JHCC Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 My concern about beeswax would be that it isn’t particularly durable. BLO would be just fine once it dries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 Paste carnuba floor wax is about as bullet proof as wax gets, I have excellent results with Trewax, Bowling Ally Wax is another easy to find carnuba. Apply it to work that is about fresh cup of coffee warm. When melted carnuba has a very low viscosity so it penetrates all the nooks and crannies and cools hard. Lanolin is a good finish for wool goods it doesn't stain or transfer. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 Nice work Chad. On another one maybe make the top hook swivel in the holder base. That might be a nice feature. I would go with the clearcoat but I recommend using an engine or exhaust clear like Duplicolor VHT. They harden better and are more durable. More expensive but the price is very worth the quality. Last thing you want is to rust stain clothing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyBones Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 Frosty, thanks for that. Maybe something i try. I have never tried a canister. But i also have no press and i do not see forging one on the anvil with a hammer feasibly efficient. Not t hat it would be impossible. Chad, my mom is a quilter and i have made her and some of her freinds tailors clappers. I use a nice exotic wood then forge a nice metal handle for them. I use BLO on both the handle and the wood. The first one i made for my mom i told her to set it on a scrap of white fabric to see if it would discolor it. It did not or i would have switched to something else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 One of the "secrets" to canister welds is using a top & bottom V swage and a big hammer. I figure next time if ever, I try I'll make a spring swage and use a sledge. I have a 22lb stone mason's hammer that should work nicely. I just need to find a teen ager to swing it for me. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthur210 Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 On 2/20/2024 at 9:31 PM, Goods said: Arthur, I like those broaches. I’m going to have to make some at some point and you’re setting a good bar. Thanks. Fibulas of this type are fairly easy to make, and good practice for a variety of twists and textures. On 2/20/2024 at 9:50 PM, Daswulf said: Arthur, ive made a whole one pennanular in my time. It was a real experience dealing with the inexperienced buyer on how to use it that Ive passed on making more. Tho, is it good to have the pins bent to lock on the ring better? It can be, but it's not always practical. In this case, since they are not perfectly circular (because of the omega shape), a tighter bend would limit the wearer to a single angle for the pin. On 2/20/2024 at 10:50 PM, George N. M. said: You probably know this but I'll throw in a bit of my spiel for anyone who doesn't know why they are called "penannulars." "A circle is an annulus. A ring or or doughnut is an annulus. "Pen-" means "almost". A peninsula is almost an island and penultimate is almost last. So, a penannular is almost a circle." Indeed. There are basically 3 types of fibulas: penannular, bow and plate. Of the penannular type, the Omega style is the most common. Bow fibula are shaped a bit like an oversized safety pin. Plate fibula are basically made like modern brooches, with a spring needle under a decorative plate shaped like an animal or an abstract design/shape, and often embelished with precious metals or stones. Fibulas date back to the bronze age. Even during the iron ages, they were often made (partially or completely) from bronze. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad J. Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 Just rough forged a set of wolfjaw tongs in less time that I ever have. They do need some cleanup but this was the least amount of trouble I've had forging tongs ever. Tomorrow or Tuesday I'll set the jaws and clean them up. Made them from a couple pieces of 1/2 round stock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyBones Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 Made and have a couple more flint strikers in the works right now. It has been a long, long wihle since i have made one. So i have a basic question, does these need to be hardened? I can not seem to recall if i hardened the last ones i made and i also make herb choppers that are basically the same thing and i do harden them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 Yes, strikers work best if they're the right hardness. Too hard and they make dramatic white sparklers that hardly last a second to so, not hard enough and you might get shavings or fat red blobs that might start a smolder. You want a nice fat ORANGE spark. Overhead door coil spring is nice stock depending on what the steel is but it's a nice size for quick Demo striker. IIRC I water quenched from mid to high orange on the blade. If it's too hard shine the flat of the blade up and draw the temper with a piece of HOT stock against the inside edge. It only takes a couple few tries to determine what a particular steel needs to make good spark. Heck, test it before you forge, some spring steel is weird alloy and doesn't spark no matter what. