August 8, 20241 yr Frank's with us still. There must be at least 10 online encyclopedia, toss out two and print your own octopedia! Does that help? Frosty The Lucky.
August 8, 20241 yr On 8/3/2024 at 3:08 PM, Frosty said: Though technically I suppose to be "history" it needs to be written by the people living it which is sad so I reject the concept and call human happenings history no matter who wrote it. To quote one of my professors in college, The past is what happened before now, and history is the story we tell about the past.
August 8, 20241 yr Starting in on some roses again. I do work these cold I like the way the sheet moves better that way.
August 8, 20241 yr Yes they are quite refreshing as slushies. I also like juice really super cold like that. If you making knives you could save the left overs for hardware on your knives.
August 9, 20241 yr Made this fork today. It is inspired by a drawing from Leonardo Da Vinci. This is m first one, not real happy with it, the upset corners need to be closer to the center line.
August 10, 20241 yr Pretty good Billy, better than my first couple tries well maybe not my first but that was too long ago to remember much about it. I did it at a gathering of metal artists in the mid 2000s. My more recent versions didn't come out very well. I stopped trying for 90* angles and went with more gentle curves and they came out much nicer. Wish I'd started with flat stock instead of square. Going to make more? Sets? Frosty The Lucky.
August 10, 20241 yr Frosty, yes i am planning on making more. This one is my trial piece to see where i need to make adjustments and get the process down. I need a better saddle for my anvil. The one i have is kind of light and has started bending in the middle. I just made it quick one day from a piece of square tube about 1/8" thick or so. I needed it for something i was working on one day and used what i had in the scrap pile. I may make a new one today. I saw a guy on youtube that had one made from leaf spring with a little horn about 4" long and 1/2" or so in diameter. Das, yes it needs cleaned up. That is straight out of the fire without so much as a wire brushing. I did do a smidge of hot filing down on the "T" to get some of the lumps and bumps out but that is about it. I will keep it for use here at the house. Got a pork but i am smoking tomorrow and it may come in handy. I forgot, it is made from a piece of 3/4" x 1/8" flat ~8" long.
August 10, 20241 yr I have some 2" x 4" rectangular tubing drops from making a trailer I don't recall the wall thickness but close to 1/4". It makes a decent bridge(?) I keep the second one I made on the anvil with a saddle that wraps two sides so I can use it tall or short. It still doesn't like heavy beating and no, I've never used the second side. Another option I've allowed and never used. <sigh> Frosty The Lucky.
August 11, 20241 yr Here’s a bridge I made from a bit of squared-off pipe and a chunk of really heavy channel. I later ground the bevel on the underside even thinner, to better reach all the way to the bottom of a fork.
August 11, 20241 yr I have a blade that I made from welded cable. It wound up on the wall of shame due to many cold shuts. But I found it to be good for cutting charcoal to size. Well, apparently there was a rock in the bag, that looked just like a lump of charcoal. It nicked the blade. So, I spent several hours today, with an oil stone getting the nick out. I never did put a handle on it. But it works well for cutting charcoal.
August 12, 20241 yr Started the new bridge. Wow am i out of shape. Since spring when my doctor told me i needed to not do anything strenuous i have only done some small light work if anything. This is a piece of leaf spring 9/16" thick and man was it a beast to bend. But it should give an idea as to what i am trying for. The small piece on the heel will be my hardy shank. I was going to leave it as 1 piece but to get the second bend it is much easier to just weld it on later. I like the idea of the small horn that will be on the side. Should come in useful for doing sockets. I also started a piece of damascus, 5 layers, 3 of 1095 and 2 of 15n20. This is for a kitchen knife for a freinds daughter who will soon be a chef. I am no bladesmith so this will be a fun endeavor i think. On the homestead side of life finally got hazelnuts on my trees this year.
August 12, 20241 yr Bummer you didn't get along with your shop teacher, I had a couple I didn't get along with very well too. Well . . . shop classes are supposed to help get you ready for the real world. I took drafting every time it was offered at Dad's insistence and that's a place to run into poor instructors. Seeing as there is no machinery or dangerous tools anybody can teach it, right? The college class was the worst of them all, the instructor not only didn't know how to use a T square and triangles he tended to flip the drafting arm on the chalk board back and forth repeatedly looking for an angle that looked right. Guy couldn't even tape a piece of paper to a drawing board square! I look forward to seeing how your saddle / Bickern turns out. I made a bickern from an alignment drift I picked up in a bundle at a yard sale years ago and I didn't need 2 so I cut and forged a square shank on the smoothest one. It's only good for light work, it doesn't fit the hardy hole well enough not to be kind of shaky. I've thought of remaking it for the leg vise. Decisions, decisions. <sigh> Frosty The Lucky.
