Dustin Quade Posted November 28, 2016 Share Posted November 28, 2016 Saw a video for these online and decided i wanted to have a go at making them for people as small gifts this year. I made them using four 8" long pieces of 3/16 round stock. I bundled them together into a square configuration and forge welded them together. Twisted them around 1.5 times then reheated and went back around the other way until i was happy with the look. I opened up two of the bars of the cage with a pair of pliers, reheated it dropped the marble in and closed it back up trapping the marble inside. Wire brushed the whole thing and gave it a shot of clearcoat paint. This was my first ever forgeweld at home and it took me a few missed steps before i got it right. Now that i know how to do it with my forge though im pretty confident i can make my next ones even better. I use a propane forge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted November 28, 2016 Share Posted November 28, 2016 Nice. I have been wanting to try making some of these as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 28, 2016 Share Posted November 28, 2016 I use abandoned election signs for the wire as many candidates don't retrieve them and after a while their covers blow away. We have the large square C wire ones out here, unplated. Leaving them on the rightaways for roads were such a big problem back in Ohio, as they would fall down in the grass and then wrap around the shafts of the mowers, that they started having contests to collect them... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted November 28, 2016 Share Posted November 28, 2016 Ohio being a battleground state has lots of these, too. (Just about the only advantage of being a battleground state....) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dustin Quade Posted November 28, 2016 Author Share Posted November 28, 2016 Yea i just get this really thin bailing wire from the dollar store. Free is always better of course but dollar store is usually cheap enough for me lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 28, 2016 Share Posted November 28, 2016 As I tell folks there is a crop every year and a bumper crop every 4; I spotted several that were coverless yesterday and with the 50 mph gusts today I expect a lot more will be ready to harvest after today. Funny thing is that I found an entire unused box of them at the scrapyard once and am still working off them... I make basket hooks and camping pan handles from them. The older Revere Ware has a very nice stub to rivet a basket handle too so all my camping pots are revere ware---or cast iron. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted November 28, 2016 Share Posted November 28, 2016 Nice idea! I have bucket loads of old welding rods that would work well for those. Must give it a try. Thanks for posting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted November 29, 2016 Share Posted November 29, 2016 Well, I did give it a try. Made this today before demo time, just in case it didn't work. Used four old defluxed welding rods. Decided to use a steel ball bearing rather than a glass marble as I had to return it to the forge for some tweaking. Fun to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dustin Quade Posted November 29, 2016 Author Share Posted November 29, 2016 Wow man i must say yours looks alot better than mine. I made another 1 last night and tried to make a third but i messed up the forge weld on the one end and couldnt recover so i scrapped it. So far my success rate on these is about 50 50. I really like the nice long tight twist you have there though i think i will have to give that a try on my next one. How long is yours? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted November 29, 2016 Share Posted November 29, 2016 It's 230mm long. I cut a bit off the standard length welding rods. I'm going to try another one with a coloured marble as you did. Just have to get it all tweaked up in the forge and ready to drop the marble in and then close up. Thin welding rod can be adjusted cold anyway. This design also gives me an idea for making interesting handles for toast forks, pokers and the like. Thanks for the inspiration! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dustin Quade Posted November 30, 2016 Author Share Posted November 30, 2016 You are most welcome, glad that its getting those creative juices flowing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dustin Quade Posted December 5, 2016 Author Share Posted December 5, 2016 So this weekend i learned that proactice really does make perfect. Also that forge welding square stock is easier than round stock for me. I had a 100% success rate with it compared to a nearly 50% success rate with the round stock. It was funny to me, when I had made my first piece i was so proud of what i had done but by the end of the weekend my first one was now something for the scrap bin. It reminds me of how xxxxxxx proud i was of my first knife and now i cant even imagin making something so poor. I hope this trend continues in the years to come getting better and better and more and more dismissive of the quality of my old work. Attached is a pic of my first ornament and my last one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdaleh Posted December 5, 2016 Share Posted December 5, 2016 Hang the first one on the wall of your shop . Then you can look at it and see how much you have improved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted December 7, 2016 Share Posted December 7, 2016 On December 5, 2016 at 6:36 PM, tdaleh said: Hang the first one on the wall of your shop . Then you can look at it and see how much you have improved. I do that with stuff too. Awesome to see how far you have improved over time. I recently found a bucket of earlier half finished projects or mess ups. Wow have I come a long way. And still have a long way to go! I really need to make some of these for the family before Christmas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dustin Quade Posted December 7, 2016 Author Share Posted December 7, 2016 On 2016-12-05 at 6:36 PM, tdaleh said: Hang the first one on the wall of your shop . Then you can look at it and see how much you have improved. Thats actually a really good idea. I pretty much post a picture of everything i make on my facebook just to make sure i have some record showing my progress but a physical reminder never hurts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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