I have Red Green TV bookmarked.

Me too! 

Frosty The Lucky.

  Thanks.  I've never cut a bowling ball.  I searched it and found a video of someone cutting one with a chainsaw but didn't bother watching it.  Take off, eh?

So, this wasn't all done today. It's been an hour here and there since November 19th. 

I've been working on a Christmas bow. I cut strips from an old dishwasher (I think?) panel. I got the further going and started texturing one of the strips until I noticed it was turning yellow - which means there's zinc in the coating. So I put on a respirator and goggles and used a grinder to grind all the coating off from both sides of all 5 strips. That took a few hours on its own.

I textured all the strips and cursed my apparent poor hammer control. My hand must have been weak that day because the hammer kept twisting so I'd end up hitting with the corner instead of the face of the pien. If I gripped the handle in a fist then it would stay straight on but that hand position usually results in pain so I'd switch back. I tried tucking my elbow to my side, since that can help when my aim is off. But my aim wasn't off, just the position of the hammer. Ultimately, I decided it was still texture so went on with it. I didn't want to cut and grind any more strips to start over! 

I formed two of the strips into a circle which was then pinched to meet in the center. 

I intersected the two loops to look like a bow.

I rolled the tails at one end where they'd be coming out of the bow and tucked them into the loops.

My original plan was to make a center button from a piece of steel, forming a tenon from it which would go through all the layers and rivet on the backside. But it looked out of place with the sheet metal so instead, I folded another piece of textured strip to look like the button.

But now I need to figure out how to connect them all together. I have another idea which will toss the current button. We'll see.

Next steps will be adding some ribbon-like folds to the bow loops, then cleaning each piece and attaching them all together.

This was originally intended for a trade item at the December BAM meeting but I had a conflicting event come up so now it's going to be a decoration for our front porch.

That is a fine looking ribbon. I would think a small rivet through the button to the back of the ribbon would work. Are you planning to paint it or leave it clear coated?

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

I haven't decided yet. I figured I'd get it done up to that point and then show Ashley and ask what she wanted.

Good Morning Shain,

A tiny LED light in the center. Put a button in your pocket to activate. Morse Code??

It looks wonderful. Time to 'Tye one On'. LOL

Neil

I like the idea of lights! We have a small strand of battery powered fairy lights. No remote for morse code, lol, but would still look nice.

Made an arm for the armor/bowl forge, as fully described HERE.

Also, pies:

Jeez almighty, those pies are realistic. 5160?  1095? Looks like the heat treat went well. We did butternut here, with an old school custard type pecan pie instead of Karo, with baked meringue. Youse guys got me hooked on Tasting History.

Love the ribbon. Looks fantastic, especially with the button, but why not vinegar for the zinc? They're a bit long for the tub, but you could always bend them since they're getting forged anyways, and no respirator needed.

I didn't think vinegar would cut through the paint, which is probably either enamel or powder coating. If it will, then I'll definitely go that route for anything else I make from those panels. I actually have a trough of sorts that I made using PVC for the frame, and legs to raise it about 2 inches off the floor and a tri-folded tarp as the basin. I used clamps to hold the tarp to the frame. It's currently about 4ft long by 8 inches wide but it can easily be reconfigured to any size.

You didn't strip the paint BEFORE putting it in the fire!?!!  BAD Shaina, Bad girl! Zinc isn't the only thing that has a yellow oxide and many are more dangerous. If you must burn paint off stock do it away and down wind from people and livestock. Zinc oxide is water soluble and pretty non-toxic. Any that settles in the trees, grass, etc. will dissolve in the next rainfall and enrich the soil. What causes blue flue is the shape of the zinc oxide smoke particles, they form long sharp barbs that penetrate the aviola in your lungs. They don't dislodge so your body must dissolve them which produces a couple daughter compounds that can make you sick, even kill in excess. 

Sanding it off is almost worse, metallic zinc is NOT water soluble so is hard for your body to flush and expel. The same thing that makes zincs good sacrificial rust preventors on boats causes problems in our body. We survive by inhaling air and exchanging CO2 for oxygen in our lungs. If you dust your lungs with a metal that has a greater affinity for oxidizing that the iron in our hemoglobin the zinc converts to zinc oxide that must be flushed and dissolved to expel. What makes this less traumatic than breathing zinc oxide smoke is metallic zinc doesn't form the barbs that zinc smoke does. Not as bad but still not good at all.

I like the bow, a few more and I bet you'll have a very marketable product. 

Frosty The Lucky.

I would guess that those are powder coated and not zinc plated. The yellow color is provably from something in the powder coat, could be zinc in it. 

Powder coating can be a real PITA to get off. But then it is made to last. So i personally would have just paid the exorbitant price the box stores want for sheet rather than clean off the powder coat. Time is money, time is a commodity, time is the only thing that we can never get back. That is why i usually will buy new steel now rather than try and reuse salvaged steel. In the time it takes to clean it up, resize it or what ever it usually comes out as equal cost wise. And even if it is not a project i am getting paid on those couple hours i could spend with the grandkids rather than cleaning off powder coat.  

Speaking of which, yesterday my oldest granddaughter told me that her and her husband have decided that he was not re-enlisting in the Army and taking a job here. They will be moving back early next spring and i will get to spend a lot more time with the great grandkids. Hopefully by Easter there will be 5 generations at my table, my parents, me and the wife, my kids, grandkids, and great grandkids. And that time i spend with them is worth more than all the money in the world to me. 

