No problem; I am prone to typos and brain farts.   Peking Ducks of course!

Made my first songcatcher this week. This was made from what I had on hand. Old fishing line that breaks under hand pressure. Extra wooden egg and paranoid from craft sets that the neices and nephews were finished with. 1/4 inch round stock for the 17inch rings. 1 inch tube stock for chimes, tuned to A, E, F and G. 5ft from top of ring to bottom of aluminum dancer. 

Already have commissions for 2 more, sans fishing line. Time to check ben Frank's for something more attractive and substantial. Any suggestions?

 

7 hours ago, arkie said:

Everyone has their favorite method for drawing out stock.

Mine is drawing dies and the Star power hammer.

Power hammer = striker on retainer

Power Hammer == Smart Apprentice---it does exactly what you tell it to do!

Plus you don't have to nod your head to hit it.

Shabumi, that's a beautiful song. My daughter would be absolutely delighted; chimes are her favorite. 

Shabumi, check your local craft store or online i suppose. But i used to make dream catchers and used sinew. It is not real but a good simulation of real sinew and was readily available. That would also look good dressed up with beads, some leather, and a couple feathers.

Well those (tongs) cracked and they are now garbage.

I will se when i return my will what will i do with it.

Steel was to tough i thinkit was even iron.

I twisted it 2 times but it cracked, part where metal should be griped was broken..

 

A lot's of work were in that piece of metal and now it is wasted.

 

Made a start on my first ever blade, as a total novice this was my first attempt at bladesmithing, halfway through and to think it's the first time I've ever struck hot steel

CHRIS! Congratulations! I'm excited to hear you've gotten started. 

Bought 23.4 USGallons of propane; US$2.05 per gallon.  Should hold me till the weather gets cooler!   I called yesterday and they told me that they have a 50 cents a gallon sale on Fridays---so I waited a day...I guess the long white beard actually is a help; two young men getting bbq bottles filled wouldn't let me wrestle the tank into my truck when it was full.

Made a quick wall mount for the trivet. Simple, but effective.

  

Looks good.

Finished a pair of Viking-style tongs, based on those in the Mastermyr chest.

Made from 2 17" pieces of 1/2" square. Final length 25", weight 2.25 pounds.

Arthur,

Nice job!

SLAG.

Bottle opener form a random shaft

 

22 hours ago, Arthur210 said:

Finished a pair of Viking-style tongs, based on those in the Mastermyr chest

Made from 2 17" pieces of 1/2" square. Final length 25", weight 2.25 pounds.

Tu as dû avoir du fun à étirer les poignées....

You must have had fun stretching the handles ....

Love that opener 450. Nice work. 

Thanks SLAG.

blacksmith-450, yes it took a few hours to draw out those reins. I learned that I need to heat the steel to bright yellow to have it move faster.

Overall the tongs too me about 10 hours to make. Next one should be faster, as I now have a better sense of how curved the jaws need to be.

Nice bottle opener, btw. Very clean lines. 

Ce n'est pas le concours de celui qui a la plus grosse, mais tu as trop étiré AMHA.  J'ai fait 2 pinces dans le même après-midi.  J'ai laissé les poignées carrées.

Merci pour le bottle opener, c'est mon meilleur à date !

It's not the contest for whoever has the fattest, but you stretched AMHA too much. I made 2 pliers in the same afternoon. I left the handles square.

Thanks for the bottle opener, it's my best ever!

C'est pour un contexte d'activité médiévales, alors le but était d'être le plus fidèle possible aux pinces Mastermyr, dont les poignées sont rondes. Je trouve aussi ça plus confortable.

The tongs were made for a medieval recreation context and the objective was to have them as close as possible to the Mastermyr ones, that have round reins. I also find them more comfortable. 

Nice work everyone has been cranking out! I have been busy with non forgings but shopish related. A few months ago I was bitten by a 11lb rat terrier chihuahua. The injuries left me out of heavy work with my hands up until a couple weeks ago. Anywho, with the recent wind storm here in Utah, we thought it a good idea to order a chip drop (online website that contacts tree services who need a place to dump their wood chips. Catch is you must take the whole truck load.) We moved the whole pile of english walnut throughout the garden and piled in various spots by hand in about 10hrs. Had one day to recover before fetching some free gravel and preparing and laying out the shop build. The Shop was originally going to have a dirt floor, but we decided to pour a slab. 8'x16' with a man door and a larger equipment door.

My daughter asked if i could make her a small table for here front porch. So off to the barn i went and found a decent piece of scrap wood and 4 pieces of 1/2" square. Nothing fancy and it was a quick build, less than 6 hours except for the time for the urethane to dry. Need to tweek that one leg just a little to get him to sit flat but i am pretty pleased with the finished product. 

 

The 4 nails are decoration but they do go all the way through and bent over,  the legs are held on with 4 lag bolts (forged to square heads) and 4 slotted screws from the underside. 

A bit of an arch instead of the flat leg base will fit most floors better.  It allows for tweeking just the outside of the feet to match the floor.  You may want to put a piece of thin rubber or felt on the bottom of the table feet to keep them from scratching the floor.  Glue it on then trim so it does not show.

Hey 671- be aware that all walnut species contain the alleopathic toxin 'juglone' in all parts, including chipped branches and leaves. It will kill tomatoes and peppers if mulched with them, as well as many annual flowers, perennials and shrubs and trees. The toxin biodegrades in time, I couldn't tell you how much time it takes.  You might want to google ' juglone toxicity in ornamental plants" or some such wording. Lots of sites have lists of plants organized by yes/no/maybe in regards to the toxins effect on them. During my time as a landscape contractor I had lists of plants I could plant successfully near walnuts.

Steve