What did you do in the shop today?

[Daswulf]

Cool cigar holders 450. Perhaps an ashtray to go with it? 

Pr3ssure, learn something new and different everyday. 

Good luck John. 

 

 

[Irondragon Forge & Clay]

My wife is quite the fly fisher and fly tier. She was out fishing today with her group and caught 10 Rainbow Trout (catch & release area). I played in the shop while she was away and came up with this. Made from all small pieces of scrap. The base is from a long forgotten project and is 7/16 inch thick plate with the hole already in it. The rod is rebar and 13 inches tall and the hook & earthworm from small pieces of round rod. I had initially intended for it to be a trade item at our next BOA meeting which was to be a critter of choice. I thought an earthworm is a critter. When Debi came home she saw it on the counter and said oh my gosh, I love it and it's mine, you can make something else. I guess I'll make a stupid dragon or snail.

[Daswulf]

Haha Nice one Irondragon. That happens with about anything octopus here. 

[Daswulf]

Got a late start in the shop because of ICAR classes for work.

Going to get 4 roses done before the other 3. Shaping them is a bit of work and I actually prefer to just do 3 at a time. Then just need some cleanup on this spider. Wanted to see how these nails looked on this one before I committed to them for this ones sort of twin.

 

[Ben Hoover]

Very nice Das.   Spider looks really goood.

[Irondragon Forge & Clay]

The nails look good to me. Wish I had your talent and imagination for critters.

[Daswulf]

Thanks. Yeah, I think these nails work well too. Nice thing is they are uncoated, so no pre cleanup. 

 

[jlpservicesinc]

love the  spider.. Do you like the inductor for heating?  I can see it in the photo..

[Daswulf]

The inductor works well enough to bend the legs and smaller stuff. It really only gets things to a medium red heat. Overall it saves me a lot in torch gas for all the little critters I make, and is convenient, so for me it's been worth it. 

[SLAG]

Mr. I. Dragon,

The earthworm ..  sculpture is a wonderfully creative work of art.

Your wife is a very lucky lady.

SLAG.

[jlpservicesinc]

iron dragon, that sure is neat.. hard to see in the photo as it's a little dark for my eyes.. 

thanks 

Das

[Irondragon Forge & Clay]

Here is one in better light/setting. Still need to put some felt under the base thinking light green like water.

 

[jlpservicesinc]

LOL.. that is really cool.. thanks for the better pic.

[JHCC]

Gave the gasser a wash of Metrikote. 

[olfart]

I finally got my new forge with ribbon burner operational, and this is the first project from it.  Having never tried to make a bottle opener, I decided to give it a whirl.  From left to right, the first prototype, second prototype and sorta-finished project.  The first prototype didn't go well because I messed up on punching the slot.  Didn't have a proper slot punch, so I improvised.  Bad idea.  Second prototype I modified the slitter I had used on the first one, but I still punched a sloppy slot.  Third one, I made a proper slot punch and managed to keep it pretty much in the same place to get the slot punched.  Now all I need to do is build a bunch more of them.

 

[Frosty]

Looking good, really nice twists. How well do they open bottles?

Frosty The Lucky.

[olfart]

Since I don't have any bottles to open, it's anybody's guess.  The first one would only open a bottle by breaking it.  The second likely would open one with a little effort.  The third, I have no doubt will open bottles just fine.  It's going to our UPS driver today, so I'll have to ask him on his next trip if it works OK.

Thanks.

 

[ausfire]

Very nicely forged twists there! The tabs on the openers look a little small, but I guess testing will decide that. I have often wondered what the advantage is in using a slot punch for bottle opener loops. I have done hundreds of these and always used an ordinary tapered round punch. After all, you want a round hole, use a round punch! Perhaps, using say 12mm square bar, you may save a small amount of metal by aligning a slot punch along the material, but I'm not sure it's a significant difference.  Just wonderin'.

In the shop today I made a couple of lifters for fishing out small objects that like to bury themselves in the forge charcoal. Things like key rings and small troll crosses etc. I also made some BLT wax according to directions given to me by Das. 50% beeswax, 25% turpentine, 25% boiled linseed oil. It cooled to the consistency of soft butter and is easy to apply with a brush. I used the mix on one of the lifters straight off the forge ( a dull, matt finish). I removed the scale from the other one before applying wax and I prefer that finish. Both finishes seem to repel water so we'll see how they last.  Here's a pic of the two lifters and the BLT. (My wife laughs at my BLT label - she says that means Beetroot, Lettuce and Tomato)

 

[Daswulf]

Here BLT stands for bacon, lettuce and tomato. I like mayonnaise on mine as well.

Nice pokey pullers. Hope the BLT works out for you. It really seems to go a long way. 

[olfart]

Thanks, Aus!  Being a bottle opener noob, I just went with somebody's instructions and hoped for the best.  The parent stock was 1/2" (12mm) square, and I beat it down to 1/4"  thick before punching.  The middle one's tab is virtually non-existent due to my boo-boo in punching the slot, but the third one has a nice robust tab that won't wear out on the first six pack.

Nice looking lifter-outers you got there.  I like the flat twist in the middle of a round bolt.

[ausfire]

1 hour ago, Daswulf said:

Here BLT stands for bacon, lettuce and tomato.

Yes, same here. I was just corrected on that.

[Cannon Cocker]

I finally finished these shelf brackets my wife has been asking for for a while. It reminds me of a saying "if a man days he's going to do something he's going to do it.  There's no reason to remind him every six months!"

[anvil]

nice brackets! and a matched pair.

[Cannon Cocker]

Thanks Anvil! I have two more in the works, but I broke my 1/4" drill bit so they will have to wait until I get to town again. 

[blacksmith-450]

On 4/9/2019 at 9:57 PM, Daswulf said:

Cool cigar holders 450. Perhaps an ashtray to go with it? 

 

Thanks Das, I'll experiment with the press for the ashtray !