August 12, 20241 yr Make it Frosty, you never know when it'll come in handy for something completely unrelated to why you made it in the first place.
August 12, 20241 yr I'd have to remake the vise stand, it's shakier than the bickern in the hardy hole is now. Frosty The Lucky.
August 13, 20241 yr I ordered some cowbell blanks from a shop and formed them tonight. In the process of welding the seams it fell out of my vice because I couldn't get a good grip on it. I took a cheapo round high strength magnet with a steel backing and welded a piece of flat stock on. Worked like a charm. Also spent the evening finishing cutting out more rose blanks. I really don't like the ones you can order. I have enough now to make six more roses for the rest of the craft fair season.
August 13, 20241 yr Oh yes, I'm a big fan of salvaging all the computer drive magnets I can but you can buy fishing magnets for reasonable at the local "real" hardware store. I have several just like yours and what makes them better than my welding magnets is they are shielded so they don't magnetize the vise, table top, etc. Good mod with the tab to grab in the vise. Frosty The Lucky.
August 13, 20241 yr It’s been a while since I’ve posted, and I haven’t been in the shop much recently. I did get a chance to visit the Fisher-Norris museum during an extended vacation: Even my wife (not in the photo) enjoyed the visit. If you’re in the area it’s well worth the time to check it out! What little time I had in the shop I did get a small penannular broach made: It’s forged from Aluminum Bronze and still needs some tweaking and clean up, but a good proof of concept. (I need three, two small and one large, for one of my renfest outfits…) it was pretty quick to make outside of my experience issues with bronze. I melted it twice, and split it once for over working it. Seems to be a fine line in there… I also hafted and made the sheath for the hatchet I was working one in my last couple posts: The new owner is very happy with it, and that really keeps me going! Keep it fun, David
August 13, 20241 yr Frosty, i have a couple bickerns that are made of axle shaft. They taper up to about 1" or so. I do not have a small one for doing smaller sockets with though. I had a pretty good drafting teacher. Me and him got along quite well till my last year in high school when i started dating his daughter. She drove a 73' Monte back then. I am a sucker for a girl in a muscle car. My woodshop teacher was a pretty good one as well, he also was the asst. in metalshop as well as my graphic arts teacher. When i dropped out of highschool i had 18 credits, 17 needed to graduate, but i still needed 10 credits. All my credits were in shop class, art class, cooking, etc. I only had like 5 credits of math, English, and science. English the most becuase i took classes on poetry and plays, mythology, short stories, etc. Stuff i was interested in. I did have 1 year of Latin though. I would have had to spend a 6th year in high school to graduate, so i dropped out and joined the Army. Chad, when i am working on something like that i use a pair of visegrips, clamp them on the piece and clamp those into the vise. I made some of the guys i work with filing vises that they use to hold sheet in a vise to work with. They get quite a bit of use. Goods, i really like that little brooch. I have never tried to forge bronze before. I got a piece or 2 i was going to use to try casting something with.
August 13, 20241 yr I made my bickern for small, arrow and dart head sockets and such, the end of the horn on my Soderfors is under 3/8" and unabused. I get surly with people who think the horn is for punching holes or "tap" the horn. That's too much like dating the bosses daughter, too close to the flagpole. When I went to school there was no way to avoid required subjects, electives came after required ones so not many kids got to take more than 2 electives / term. By time I got to it, a foreign language was no longer a required subject. I believe it was finally hammered home to the school board that nobody but NO BODY anywhere but academia used 15th century French or Spanish. Sooo, they dropped the courses rather than admit the mistake and offer something useful like conversational French and Spanish. You could still take Latin or Greek if you wanted to learn a BC version. Happily I skated on taking a foreign language. All the Mexican kids took Spanish of course and a really disturbing % failed miserably, it was much harder for them to un-learn useful Spanish and relearn a pretty worthless version. Sorry, but the utterly screwed up .edu system can really get me going. Frosty The Lucky.
August 13, 20241 yr I agree with you Frosty. It's too rigid and doesn't tolerate those of us who don't learn the way they teach. At the ages that they want kids to sit still and be quiet they really can't.
August 13, 20241 yr Funny thing retiring 8 months ago and finding less time to forge than when working 50+ hours per week. Trade off: I have never been busier, happier or better than ever. Don't miss the grind one bit. Spent a few hours with a 7” piece of 1/2” square. Thanks for looking.
August 13, 20241 yr Looks good Pedro, I like it. It's funny how retirement works out isn't it? Frosty The Lucky.
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