Nice work Tap Tap.

Wow, that's a fun one too, John! How many of these are you making for them?

Tap Tap, that's some great looking work and it's kinda hard to believe it's only your third time blacksmithing! I did look back at previous posts and saw that you're working with an experienced smith - which makes a HUGE difference in how quickly you can learn - but even so, you're doing great. Looking forward to seeing more of your stuff.

Nice handle John!  I wondered what it might look like twisted as well and think you should try one as it might be very interesting.  With the torch and a garden hose you might be able to control it better - maybe a two person job.  Then I thought about drilling it length wise and putting a steel rod through the center.  More work but more fun too.

Other than a base or handle (if I add one) , got the punch chisel holder shaped out. 

Not bad for something totally winged and random. It can hold all the shaping chisels and punches for a couple projects I have coming up. 

That looks really nice Das! And do I remember reading that you were going to add extruded mesh as a base?

 

It's almost too pretty to put dirty old punches, chisels and stuff in Das. How about putting computer controlled colored LEDs in the tubes and use it for a light show?

Frosty The Lucky.

  I have visions of Lazy Susan tool holders.

Scott’s post is what attracted me to this thread ( I don’t normally browse it because if you don’t keep up, there’s a lot of back tracking!

I love that design Das! Now that you have made it, what do you think of this design from Scott Wadsworth, otherwise known as Essential Craftsman on YouTube?

23 hours ago, Daswulf said:

Not bad for something totally winged and random.

Looks good to me. I once made a small table out of cut pipes for our swing bench on the deck that looked a little like it only smaller in diameter.

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

 

Use what you have available. You don't need to purchase new material, unless you would like to.

I have built a "Things Rack", similar to the above. I chose to use a piece of wood that the punch rests on at the bottom. I made mine at about 30 degrees from verticle, not solid tube to the wood at the bottom, leave an air gap for swarf and alligator bits, to fall to the Floor. If you mount the punch with the hammer end down, you can see what you are looking for. DO NOT ALLOW THE CURL ON THE HAMMER END BECOME A PROJECTILE. The pieces break off at the speed of a broken piece!! A flying piece can and will penetrate your Jeans and continue into the Meat Market. Hopefully not a neighbor kid!!

There are so many opinions on this topic. I like a rack, that can move close to where you are working and utilize the smallest floor print. No Trip Hazzzard!!!

Neil

Thanks Shain, yup it will get an extruded metal base so any crud can fall through but not the chisels. 

Lol Frosty, I cleaned up my punches and chisels too. 

Could do one with smaller chunks for sculpture either wall hanging or on a base. It would look neat with lights in it. 

Will, I like that design as well. I wanted this one just for certain ones. I still have a bunch of others and a tree style like that would be nice. 

IronDragon, that sounds like it would be nice. Cool idea. 

Neil, good stuff. I keep my punches I use cleaned up on the ends. I have seen old ones mushroomed so bad the curls went around and back to the handle.  I still have a mountain of old punches and chisels I've picked up over the years to clean up and reshape. 

Scott, a lazy Susan tool holder would be pretty cool for on a workbench near the vise. 

As I'm gathering tools to bring to an event our blacksmith club is demoing at, I'm wishing I had more time to create something like you have, Das. It would certainly keep everything more easily at-hand! I'll definitely start one soon though. My next project is to make tools needed to make faces. I was recently gifted the book Iron Menagerie and I'm looking forward to working my way through it. But I need to make the tools first, lol. Would be handy to have 3 smaller holders. One that held all the specialty tools. One for typical punches. One for typical chisels. And maybe one more just to have on hand for stuff like this event so I can load up just the tools I plan to use there. This sounds like a great winter project for me!

I finished another sculpture last night. This was an entry to a weekly blacksmithing challenge group I'm in on Facebook. The challenge was 4 separate elements forge welded together and then made into a sculpture. 
This has two fold-over welds and my first go at a jump weld.

I forged a leaf on each end of a single bar then folded and welded. The next bar had organic shapes on each end then also folded and welded. You can't really tell in the picture but the end that looks like it's just a long tail actually has ridges textured into two sides.
I had multiple failures on my first evening of trying to jump weld to two folded-over welds together. I was given advice to use the post vice to squeeze it rather than hammering - as a jump weld of objects, especially of varying sizes, tends to slip/jump around. I had success with that technique and was able to finish tweaking and mounting. Definitely a good technique to keep in my back pocket.

Good job Shain. I don't recall hearing of using the vise to aid in a weld, but now I can keep that trick in mind. 

I typically keep my punches around in a bucket tool bag organizer when I go out. Then just pull the ones I need and lay them where I can. This will help plus with them standing up I can more easily see which one I need. 

It would be a good winter project. 

If I'm doing a project involving a number of struck tools, chasing chisels, punches, etc. I have a 4" x 4" I drilled holes in at an angle at different depths so everything is visible. The ones in front stick out farther, layers slightly less so to the top so I don't have to reach through tools to reach what I want.

Using a vise rather than a hammer to weld is discussed in older blacksmithing books, "Art of Blacksmithing" is one IIRC. Another and I think better method is to squeeze the join with a pair of warmed tongs. Tongs don't draw heat nearly as fast as a vise and they're much faster to apply.

Frosty The Lucky.

I have used the tong squeeze method many times when having trouble getting a weld to take. Dont even take it out of the fire, just stick the tongs in and give it a squeeze. This will get it it stuck good enough to refine the weld from there. 

Tong squeeze was also suggested, and exactly as Billy outlined. For this project though, the pieces having wonky tops made it difficult to squeeze in the fire and ensure they stayed aligned correctly. If it had been two straight bars, no prob. I tried it all cold first and just couldn't get it to work with tongs so I switched to vice and it worked a dream. Sure, it sucked the heat out quick but I only needed it to set the weld. Once it was set, I repeated the welding heat and refined on the anvil.

Tonight I tried to get the oxy/ace torch set up for the first time. I had a dinner triangle that I wanted to use it on for the bends. If course this was for the event I'll be going to in less than 12 hours, lol! Multiple issues. Busted acetylene hose pressure gauge and a leaky torch fitting. Tried to find my rosebud to see if that would work and can't find it anywhere, which was very frustrating. I'm wondering if it got left at the old house . One of the members of the club told me to bring the torch and he'd take a look at it. He might also have a gauge for me too. I'm bringing my unfinished triangle. Maybe someone will have a coal forge with a passthrough I can use.

Made a couple more tap handles. 

The story so far:

That's a pleasant set of shapes and textures. It would look cool on a bar tap setup. 

They need two more for the bar and another two for the kegerator on the side. 

Another tap handle:

And a handful of S-hooks for a neighbor’s birdfeeders.

That might be my favorite John. Other than the tight swirly one. 

Cut and welded on the extruded stainless steel bottom. Had thought about making it square and with a boarder but again went freestyle on it. Got that cleaned up and painted it all black. Wasn't going to get it done but pushed myself to keep working. Been a rough week and I need to keep moving on something. 

 

 

Real!y cool handle. I like that one a lot 

Nice Das. That is exactly what I need too

 

Several years ago I made furniture for a children's room. The customer asked to make an additional bookshelf. I installed it the other day.