Today I made my first attempt at a rose. Hard to believe that I’ve been doing this for a few years now and haven’t yet attempted a flower... that seems to be something most people try rather early on. I forgot to take pics but it went well. I’ll get some pics tomorrow when I finish it up. Christmas is coming...

That is something I'd like to try.  I need to watch a video to see how it's done.

 

Forged more copper leaves yesterday.  Copper sure feels different than steel.  It actually takes me longer to make a copper leaf than it does a steel leaf for some reason.

Hammer Forged Copper by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr

My first rose... not sure about the copper vines, I’ll have to look at them a bit and decide if they stay or go... I realized after I started this project that my oxy/ace setup was down and out so I burned the petals and copper leaves a bit in the Forge while shaping everything and peening the stem 

FPF ,  I like it , kind of reminds me of one of these

 

Dale Russell

C.J. was the starting mat stock on your copper leaves?

It was some 5/8" square stock I bought on Amazon.  I bead blasted them after I finished forging, then patina'd them with some Liver of Sulfur.  I then buffed them a little with steel wool and clear coated them.

I added LED lights to my forge area and storage container today. That makes it a lot nicer in there. 
 I also had no specific goal in mind today at the forge so just worked on bends using some bar I had already tapered, coiling a piece of 1/4" round bar and then making a candy cane with some twisted 3/16" square and round bar. The long leg of the cane should have been another inch or so longer. The piece was 7 inches long to start with. I brushed on some wax then used the brass brush. That combination made a darker finish that the previous one using just a brass brush. This is the first time I have tried that. 

Nice rose, FPF. The copper leaves make an attractive contrast. Not sure about the copper vine though.

Thank you sir. I’m liking the vines less and less as the night goes on, but the coiled end of one is appealing to me. I may eliminate the wrap from the stem and just have the one coil originate from under the leaves and leave it at that. 

Last night I forge welded some piano wire wrapped around an auger bit as suggested in the followed me home thread. Tonight I was curious if it would have any pattern and it did. Not great but I also didnt get crazy with it. 

It's a little over 30 strands of what was labled (18 1/2) piano wire placed in each flute of the unknown size bit ( forgot to measure it.) Mig welded near the tip, Then heated and wrapped around in the flutes. Then forge welded to a 3/16"x1/2" bar. Cleaned up a portion and etched in heated vinegar to see the pattern. Might forge it into a small blade at some point. 

Interesting. I should talk to the piano techs in the conservatory. 

Might be worth it. I could have started this better after trying it. I'm still surprised I got it welded. After I cut all the strands and had them mig welded to the bit I was losing hope while trying to wrap them in the flutes. And really didn't think I'd get it forge welded together. Through calm persistence I got it. 

There were bigger wires but they were actually copperwound. I'll save those for sculpture ideas. 

I think twisting the two groups of piano wire first might have helped. 

Ah! Nothing like 'calm persistence'  Das. You got an interesting pattern there.

Now I'm thinking I might regret turfing out miles of piano wire. I kept all the tuning pins for junk art purposes but dumped the wire. We had lots of old junky pianos at our Museum. Do you know a steam engine will run all day on a piano?

Das, nice going on the auger bit!   I am thinking the copper wound piano wires are  actually plated steel and maybe a brief soak in some muriatic would remove it.  You could also try some cable mixed in with the piano wires and then twist the whole billet.  I have been saving auger bits for various projects and have made poker handles with them by winding twisted heavy wire into the flutes and I may even have a picture somewhere.

5 hours ago, ausfire said:

Do you know a steam engine will run all day on a piano?

There has to be a good joke in there somewhere but I know what you mean. Lol

Yeah you should have held on to it. The small stuff I used was really tough to bend. 

Gazz, I thought that about the copper on the bigger wires at first but I took a small grinder to the copper on the biggest one and went half way through the winding without hitting any other metal. Maybe these are solid copper windings? I'll play some more when I find time. The wound wires could be good for scrap art pieces as well. I do think some alternate wire mixed in might enhance the pattern a bit. 

I have found that an ungalvanized coiled wire sewer snake makes for interesting patterns. You can insert a solid rod within the  center to cut down on the free space you have to forge out.

Just clean it well first. 

I prefer to heat first, then clean.  Even prions don't survive *glowing*.

Alas,  my typical forge work involves trouble shooting of an Audi A4 door hinge.. 

Trouble shooting or making a new pin? hose those rollers down with penetrating oil and use pliers to loosen them up if need be. Then once they roll free try to saturate them good with white lithium grease. Those can be rough on the hinge pin if they don't roll. 

Trouble shooting is for me the same as fixing or a new pin.. LOL..  The pins on the hinges have a tendency to pop the tops off and seize in the barrel so wear the small section of the outer hinge upper and lower part which needed to be welded then brought back round and centered....  The pin is a press fit at the very top. 

The rollers surprisingly never seem to seize as they have a notch that captures the spring..  Other cars for sure.. but on the Audi's I haven't seen them frozen.. 

The pin on the other hand.. Well this is the 2nd one I have had to take completely apart and do a complete rehab.. 

For lube I use silicone grease.. 

Audiamus igitur, senectes dum sumus. 

Some of us can't even come up with a good sentence in English using senescence in Cincinnati! 

Todays goal was to add a handle to my twisting wrench and try out a new twist. I flattened the 3/8" bar to make it more in the shape and feel of the existing handle.
I also tried a leaf shaped curtain rod holder. The leaf is ugly but I have a better understanding of the order of operations to make these in the future. 
Suggestions for improvement are always welcome. 

Made two spikes and pierced one with the other to make a cross; a commission from a priest I know from my seminary days. 

Also cooked down some borax for flux and finished the forging on the new flatter. Not happy about how the eye came out, but will try to fix that later with the die grinder.