I decided to finish my construction before spring. I made a floor lamp.

That is really beautiful and creative!  Epoxy base, right?  Did you put it in a vacuum chamber?  My wife got tired of black metal art, so anything else I make for her has to be painted, too.

I like it Alex, it has a nice organic flow and another example of how good you're getting at casting epoxy. 

My concern is how low it is. Won't the light be in people's eyes sitting or walking in the room? I assume people will be sitting there seeing as your table is.

Frosty The Lucky.

I found a set of tongs that belonged to my granddaddy.  I ruined them years ago when I was first learning how to blacksmith.  Burnt the jaws.

But, I needed a twisting tool for 3/4" square bar, so I repurposed them.  I've never twisted 3/4" stock, so IDK if this is strong enough.  It is high carbon steel.  I made a collet to add to it, but it would make it ugly.  I'll test it tomorrow. 

 

Not bad use for broken tongs. Are you sure they're HC steel? That'd be pretty unusual for tongs unless that's what was in the scrap stream. 

I think a bolster, collet, (?) might be a good idea but 3/4" sq doesn't require a lot of force to twist if you get it hot enough and 3/4" will require some soak time or the inside will be cooler and harder to twist. 

Frosty The Lucky.

Grinding and preparation for painting on the table leg project. 

 

9 hours ago, Frosty said:

Are you sure they're HC steel? That'd be pretty unusual for tongs..

Thanks for the info.  

IIRC, they started off as some kind of nipper, maybe what farriers use to nip off nails?  Big C-shaped mouth  Sharp cutting jaws.  The amount of sparks coming off the grinder was insane, and the steel was much harder to file than the weld was.  Didn't feel like mild steel under the file.

9 hours ago, Frosty said:

 bolster, collet, (?)

Argh!  Need to nail down that terminology! 

It worked fine.  I used my DIY 12 ton to hold one end while I twisted.  I need to do two more things:  bolt the press to the table and bolt my knee vise stand to the concrete.  The former slid a little and the latter moved way too much to be useful at all for twisting 3/4" square bar.

I'm unsure of the order of operations for something like this:  1)  Twisting.  2)  Upsetting the ends. 3) Punching holes for tenons.  I had planned to do 1-2-3, but now I can't really hold it onto the anvil while I do the punching.  Should I have done 3-1-2 and just re-drifted the holes? I can always just drill the holes, but I like the look of the spread out steel around a punched hole.

I sort of worked "in the shop" this morning in that I worked on plans for Ashley's project bag tree. 

Once I have a drawing, it is a good chance that it's my focus project. Doesn't look like I'll be able to forge this week with the temps but when I can, this'll be what I'm working on. 

I already had the legs done a few weeks ago. I haven't had a chance to test the guillotine dies I made for the 3/8" rope twist yet but that's next. And now that I have measurements, I'm pretty sure I'll have to weld my 3/8" bars together to get the required length. I can do that in the garage. I'm trying to do the entire project with stuff I already have on hand. My wife calls it a "Stash buster project".

If anyone has taken on something like this and have advise to give based on my design, please let me know so I don't have to learn the hard way!

 

HC it is, lots of old hoof nippers come back as tongs. Be careful to NOT cool them in water if they get hot, especially into the red. Then get really snappy about that. 

BOY, sequencing twisting is a wide open topic. Which order depends on the final use and look you wish. 

If you upset ends or center first the following twist will stop abruptly where the steel thickens. If you upset after twisting, it's more difficult to get a pleasant transition but can be very attractive.

Drawing down the ends after twisting provides a more well defined transition, crisp even. Drawing down the ends after twisting provides a more organic transition. In this case I'm visualizing the ends drawn to uniform tapers, flat tapers, etc. 

The above is all a matter of taste within the zone of possibility of course so experiment and see what tickles your fancy. Different purposes want different twists. 

Frosty The Lucky.

Melted Socks,

It appears that you tongs are made or reengineered from pull offs that farriers use for pulling shoes off horses. 

Seldom

 

Not all new things are good and not all old things are bad

In addition to a bit of work on a sign commission (not shown), I put in some time making dies for the new guillotine. 

Marking out and cutting down some 1/2” x 2-1/2” S-7:

Ground to shape and heated with the oxypropane torch to air-harden:

Left to right: butcher, cut-off, and blunt fuller:

(Not shown: an 8” long blank to be shaped later as needed.)

As a side benefit, I’ve got four pieces of 1/2” square S-7 for punches or chisels:

 

 

I got called off for a bit, we have a doxy puppy visiting so we had to puppy proof the living room.

I have a couple few suggestions for you Shaina.  It's okay to clutter sketches, you know what's what but if you're making a drawing to show others, lose EVERYTHING that isn't what you want to show us. Typically 3 drawings, plus parts list is best.

