March 8, 201610 yr Clapper dies, an open leaf swage or There is also the more acessible method of folding and opening the leaf back up.
March 8, 201610 yr Depending on the thickness of the metal and size of the leaf, different methods can get a raised vein. Need more information.
March 8, 201610 yr Greetings Burnt, It all depends on the application.. Repousse and chasing for high relief . What metal are you going to work with ? Forge on and make beautiful things Jim
March 8, 201610 yr using angle iron, using presses and dies, The best way may be to do EDM on a piece and then laser cut it out. *BEST* is meaningless with out the details of the parameters; Would you consider it "best" if it cost a million dollars a leaf? Without throwing in a cost,size, tools required, etc and so on. Best is fairly nondescriptive. So: Hey I need to make some 4" long leaves about 2" wide and looking like beech leaves; I only need to make 8 of them and don't have any presses, dies etc only my hammer and anvil and tongs---suggestions on how I can make them on the cheap? Not all the details but it sure narrows things down a lot!
March 8, 201610 yr Author starts out as 1/2" H.R. round......ending up as 2" long x 1-3/4" wide Aspen leaf.....quantity, unknown, not for sale, just trying to make leaves as clean and unique as possible, not just hammered and veined with a chisel. The past few that i have done are "slightly" raised, more tapered from thick centers to thin edges. I would like assistance with giving the leaf a bit more character with an accented raised center vein. I have a 25lb Little Giant but only drawing die, few chisels and a few hammers. Here are the last ones i did, i would like a raised center vein for more "ommph".....after the 5th one coming out non picture worthy, i chimed in here.
March 8, 201610 yr Make a small square block of thick steel with a stem to fit in your hardy hole. Grind or chisel in the pattern that you want. You may want several of these in various patterns.
March 8, 201610 yr I do mine length wise along the horn. With the center vein over the curve of the horn and drawing half the leaf over the top of the horn
March 8, 201610 yr Alec Steele has a video showing how he makes his leaves and I believe they have a raised vein. Search how to forge a decorative leaf hook by Alec Steele.
March 16, 201610 yr If you use a die as in John's picture I would suggest making it with finer vein cuts. Just chisel cuts should work.
March 16, 201610 yr Author agreed...i may make a bottom tool for the center vein only, and as you state, chisel in the finer
March 16, 201610 yr That top example was from Poor Boy Tools, and the lines were just a suggestion drawn with a Sharpie. The bottom was a rough commercial casting available from a blacksmith supply catalog. I tend to think of all kinds of tools as a kit, to be modified to suit the owner's needs.
March 16, 201610 yr I once made a bottom swage for leaves by taking a piece of steel the size of my hardy hole and cutting it vertically and folding out the side pieces flat with a trough left from the cutting and unfolding making the stem and the swage top and then chiseling in the veins and cleaning things up. it helps that I have large hardy holes but there is still some size limitations.
March 17, 201610 yr On 3/7/2016 at 5:24 AM, John McPherson said: Make a small square block of thick steel with a stem to fit in your hardy hole. Grind or chisel in the pattern that you want. You may want several of these in various patterns. Something just wants to make me say that this is a Nice tool! I am not a leaf guy but this could help make me one!
March 17, 201610 yr Very rough sketches but this should give you the idea that there are many ways to skin a cat. All done with just a hammer & anvil, one with a vise, a few punches/fullers/butchers/chisels (whatever you want to call them). Note that for good results you need both hammer control and the ability to make a few BASIC tools. Practice. vein.pdf vein2.pdf
March 17, 201610 yr 34 minutes ago, Borntoolate said: Something just wants to make me say that this is a Nice tool! I am not a leaf guy but this could help make me one! I make leaves here and there and I was thinking the same thing about it. Might be attempting to make one in the near future. I also like Thomas's idea of splitting a piece that fits in the hardy hole in the anvil and spreading it open. Lots of great ideas.
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