alexandr Posted July 20, 2022 Share Posted July 20, 2022 5 hours ago, Gandalfgreen said: Wolfe hound or giant schnauzer ? Yes, Giant Schnauzer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexandr Posted July 20, 2022 Share Posted July 20, 2022 Finished it today, it remains to paint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexandr Posted July 21, 2022 Share Posted July 21, 2022 This week has been very productive. Installed the finish railing on the stairs. Little things left to do. Where did everyone go? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted July 21, 2022 Share Posted July 21, 2022 All very nice work Alexandr. I always love seeing what you make. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gandalfgreen Posted July 21, 2022 Share Posted July 21, 2022 Wish i could get that much hammer time. Excellent work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted July 21, 2022 Share Posted July 21, 2022 It's as beautiful as your work always is, Alex. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyBones Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 We are here and we are looking. As always an absolute joy to see your work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lary Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 Alexander, I think if I saw pictures of your work posted somewhere else I would still recognize it. You have what some, maybe most of us want and that's style. Cleaning up this post vise, I uncovered an Iron City stamp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 Not really forge work but what I did in the shop this morning, when I opened up I went to turn on all my fans in the shop this morning and one of my 1960s junk store GE fans started then stopped and hummed so I did what any reasonable person would do an I took it apart to see why lol come to find out apparently the grease they made 50 years ago wasn’t designed to last forever, who knew? It got hard an caked up an finally seized up the shaft, so half a can of carburetor cleaner later I had her flushed out, got the shaft an oscillating gears freed up, an spinning I put high temperature grease back in it, not sure what they were originally designed to use? anyways got it put back together and it blowing this 90+ degree air around again! Hooray for junk store fans! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 A nice set of finger choppers! I'm working on the major shop re-arrangement to set it up for using the power hammers. Of course everything to be moved tends to weigh a lot...only 1 black widow spider found so far. Got the old, school, welding table in place. Top weighs more than several of my anvils do (individually). It's supposed to cool down about 1 degree F per day for the next week; I can hardly wait until it's just in the 90's again! Billy, you should run 220 to your shop and then mount that huge chicken house fan on a mount with an infrared tracker so it will keep it pointed towards *you*! Went to the scrapyard today, they said there hasn't been any business since my last visit; but I found a small Belsaw grinder---not one of the fancy ones, a steel trashcan in decent shape, (my wife doesn't get this one as the bottom is still good!) Also some 3/8" rod pieces, an axe head, a chainsaw blade still in the original package, a stainless pie pan for hammer head BLO soaking and a 2' section of cold rolled 3/4" sq stock. Didn't find a rim for my wife's van; I guess I will have to go back and look some more soon... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 Thomas, I’ve used the big chicken house fans before but as my business grew an i got busier I needed more an more space so I switched to squirrel cages in the back of the shop an these old GEs on my main work bench Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 So as your business increased; you became more squirrelly? Quite understandable and if going nuts lead to blacksmithing---so much the better! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 I'd poke fun at Billy now but I'm reveling in cool temps since it started raining last week. I've actually lit a fire in the wood stove to take the morning chill off 4 days in a row! We need a happy dance emoji! Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 You Be nice! or I’ll fire up those giant fans I got for Thomas and blow some of this 100 degree weather up to Alaska! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyVee Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 So, it ain't art, but I made my first bottle opener today. This is probably the most complex shape I've made to date, and it took for freakin' ever to get it even this good. My intent was for it to look a little like a climber's piton (the type that they used to use in the 60s and 70s). It was inspired by a bit of schwag my wife once received as a "thank you" for a donation to the Access Fund (a group that works to keep various climbing areas open) (the fourth photo). This little bottle opener followed some guest home from the house one day after a small post-climb gathering, and the Mrs. has missed it. They don't make those anymore. This will have to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gandalfgreen Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 Didnt get forge time in will hopefully light her tomorrow. But did get an old chisel sharpened in the idea i could use it to cut some half inch braided steel cable and it worked tested it out after filed the new tip and was impressed how easily it cut