#1 what a old timey draftsman like me would call an "Elevation." A drawing of what the assembled project looks like from an elevated position, looking down on it from a little distance. A top view can be used if it the project is clearly enough shown the viewer can "see" the finished object.

#2 would be a front view and #3 a side view. This project only needs a single view as it's symmetrical from all sides. This drawing is where you put the dimensions, clearly and without notes. Any notes should go on a separate sheet with ID#s or letters marking the component being notated. The notation marks never appear on a drawing without a specific component and notation. 

There's  more but that's enough to start making good shop drawings.

I'm afraid I can't comment on the project as drawn I can't tell what much of it is and I'd love to help. It's sort of what caused me to write the above. 

Frosty The Lucky.

Oh yeah, that drawing is just for me. When I ran it by Ashley, it was just a rough sketch on my phone. When I ran the design for the tabletop by my MIL, it was only the drawing. Not even any dimensions. I've found that most people get confused by too much info so less is more unless they request more. 

I appreciate the feedback for any future non-family commissions I might do though. 

I'll try to remember to get back with you about project details over my lunch tomorrow. Maybe I'll make a clearer drawing for your benefit

Thanks, I'd appreciate it. I'd like a good idea of what you envision so I my thoughts will translate. Drawings are a common frame of reference between different brains. 

Without knowing what "bags" are in your frame I can't really envision what a tree might be. In my mind I see something more like an open Christmas tree decorated with bags of somethings. Change the bags and I see a different tree. 

I'm seeing lots of different things that might be a bag tree, shrub, vine, etc. 

I've been drafting since I was maybe 9-10, Dad insisted I needed to be able to read a blueprint if I wanted a good job. His world you know.

It's an acquired craft.

Frosty The Lucky.

On 2/14/2025 at 11:37 PM, MeltedSocks said:

That is really beautiful and creative!  Epoxy base, right?  Did you put it in a vacuum chamber? 

Thank you! Correct. Regular filling, without vacuum.

 

On 2/15/2025 at 3:05 AM, Frosty said:

My concern is how low it is. Won't the light be in people's eyes sitting or walking in the room?

Thanks Jer! The lampshades can be rotated around the axis. The light from the lamp will not interfere.

Shainaru, what Frosty said. But on top of that what are the "arms" coming off the side for? I have built a few hall trees in my time, sort of the same design but taller and 4 sided, i have found that the support on the bottom needs to either heavy or wide. 

This weekend i was gifted a set of quick tongs. So having never used these i figured i would give them a try. 

I am sure they are not the most costly, provably the cheapest you can get from that website named after the giant S. American river. They are small and in my opinion much to thin to split the "V" for the bolt jaws. The slot jaws could be a bit longer. The rivets are 15/64" (i am sure that it is most likely 5mm or something, but they are .228" and a 15/64" drill is .233", or at least that is what my mics read) 

Assembly was quick and easy, took longer to knock the corners down. So overall, would i suggest these. Yes, yes i would. Even though they have few problems they are cheap and easy and you can have 5 sets of working tongs in and afternoon. 

So here they are with 2 completed sets (i do need to adjust the jaws). I drilled the holes, they do not come predrilled. Anyone see the HUGE glaring problem though? (Answer under the pic)

Chrome plated rivets. Who in their right mind would put a chrome plated rivet in tongs? 

I thought you had the Glare issue under control Alex. I'm pretty light sensitive since the TBI I can't sit too close to a window without getting headaches, I need light levels to be close to even between my eyes. From my perspective the windows and lamp look custom made to make my head explode. 

I regret having to give up on ever having a breakfast nook with windows on 3 sides. <sigh>

Frosty The Lucky.

That's another reason to get the original version from Ken's Custom Iron rather than from someone who's stolen their ideas/designs.

1 hour ago, JHCC said:

Ken's Custom Iron

I spent $5000 getting a CDL-A five years ago.  I wound up sticking with my kitchen remodeling career after reality struck.  If I could go back in time, I'd buy Ken's power hammer with that money.  They were about that price back then. 

I wish I could figure out their steam hammer mechanism, or at least find a reference book describing them.

I forgot to bring my grid paper notebook to work with me but I'll try to describe as best I can.

I'm including a collage of various projects bag styles Ashley has & uses. She thought about 2ft vertical spacing between arms should be plenty of clearance but also specifically doesn't want the highest hook taller than 5ft. She wanted at least 2 pegs per arm for hanging stuff. I originally had two loops & a ball end giving 3 points of hanging but once I drew it out with measurements I realized they'd be too close together and a bag in the back might get hidden from view - defeating the purpose of the project bag tree! Her only other criteria was that it NOT look like a coat tree, lol

Design V1 had a single stem body with arms extending 1.75ft and a 2ft round base. After calculating the empty weight plus the potential loaded weight, the base would need to be nearly 100lbs to provide certain stability. That felt like overkill, lol - hence Design V2. 

