April 3, 20233 yr Made a few little items yesterday. A spring ball swage, 3/4" ball 3/8 for the groove, the spring is not very good though and i will need to replace that. A tool to lift the lid off my stew pot that i burnt the ... out of my hand when i went to stir my stew yesterday. Handle for a broom that will go with the fire set i started about a month ago. And a set of simple dividers. Close up of the ball swage. Edited April 3, 20233 yr by BillyBones forgot ssomething
April 7, 20233 yr Been a few days since anybody posted on this thread. Key rack, no finish on it yet.
April 7, 20233 yr Made some fireplace tongs to go with the fir set i am working on. Just about done, need to make a holder for them. I prefer wall mount so that is what i am thinking for them. I think that would go better with the set than a stand anyway. Here is the whole set
April 8, 20233 yr Finally got the liquor cabinet I've been working on forever finished today. There's a few spots that still need touching up but that won't take too long. Really like how the brass came out on this
April 8, 20233 yr Really nice, Donniev! It’s been a while since I’ve posted, but I’ve had a fair amount of time in the shop the past two weeks trying to gear up for a demo/festival. Here’s what I’ve been up to: hatchets and carving hatchet: s-hooks and almost done s-hook using a swage I won as door prize I at our last local hammer-in: A few black smith knives for 1/2” coil spring: And for tomorrow’s hammer-in, an adjustable bending tool for hardie hole or vise I worked out for this month door prize. (1/2” socket for radius selection and bending arm locked into position using a vise or (preferably) a 1” hardie hole to adjust for stock thickness.) I used 7/8” socket for the hook above: (Our setup is if you win the door prize, you make next month door prize. Last time I made a set hammer, tried to think of something unique for this time.) Keep it fun, David
April 8, 20233 yr Lots of sweet work guys. Goods great job on the Hatchets . What did you think about forging the carving Hatchet after the fact? I went and picked up a load of school items. A 10hp belt grinder, an Alexander 3D pantograph and a Gorton 2D pantograph, 2 dust collectors, a wet bowl tumbler, and about 250lb of assorted tool steels (01, cpm, L6, M42 and w1).
April 8, 20233 yr After sitting for forever, I finally started making the base for my 40Kg Acciaio anvil. It's solid 2" square legs and a 1-1/2" solid plate pulling it together at the top - because I wanted some serious mass in the base too. Turns out the base is heavier than the anvil and I'm not even done with it yet obviously. I also drilled a pritchel hole into it. I had a carbide drill (roughly 9/16") so I figured that might do just fine. Just spin it slow and keep it lubed and it got through the hardened top layer, which incidentally was somewhere around 1/8". Once through that, it was just a bunch of peck drills and blowing the chips away. Anyway, I think I'll like that hack! I've seen some pretty good ideas for dealing with the other round hole, but none of them seemed all that appealing to me, mostly because of the processes during and not because of the result. This seemed easy, and it was since I already had the suitable drill bit. Just a little more work and the anvil will finally be ready for its first real run. Behind it is the anvil I built a year or so ago which has served me well for this beginner. It's heavier but about the same size as you see, but mild steel. Looking forward to comparing!
April 8, 20233 yr Jennifer, the carving hatchet was surprisingly easy to forge. Forging it flat on one side is a lot lest fiddly than keeping a typical hatchet symmetrical. If/when I make another carving hatchet, I’ll probably forge it with a long beard. It sounds like that gives more technique options for the user, but I’m not a woodcarver… Keep it fun, David
April 9, 20233 yr Introduced a couple of youngsters to smithing. Also made some display rods (like towel rods) for the yarn shop. These will hold hanks of spinning fiber.
April 10, 20233 yr JHCC, nothing better that teach eager students! They look pretty happy! Those display rod fit the theme very well, they’ll look good in the shop. Donal, I’d hate to see how much time you have in those pendants. They look pretty small and fiddly. I’m not good with little item… Keep it fun, David
April 10, 20233 yr 1 hour ago, Goods said: they’ll look good in the shop. Came out pretty good! 1 hour ago, Goods said: They look pretty small and fiddly. I’m not good with little item… That’s why I don’t work in violin repair anymore….
April 10, 20233 yr Good show John, get em while they're young! Nice wool racks, how do you finish them? Frosty The Lucky.
April 10, 20233 yr Knocked off the scale with a knotted wire wheel and gave them a coat of satin black spray paint.
