What did you do in the shop today?

[Mothman_c3w]

Thanks guys, I am excited to see how she likes it.

George, now that you say it, that is pretty much the vibe I was trying to capture, though I couldn't have put it in words at the time.

[Dabbsterinn]

knocked out two jam spoons and cheeseknives for a christmas present yesterday and finished them with a nice hot coating of twice used deep frying oil then once I got home they got another wipe of oil and were sent for a long soak in the oven at max temp, I figured if seasoned cast iron pans are fine and dandy for cooking then seasoned mild steel utensils should be just as fine. those spoons have a half octagonal twist and I made them extra long in case the intended recipients enjoy those jams that come in the narrow and tall jars that no regular teaspoon fits in.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

2 hours ago, Mothman_c3w said:

I am excited to see how she likes it.

I just showed it to Debi and she said "it's gorgeous, I want one". She said it looks like the steel cuff was fold formed and added. Think I will try and make one.

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s.
Semper Paratus

 

[Mothman_c3w]

3 hours ago, Irondragon Forge ClayWorks said:

She said it looks like the steel cuff was fold formed and added.

 

Yes, that's right. I cut out more than I thought I needed of steel sheet, folded and unfolded, then curved it. I had to trim it a few times for length. I did all the forming and fitting on the steel before adding the brass and copper.

[Goods]

I wasn’t sure if I could pull it off, but I got the stitching finished up on the hawk sheathes tonight and they’re ready to go to the new owner tomorrow morning:

I sharpened them and finished the handles Monday night. Then Tuesday, I managed injuring myself, getting a bad gash and nicking the bone on my left index finger. All stitched up last night, I didn’t have any trouble making the sheaths, but I was really worried about pulling the stitching tight tonight, but it went ok. No forging for a a while, but I have to clean the shop anyway. I’ll just put on some latex gloves to keep it my hand clean.

Next time you’re doing something and the thought “this is not a good idea” crosses your mind, stop what you’re doing, and think how to proceed more carefully! Most of us have been there, but it doesn’t always doesn’t always end good. In honesty, I got off easy, 1/2” in any other direction and I could have had major complications.

Keep it SAFE,

David

[jlpservicesinc]

STunning work David.. Sorry to hear about the finger and stitches..   Comes it waves it seems.. 

 

[Shainarue]

On 12/19/2023 at 8:43 PM, George N. M. said:

frame work seemms to have a lean to it

It's a little image perspective and a little truth. This was the least sloped part of the yard closest to the house (other than the RV pad but I didn't want it so easily visible to the road). Diggin/filling to level the area would have dragged the process out and I wanted to get my stuff covered. So I just popped it on up and figured I'd see how it goes. (shrug) 
I did add guy lines after that picture. And I picked up some sand today and will get that added to bags and attached to each pole on Saturday. I was also going to switch out the rope it came with and use some of the many ratchet straps I have from the move.
I'll take your advice and pull on that one side to get it a little more vertical.  It's really dark down there once the sun sets - which happens before I get home from work - so it'll have to wait till Saturday.

That is indeed the new house in the background. Looks big from that side but it's just because you can see the walkout basement (currently unfinished). Living space is about 900sqft. This is definitely an upgrade from the shed! And the plan is to have an actual building - whether that be a Conex or a prefabbed shed or I get SUPER ambitious and build something (haha). I think it would be awesome to have the shop down at the bottom of the property - my own little retreat - but given my track record for injuries ... that's maybe not a great idea, lol

 

David, those hawks are fantastic. Eek about the finger though. Hope that heals without issue.

 

Mothman, that's a beautiful cuff! I love wrist accessories but I usually can't stand to wear them for long before feeling constricted and ripping them off, lol. I think the longest I wore anything was a hemp bracelet that Ashley made for me in the early days of our relationship. I couldn't easily get it off by myself, so I even showered with it on, lol - which made it even softer. I think it lasted about 3 months. Anyway - I envy people who can tolerate things on their necks or wrists because I truly do love and appreciate the beauty of those accessories. 

[George N. M.]

I don't know if you have Menard's home supply stores in the KC area, they tend to be concentrated in the upper mid-west, but they have a line of prefab buildings with all the pre cut parts.  You may be able to get something similar at Home Depot or Lowes or even Amazon or some place else on line.  If I were looking at building a shop I would definitely look at going that way.

Also, make sure whether you need or don't need a bulding permit, etc..  It is VERY nice to have power in a shop but that would involve running above or below ground lines, electricians, and permits.

GNM

[Shainarue]

Yes, we have Menards and I use them frequently. I think I even have some rebate bucks around here somewhere...
A lot of places have those prefabbed building kits. We had looked into that as well. Lots of options to consider. 

I had looked into building permit requirements the same night we did our first walkthrough here - because it had no building and I wanted to know what I was in for. In KC, as long as it's not larger than 200sqft then you don't need a permit.

Also, the RV pad has an electric pole next to it, so when it comes time to building I was thinking I might go ahead and build up there where there's electricity. I'm okay with a securable building being visible from the road - just not a glorified tent, lol. For now though, the tent is close enough that I can run an extension cord from the electric pole to run lights once I get those from my brother.

[BillyBones]

10 hours ago, Dabbsterinn said:

jams that come in the narrow and tall jars that no regular teaspoon fits in.