Just now, BillyBones said:

That is why i usually will buy new steel now rather than try and reuse salvaged steel.

Quite agree, especially for sheet. 

Had a wrench thrown into my cabinet/shelf thingy project yesterday. Went to get the lumber and hickory was just about unavailable, they had some but it was mostly 2" boards of varying widths and the 1" stuff there was not enough of. So after a couple phone calls the final decision is to use cherry. 

I tried to get the up sale for ambrosia maple but that would have put about another $1000 on the price tag. 

We have a local store that specializes in hardwoods. They have or can get just about anything you can think of including exotics. Some of their lumber is also endangered species that are no longer harvested. They are recycled boards that a lot of time still has paint on them.  They are also much cheaper than most places. Menards for example wants almost $10 per BF on cherry, i bought my lumber for $3.50 per BF. 

You can buy "strip" stock that is "thin" flat stock, 1/8"x2" for example. 1/4"x2" is IIRC strip stock but may be "bar". I'm not sure I've been away from buying steel for a while. Call the local steel supplier, they'll be able to answer your questions and if you were to drop by they'll probably give you the catalogue of what they carry and maybe toss in a copy of the American, steel reference book.

New steel is always preferable to use. I'd need to be able to charge quite a bit more if I had to salvage the stock.

Frosty The Lucky.

Billy, I started using Boulter Plywood for most of the "exotics" that I use.  All that's available 'round these parts is Oak, and Poplar, without special order, high price, and long wait. 

I've been busy on a project in the shop that has used up almost every available minute of my free time. So no working at the forge. But I have been working with metal.   I needed a tool to install the four bungee cords on the Taylorcraft project. So, I could either buy one $150, or make one.  I elected to make one. I had everything I needed in the scrap iron pile. It's a mix of mild steel, and 4130.  Worked just fine.

Yes, the two verticals are galvanized, But I do all my welding outside, and the wind was 18 gusting to 30, so I didn't think it too much of a problem.  It was fun welding it together. The top piece is ~3/16" thick, the two bottom pieces are 1/8" thick, and the two galvanized tubes are mabe .030" at the most.  Used a #2 torch tip, and 1/8" rod.

Here's the bungees installed

On to the next project. I need to punch four louvers in a sheet of .032" 2024T3 aluminum.  So today I made a bottom die to allow me to punch two at a time. The "top die" is a 1x4 hardwood block with a 1/2" radius along one edge. To be smacked with a hammer.  Here's the bottom die:

And a scrap to "test drive" it.

 I need to rework (make another) the top die. but I think it will work fine.

Blue, being in Georgia i would think there would be all kinds of nice woods available. Like cypress for example. I like both oak and poplar though. If i was making something for my home i would choose oak or maple. My floors are oak and the interior doors and trim are hard maple. 

Poplar is nice for light colored stuff. I prefer darker woods but sometime something light in color is nice to set things off. 

Poplar also accepts stain well. 

A nice light wood is beach. But not available with you in the us i guess? It's a wood all the us based woodworkers on youtube never mentions

Very hard, used traditionally for stairs and cutting boards. 

But cannot be used outside or wet surroundings.

Billy, there are some nice woods available, but the price is higher than Boulter, including shipping from MA.

 Here's a nice burl veneer I got from them  week before last.

Nothing like that available here.

JHCC, I don't use stain.  I use the color of wood that I want.  

  I did however, use some Poplar on a house. But it was very dark. They called it "Viking Wood". It's how it was cured.  Dried in a kiln and brought to the verge of becoming charcoal.  It's very dark brown, and smells of wood smoke.  Rot, and bug resistant, better than pressure treated they say.

Made an experimental pair of tongs, for holding bowls and other similar forms. 

For a full description, see THIS LINK.

Today I finished a long overdue gift to a great friend. She technically already received it but it wasn't on a base yet and came back home with me, lol

 

I also finally got around to getting the rust & crud off the reeds of the floor loom Ashley bought from someone who had it stored in the loft of their shed. That recipe that John (I think?) shared on here worked splendidly. 

Before: 

After: 

Quick afternoon session. I cast a coffee can forge out of castable refractory and perlite, as per Mikey's instructions in the Forges 101 thread:

We'll see how it turns out in a couple of days.

Cheers,

Jono.

23 hours ago, gewoon ik said:

A nice light wood is beach. But not available with you in the us i guess?

Very available. Beech trees grow all over the place around here. But you are correct i do not think i have ever seen anything made from beech. 

A couple years ago for Christmas i made my dad a gun rack from a piece of sassafras. That is a very light "wormy" wood.  

16 hours ago, bluerooster said:

 Here's a nice burl veneer I got from them

I do plan on using a piece of that for the back. Obviously something that will match and not a burl, but that may look nice on the back as well. 

When i lived in LA we had a hurricane drop a pecan tree on the breezeway of our house leading out to the mother-in-law apartment. When the contractors came out to fix the roof the plywood they used on the underside of the eves had an oak veneer. 

If i am going to stain i will use pine. But even with pine i much prefer an oiled finish. 

My house was built in the 1890's. So i have interior doors coming out of my ears. The first floor has 5 rooms and 9 doors. And that is not including the front, back, and side exterior doors. And of course sometime long before i was born someone decided to paint them. They are all maple with i think art-deco style knobs, backing plates, locks, striker plates, etc. Since we moved in almost 6 years ago i have been taking the doors and stripping the paint and shellac down to bare wood then refinishing. I have about 6 more to go, half way done.