December 3, 20223 yr Made my first set of tongs today. Was a bit of an adventure, and they're a bit rough, but will functionfor their purpose. Everything is a learning opportunity, and I take even the disappointments in stride. Had everything almost ready to rivet together, but while punching one eye, it cracked and I had to completely remake a whole piece. On 12/1/2022 at 10:04 PM, Shainarue said: Got out and forged another shawl pin tonight. I still need to work on small leaves. Overall though, I like how it turned out. The next project I have planned involves a lot of peening so practice in forthcoming, lol Looking good! Looks very clean!
December 4, 20223 yr Not bad first tongs my wandering friend, especially if you didn't have help. Don't worry about the bits not lining up nicely, that's a normal adjustment, just heat them up to bending temp, say medium red low orange and GENTLY hammer them holding the size stock to fit. You don't want to beat on them, just bump them into position and align them with the reins in the vise. Same bending heat clamp them up an GENTLY bend them, be careful NOT to distort the pall or rivet. I'll let one of the IFI members who's good at making tongs coach you. I am NOT the guy! Frosty The Lucky.
December 5, 20223 yr A stylized yarn ball to go atop a new sign for my wife’s yarn shop: This will be mounted above a signboard saying “YARN” and an arrow pointing towards the building. More photos later.
December 5, 20223 yr Maybe turn the needles into the sides of the arrow? Just a thought. I got a couple pieces of sheet at the UMBA fall conference in November and decided to give them a go as frying pan blanks. I think the sides may be a bit short still but I'm willing to try one out. I'm going to do a basket handle on them, but my little rivet forge kicked my butt for some reason, so that's going to be tonight that I try making them.
December 5, 20223 yr Looks like a good start. What's the blower setup on your forge? I don't think I've ever seen an electronic speed control on a hand-pumped blower before...
December 5, 20223 yr They had a small sewing machine motor in it but that was dead when I got it. The switch works but I need to rig a different motor setup. Verticle handle, like a belllows setup.
December 5, 20223 yr That looks good John, knitting needles will be a good addition, it's going to look great. I envisioned the negative spaces filled with stained glass on first glance. What's it size? Chad: Do you know what creasing and shrinking is? The only way to bring the side up very far is by shrinking the rim material, literally upsetting it. creasing involves a blunt chisel and a bottom die, V or even the vise jaws opened a little. You literally corrugate around the pan, then hammer them flat. Lather rinse repeat. The depth of the creases from the outside edge of the disk towards the center determines how high the pan's sides will be. The real trick doing it the way you've started is NOT stretching the rim by hammering against the anvil. When you flatten the creases you have to listen for the sound change from bending the creases to forging the stock directly between hammer and anvil. It's a distinct sound. It's better to have a wrinkly looking side until it's time to do the final planishing than trying to make it smooth on every crease and flatten cycle. I'll see what I can find online. There's a decent how to in the book "Metal Techniques for the Craftsman" by Opi Untract. I'd check the library have it ILL if necessary. I bought a copy probably 30 years ago and it was expensive then. It's a wonder full book though, it's full of little how this works sections on about every wat to work metal as of maybe 1960? Frosty The Lucky.
December 5, 20223 yr 16 minutes ago, Frosty said: That looks good John, knitting needles will be a good addition, it's going to look great. I envisioned the negative spaces filled with stained glass on first glance. What's it size? It's about eight inches across. After I add the needles and attach it to the top of the sign frame, it will be painted to match the shop's logo:
December 5, 20223 yr Frosty, I hadn't done it quite that fine, I had gone to and creased them. I also had noticed the sound difference, more of a dull thud as opposed to that nice ring. I will keep workingbit as I learn. I have a third blank for when I get this figured out. Would the spacing be about 1/8th between ceases or a bit father apart?
December 5, 20223 yr Cool, you have the feel and sound, that's an important skill. That close together is way too close. I found a couple okay videos, the first is Wray Schelin shrinking sheet. He's making a fender so he's stretching in places to make the compound curve. I'm posting this just to show how he hammers the creases down and how far. Note he starts at the edge of the sheet and works back to where the crease ends. This locks the shrink. The next link is another custom body and fender guy and this technique including the forks and how he uses them only work on light sheet, 20 ga steel is a grunt, even if you anneal. I've only shrunk sheet this way one time at a gathering of metal heads, maybe 2002 +/- and just to get a feel for it. Heck I met Wray Schelin there, not that he'd remember me, he was demoing the English Wheel and hammer. Anyway you're doing pretty heavy sheet, you'll need heavy bending or as the guy in the second video calls them and the process, "Tucking" forks. The technique is as old as forming sheet. Anyway, the forks I'd make would be he same basic thing Gene made for the gathering. I'd use 1/2" round, with the ends ground round and sanded smooth Heck I'd chuck the rod in my drill press and use emery cloth to shine it up so as not to "scale" texture the project. I'd fold it in half and forge the bend down enough it sit the hardy hole in my anvil and then bend it over so the fork laid flat on the face and spread the forks enough to allow for 2x the sheet thickness after upsetting + the diameter of the upper die, another piece of 1/2" round rounded and shined up. I would NOT weld the top die rod to the forks where they insert in the hardy hole to make a spring die. Tempting as this is it will cause you to spread the forks every other cycle as the sheet thickens. As it thickens I'd probably grind the upper die's width thinner to allow for thicker stock. On the other hand spreading the forks might happen anyway. Like I say I did this once on 20 ga. and asked Gene some quick questions 20 years ago. The English wheel was a lot more fun. If you're using say 1/8" you can do it hot, if doing it cold with thin stock annealing every couple cycles. Frosty The Lucky. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-24Kv_fnOHc&ab_channel=WraySchelin'sProShaperWorkshop https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZoYSp3lzOg&ab_channel=MakeItKustom
December 5, 20223 yr For bowlmaking, I usually make the dents about 1" to 1-1/2" wide around the rim. Because I use my oxypropane torch for this, I can then spot-heat just the bumps, which makes it much easier to forge them down to the bottoms of the dents. I have a tucking fork that I welded up a little while back, but I barely ever use it. I am playing with ideas for a curved swage for forging the dents, though, as I've found that forging over a V-swage or vise jaws can ding up the metal.
December 5, 20223 yr I really like the ball of yarn piece in color John, it looks great. I agree with the idea of placing the knitting needles so they form an arrow pointing to the door. It's just unusual enough to draw the attention of knitters and spinners. Frosty The Lucky.
December 6, 20223 yr Thanks. Really debated painting him but didnt have brown for the arms. Might get some tomorrow and do it. Would give him more depth and contrast.
December 6, 20223 yr Nice work on the pans, Check out DF in the Shop's video on skillet making for a visual on the creasin/upsetting technique for the raised edges. ~Jobtiel
December 6, 20223 yr Had my first sale yesterday. Two hidden tang knives of $75 and $95. Three pairs of mokume earrings for $25 apiece. Quite happy with the results. My new anvil came today!
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