May 25, 20242 yr I made something today for the first time in over a year. It's not pretty and it's a little off and the hammer needs to be dressed... I didn't even think my forge would still work, but work, she did. I apologize for the rusty (like my skills) tools. Nice to hammer something though Edited June 3, 20242 yr by Mod30 Remove duplicates...
May 28, 20242 yr Constraining the bowls in a form like that really speeds things up. Great for production.
May 29, 20242 yr John, you are getting really good with those bowls, says the guy who only made one bowl in his entire life using a dished out stump as a form. I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s. Semper Paratus
May 29, 20242 yr Today I got back on the sledgehammer project. Drifted, normalized, ground clean, hardened and tempered: I just have to get it hafted now. I forgot to weigh and stamp the weight, but I may risk doing that cold. (It’s still soft about an inch back from the face.) should be at 7lbs. Keep it fun, David
May 29, 20242 yr Looks top drawer to me, good job. I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s. Semper Paratus
May 29, 20242 yr Nice hammer. those bowls are real nice and look like they would be a lot of fun to make, especially with your tooling.
May 29, 20242 yr I have been playing with brass and I really like it. It is harder and stretchier than copper. 18 gauge and I have about 3-4 hours into it, I am getting a lot better with practice. Going to make another sun.
May 30, 20242 yr Wow, that is amazing.. Great work. I find brass is less forgiving vs copper.. What did you buy for brass? I made a new larger size hinge swage and then tested it out by forging an H hinge. Next week is ABANA conference in PA.. Getting ready for the "Hinges" demo/lecture I'll be doing. I try to address what is happening in the real world shops vs my own corner of the world. Today people favor larger size pins.. Easier to weld and fit.. Totally bummed on the swage though. Turns out to be some alloy steel of some sort. Was about 62hrc after forging and air cooling. It cracked in a strange pattern so just tig welded it back together. Was looking for 1.5" sq and this was just sitting there in the scrap.
May 30, 20242 yr The big pins is also costumers driven. They think forged and see old timey barn hinges or churchdoors (the first more where you live, the latter where I live) and if they want a forged hinge on their gardenshed they want it similar. Even if it looks out of place. 12mm pins, 3 hinges are common on gardensheds with countryfeel around here. Door is size of normal front door. (Mostly factory made hinges as well, boltholes not lined up with the wood)
May 30, 20242 yr I had a discussion today with a business owner who does Timberframing. He's very successful and it was interesting talking to him about business.. We were talking about estimating/ client meetings/quotes and the long term. Something that I have seen over the years is simply this.. As a professional smith, farrier, welder/fabricator, I have a very good grasp of what something will cost based on all factors combined.. (materials, labor, etc..) This customer has an idea in their mind as to what it should cost.. Where do they get this number from??? In their own minds.. It can be based on research, feedback from friends, etc, etc.. But, the customer is never right as to quoted costs.. They are usually low.. substantially. My point is, while market share can be driven by the customer (wanting larger pins)... It's up to the professional to guide that customer. Smiths today work with abundances and just follow suit oftentimes.. I don't see a product that is better for having that larger pin.. What I see is an imbalance in material strength and therefore could be seen as an inferior product.. Again, just sharing my experience. a larger pin means having to have larger barrels, both in size and metal thickness tp balance out torque on the barrel. A larger pin has more surface area and can twist thinner sheet metal used in butterfly or H/HL hinges. But hey.. It doesn't really matter.. Making sense of the non sensical is fun and it looks funky.
May 31, 20242 yr Our girls daycare is closing soon and the owner retiring. It will be taken over but will be a few months till the new owners are open. Anyway the owner and workers were super nice and good with our kids so I want to make them some gifts. Working on some flowers like this and they will have a butterfly on the flower. Working on the first one tonight.
May 31, 20242 yr That looks like it will be a nice flower Aric. For a static display or maybe a spinning head? --Larry
May 31, 20242 yr This one will be a static display. Wouldn't want to make the butterfly I'll be putting on it dizzy.
June 2, 20242 yr Finished forging another bowl: And rigged a windscreen from a piece of sheet scrap and some magnets, to keep my big fan from blowing out the pilot light on my gas saver: Not perfect, but an improvement.
June 2, 20242 yr Got a little more forge time in today, worked on drawing the blade, and kinda forging the bevel. Long blades are kind of a pain in the ear to get the taper just right without lots of grinding later. Being a "hotdog" I don't wnt to do too much grinding, lest I grind through the hard layer. Next session, I'll cut off the handle, forge out the tang, and finalize the blade.. In the fire the blade, about 18" of cutting edge. The rest will become tang.
June 3, 20242 yr getting ready for ABANA conference.. Spent some time making a strap hinge welded barrel and pintel. Very dark in the trailer..
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