Forging Tonight- Ball joint

[GVR-4579]

I was out playing in the forge tonight and made a few things. I made myself a 6" eye on the end of a 1/2" bar with no joint, just split and spread out. I also made a chain link and finally got a forge weld to take!!! Im pretty excited about that one. Finally I decided to challenge myself and make a ball joint. It could have been better than it came out but for a first try it is great. It works and everything. Its quite crude but ill get a picture up tomorrow or so.

So i was wondering has anyone else ever made a ball joint in the forge?

I also made a hardy cone on my lathe from 2" Oil hardening steel that tapers to 1/2"

[saintjohnbarleycorn]

sounds like you had a great night, I am looking forward to seeing the ball joint.

[GVR-4579]

Here are some pictures of the ball joint. You can see how i made it in one of the pictures because i didnt make the socket part large enough to cover the whole ball, it made the joint a little more interesting to play with tho. Anyways that was just a rough attempt to see how it would go.

I also tried making the socket by upsetting the end of a rod and driving a punch in the end. I didnt have much luck with that method altho it would be much stronger if possible to do.

Any ideas on how to make it better or easier are appreciated for future use if i need or want to male one again. It was more of a i wonder if i can create one than an i need one creation.