First Demo of the year outside of the New England Blacksmiths group. 

Hubbardston Fair.   Made a chefs knife, senban shuriken,  Kukishin Ryu shuriken and a kukishin Ryu bo shuriken (straight) .  No photos of the Kukishin items oh and a lid/pot mover. 

also gave a lesson to my buddy Andrew on finding the optimum temperature for hardening with a lesson including grain growth and it's effects,   who swung by and I put him to work making shuriken while i  ate lunch.    

Looks as if you had a great day, Jennifer.  Like your smithin' trailer.  Bet that works a treat for demos and fairs.

It was fun but a tough one..  The music was super loud and I was near a blower for one of the bouncy houses..   It was loud enough that I had to wear my ear plugs which I don't usually do when I demo so i can hear what people say..   Because I had to yell at all the people my throat is sore now.. 

My first time there so next time I'll try to pick a different location..  I was allowed to have the whole area to myself.

It's an amazing platform to work in for sure.   There is a thread here somewhere on it as well as a photo album of the build on the facebook page.. 

95% of the "how to" videos have been filmed in the trailer.  it's amazingly ridiculous and just a stunning platform...  It started off as a fender replacement.. chuckle, chuckle.. choke, choke.. Cough..    9months to complete.

Well, I'm sure it serves you nicely.  Good at keepin' the little inquisitive children away from the forge, too, I'd think.  I've seen a couple of outdoor demos in years past and that forge is tempting to little eyes and hands.

Your trailer build is a sticky in Building, Designing a Shop. Great thread and an inspiration to anyone contemplating a build.

Jlpservices: Seeing ýou post makes me think of a few days back to the conversation about your videos. Just wanted to say, I like the split screens because I can see what both hands are doing instead of just the hammer hand. Your whole format is good just the way it is. Thanks for being so helpful to the blacksmithing community. No time in the shop today. Went to a gun show. There were 4 bladesmiths there and I talked to all except one. He had been on forged in fire and his booth was pretty busy as he was sharpening knives for people. But I talked to one extensively and there may be a little business opportunity for what I do. I'm not a bladesmith. So I may pursue it and see what happens if anything. As always, I really enjoy looking at everyone's contributions and comments. 

 

Needed a hook in the shop to hang up the oxy/acetylene hose when not in use. First time making a hook.

Needed something to hang the keys on so made Mr Squiddy. Here he is posing on the wall of the forge.

That's a very clever key hook. I like it!

More welding on The Presscious. 

Nice first hook BJ. But unless you have an anti gravity device in your shop I don't know how well it's gonna work like that!

Looking good there JHCC.. I understand the design up to this point. 

Are you going to install a trunion for the ram to push plate or just a socket? 


neal the smith: nice looking key holder..

The current plan is to cut the nut off the old puller rod:

And weld that to the bottom of the bottom guide. 

 

Thanks Cannon.  

 

Here is my second attempt at some hooks. Looking to mount them on an old piece of barn wood. 

Those look good BEJ. Good idea using the carriage bolts. 

Thanks Das!  Wish I had half your talent of finding interesting ways to repurpose things.

Nothing in the shop for a few days. I hurt my back I think from dressing a hammer head with a file and bent over too long. I have a pair of champion tongs that the reins were too long for me, so I cut off 5 1/4" from them. Decided to give the pieces another life. 3/8 " round I believe. Squared and twisted. The foot pads aren't even, so I'll finish filing those to match. I think I didn't use half on/ half off blows correctly to set down the feet. Then peened them down too flat trying to draw out the material. I think I'll give them a vinegar bath and see how they turn out

"Waste not, want not."  Those look great!

Thank you. I like making door pulls and latches. I made most of the hardware for the chicken tractors except the hinges. That's next on my " things to learn" list

Those look just fine. Even is for Ace Hardware, we're blacksmiths!

Next time try twisting before you do the forging, it makes nice transitions. Of course that's my opinion and to quote my Grandmother, "To each his own said the old lady as she kissed the cow." 

Frosty The Lucky.

Thanks Frosty I'll keep that in mind about twisting first. I have some friends that want some pulls for their cabinetry. Simple things but I enjoy making them

Crazygoatlady go over to the JLP services page. If you want to make welded barrels (eyes) there is a "How to" on it.   The sizing can be scaled to what ever you'd like. 

it's a 3d video and it uploaded funky.   

From the drop down menu on Youtube just select 2D and it will play just fine..  I didn't realize when I moved all the 3D videos to unlisted this was in the bunch.    OH well.  Go figure. 

 

https://youtu.be/vtL5BGIe7eQ

 

Thank you Jennifer. I've been watching your videos but I haven't seen that one yet. You really weild a hammer like a boss! Thanks for your great contributions to folks like me

Makes me want to run out and make a hinge...............and I don't even need one!   Thanks for the link, Jennifer.

You guys are very welcome..  It's the reason I became reinvolved all these years later..  

CGL, been at is a very long time.

Hinges are fun and challenging.. Getting the eye to line up with the body is the best part of all.  

Here is a picture of hinge eyes when I was feeling like dusting off the rust for a paying job that the eyes were not to my standards. 

These are not exact copies of the one in the first photo. The guy snapped the hinge off of the other one as the hinges he had were undersized so I made them bigger.. 

A good or well made hinge will have the area right by the shoulder of the hinge fully upset into the corner.. (this is covered int he strap hinge making video. 

Because I was not happy I made many to get 3 I was happy with.