What did you do in the shop today?

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

Awesome glad to hear it Randy!!!

so far I’ve only had USPS return one card that I gotta redo sorry Les

so I’m hoping everyone’s is delivered or still on the way!

[White Fox Forge]

I worked on a pipe tomahawk. I forged it out, welded it, and drew it out on Sunday. Yesterday i cleaned it up and heat treated it. Tempered it today. How much more cleaning up should i do? I'm thinking of leaving a forged finish instead of polished. Im akso thinking of doingvsome engraving but i have zero practice lol

[Nobody Special]

4 hours ago, Frosty said:

Ahh, icicles! Maybe start with thicker stock and give it a full length taper with twist?  That or make them shorter. 

Frosty The Lucky.

 

I'd say make them shorter, and stick to thin stock if they're going to be hung in a tree. I made a hunch of icicles for a few years and even small ones tended to really pull at all but the firmest of branches. Iron makes lovely ornaments, but it's heavy!

[JHCC]

Off on a business trip, and filled in some dead time in the hotel by filing some chasing tools into shape. 

[Frosty]

If you want to engrave your hawk you need to finish it, engraving won't show through scale for very long. 

It's a matter of taste but I can't see putting that much work into something and leaving it look unfinished. I know it's popular but . . .

Frosty The Lucky.

[BillyBones]

TW, also got your card. One of these days i will get off my lazy but and send one. Still have the Christmas card on the table next to me that i sent to myself instead of you last year. 

I have never made icicles before but i am thinking maybe cut some sheet in a long taper kind of triangle about 5/16" maybe 3/8" at the top and make a nice long twist in that. Or some small flat bar. Something that would need to be that small and light could also be worked cold i would think. 

Edited October 25, 2023 by BillyBones
Cant spell

[Gazz]

You are not going to ruin your drill press spinning a piece of wood and shaping it as it turns with some files occasionally - it can handle it.  I certainly didn't ruin mine.  Anybody ever use a sanding drum or a wire wheel in a drill press?  Same kind of load but nobody is worried about ruining their machine.  No, they are not milling machines and I'm not suggesting that.

[jlpservicesinc]

Howdy Billy, we got ours too..  We so look forwards to seeing the cards and what wax seal looks like. 

I purchased a set of compound leverage hoof knippers via Champion 1909..   

These are in great shape.. The blades look to have very little use.. Who ever was using them did beat them up some on the backs of the jaws the screws for the cutting edges were peened over and you co8uld see they were using them for beating something.. More than likely opening nail clinches. 

But I was able to get the knives out and get the threads on the ends cleaned up enough.. 

I sharpened them and will try them tomorrow. 

ooh, excuse me 1906

 

[Shabumi]

Hey everyone, it's been a while since I've been on and even longer since I've posted. Took me a while to get through the 150 pages of what yall've been doing and I have to say there is some mighty impressive work. It would be impossible to mention it all, but I will mention on a few.

Alexander, your work is as amazing and beautiful, as always. 

Jlp, I always learn so much from your work, and it was great seeing that you got to work with some names I recognize. Dennis Dusek is a big part of the CBA and I've really enjoyed learning from him, and Beth Holmberg was part of it as well before she moved a few years ago, she taught one of the first classes I took.

JHCC, your repousse work is looking great. I've been doing a bit of repousse myself and had the pleasure of taking a class taught by Douglas Pryor. We did a rose. If you haven't seen his repousse work, you should check it out. It is quite impressive. He brought an alligator to a spring conference that he raised/repoussed/chased from a 8 foot by 4 foot by 1/4 inch thick steel. It was almost lifelike. I included a picture, as well as a fee of the things I've done since last on here.

 

[JHCC]

7 hours ago, Shabumi said:

Douglas Pryor

Yes, indeed; I’ve been getting a lot of good info from his YouTube and Patreon channels. Extremely impressive!

[Shabumi]

His class was extremely informative. Some of the advice he gave that stuck with me without having to go through my notes that may help others is to outline your design when the piece is flat, with a very thin tracer with a hard backing, like wood, before raising the piece to the height you want. It should be a light enough line that it can be blended with your corners/height differences, but deep enough that it doesn't disappear when you are working. To work from the bottom-up, in terms of a 3d model that means to start at the lowest/deepest/furthest back level and work your way to the front/top. As you work each level, it will work harden and help support the next level up so it doesn't sink as far when you work that level. As long as you don't go too far, work hardening is just another tool to help you. Also on that note, he would only anneal when he absolutly has to, and only the small section that needs the annealing. You worked hard to get the structure and rigidity you've created and annealing the whole piece removes that, so he would spot anneal with a jewlers torch. The last advice I can remember off the top of my head is that pitch heat management is a big factor on how effective your blows will be, if you start out with warm pitch, the it will take a smaller blow to get the same result as a large blow with cooler pitch

[bluerooster]

Spent the day working on a new hood for my forge. I couldn't find any scrap plate steel, my Helium tank is still full of Helium, but I had this water heater tank that I had cut a piece from length ways. So, I decided to try that and see what happens.   The part that I cut from it was used as a long charcoal forge that I needed to heat a long piece of stock.  Ain't been used since for anything but a scrap receptacle works well for that. 

