Goods, did you forge them in gas or coal forge?

I finished these relatively recently, sadly the tongs aren’t the correct scale next to the hammer. 

Asa, I used a coal forge for this. I have a gas forge that needs some work, but  I doubt it would get to a good working temperature for wrought iron, let alone welding temperature. One of the days I’ll get around working on it. At this point, I mainly use it for heat treating. So, at least it’s useful…

Keep it fun,

David

2 hours ago, Ridgeway Forge Studio said:

The thigh can seldom tell a 3/8” radius from a 1/8” radius

Hahaha! Very true. The fairly permanent bruise on my thigh from the anvil horn can attest to that!

Edited January 6Jan 6 by Shainarue
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I made a swivel mount for my little forge.  I put a lock on this one because it is pretty light compared to my two burner forge and is likely to move around when moving work pieces in and out.  I painted it blue to match my power hammer.

Bunch of projects this evening. 

Forged the parts for a bickern from a jackhammer bit and the head of an old stonecutter’s pick:

(These will be riveted together later.)

Drew out the reins on a pair of Ken’s tong blanks and made a repoussé stake from an old breaker bit:

(Apologies for the poor quality of the last photo. Also, I’ll probably round over the edge a bit at some point, as needed.)

 And finally, forged a little blade from a broken bit of file that can to light in last week’s cleanup:

John, when you go to tenon that bickern, are you planning to do it at welding temps to fuse it solid? I’ve often wondered if tenoned or welded is more secure for the forces applied to the horns.

 

additionally, what will you do with a knife that small?

 

patrick

18 hours ago, Shainarue said:

The fairly permanent bruise

When the thigh-bruise fades, all the hair grows back, you struggle to find the last 2nd-degree burn scar, and you can't change a regular light bulb barehanded anymore, you know you haven't forged in awhile. Used to be able to shock waiters by just moving a fajita comal barehanded. Lately, I'm not much past being able to flip the tortillas on the pan with my bare fingers.

In for ankle surgery in a week, then hoping to start getting more mobility back.

1 hour ago, Ridgeway Forge Studio said:

John, when you go to tenon that bickern, are you planning to do it at welding temps to fuse it solid?

Probably not, and not merely because my forge welding skills are sub-par. Considering the size of the tool and the fact that it's not going to be subjected to heavy blows, riveting alone is probably fine. 

When I made my big stake anvil from a railroad spike maul, I MIG welded the shaft to the underside of the head before riveting, and that has proved more than sufficient.

(source)

1 hour ago, Ridgeway Forge Studio said:

additionally, what will you do with a knife that small?

Carving very small roasts!

Seriously, though, I'll probably set it up as a small woodcarving knife. We used similar knives in the violin shop, albeit with full tangs.

 

 

22 minutes ago, JHCC said:

Carving very small roasts!

This made me laugh quite a lot! Brought to mind old looney toons cartoons…

The bickern is excellent- and the large one too- making a stump anvil has been my goal for some time now; I’ve got the wrought iron and some of it is preformed for the body of it. 
one of these days I’ll dedicate some serious time to making it.

1 hour ago, Nobody Special said:

Used to be able to shock waiters

haha, I'm constantly shocking people by handling things others consider to be hot. Like a pan from the toaster oven. My boss is like, "let me get a pot holder" and when he turns back around, the pan is already out and set on the towel. 

Julia Child was once asked what one single piece of advice she would give to an aspiring cook. She replied, "Get used to picking up hot things with your bare hands."

1 hour ago, Ridgeway Forge Studio said:

making a stump anvil has been my goal for some time now; I’ve got the wrought iron and some of it is preformed for the body of it. 
one of these days I’ll dedicate some serious time to making it.

Very best of luck with that. Keep us posted.

My own approach these days (at 58 years old and with one paid and one unpaid job taking up so much of my time) is that as much as I'd like to do a lot of these things "the old way", it's much more likely to get done if I can take advantage of whatever shortcuts are available to me. After all, the workpiece doesn't care if it get shaped on a bickern that was forge welded or on one that was riveted.

That’s a good and serviceable approach. Mine is based on my desire to make the tool, not necessarily what I can make with the tool.

last night I tried out my new shop lights for some late night forging. Made a poker that I am deeply dissatisfied with, so it will likely end up an anonymous donation to a clandestine firepit up near one of the overlooks near me.

i will remake it, however, as I was my fire tools to match. 

That approach is equally justifiable. In the end, the only questions we need to answer are "What am I trying to accomplish?", "How well am I accomplishing this?", and "How am I using this task as a way to become a better smith?" The answers to those questions will vary from one person to another, but that doesn't mean that any one person is necessarily right and everyone else is wrong. 

Just the other night I pulled a pork tenderloin out of the oven and left the pot holder draped over the hot handle.  Then I used the same pot holder to pull the roasted vegetables out, forgetting about the hot skillet handle.  So, what Julia Child said checks out. 

Usually does. For Christmas dinner, I followed her recipe for standing rib roast of beef to the letter, and it was perfect.

I've cooked a few things from her cookbook, Mastering The Art of French Cooking.  My favorite is her Beef Bourguignon recipe.  Have you tried that one?

I’ve read it, but not yet tried it. 

Before l do the assembly of the bickern, a word about how I’ve modified the eye of the pick. First, l widened out the taper from above with my hammer drift, and then l countersunk the hole using my largest ball peen hammer as a bob punch. 

I’m going to soften any sharp interior corners with a file or a die grinder before l do the riveting, to eliminate any possible stress risers that would weaken the tenon. 

1 hour ago, MeltedSocks said:

My favorite is her Beef Bourguignon recipe.

Episode 96 and absolutely heavenly. There's a much more abbreviated book, The French Chef Cookbook, with the recipes from the show.  It's nice to have when you don't want to go back and forth on one of her shows on YouTube to not miss details. I also love her French Onion Soup.

Beats the heck out of Irma Bombeck, although occasionally The Joy of Cooking has fun details like multiple ways to skin a rabbit, or telling you the first step in preparing fresh squid is to give a good whack to make sure that it's dead.

You do good work so I would think it would be fine, and if the tenon looses later for some reason, you can always forge weld then.

Max Miller on the "Tasting History" youtube channel just did and episode called "Peasant's Beef Bourguignon" He said it was pretty much the same recipe that Julia Child used. 

My mom used to watch Julia Child all the time when i was a kid on PBS. Fun fact about her, she was 6' 2". 

 

Save the liver!

 

7 hours ago, BillyBones said:

Fun fact about her, she was 6' 2"

Fun fact, she was rejected by the military for being that tall and ended up working in the OSS back in their wild-west days and created a shark-repellent. I showed that clip to my kids about two weeks ago. 

Socks, thanks i had completely forgotten about that skit. Back when SNL was worth watching. Along the line of cooking skits i watch "The Delicious Dish" episode with Alec Baldwin every Christmas. 

Nobody, yes she did. The shark repellent was for underwater mines that curious sharks were detonating. She has quite an interesting story. 

Among other things, I made a couple rail spike slingshots, thinking I may have several of those ready for spring, and worked on grinding my daughter's cake cutting swords.  I think they're good for now.   I have the guards that need a bit of work, and then figure out carving the figure heads for the pommels.

Assembled the bickern, which went a lot faster than l expected. 

Need to dress the edges of the square side a bit, and then we’re good to go. 

Looks good. I won’t be bicker n about not welding it 

seriously good work there. I may steal that idea, as I made a small horn that’s too jumpy for my anvil. What do you use them for, mostly? Sockets?

also: how does it work compared to an anvil bridge for hard to reach places?