has been limited a bit with a new kid in the house so I am really excited to see what you have all been working on. So please bring a show and tell!

Frosty, the glass sounds like a nice way to add some color to projects, will be great to see in person.

 

 

[DSW]

Hey Frosty. You guys are a bit far for me to attend, ( though a trip to AK eventually is on my bucket list) but I am interested in what you come up with for glass in the crosses. It's something that's been kicking around in the back of my mind to try and play with before the Grange Fair this summer. I'd appreciate it if you'd do a post on what works, doesn't for you so I have a starting point to work from since you mentioned the idea here. Thanks.

[AkNewbie]

Awesome, was wondering when the meeting was going to be! I live just down the road so I'll definitely be there! I got a piece of railroad rail from a buddy of mine. I'll probably clean it up and bring it with me. 

[Frosty]

Awesome, was wondering when the meeting was going to be! I live just down the road so I'll definitely be there! I got a piece of railroad rail from a buddy of mine. I'll probably clean it up and bring it with me. 

​Looking forward to meeting you, I"ll be wearing the Iforgeiron T shirt with Frosty The Lucky on back. Bring the rail, don't do anymore cleaning up than a little wire brushing, I'll show you what you can do on that puppy.

Frosty the Lucky

[Frosty]

Hey Frosty. You guys are a bit far for me to attend, ( though a trip to AK eventually is on my bucket list) but I am interested in what you come up with for glass in the crosses. It's something that's been kicking around in the back of my mind to try and play with before the Grange Fair this summer. I'd appreciate it if you'd do a post on what works, doesn't for you so I have a starting point to work from since you mentioned the idea here. Thanks.

​I'm still trying to find a good backer. Melted glass sticks to everydarned thing. Tristan has slumping marbles down pat but last time I tried it it looked like a gang of vandal pixies had gone mad in a taffy factory, there were glass stringers everywhere.

I picked up some torch work glass in bright red "noodle" is what they call them. Torch work glass has pigments that aren't effected much by heat and it doesn't require nearly as much temper time as regular glass. My first thought was to flatten then bend a SS spoon handle around for a clamp. Polished stainless is what glass blowers and torch work folk use to shape melted glass because it's one of the few things the stuff doesn't stick to.

Well, I discovered the bent spoon itself heated up way more easily than the split cross so when the glass slumped it sweated out on the flattened spoon under the cross. They look pretty good from one side but the other looks kind of like a bit of gum smooshed flat. <sigh>

Okay, my next thought was soapstone, that's about as unstickable as it gets. The next experiment showed that sure enough the glass didn't stick to it but a tiny bit and didn't sweat out from under. Unfortunately soapstone is the same mineralogically as asbestos so it didn't get hot enough for the glass to flow. Not bad but kind of chunky clunky.

Today's experiment was with thicker polished SS but it still sweated out. DRATS I was hoping the thicker SS wouldn't get so much hotter so much faster. Maybe I can learn to finess it, I'll have to see if Tristan can he has a much better at slumping . . . GLASS of course! Good grief man where is your mind?

I picked up a soapstone tile from a wood stove shop yesterday in the hopes it'll work better than the soapstone welder's chalk I used the other day. Bummer sort of, is the tile is WAY bigger and probably 3/8" thick so it's going to have a LONG heat/soak time. I'll have to preheat the tile then lay the cross on it and add the glass, return it to the forge and hopefully pull it before I mess it up again.

After the first experiment with the red noodle I went back to the art glass shop and bought some red "frit" crushed and screened colored glass this is fine sand size. The idea being it'll fill the narrow places in a Fredrich's cross unlike trying to crush a noodle fine enough. While there I picked up a tube of noodles in a selection of colors.

Right now the challenge I'm having is slumping glass into the negative space of a Fredrich's cross without it just flowing out the other side. Other things I have in mind for the torch work glass is including color elements in shapes and such say eyes. whites, pick a color irises and perhaps interesting shaped pupils. Say a dragon's golden eye with a slit fire red pupil.

If I come up with something good or even a particularly interesting failure I'll post pics and a how to/ NOT to.

Frosty the Lucky

[John on Fishhook]

What time of day is the April meeting?

Edited April 13, 2015 by John on Fishhook

[Frosty]

We usually start around 9:30 give or take. Business is usually after lunch but we never know for sure till afterwards. It'll be good to see you again John, been a long time.

Frosty the Lucky

[teenylittlemetalguy]

I have seen pros use a thick stack of wet newspaper to shape and slow the glass down when they make bottles, maybe worth a try here?

Edited April 13, 2015 by teenylittlemetalguy
Punctuation.

[Frosty]

I don't know how that'd work in a forge. I'm thinking maybe I'm just letting it stay hot too long but it takes time to actually melt into the space. I might have to use my torch till I get it figured out. This isn't like blowing glass, it's not like you have a gob on a blow pipe. The glass is just laying in a form, open top and bottom.

Do you have any ideas how to get wet newspaper to work for this? I'm not doing it much different than the way you slump marbles, I'm just using ground glass/sand so it has to heat through to fuse but once it does it melts and flows. 

Frosty the Lucky

[Jeddly]

Sounds interesting. I'll show up with something for iron in the hat.

[teenylittlemetalguy]

I envisioned it as one big chunk like a marble and then dance around with it while it cools so it stays in the hole. I was thinking wet newspaper to keep it flat on the back side, but only out of the forge. 

what you describe is kind or like casting in place. trying to keep hot liquid in will be a trick. maybe you could slump it, but even then I think you could still end up with a mess. I am looking forward to trying this out either way. 

[Frosty]

Ayup, that's the dance I'm trying to figure out Tristan. I think I'm leaving it too long at too high a heat, I don't think it needs to actually be liquid.

Be good to see you again Jed.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Steve Anderson]

I am sorry to have missed the meeting. I was needed elsewhere.

I had been particularly looking forward to getting to meet some of the folks near by (Eagle River, AK).

Best Wishes!
I am not giving up. :-)

[Frosty]

Sorry to miss you Steve. I guess this answers my question on your mystery metal thread. Once we get the text sorted I'll be posting the time table for some workshops we're going to be holding this summer. A tong workshop, a hammer work shop we'll be making drifts, slitters, etc. for the hammers a week or so before. I forgot my notebook so I'll have to wait for Jim or Pat to E-mail me with the stuff I should've written down.

It was a good meeting today, we had a good turn out including some new guys. WE have a couple guys in Eagle River and one in Peter's Creek so you guys shouldn't have any trouble hooking up now and then once you know you live close.

Frosty The Lucky.