  Anyway, I have the rest of it, with a section cut out of the middle for some reason or other,  so, I put the two "halves" together to form a half round, with one end being dished.  The dished end will be facing the fire pot with a hole cut in it to draw the smoke from the fire. The open side will be the bottom. I have a bottom cut from an old kitchen sink to use as the bottom.  Yes stainless, and carbon steel can be welded together.  I didn't weld the entire seam around the bottom, just an inch or so in several places, then sealed the crack with furnace putty.  There is a hole where the relief valve went, that I'll stick a pipe plug in to seal it.   We'll see how it works in a day or two.   The cutout for the "smoke hole" at the forge hasn't been cut yet, but I've outlined it with soapstone.

Not exactly what I was after, but it only cost me a little bit of argon, a couple of welding rods, some tungsten (I keep dipping it), and some time. Oh, and a little oxygen, and acetylene.

[wirerabbit]

I thought I'd experiment with simple twists and manipulation of the bar stock before twisting up to see how punching the bar affects twist. That was enlightening.

Then I thought, "That sure is a bunch of 1/2 inch square bar. I should do something with that." It was a great opportunity to practice tapering on the face of the anvil, drawing out on the face of the anvil and the horn ( much easier and faster on the horn for me), and scrolling up a round point with the hammer. Improving.

What else should I practice? Turning on the horn! I set to making s- hooks, and I learned a little bit about work flow and order of forging. Those s-hooks are the first three. I think the later ones were better.

Now I'm counting the blisters on my blisters.

 

 

[Paul TIKI]

Billy Bones, I have found that 12 inch landscaping nails from the hardware store are a cheap source of consistent mild steel.  I've been using them for tent stakes and leaves lately.  Hammer square, twist.  they already have the taper at the end that's just about right for an easy small leaf.  While I deal with this illness it'll be a while before I can lift a hammer, but that's what I thought about when ya'll start talking about icicles

[bluerooster]

Got the hood installed and hooked up to the flue.  Had to move the forge over some to get it to line up with the flue pipe. So now I need to move the anvil, and vise.  

  I took it for a test drive, and it seems to draw pretty good. Fired it with green coal so I could see how it does with lots of smoke and little fire.  Then had to heat some steel, and bang on it for a minute. 

[wirerabbit]

Most excellent, bluerooster. That'll do. I'm glad I use charcoal and after things light up, no smoke!

I always thought those side draft hoods were the best solution for coal forges that need a hood. The overhead hoods seem to be a really good place to bang my head.

T

[bluerooster]

Now, I'll have to find out how it performs on a windy day.

[BillyBones]

Blue, i have the same problem with my barrel hood rusting out. Almost one whole side is gone. Figure i will fix it tomorrow.

So in the shop made a trivet, not my best but it is for mu own use so functional over pretty. Also started a door handle. Still need to do the thumb latch, and the inner parts. There will also be a basic lock. 

[JHCC]

Trying out another practice piece, with all the work so far done on my “Repoussé on the Road” block. 

(The design is based on the mon from the back of Shimada Kambei’s haori in Kurosawa's Seven Samurai.)

[Nobody Special]

Well, still in the gradual rebuild phase and worked today, so didn't have huge amounts of time, but I managed to dig out my little Columbian that got soaked when the ocean came to see us this January. We had about 15 or 16 inches of ocean in our storage area and the poor thing took a soaking, so after a few months it looked fairly horrific with rust and salt stains. Wire wheeled it followed by BLO and it looked so good my other anvils got jealous and wanted some BLO for themselves. Next step, I think, is ditching the coal style set up for a sideblast JABOD more suitable for charcoal.

 

 

 

 

[lary]

In the process of putting finishing touches on this hammer and tong rack I've been working on. Using a rose bud, BLO and a lot of ventilation. 

 

 

I'm thinking a basket twist handle riveted to this end.

[JHCC]

Having decanted the remainder of my contact cement into a smaller container, I buzzed the paint off the outside of the tin and mixed up a pint of punch lube.

[Savlaka]

Mostly been cleaning up and getting things ready for the next projects, but I finished up a bigger straight peen hammer - this ones 2.25lbs.

And I made a simple bending fork for my hardy hole - this one is 3/4dia x 3/4 gap. Not perfect but it works.

And I made a fire tool for my charcoal forge, basket handle with a simple hook on the end... And a quick rack for a pair of firebricks...

 

JHCC- I use the same stuff for my punch lube, messy but it works well.

[wirerabbit]

Savlaka,

I'm diggin' the unwelded blending of the twist at both ends of your rake handle. I like to see things that make me think "that was mushed together. I have the small bar to attempt my own basket twist handles for some pokers etc, but I don't have any flux. I think I might be able to find some borax in the clay studio. I use if for low fire glazes, so it too is a flux in the ceramic kiln. Have you ever tried using the chacoal ash as a flux by any chance? I thought I might try that.

I finally retired my charcoal rake made from rebar for a nicer, round bar model with ball end. Now it almost matches the scrapyard carriage bolt I forged into my firepot poker. I'm so junkyard.

[JHCC]

Done.