Completed the dragon for the blacksmith challenge page that apparently Shaina also is a member of.  Really did have a lot of fun with it.   Going to make more but I'll test it with larger stock.  Maybe some 1 inch square.   Also started practicing to make a large sockets for staff weapons.  I have some flat stock of similar size to what I'm going to use to make my pole axe.  

 

 

Edited November 18, 20241 yr by Chad J.
Doubled up On the text

Installed and rigidized the ceramic wool in my new forge:

 And did the cutouts on a trio of yarn bowls:

 With the big lever punch set up in a vise:

 Which worked great:

Chad, the first pic showed your dragon pretty well but the others were cluttered out by the busy background. Experiment with different things, a light blue or green blanket is a pleasing contrast to iron fork. It's also good to have the background out of focus (soft focus) so there are no sharp details like a shadow to detract from the subject.

You're getting pretty good with that punch John. Are those practice pieces or do you have plans for them?

Frosty The Lucky.

Chad, I really like that dragon and I'm glad to see you're participating in the challenge group. I'm taking a hiatus (other than club trade items) until I get this forge restoration finished. I really want to get it done before winter hits. 

Yesterday was the Kansas FSBC club meeting. One of the members is helping me make a pitch bowl to do repoussé on after he saw what I did with that steel face for the October meeting. Yesterday he brought a cap from a big pipe and another member scrounged up some lead to give it some weight. We melted it in the bowl. He said I could either glue the lead to keep it in there or wait till I have the pitch and just let that hold it in place. So I think I'll wait. He asked if I had ordered the pitch and I said not yet. He had a bulk order placed so he's bringing some to the December meeting and we'll do that part together as well. I do need to add some kind of base. He said either a rubber ring of some sort or a leather bag filled with sand. So that's on my list. I know there's probably a thread here on repoussé so I'll have to go read up on that. 

Our club is focusing on building our sales inventory in preparation for next year's demo events. We were nearly cleaned out at the event in early October. So during the hammer in, I made a leaf pendant and an S hook. 

 

5 hours ago, Frosty said:

Are those practice pieces or do you have plans for them?

After they get cleaned up and finished, they’re destined for the yarn shop. 

It's great for me Shaina.  Forces me to expand my skills and try new things.   My attempt at a nut cracker is unfortunately on the floor of my shop in more pieces than originally designed.  Snapped when I was a bit too aggressive in putting the rivet in.  Looking forward to the next challenge.   I scrolled back a few months to make sure I didn't accidently repeat a recent challenge.

Frosty, thanks for the tips.  Normally I'd have taken it into the yard for a nice natural background but you know better than I how short the days are getting.  I have an area upstairs in my barn I could try to set up for pictures. 

For yarn bowls yes? Deb has a couple even. <sigh>

Shaina: I cast square blocks of old wheel weights I picked up along the highways when I was working for road maintenance. I found lead less useful when I was messing with repousse but I only played with the craft for a little while. Anyway, flat lead blocks were much easier to use than bowls, the sides of the bowls kept getting in the way in use, they really limited the size sheet I could work.

Frosty The Lucky.

11 hours ago, Shainarue said:

He said either a rubber ring of some sort or a leather bag filled with sand.

Here's my repousse "bowl" (a bowling ball with a flat cut in one side and a rim added to contain the pitch) on its support ring:

The ring is made from inner tube rubber cut into ~1" strips, gathered in a circle, and bound together with more of the same. It's easy to position, and the friction between the rubber and the ball tends to keep the latter where I put it.

A lot of wheel weights are made of iron now. They are easily identified stamped "Fe" though. 

Spent a day making hinges for my cabinet/ shelf thingy... and failed miserably. I could not get 2 eyes to roll in a row no matter how i tried. I bet i made 40 with only 5 that were close to acceptable. So i stopped, switched gears and put the old thinking cap on. 

So this is what i cam up with. Rather than roll the eyes i am going to drill them. The rivet will be one long piece of 1/2" square for both the upper and lower hinge. This will attach, with stand outs, directly to the cabinet/shelf thingy. A lot of clean up, filing and the like still to do. Hope this gives an idea of what i am trying to accomplish. 

I haven't worked along the side of a highway or road since retiring in 07. One of our duties was to do a final cleanup at accident sites. Welllllll, one was a mobile tire truck roll over off an overpass. The truck didn't end up on the lower road but a lot of it's contents did, the owners had picked up the expensive stuff and we were left with the sweepings. I came away with about 250lbs of tire weights and other things. The other two guys dispatched to the job took some good stuff home but weren't interested in wheel weights. I was already on the list at the state shop's tire shop and routinely cleaned out the tire weight can. I supplied the cans.

I also hung a can by the fine grinder in the heavy duty shop and machine shop, the bean counters had decided it was cheaper to buy drill bits in bulk than sharpen them so I hung cans by the drill presses and lathe and collected dull and broken drill bits. Dad had taught me how to sharpen drill bits before I was old enough for metal shop class in Jr. High. I also have a Drill Doctor but it usually takes longer.

I miss picking the heavy duty scrap bin. <sigh>

Frosty The Lucky.

 

Our shop does that same thing with HSS drills. Carbide and cobalt we send out for regrind and recoat. It is cheaper than paying me to do it. So i keep my drill supply well stocked as well. 

John, I like that idea for a base.

 

Shaina and Chad:  I don't really "do" Facebook anymore, but still have an account so I can follow certain content creators.  I'm really intrigued by your reference to a challenge group, but there are several, they're all private, and I am uncertain which one to request.   I see "weekly blacksmith challenge", "monthly blacksmith challenge," "fortnightly blacksmith challenge, and who knows how many others.  Which is the one you follow?

It is "weekly blacksmith challenges" and has a picture of a bottle opener.  Not sure how to copy the link. 

All good.  I recognize it by that description.   Thank you!

I'm in all 3 that you mentioned but weekly is the most active one. The other two tend to have low participation but often more challenging projects.

Cool.  Thanks, I check the others out soon, too.

We've had challenges on ifi a few times as well. Maybe we should start that back up. Maybe a monthly thing? (Says the gal who is currently claiming to be on a forging hiatus, lol)

 

I haven't been real active on facebook but just joined a couple of the blacksmithing groups recently. Pending acceptance. A monthly thing on here would be awesome.

November 19 is the Day of the Hand-Forged Blacksmith in Russia.
Do you have such holidays?

What did you use to cut the bowling ball?

16 hours ago, Shainarue said:

We've had challenges on ifi a few times as well. Maybe we should start that back up. Maybe a monthly thing? (Says the gal who is currently claiming to be on a forging hiatus, lol)

Start one up. I did one with the viking bottleopener.

 

31 minutes ago, alexandr said:

November 19 is the Day of the Hand-Forged Blacksmith in Russia.
Do you have such holidays?

1th december. Saint-Elooi. Saint of metalworkers (and other tradesman). 

Last saturday was "day of the metier" (dag van de ambacht). A lot of blacksmiths, juwelmakers, leaderworkers, potterymakers, glassmakers,... opened their workshop for a visit.

You can cut a bowling ball with a hand saw, the old school ones are rubber and even the new fangled plastic balls aren't hard to cut, just don't use too fine a saw.

Frosty The Lucky.

Fastened the ball down with a lot of duct tape and cut around with a handheld circular saw. 

No photos yet, but I spent some time today casting a mini-NARB and finishing the lining of my new forge. More to come.