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted February 25 Share Posted February 25 Chad be looking forwards to seeing your tongs.. Surprised you did not show progress pics. Very suspenseful.. I went down to Mystic Seaport Museum and demonstrated for the Connecticut Blacksmith Guild on forge welding. Got to work in the historic blacksmith/shipwright/whaling shop. It's always interesting working in other people's shops and while it's good.. learning and picking up on the little nuances. It gives me an appreciation for what I've set up in the way I like based on how I work. Matthew Parkinson a very popular bladesmith (AKA instagram SwordMatt ) did a lecture on welding as well coming from a bladesmith perspective.. I love hearing about where people are in their journey, his lecture was very good.. He talked about some of his observations over the years.. The session was really for newer type people and while the basic forgewelding topic was covered pretty well. There was some more in-depth stuff I would have liked to talk with Matt with.. Sadly 4hrs went by very quickly and like that, the day was over. I love going to different groups.. There is something about each group that is slightly different.. Different focus, different vibe, etc, etc. Was a bunch of fun.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shainarue Posted February 25 Share Posted February 25 On 2/17/2024 at 5:52 PM, Frosty said: I still have to slather them and put on a pair of rubber gloves to get the cracks healed and closed. I don't recall what these gloves are made of but surgical or neoprene gloves will be softened by the creams I use and don't last. Have you tried cotton gloves (or socks)? That's what I've always used. As for cracks, a few times a year my hands also get bad cracks and breakouts. Not just one hand though. That's a bit strange, lol. Anyway, I use No-Crack during the day and sometimes I'll use our dog's Mushers Secret at night and put socks on my hands to keep it from rubbing off onto the blankets. John, I am loving the repoussé pieces you've been sharing. Jennifer, it's crazy how you can put out the quality of work you can while working through the pain of an injury. You've been at this awhile, so I trust you know your own body well enough to know when you need to rest an injury versus work through it. I had a day off work last week so I was able to play with hot metal for a long while. It felt great. I started out with leaves, made an over-the-door hook, and curved some railing picket scrap to use on my friend's bird feeder hanger. Oh, and I tried to start on a "something that spins" sculpture for a Facebook blacksmithing challenge group I'm in. Except I hadn't planned on doing that and I was totally winging it. I just happened to see a scrap of tubing and another scrap of rod that looked like it would fit inside the tube, and thought, "hey, that might work for the spinner project!" I proceeded to get the rod stuck inside the tube. Then I drew out some of the 3/8 bar I had left from the hook and used that with some grease to push the rod free. Then I forged that rod just slightly smaller, added some flowers (also from the scrap bucket) and twisted the rod into a loop to hold them in place. It does indeed spin but not because the rod is spinning inside the tube. It's because the hole in the petals is quite a bit larger than the rod they are on. I don't love it. I'm debating continuing to tinker with it or just toss it back to the scrap bucket. I went to the (Kansas) Free State Blacksmith Club meeting without a trade item. Trade item was the 1/2" sq x 6" challenge. I first tried a sculpture which I had planned out and had notes written. Got all the pieces forged but when I went to assemble, it just didn't come out as I had expected. So I kept futzing with it until I got this: I would have been embarrassed to give that to someone. Funny, looking at it now, if I had *intended* for it to look like that, I wouldn't have been embarrassed. Oh well. So the next night I tried again but this time I decided to do the Russian Rose. Welp, it was about 30 degrees that night and as I was hammering to get the very first roll started, the vibrations went right on down to that quickly cooled thin metal with cuts and just tore it right off. I didn't come away from the meeting empty handed though! The guy that was hosting runs a metal shop and had a bunch of scrap he was going to haul the following week so he said to take whatever we wanted. I gathered up a bucket full. Mostly stuff to make the forge stand, anvil stand, and a table for the vise stand. Also some angle iron to try out the feathers and a few pieces of small bar stock. Not pictured: I've also been cutting and welding and whatnot, getting a new gas forge stand made with a frame that can hold the firebricks over the openings. Also getting a frame made for the rail anvil. It fell 3 times during that long forging day. It needs to be held horizontally bit also be able to be secured when I flip it on end. I'll post a pic when it's complete and too late to take on any advice for improvements, lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gewoon ik Posted February 25 Share Posted February 25 Chad i believe that thorbjorn is using blo on his coathanger. Knowing myself, i would propably only wirebrush it to remove the scale and soften any sharp corner or burr and leave it like that. Shaina, i made a rose like that 2 weeks ago. Was very timeconsuming the rolling. A small coalfire and plenty heats to get a nice result. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad J. Posted February 25 Share Posted February 25 I wanted to clean the tongs up a bit more before I posted them but, per Jennifer's request, as forged and riveted here they are. I also made a 3 part plant hanger type thing and stretched a piece of 3/8 × 1 3/4 round of to 1/4 x 7 1/2 inches and made a quick S hook. