What did you do in the shop today?

[ThomasPowers]

Tong clips help.

[JHCC]

True, but these are faster and easier.  I’ve also used vise grip welding clamps, as shown in this photo of my bowlmaking setup:

The little swiveling pads on the jaws do a great job of conforming to the workpiece and gripping it securely. The smaller vise grips with the rounded jaws aren't quite as secure, but they're somewhat less cumbersome.

[Frosty]

12 hours ago, sl0J0n said:

Howdy, all;

Welcome aboard, glad to have you. If you put your general location in the header you'll have a chance of meeting up with members living within visiting distance. If for instance you lived close to me I'd be happy to show you how to forge brazing rod. It's tricky finicky but not hard.

3-4 charcoal briquettes burning next to your work station is perfect for annealing as much as you can forge at one time. I stopped quenching or even letting it cool much before hitting it again. You MUST lay it on the anvil for a few seconds so you are NOT trying to forge it hot, that's unlikely to work.

Here's your first "Frosty" lesson for forging brazing rod. Use a polished anvil face and hammer and hit it as hard as possible on the first blow, it will move as much as YOU can make it. It will move pretty well on the second blow and a third is it. Hit it one more time and it'll break. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[sl0J0n]

Howdy, George N. M.  I appreciate your kind reply, specially the advice & technical info.  I updated my profile w/ a pic & location.  I've read brass doesn't like being 'forged' or 'worked', only cast or machined.  I thought it could be worked a bit but my 1st effort (3/16 rod) is what chipped.  I'm gonna' try to finish what I started.  I think the rod is not for brazing, which I have some experience w/.  I have 8 pcs H59 1/8 rod at 12" each, I want to use for prongs w/ the 2" O.D. rings.  The ends (after cutting/opening) need to be flattened to ~1/2 it's 6mm/.236" diameter.  Also not intended for brazing, IMO, no flux.  Have a GREAT day, Neighbor!

Howdy, Frosty;  I'll try the charcoal but I don't have forge.  I'm just starting w/ this, & it looks like I jumped in the deep end before learning to swim.  I have a bernzomatic torch w/ an adapter to a barbecue propane can, I think that'll get hot enough to get to dull red, like George said.  (It's been maybe 30 yrs since I did any metal work.)  BTW, just how "polished" does the face & hammer need to be?  Most of my tools are old, tho I did just buy a new 24oz ball peen at Harbor Freight.  Have a GREAT day, Neighbor!

[sl0J0n]

Howdy ThomasPowers;  Well I wish I'd a talked to you before I started this little project.  Sounds like you know about it.  I don't want anything fancy, more the opposite TBH.  The older I get the better I like the ol-timey plain & simple style.  When I was a boy (55-65 yrs ago) that was mostly what I saw here in south GA.  A lot of the old 'hand-made' style, a family friend had a straight-back chair w/ uncured cow hide seat, hair-on & a fly swatter that was a circle of leather in the end of split dowel by the look of it.  Many notched-log barns & sheds w/ split shake roofs back then, the old family tobacco barn hadn't been used since I was little tyke, it's about all fallen down now.  Bout like me.  I might try copper if the brass don't pan out.  Have a GREAT day, Neighbor!

[Gandalfgreen]

Everyones work looks amazing. First time in 20 plus years bunch of family in town. No forge time for me yet.  Keep up the eccellent work. Maybe tomorrow light the forge.  

This staff i worked from brass. No heat just hammer only splintered once when i tried to go really thin.  It is about 6 inches long started as a rod.

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

Looks nice Gandalfgreen!
Is that a little hand I see holding it down towards the bottom?

[natkova]

Well this thing

[Gandalfgreen]

Twistedwillow. Yes that is the toy hand i used to scale properly. Go with a dwarf. Now I have 8 guys that want weapons for their toys. Looks like i will have some work to do.

[Frosty]

11 hours ago, sl0J0n said:

just how "polished" does the face & hammer need to be?

They don't need to be shiny polished but any scuff, scratch, etc. will imprint in the brass and it won't move as easily. All you need for the anvil is a sledge hammer head. Brass really moves easily the first time you hit it though I don't know about the rod you have. There are more brass alloys than pages in a phone book and some won't forge at all.

You don't need a forge, just a safe place to burn a few charcoal briquettes. Your Bernzomatic will work just fine, doing it in a dim place so you can see the color is best. 

Copper alloys work harden abruptly and catastrophically. That's why I brought up the 3 blow rule of thumb, it may not apply to the rod you have but in general it holds pretty close true. You'll need to try it on what you have. When I test to evaluate a material I cut a small piece, a coupon, to test. Then I test to destruction so for brass I hit it until it breaks, some splinters like wood, some crumbles like cottage cheese, some just snaps off. Count the blows and not how far it moves with each blow. I don't measure but I pay attention. 