April 10, 20233 yr Goods, I love the decoration on those S hooks! JHCC, your youngsters turned out some nice S hooks as well! Over the last week, I've been mostly doing fiddly stuff in the shop that's needed done for awhile. Rehandling hammers, re-riveting some broken tongs, dressing struck tool ends, splitting wood to make more charcoal, and just overall Spring cleanup. I've also been working on forge welding - trying to get the scarfed fold-over technique to work since it's used in the hook & latch project of the ABANA NC1 curriculum. I'm not stressing too much over it. I know I'll have someone who can help me in-person at the BAM conference the end of April. Tonight I intend to work on a backpacker's trivet - so I might be posting again later to show pics of that!
April 11, 20233 yr Goods, love those hooks. JHCC, minions are always good. Mine will be over this weekend and next weekend we are planning on a hammer in and BBQ. So this past weekend my wife pointed out a problem to me. I got my ham out of the oven, set the pan on a trivet but alas, the trivet was too small. Today i had an epiphany at work, an adjustable trivet. So it is not done yet but here is my idea, a triangle with 3 "legs" that fold to the middle for a regular pan but for a larger they can be folded out to increase the size of the trivet. I am sure that this is not something revolutionary and i am the not the first. Can ya'll see my math mistake?
April 11, 20233 yr I like the adjustable trivet idea! Ik not checking for math though, my math skills are pretty atrocious, lol I made a backpacker's trivet for the trade item at this Saturday's local blacksmith meeting. It collapses into one piece for packing. If just heating/holding a small cup, then don't open it far. If heating/holding a skillet then open it all the way. I'd make a few changes if I did it again but I think it's pretty cool! received_3535037490061472.mp4
April 11, 20233 yr I got lost in all the eye candy, my bad. I love the S hooks David, did you upset for the die or draw down larger stock down? I don't check people's math Billy but I get your trivet, I think it has real potential. What's size range? I like it Shaina, I wish there was something in the pic for scale. If you followed the same idea but made it in 3 sections pivoting on one rivet it'd fold smaller and be more adjustable. From a little more than palm size to more than large enough for a 9" pan/pot. I think you have an really marketable trivet. Frosty The Lucky.
April 11, 20233 yr Thanks Frosty. The bar with feet on both ends is 6" without the feet. I like your idea of three pivots as well. I'll add that to my notes! My friend said she wouldn't normally carry larger than a 6" pot so that's where I started with the size.
April 11, 20233 yr 6" from bend to bend where the "legs attach. I was trying to figure the length of the "legs". I divided each into right triangles then use Pythagorean theorem to get the length of the hypotenuse. It is √a²+b². Ab being the right angles. I also unfortunately forgot to get the length from the apex to the middle of the bottom piece, it would be shorter than 6". Divide that length by 2 would give me the center of the triangle. (that is √b²-c²) From there i can figure the length of the legs. I came out with 3.96". So i figure i will make them 3 7/8" to maybe 3 15/16" and that should give me just a smidge of an opening right where they would meet. My mistake was i multiplied the square roots of "a&b" rather than add. And no, i can not do square roots in my head, i need a calculator.
April 12, 20233 yr Frosty, upsetting seams like it would take a lot more work. But, maybe not. I started with 12pcs 4” of 1/2” round. The swage forges the ends down just a bit below 3/8” diameter and I’m not good with free forging under the hammer. So I spent a bunch of time trying to get everything just right and over worked a few. Ended up with 9 hooks, two over worked/splintered and one mangled from miss setting in the swage. I’m either going the have to get better or drill out the ends of the swage, so I can use my standard stops and round swage. (I can forge down at the anvil, but the hammer is already running…) Billy, that’s a good idea. I’ll have to remember that concept for future use! Can see a lot of potential there. Keep it fun, David
April 12, 20233 yr One pivot three legs Shaina. A 6" trivet would fold up to about 3 1/2" +/-. THANKS Billy, you're making my head spin and I deliberately didn't look for your math mistake! Yeah, that probably would've been my choice too David, I'd rather draw down quite a bit than upset a little. Frosty The Lucky.
April 12, 20233 yr Nice stuff everyone - no forge time for me lately. :-( Love the key hook Lary. Super cool S hooks goods. Really really like the pendant Donal. Cool trivet Shaina. its all good!
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