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lary Posted February 25 Share Posted February 25 Nice work Chad. Only 98 coat hangers to go. (sarcasm) Frosty thanks as always for the encouragement. Will do swedefiddle. The school is in Underwood, it's not far from me. Unfortunately Longview,WA is a bit of a drive witch is where a lot of blacksmithing stuff happens. And I'm always working 6 days a week when Swaptoberfest is happening. One of these days I'll retire. The pliers teeth need a little fiddling to line them up. They work well for holding small drifts, 1/4 to 3/8" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted February 25 Share Posted February 25 Great work. thanks. By the way the coat hangers are cool.. I might copy your design. Wide shouldered hangers are tough to find.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad J. Posted February 25 Share Posted February 25 Go right ahead. I use 1/2 inch round, 18 inches long marking the center and 2 inches on either side, drawing down 3/8ths round for the hook. Have fun with it. I'm in the process of making an anvil-top swage film a piece of 1 inch square that makes great half rounds really fast Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluerooster Posted February 25 Share Posted February 25 Time to harden the blade. Built a quick JABOD with a trench long enough to evenly heat the blade in one go without having to move it around in the fire too much. Got it hot, and into the quench. It didn't curve as much as anticipated, and came out with a slight bow. I had the vise already set up with some angle iron (just in case). So I clamped it to finish cooling. I then set about cleaning the residual clay to check for cracks, and the end fell off. Well poo! Time to start all over again. Oh, I also found that the cable blade failure, actually works great for cutting charcoal to size. so the day is not a total loss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted February 25 Share Posted February 25 Sorry to hear it's kaput.. Way back in the day when I was forging these blades for use 1 out of 10 would shatter in hardening. I felt very good about the average.. Ninja-to were between 18 and 24" blade length. with a longer handle and sq tsuba.. I've never broken one in use.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluerooster Posted February 25 Share Posted February 25 1 in 10 is not bad. So far I'm going 2 for 2. But I'll get on another in the very near future. I'll be using what I learned from the past two, and mabe the next one will come out better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted February 25 Share Posted February 25 2 hours ago, bluerooster said: Time to start all over again. When that happens to me, I usually just make it a shorter knife. I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s. Semper Paratus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 1 hour ago, bluerooster said: 1 in 10 is not bad. So far I'm going 2 for 2. But I'll get on another in the very near future. I'll be using what I learned from the past two, and mabe the next one will come out better. At one point I was forging 2 a day.. So that really made a difference dialing them in.. Always Sunobe. by the way I just looked up the meaning of sunobe to make sure we are on the same page.. A sunobe as I'm referencing is the sword billet before its edge geometry is forged in. This unit in its pure form has all the finished measurements and thicknesses built-in.. To finish all that is needed is to forge the ends spine, sides and edge are forged.. But the sunobe dictates thickness, overall shape from the very beginning. I found that going this way gives very consistent results especially once, one sees how this raw sword blank transforms seamlessly into the final shape. Nothing worse than having a bleb that needs to be fixed because of an error and then having to forge this out raw. If I'm preaching to the choir just let me know and I'll stop.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyBones Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 Thanks again Frosty, i honestly could not remember. But in general if it is high carbon or spring when i use it it gets hardened. Tedious day today. "made" a bunch of lag bolts, stipped the zinc, squared and sized the head on some i bought. Then heated and finished a bunch of slotted screws. We have a bed room door that likes to swing closed on its own. Not so bad but it will stay open for a few minutes sometimes then just swing closed and it creeps the wife out. So i made a latch to hold it open for her. Still needs finished but she called me in for supper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archie Otteson Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 A bit more completed on the belt grinder today. I decided to use the meat grinder base for this project too. All bolt on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 Some more work on the current railing project, enough for a test fit. Also spent a lot of time trying to shift a broken die out of my W.A. Whitney hand punch, to little effect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goods Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 I had good luck in the forge today! I managed to get the 2nd Harley drive chain welded up: In the above picture it welded but not perfect. Drawn out to 1/2”x1”. Then I cut it into 6 pieces restacked it and went at it again. I drew that out to 3/8”x2”, then moved right to cleaning it up and stack it into a Gomai with the Sanmai I made previously. It welded up great and I should have stopped there, but went on to forging the cleaver. It didn’t come out to bad: It doesn’t have the shape I got in my test run, but I’ve got enough mass to get there with the grinder. (I’d be much happier if I got to the shape I wanted while forging…) Either way the weld looks really good and I’m pretty sure the 8670 is in the center of the edge. (I really should have stopped earlier though. 7hrs straight with no lunch, I’ll feel that tomorrow!) Keep it fun, David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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