Some alloys might let you beat on it till it's foil, others might bounce the hammer or break. You can't tell without trying it out, I don't know from alloys, I just try it out.

Frosty The Lucky.

[MacLeod]

5 hours ago, natkova said:

this thing

That will cut! 

My first attempt at roses, very satisfying when you’ve assembled the petals and bending them into shape. Enjoyed doing these and not too difficult. 

[ThomasPowers]

No forge?  You must live in a houseboat or apartment;  as  a hole in the ground with an air source has been used as a forge for the last 3000 years or so.  Take a look at the JABOD threads on how to build a solid fuel forge cheap and easy.

Copper is a lot less finicky to forge than brass and is easily found in quite pure forms.  You may want to look at some of the Viking hack silver hoards for examples of simple silver ones.

Back around 1981 I was chosen to be the Arts & Sciences Officer for a SCA group in OKC; so I asked what folks wanted help doing and the first thing was making Penannular brooches.  I figured I better do a few before teaching so I did my first copper one using a kitchen gas stove to do the annealing.  I found it fun and so have been making them and teaching others ever since.

[George N. M.]

Mac, very nice.  What did you use for texturing the petals and leaves?

Two suggestions:  1) curl the tips of the outer petals back a bit.  As a rose opens that is what happens.  2) the triangular bits which were the casing for the bud, under the petals should be 5, not 4.  A real rose has a 5 fold symmetry, like a star fish or a sea urchin.

Did you cut your own blanks or buy pre-cut ones?  I know that several of the commercially available blanks only have 4 points.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[natkova]

Thanks I hope it will cut, just I have to anneal or normalise a handle a bit i can't drill it

[Frazer]

MacLeod, texturing the top faces and thinning out the tips of each pedal with a cross peen adds some more character to the rose and makes the tips easier to flare out. Texturing can be done cold.

[ThomasPowers]

An old trick is to hide a bit of felt down in the base of the petals and put a drop of attar of roses on it so it actually *smells* like a rose.  It's closed many a sale.

[Daswulf]

2 hours ago, MacLeod said:

My first attempt at roses

Very nice work!

[Jobtiel1]

Started working on a small bowl adze. Mild steel with a file for the cutting edge. Turned out really well, and the weld is very solid. Still learning to forge weld reliably so this is definitely a win.

I also made one of those scale scrapers from a file I saw in another thread. And they work a treat to remove that heavy scale after forge welding.

~Jobtiel

[MacLeod]

Love IFI. It’s like having an old knowledgeable blacksmith leaning over your shoulder and guiding you. 
 

Was given the blanks George, will be doing my own naturalistically correct ones in future!

All tips taken on board, Frazer, these are awesome

[Les L]

MacLeod, Great looking roses, much better than my first few attempts. A couple things i do different, I texture the side of the petals, that are on the inside and will show when looked at. I use 20 gauge metal and texture it cold, using a peen with a pretty sharp radius, then assemble and shape. I'm not saying mine are perfect, because i learn something new every time I make one, just that this is a different way than yours that I make them.

I will PM you, and any one else that wants it, the pattern I use for my roses. I'm not saying it's perfect, but it's what I use and i make adjustments to each as needed.

Glenn, if the pattern is something we can put on IFI I can send it to you to add to the site.

[Chad J.]

I cold shape mine out of light gauge as well and I've been playing with the design of the pedals a bit.   I'm leaving mine so that they look to just be opening.  I go with reducing sizes and number of pedals for each layer and  work them so that it looks like a continuous spiral.  I ground down a small ball peen to give it the texture and veins I like as well as shape them, and then forge the leaves and stem.   I actually have parts of some old bearings that I use as dishing forms and tonight I ground the head from a rail road bolt down to fit into a 35 mm bearing shaft.  I like how mine turn out and I'm getting better with each. 

 

[MacLeod]

Great Roses Les L & Chad J! Thanks again for the designs Les. 

[BillyBones]

Made a turn buckle for the treadle hammer iam building. The only one i could find large enough had tear drop shaped eyes so i figured just mash them down a little weld and drift open. Burnt one luckily it is the one with right hand thread and not the left handed one. Started a BBQ fork from a rail spike. Started losing heat and it seemed going through a lot of coal. Found my grate burnt out and my tuyrere fuel of coke, coal and ash.

Started raining while making my repairs. My granddaughter are here for the weekend and were out playing so they wanted to join papa in the shop to get out of the rain. They found a way to occupy themselves.

[JHCC]

Forged another raising/dishing hammer. 

Punching the eye went quite well.

[Chad J.]

Billy, those are some great decorations in the shop.  

JhCc, nice!