One of our founding members of the BOA, so many years ago still makes leaves when he fires up his forge. He uses them to warm up and get his fire just right for the more complicated items. BTW he is a Master Blacksmith, Master Knife Smith and Master Sword Smith. He makes Japanese Samurai swords and Tanto knives to die for. Along with mundane blacksmith items.

I can’t control the wind. All I can do is adjust my sails. ~Semper Paratus~ USCG 1964-1970

15 hours ago, Irondragon Forge ClayWorks said:

Samurai swords and Tanto knives to die for.

As long as they're not to die on!

I’d correct the metaphor, but that’s not the hill I want to fall on. 

Yup, I get the point too.

I got a little more work done on my Viking demonstration kit. Mounted the stump anvil, bick and forged a wedge clamp for twisting. See the link below if you’ve been along for the ride…

Keep it fun,

David

I forged rose 

Painted the table base:

And cobbled together a plumber’s torch tip, a hose, and an improvised handle to make a propane torch that will work from a larger tank and save on disposables. 

Oooooh, I really want to do this in my shop! Eventually I'd like to get an oxy/propane rig, but a decent torch that can run on a hose off a gas bottle (propane tank) would be sooo handy!

I’ve had the tip knocking around for ages, the hose was about $15 on eBay, and the handle was made from a chunk of 2x4 from the kindling pile. 

At work today i had to alter a tool. The tool was a cut off tool insert that put a cone with a flat tip on the end of a small piece of steal. The flat is .118" and the length of the angle is .208", just for size reference. The tools were angled at 25° but the customer wanted 24° +/- .5°. I did the math, broke out the sine plate, put that and the tool in a vise and onto my surface grinder. I dusted off just enough to take off the TiN coating and put it into the machine. Ran a part and hit 24° 0'. 

I did that on my first try so i just wanted to brag on myself. 

Justifiably!

Good Morning,

A 'Steal' of a Deal.

Sometimes it is hard to remember, 'Simple First'.

Have a GREAT Day!!!  Neil

This was nowhere near a shop, but it's the only chance I'll get to brag about something I did at work, so I hope you'll indulge:  A couple of weeks ago I started using a little used stairwell to get to my office in the morning.  The stairwell has a sprinkler riser down one corner, and when I got up a floor I started hearing a hissing/rushing noise.  I thought a couple of minutes and decided I'd better report it.

This morning, I walked past someone working on something near the bottom of the stairwell.  When I pulled the door open, he called out to stop me (at first I though he was going to yell at me for using the emergency exit stairs).  It turned out he was the head building engineer, and he asked me if I was the one who reported the noise.  He thanked me and said he'd thought the same thing I did, but it turned out to be the light fixtures.  He said it was bothering him so much that he'd decided to change them out!

Of course, if I'd though faster, I could have put my ear against the riser and probably saved some trouble . . .

I was messing with pipe the other night and pulled these off.  I squared up the pipe,  fullered all 4 sides and very gently twisted them.   The squared sides helped keep it from collapsing in on itself in a less than controlled manner so I tried a counter twist.  Now to build a good base for it. 

Nice work Chad.  I really like the counter twist one.  

A clever use of pipe Chad & another vote for the counter-twist. Guessing the threads will get cut off?

--Larry

Wasn't actually planning on cutting the threads off , I do need to open them up a bit 

Flowers and a few leaves for the trellis project. Still quite a few leaves to go

I would love to get into floral elements. I finished some box jaw tongs. It was a project I did with my friend and my brother. Nothing like a couple teens swinging sledge hammers, I love it! The starting stock was 2 rr spikes. The tongs are a little light for my prefrence. They hold 1in by 1/4.

Me and another brother forged some feather and wedges to split some marble he got for a killer deal. I made a half round swage for the feathers, and the wedges are rr spikes thinned down. They worked well. We accidentally broke one of the ears off.

I wanted to try a couple of different things on this rack. 

I attempted to create a rising sun motif on the hanger with limited success. 

I also wanted to use a single 1/4" brass pin to secure the hooks.

I cut about a half inch off the front of the board, cut the slots out, then glued the face back on. The seam is invisible after sanding. 

Then I drilled the holes for the pins with the hooks in place to get accurate alignment. 

I used clear epoxy during final assembly to hold it all together.

The hooks are made from 1/2" square stock. The hanger from 1/4" X 2" flat bar.

Round stock is an easier option for the hooks as drilling holes in wood is much simpler. However, drilling a pin hole so that the hook is straight is a bit trickier. 

18 hours ago, Asa Simons said:

We accidentally broke one of the ears off.

Ear today, gone tomorrow!

Really nice work, Ted. 

As for me, I was messing around a bit with cold-raising some thin aluminum sheet and learned a valuable lesson on not overheating the metal while annealing.

You’ve really got to keep your eye on it. 

I like it Ted! Perhaps more of a semi-circular arrangement for the rising sun? Either way your work is very clean and appealing. 

Great photo John, a new profile pic? I like the textures in the AL, assume the lines are the puckers/pleats forged down?

--Larry

Or you could just send the rack to me.  I'm sure the sun would look right here on East coast.  

8 hours ago, LarryFahnoe said:

I like the textures in the AL, assume the lines are the puckers/pleats forged down?

Yes, the original stock was a cake pan (from Goodwill) shaped like a turkey!