July 17, 20223 yr I am familiar with chasing and repousse. I have watched some cold working of metals and really find it both inspiring and mesmerizing. I will need to look up and research fold forming, that’s a new one to me. I can occasionally get my wife to hang out with me in the forge for small amounts of time but nothing too prolonged. She is primarily a healthcare worker and does not quite get my passion for forging but does understand the desire to create.
July 17, 20223 yr Forged a nice plant hanger (commissioned by a friend for her mother’s birthday). Realized during painting that it could also look quite nice upside down. Also welded a bracket (made out of bed rail) to the stand for my small swage block, to hold it when I’m using its stand to support one of my hollowing forms.
July 17, 20223 yr Nice plant hanger John, clean and graceful, I like it. An enlarged finial scroll like that lets the end user decide which way is up. I think it's a good feature. Frosty The Lucky.
July 17, 20223 yr Nice work John. What Frosty said. End user can decide how to use it to their liking.
July 17, 20223 yr John, that plant hanger looks really clean. I think I like the "upside down" perspective better. Alexandr, those roses are stunning, I should plant some around my yard. I have a lot of issues with deer though, a few years ago I planted a few hundred dollars worth of azaleas, and the deer tore them up like they were candy. I thought they avoided plants in the Rhododendron family, but I guess not. This week I made this custom tool for my brother, it's a paddle for adjusting the pellets in his pellet smoker. He said he needed something about 24" long, with a ~4.5" long, 1.5" wide paddle. It couldn't be any wider because it has to fit in between a bunch of little slats apparently. I took the opportunity to add some twists and incorporate a bottle opener, since cleaning a smoker sounds like the type of job that would be well accompanied by a frosty beverage. Yesterday and today I worked on 3D modeling my 150 lb. Hay-Budden anvil in AutoCAD. I added my touchmark and my shop initials. I'm going to continue working on the model; I plan to design a casting mold complete with risers, runners, etc., get it 3D printed, and start casting paperweight-sized anvils from aluminum and bronze. The model is pretty close to the actual dimensions/shape. The heel slope and the horn are a little off, but I had to make some concessions based on the behavior of the CAD program. The "Loft" tool in AutoCAD can be fun, but also infuriating at times. I think it turned out pretty well though. One of these days I'd like to draw up a bunch of different styles and brands of anvils.
July 18, 20223 yr Secured going to get this100# fisher anvil saturday. A CL find. I will be excited to own a Fisher finally. Price is fair amazingly. I must have got lucky, or I will be disappointed. Lol.
July 18, 20223 yr My is not not nearly as elegant and wont work upside down but I like it. Made from 3/8” so little small. Plus another little S hook which I like making and give them all away. Lots of fun thanks for looking.
July 18, 20223 yr 29 minutes ago, Farmall said: You're going to love it. If all works out I'm sure I will. Looks like a great user. Rojo, close the loop a little and it'll work either way.
July 18, 20223 yr Beautiful pallet scraper Mothman I'm looking forward to seeing pics of the anvils the renderings look good. That's a good looking hanger Pedro you might not need to close the scroll to hang upside down but closing it a little won't hurt a thing. I like Fisher anvils, quiet is really nice. Frosty The Lucky.
July 18, 20223 yr Great stuff on this page. I couldn't stand leaving this 6 inch leg vise this way. So... Did what I could to keep from cutting into the body of it. Anyway, so far so good.
July 18, 20223 yr My roses bloomed almost 2 months ago, but i am a bit further south than St. Petersburgh though. Different zone. my daughter has been this week collecting the hips. For what i am not sure. I know they are pretty high in i believe vitamin C and are used in a lot of herbal teas. I like the plant hangers. Been working on some deck railing and started the install. Realized i was 2 bolts short for the "L" bracket supports. So i knocked these out pretty quick. ~1 1/2" of 1/2" square bar. Drew out a 3/8" tenon. Mashed the head flat to 3/4" square. Since i had a nice fire burning and nothing pressing to do i got some time to play. Took an old piece of leaf spring about 8" long or so and made this spear thing. Started with just an idea and went with it. Turned out much better than i was thinking it would, but again i was just have some fun wholloping on hot metal.
July 19, 20223 yr nice work every one on saterday i got some time in the shop and tested my quench process with 1095 and parks 50 forged 2 or 3 heats then heated to an orange-yellow and quenched in shop temp oil after it cooled i did a file test and a sharp file barly bit. then a break test showed what i believe to be very course grain no temper on this piece wondering if I should do some thermal cycling on the next try? thanks M.J.Lampert
July 19, 20223 yr I think you should normalize it and quench at lowe temp, orange-yellow is too hot I think. ~Jobtiel
July 19, 20223 yr Not today but over the last several weeks. I try to make one every time I forge and we give them away alot but am starting to get some inventory. the bottom 2 are made of 3/16” garage door spring which I know is overkill but I like to use it as I seem to get a better finish and uniformity over mild and I have a bunch. thanks for looking
July 19, 20223 yr 12 hours ago, M.J.Lampert said: wondering if I should do some thermal cycling on the next try? As far as I know thermal cycling on simple steels before quenching is always a good idea and will help shrink the grain size if done at successively lower temps each time. And yes, that is pretty coarse grain structure. As Jobtiel1 said, your steel temperature was too high when you quenched as well. Table salt melts really close to the correct temperature for quenching a lot of simple steels, so you can sprinkle some of that on your stock and watch for it to melt to know when to quench.
July 19, 20223 yr Thermal cycling is certainly advantageous, but multiple grain refinement cycles aren’t necessarily beneficial. There’s a good discussion of this issue in this video from Dr. Larrin Thomas of Knife Steel Nerds:
July 19, 20223 yr I'm in the middle of a knife build off between some friends. We all will forge a 5" blade and then torture test them. We also are forging a gift to give to the winner. We have throigh the month of July to forge our blades and gifts. We will have the torture test in August and the winner will choose the next forging challenge to make. I finished my knife and started on my gift. It will be a little camp ax out of some trailer axel. After 2 laid back nights of forging, I have it to the annealing stage. The knife is made from 8670 btw. My first time forging and heat treating that alloy, but I must say I'm really impressed with it so far. The test to failure in August will tell....
July 20, 20223 yr Being off the net meant I spent more time in the shop; mainly cleaning it and starting the massive reorganization needed to get my welder and powerhammers available. Hung a lot of old stuff on the walls to make more room---my hip doesn't like me climbing ladders! I rotated my primary hammer rack 90 deg, only 110 handled tools on it currently so a lot of taking them off it and replacing after the moving. Moved an old school welding table from outside the kitchen window into the shop.
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.