Living in the states i have never encountered a jar of jam that i could not get a teaspoon in. We mostly use a Mason jar and they are pretty wide. 

David, been there done that. I have a scare on my finger from when i was cutting wax for my ex-wife's candle making period and had to get 5 stitches in it, Feel for ya brother. 

Mothman, Like that bracelet. To me it does not look Celtic but more later like Saxon/Danish time. 

Shainarue, send in those rebates from Menards. Buying a house means many trips to the local home improvement store. Menards while being affordable also give that rebate. Then use those rebates to put more money into your new home. It is definitely worth it becuase their prices are not much different than any of the big box stores to start with. Many times even cheaper.   

[jlpservicesinc]

Some of the imported jams and jellies come in these tall narrow jars. 

We don't use cane sugar so buy products that use juices to sweeten and we ended up some of the French varieties.  

A tablespoon will not fit. One of the jars a teaspoon was tight had to move to the butter knives with the swelled ends.

Have you seen some of the designs on new butter knives. 

The blades are so thin that they won't scoop. 

 

[Rojo Pedro]

Have not done a lot of forging lately but yesterday I made a lantern hook…

also made an impromptu rivet header and some copper rivets out of some bonding wire. It took a few tries to get it down….

also raised some .065” copper for an upcoming ladle. 

thanks for looking

[Les L]

11 hours ago, Goods said:

I wasn’t sure if I could pull it off

It doesn't look like you had any trouble pulling it off to me. They both look great. Sorry about the finger, been there done that more than once.

[Shainarue]

4 hours ago, BillyBones said:

send in those rebates from Menards

I almost always remember to send in the rebates. I have the rebate dollars, not the rebates to send in. Not really much of a savings otherwise at which point I may as well just shop at the home improvement store closer to home. Menard's was only about 10 minutes out of the way at our old place. Now it's about 10 minutes out of the way if I stop by on my way home from work. Otherwise, it's a 40 minute drive versus the other stores at 5-10 minutes. 

2 hours ago, jlpservicesinc said:

The blades are so thin that they won't scoop. 

Sounds like you need to get yourself a jam scoop made!

 

Rojo, I'd say you made up for lost time. Good stuff.

[JHCC]

Very nice, Rojo. 

I like that cuff, Mothman. Looks good both with the nonferrous decorations and without.

I do have one very small suggestion. Next time you do something like this, go over the entire surface of the copper and brass pieces lightly with a hammer, just enough to break up the roller-mill-flatness. That will be more pleasing to the eye, and will harmonize better with the forged surface of the steel.

[Rojo Pedro]

Thanks. Here is a prototype little ladle. Used commercial 1/8” rivets on this one. Think it turned out pretty good

Only thing not thrilled with is the other side rivets. Will make a little shorter next time

[George N. M.]

Rojo, what you need is a rivet setter. You can make one by sarting with a punch with a hemispherical head.  Then, hot punch that into a piece of coil spring about twice the diameter of the hemispherical punch.  Finally, grind down the piece of coil spring so that the end is just slightly larger than the depression.  Use this to upset the end of the rivet instead of the peen on your hammer.

If you are using dome headed rivets you can make a hardy tool with depressions into which you place the rivet head while you upset the end with the rivet setter.  You then have a rivet with nice clean domes on both ends.

Ezee Peezy.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

39 minutes ago, Rojo Pedro said:

Thanks. Here is a prototype little ladle. Used commercial 1/8” rivets on this one. Think it turned out pretty good

That looks awesome!

[BillyBones]

Rojo, when i do ladles i use bright nails for rivets. They work quite dandy. However i do not do much with copper at all though so i am sure a copper rivet would look much better on that. 

Shainarue, that far away i cant blame you. I forget at times that the amenities here differ from other parts of the country and i have a Menards about 5 mins away from my house. 

[Mothman_c3w]

11 hours ago, JHCC said:

Next time you do something like this, go over the entire surface of the copper and brass pieces lightly with a hammer, just enough to break up the roller-mill-flatness.

Believe it or not, both the brass and copper started as round rod and I hammered it out flat; no rolling mill involved. I had to anneal the brass pretty frequently. I used grounding wire for the copper, and old brazing rod for the brass. It is hard to see in the pictures, but it's a lot less flat than it looks. I do agree some more faceting could look really good.

[JHCC]

Nice. 

[alexandr]

[Frosty]

Beautiful as ever Alex. A railing perhaps a landing? The branch and leaves are part of another sculpture or a stand alone itself, no?

Frosty The Lucky.

[bluerooster]

On 12/18/2023 at 5:07 AM, Dabbsterinn said:

nice weld! it sure looks like it'll hold. torch welding was the first welding method I learned and I'll say the hardest part was learning to adjust the flame just right. I feel like the puddle is a good bit bigger in torch welding than in any other type unless you've really got the amps cranked up so I found it much easier to watch and learn how it moved.
while torch welding is mostly outdated there are several situations where that's the only option like when you're welding around some sensitive electrical equipment or can't get electricity to where you need

Torch welding aka gas welding, has been around for many years, and is still in use today. especially handy when all you have is a torch.  Tens of thousands of airplanes were welded together with a torch, not because that's all they had at the time, but because it was deemed the best way to do it for structural integrity.

[Rojo Pedro]

Fun with copper and steel. Just wrapped up some Christmas presents. 

You are right George, I need a rivet setter.