When you say "very small split crosses"... How small are you talking? I've made a bunch out of 1/8" square key stock for ear rings. There are a few tricks involved, but very doable. Any questions?         Life is Good                    Dave

11 hours ago, Dave51B said:

 When you say "very small split crosses"... How small are you talking? I've made a bunch out of 1/8" square key stock for ear rings. There are a few tricks involved, but very doable. Any questions?         Life is Good                    Dave

I have one. First, what do you cut it with? it seems like it would have to be a very thin blade, 'cause after you cut it seems like you wouldn't have anymore steel left.

                                                                                                             Littleblacksmith

13 hours ago, Dave51B said:

 When you say "very small split crosses"... How small are you talking? I've made a bunch out of 1/8" square key stock for ear rings. There are a few tricks involved, but very doable. Any questions?         Life is Good                    Dave

I think the stock was 1/4 round so by the time I had sawn the slot it was pretty skinny, I may have worked it when it was a little too cool and it broke at the thin part in the corner between the arms.

2 hours ago, littleblacksmith said:

I have one. First, what do you cut it with? it seems like it would have to be a very thin blade, 'cause after you cut it seems like you wouldn't have anymore steel left.

                                                                                                             Littleblacksmith

I cut mine by hand with a regular hacksaw and you make a valid point, not much left once you take out the width of the kerf. Also hard to cut straight in such thin stock. All part of the learning curve

 These, I cut with a regular hand hacksaw with a 32 tooth blade. Lately I have been cutting with a modified portaband using a 24 tooth blade. As you can see, I don't make the final cut on the bottom (top) leg. Just use the extra material to make the loop to hang.                  Life is Good               Dave

17 hours ago, littleblacksmith said:

I have one. First, what do you cut it with? it seems like it would have to be a very thin blade, 'cause after you cut it seems like you wouldn't have anymore steel left.

                                                                                                             Littleblacksmith

 

I have been experimenting with some 3/8" square stock and when making the longitudinal cuts I do them along the diagonal of the stock rather than perpendicular/parallel to the sides. This creates a triangular section on the arms which if you are careful not to forge it out too much gives a nice extra dimension to the finished article.

Still finding 1/4" stock a little hard to work with but practice makes perfect I believe.

Pictures Dave, where are the pictures? If we can't see them they aren't. 

Frosty The Lucky.

9 hours ago, Frosty said:

Pictures Dave, where are the pictures? If we can't see them they aren't. 

Frosty The Lucky.

Yeah I know, I need to remember to do those first thing this morning before I fire up the forge and my hands become black and greasy 

Okay. . . This time. 

Uh. . . Greasy? What kind of blacksmithing is greasy? 

Frosty The Lucky.

Perhaps he starts out a forging session hugging his mechanical powerhammer---one of the ones where too much oil/grease is barely enough.

Strange behavior but more productive than hugging a tree I suppose. 

Frosty The Lucky.

34 minutes ago, Frosty said:

Okay. . . This time. 

Uh. . . Greasy? What kind of blacksmithing is greasy? 

Frosty The Lucky.

You were the one who told me to butter everything first, did I misunderstand?

The water in Sacramento is . . . GREASY!? 

Wait a second I wasn't talking about actually using Butter to prepare the surfaces for kiln washing. Come to think of it though, buttering the forge before lighting it might smell pretty good.

Frosty The Lucky.

6 minutes ago, Frosty said:

Wait a second I wasn't talking about actually using Butter to prepare the surfaces for kiln washing. Come to think of it though, buttering the forge before lighting it might smell pretty good.

Whaaaat? You mean that huge cloud of flies all over my forge is not normal? 

11 hours ago, Frosty said:

Pictures Dave, where are the pictures? If we can't see them they aren't. 

As requested:

CLOUDS of flies? Maybe start a fish farm or grow carnivorous plants like Venus Flytraps and such. Gotta be a way to make a buck of clouds of most anything. 

That is an interesting shape for the crosses. I'm not sure about leaving them as is but that's just my taste. There sure is a lot of potential for shaping with the extra depth. All in all I like it. 

Good idea.

Frosty The Lucky.