Ever get one of those projects where it just continues to EAT TIME? Not that all the little details are objectionable, just that you must chase down every little detail to be sure it is right.  The finished piece is easily a WOW factor and a credit to the craft. But hours and hours later you look back as think you sure are not getting paid for the hours, so it was, must be, or has to be, a labor of love. (any excuse will do at this point)

How do you convince yourself that you can do that one last forge weld to add the one last section to the main project, and not burn the rest of the piece in the fire, or have the weld fail? I know it is a mind game but the pucker factor goes up as you get closer to the final steps. So what if you screw up a weld, or burn off a section, you made it once, you can make it again,  right?

Just saying that we all have small projects that can be redone with some effort.  There are also those larger projects that require constant attention to detail and knowing that you are good at what you do, and can bring the project to completion without driving yourself nuts.

If there is a question, than make a sample piece to be sure you are on the right wave length with the metal. You already made one, so making a second one is simple, as you already know how. And yes, the scrap pile grows daily with samples and those things that just go oops.

For me it is do not work when your tired, hungry, or thirsty, and work when you feel like your in good health both mentally and physically. Leave the problems of the outside world outside the shop door. Do not bring them inside the shop. Getting started and then keeping your head on straight is the key. DO NOT question your ability, you know what needs to be done and how to do it.

 

I made a pair of grilles to go over an ugly old radiator.  The customer had a Scottish heritage and wanted something with a thistle in it.  I came up with a design where I had a riveted grill out of flat bar with bits chiseled off the side similar to one in one of the Cosira books.  But rather than just scrolling the bit out I tapered the chiseled off bit leaving a lump on the end , and then mashed that bit into a little thistle die I forged.  Drawing out the stock between the thistle and the bar was a pain as it all had to be done by hand over a bridge tool  which had to be pretty thin which mean all my hammer blows were very inefficient because of the flexing on the bridge tool.  All the flash had to be filed off around each thistle.    I was busy with other work at the time and I kept putting off working on this job to do work on jobs i was making money on rather than this one I was losing my shirt on. 

 

I finally go it done the customer loved it and brought a plate of cookies as well as the cheque when she picked it up.

 

The picture is terrible it does not show the details of the thistles which I was quite pleased with, they had a raised diagonal checkerboard in the body and fluting on the tassels, and the finish looks blotchy.

I lost my curved chisel for trimming the ends of the bars on this job.  Spent about 2 hours looking for it and finally made another.  That evening I dropped my shirt on the bathroom floor and heard a thump.  The chisel had been in my shirt pocket all along.