it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 Not bad Tommy. The pitted surface means too much time at heat or too hot. Seeing as it took you so long my bet is time hot. A lot of us spent time painted in that corner when we got into the craft. We spent too much time trying to get "it" just right. My stuff kept coming out too long, too thin and pitted, it's just part of the curve. Think of it like making biscuits or pie crust, they come out better if you don't mess with them much. Try to stir biscuit dough smooth and it makes hockey pucks. Pie crust turns into a leather frisbee. A couple tips to maybe help. Do the thick sections first, the thinner the steel the faster scale will have serious effect and the more likely it'll melt off. Also thick sections can take more filing or grinding to clean up. Hmmmm? Bet the Missus loves it though, she'll be showing all her climber friends. Are you prepared to make lots of them? Well done, really. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyVee Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 Yes, it took way too many heats. Part of the problem is the way I chose to try to make the claw, which in hindsight wasn't really a good choice. The thing is forged from 1/2" square bar, and the claw was done by punching a small round hole through a bit of square bar at the end, chiseling it open, and then reforging the bits into the claw. I didn't like how it was going and it took a lot of fixing up, and there are some clear stress issues --- that claw will probably break someday. Fortunately, the beer bottles it'll open won't put it under too much strain. And yes, I did the exact opposite of what your tip suggests. I forged the taper where the round hole for the carabiner would be punched first, then forged an offset and the main body of the "nail" part next. Then I slit and drifted the hole for the carabiner in the tapered end. I left a small block of full size square bar for the claw for the very end. This means that all those heats for the claw scaled up the whole of the rest of it very badly. It took a fair amount of filing to get the claw even approximately right. Next time I try this I'll do it differently. I already have ideas for how to do the claw without punching and chiseling, which left a lot of rag to be filed, and made things really hard to forge right. It was my plan that this might be the first of many tries. Maybe I'll get it right eventually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 You might try one with a lip in the hole for the biner and the other end tapered like a using piton. You know a good gauge for the size of a bottle opener hole is a US quarter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 Try this next time you forge the "claw." (I know there's a proper term but I can NOT think of it.) If you have a leg vise, open the jaws SLIGHTLY, penny thickness is good, nickel max. Heat the square end high yellow, stand the edge of the end where you want the hook thing, in the gap and drive it down. You'll have your claw preform in one heat and a couple heavy blows. If you don't have a leg vise you'll need to make smooth jaw covers, angle iron is a natural for this, remember to round the edge so it doesn't cut the stock. If you do that almost last you won't even have to hold it at an angle to get a solid strike. And there's Thomas with the other option I was thinking of. Like minds and all that. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyVee Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 Yes, forging the 'biner ring into the other type of opener was in my mind, too. The other thing I made at the forge today was a ball-end punch for making that little lip. It was on my agenda for the future to make one of these with both types of opener, but for starters I was just imitating the long lost Access Fund swag. I do have a leg vise. I like your idea for basically swaging the end like that in the vise jaws. Will have to try that method. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 I generally use a ball peen hammer ball to make the lip, I have a couple old ones that are a bit more conical than ball. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 One of the silly ideas I discarded immediately was forging a biner opener that could be used climbing. On nearly instant reflection I prefer doing it the way you did so NOBODY could even try to use it climbing. Well, I found out what the two basic types of bottle openers are called. . . Maybe. The "claw" seems to be called a "Cap Lifter" the original Church Key is a cap lifter. The one with loop/ring and tab is maybe called a "Speed blade" and preferred by bar tenders as they're fast. The large hole in the other end is to slip over the neck of bottles to lift them out of the ice so the bar tender's hands don't get wet and cold. I think a little development and refinement of the basic opener and you've got a marketable product Tommy. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TastefullyPeenedIronWorks Posted July 23, 2022 Share Posted July 23, 2022 Whipped these guys out pretty quick today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted July 23, 2022 Share Posted July 23, 2022 Quick job: welded up the frames for a pair of bottle trees. The customer likes them, so I just need to grind the welds and give them some paint. Also rewound the spool on my wire welder; I think I finally got that process down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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