Thanks for the advice Irondragon, I’m already seeing the difference between the two eyes and noticing what I wasn’t seeing before. 

On 1/16/2024 at 2:42 AM, M.J.Lampert said:

old propane tank

Hope you're all well, and happy new year!

I hurt my back at the end of the year and haven't been swinging a hammer, I'm ready now.  The acid test was digging a neighbours car out of the snow today.  You can't just jump back onto this page after a while, without going through what you missed.  I learned a lot.

Bridge Anvil! that would be so useful to me, beautiful Barn Door Latch, and that Boot Jack.  I'm parking my current projects to attempt a boot jack this weekend! Most of the population of this island only wear wellington boots from October to March so might be a great addition to what I put in the local shop.  For myself, I'm thinking one on a spring or counterweight against the wall in porch because I'll be the first to leave it out and a stub a toe on it.  I got reading glasses last year so was saying to the kids they weren't as useful anymore, with a Boot Jack as well, I can tell them to leave.

Sorry for quoting MJ, I also use a propane tank but have to replace it often as I keep using it as handy sheet stock. I had to deal with a wee bit of ice this winter but nothing that whatever I was cooling couldn't break through.  You fellas have it proper cold over there.   I visited BC last year and I have to say it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, I hardly blinked for a week.  Sorry for droning on......

 

 

Sketched out a design of a pot stand that you can put in your fireplace as a commission from my brother

On 1/15/2024 at 12:16 PM, Mothman_c3w said:

I will admit to cheating a bit and adding weld on the underside for additional strength

Looks great! I'd never call that cheating. It is called making a quality durable product. The looks and strength are there. 

Les, nice work and love the sheaths.  Best of luck with the surgery and beneficial recovery. 

Best of luck MacLeod. Just ease into it and walk before you run. 

GTF, a stand on which you palce  pot on a fire or on the table is called a trivet because they often have 3 legs. E en if they have more thn 3 legs or no legs at all it is a trivet, aka a fire stand.  Nice work.

GNM

thanks! i wasnt sure what it was called

Also sometimes called a "spider", although that term is also applied to a frying pan with attached legs.

Just an FYI MacLeod, propane tanks are not mild steel, they're a medium carbon though I don't know the grade. 

Looks like a serviceable trivet from here. It makes me want to tinker with it and see if I could make a fold up trivet so it isn't in the way when not in use. I'm thinking it'd take slots in the main pieces so the angle stiffeners could slide to close it up. Hmmmmm, might have to get out the popsicle sticks and play with the idea.

Frosty The Lucky.

glad i inspired you

42 minutes ago, Frosty said:

see if I could make a fold up trivet

I think Jenifer made a video about that and a post about making some more, really good looking trivets.

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

 

It's the voices, they see something and keep chattering at me. The downside to wanting to tinker with a folding trivet is we don't have anywhere to use one, not even camping. We're old enough we "camp" in the RV and the only places Deb will park her RV has fire rings. 18"-24" lengths of 36" steel pipe with a notch in one side and a grate usually welded on top. No place for trivets.

Still the voices are having fun, I'm TRYING to resist getting out the graph paper and craft sticks. I'd use an erector set but anymore they suck, every one is more a model kit and leaves little room for creativity. A serious loss for kids today. 

Dang, the voices are getting yakky!

Frosty The Lucky.

2 hours ago, Frosty said:

more a model kit and leaves little room for creativity.

sad, but true

Frosty please do design something.

 

The caveat to the folding trivet I made was the person was complaining they could not forge weld so most options with traditional designs were off the table. 

The design I came up with is sectional and adjustable and comes apart completely. 

It can also be made larger with more sections though I don't see a need. 

This model adjusts from about 3" to 12". 

 

The only change of design would be some feet on the bottom for use on frozen ground. 

 

On 1/18/2024 at 6:57 PM, Daswulf said:

Best of luck

Thanks Das

Okay, I'll give it some thought. How long should the legs be? I just lay a couple old horse shoes on our wood stove as trivets so the pot of water to keep the humidity up doesn't boil.

Frosty The Lucky.

Frosty the folding up one is the item..  It was supposed to be for a bon fire type of deal.  Large pot.. 

Anyhow.. Make what ever you  want..  Be great to see what you come up with. 

It's too cold to do much in the heatless shop, even look for stuff. I'll see where my craft sticks are and play a little and maybe make a campfire size trivet come break up.

I'm not playing coy, I really don't handle cold so well anymore.

Frosty The Lucky.

Frosty, The school is between 60-65F everyday in the winter..  Just warm enough to be jacketless when working but not so cold you want to go into the warm.. 

Especially when it's below 30F..  It feels extravagant. 

For working in the trailer, which is still my main forging shop, I use a diesel fired indirect heater..  So no smoke, just heat.. 

This warms the little trailer up in about 15mins to be in a Tshirt. 

Working in my 14°F shop, I did some more work on the railing project:

 And made a few rivets:

Got my shop up to about 40F while outside it is about 10F. I got my toes frost bit when i was in Germany one winter and standing on the concrete floor with steel toed boots makes them hurt bad. But i did get most of the parts for a Suffolk latch made. 

I feel like I had a little be of redemption in the forge today. I came up with a bigger billet size for my cleaver project and tried it out:

A little bit of rasping and filling, but otherwise forged to shape. I didn’t follow my planned steps exactly, but pretty close and ended up right about where I was aiming. (I anyone is actually interested, i can share my planned steps and the pictures I took of most steps.) It’s still annealing in vermiculite, so grinding will have to wait for another day. Spine is at just over 0.200” and the edge is around 0.100”. More material on the edge so this one should stay straight, right?

Also, after I put it in the vermiculite, I made a couple of my pencil scribes:

Made from heavy garage door spring and just the point water quenched for max hardness. I haven’t made any for a while (and it shows), but I had some guys requesting them.

Shop started at 52F and was up to 69F by the time I was done, with two windows open and 17F outside.

Keep it fun,

David

Fired up the new JABOD forge and taught the youngling for awhile. He's about as enthusiastic as I've seen him regarding anything that didn't come with an on button.

The forge worked sorta kinda well. Fuel consumption was down, but the fire was a little more localized than I would like; it felt like the air kept getting blocked on the sideblast. May have been that the boy went a little hardcore on busting up charcoal and there were a lot more fines than normal. We made a few squuare points, did a little square to round and back, followed by...a hook!

Nice looking cleaver, Goods!!

Our school year starts up this week so I've made a "goody" pack for each member of the teaching team I coordinate. 

The final addition is a blacksmith's bookmark. I made these ones from mattress spring. They're quick and easy and you can heat them with a torch (although I did most of the work on these on charcoal in my JABOD, just cos I hadn't lit it in a while).

Just square one end so you can twist it, twist, bend a hook with a curlicue, then flatten the other end to a thin section and put a sweeping curve in it. I finished them with an oily rag at black heat and then wiped them clean once cooled and added the leather thong and bead.

I think they'd make a great, quick demo piece and a value-for-low-price-point sale item (although I haven't done any selling work, yet).

Thanks for looking!

Cheers, 

Jono. 

PS, I love that style of pen scribe, Goods, and yours look great!

I installed the shelves. I thought it was the final job, but the customer had a new idea. To be continued...