Design V2 uses a tripod leg design, which can increase the potential load weight without increasing the weight of the base. I actually originally thought 4 legs but remembered that tripods balance better than quad. The legs will extend out 2ft in a gentle curve and the arms will still be 1.75ft.

There will be two arms on each vertical portion of the legs - so 6 arms in total. I'll probably stagger them so they don't line up in a circle. Maybe make it look like more of a spiral if possible. 

As for why I chose to do a loop & ball on the arm - that's an artistic fling. I want the arms to look like strands of yarn extending from the center, and the 'ball' on the end is actually a tangled round-ish mess of 3/16 round which looks kind of like an unraveling ball of yarn. This will prevent any pokey bits that she'd inevitably run into and plays on the yarn theme. This yarn idea is also why the arms aren't angling up like most coat/hat racks. Balls of yarn don't typically travel up  
I'm toying with the idea of giving a yarn twist to the legs as well but haven't committed to that yet. It really would pull it all together though.

Search the patent servers for steam forging hammer and good luck. In general a steam hammer's valving and operation is similar to a modern air hammer  but the way steam behaves is drastically different than compressed air and must be accounted for.

In short, compressed air pushing a piston in a cylinder loses pressure as it expands. Steam on the other changes from a compressed wet state at a relatively low pressure to a dry high pressure state as the piston moves giving it more volume to fill.

In old movies, when you saw the boilerman tie down the pressure releases it was not to make the engine turn faster. Locking the releases down was to prevent the boiler psi from dropping allowing the boiling water to flash over and blowing the boiler up. 

There were lots of ways to cause the water in a boiler to flash over (phase change), the Sultana in 1865 IIRC is one of the best documented cases of a paddle wheeler's boiler blowing and killing a couple few hundred souls.

Frosty The Lucky.

Okay Shaina I see what you're wanting, a display rack for tote-like bags in a yarn shop. No? is it a sales display or place for visitors to hang their bags?

The foot/base doesn't need to be heavy, it needs to be wide to supply a base of support wider than the tree's center of gravity. If someone looking at bags were to take 2 off one side it might overbalance if the center of gravity moves beyond the center of support. The easy answer is to make the foot wider than the center of gravity if all the hangers on one side have the heaviest bag you sell on them. Do you want it to rotate, or do you want people reaching behind it or be free standing on the floor so people can walk around it?

How many bags do you want to hang? 

How much wall space do you have available? 

Were I designing one I'd make it a wall rack with bags hung at an angle rather than vertically straight. Hanging at an angle you can stagger higher rows so the bag itself rests partially between the carry straps without obscuring the bags below. I'd have to model the rack but Deb has several similar bags being a spinner and knitter.

On the decorative front to show off both the bags, purpose f the shop and your iron work I'd perhaps make a series of yarn-like vines that mount to the wall and ascend in pleasing organic waves. Or make a number of "yarn" twisted lengths and again giving them a pleasing wavy pattern, perhaps suggesting a length of yarn on a table. Mount them to the wall with hand forged knitting needles at regular intervals, perhaps staggered as above to hang the bags.

The knitting needle hangers would of course connect with the yarn twisted wall structure like the "yarn" was cast on the needle. 

It just occurred to me, you could run the bag rack to the ceiling and use a specially made pair of blacksmith tongs to reach them down. Hmmmm?

We might as well show off both your crafts, no?

Frosty The Lucky.

 

Not a shop rack - although that's a good comparison for the idea of what she wants. It does not need to rotate, nor do I want to include that level of complexity for the sake of getting it done for her sooner.

This is for the multitude of bags she has with projects-in-progress. Hence: "Project Bags". Most bags will have a few skeins of yarn and some needles. Some will have batts of fluff and maybe carding combs. She might have some spools of yarn for the warp of a weaving project-to-be. 

As for floor space - there's plenty of room but I think a 4ft floorprint is already pretty large so I definitely won't go larger. If the base needs to extend the arms, then a 2ft base on all sides is what it will be. It will be in the newly floored attic with the rest of her fiber stuff. I'm just now realizing I'll need to attach the legs in-place because if they're already attached then the rack won't fit up the stairwell. I guess I can bolt to the center rings.

A storage rack for her projects and not in a retail setting? 

Have you considered shelves the bags can slide into edgeways for say 2-4 bags per shelf? The footprint would be maybe 4' x 2,' make it 6' high and it will comfortably hold at least dozen easily accessible bags. It'd be light enough to position in the room like any piece of furniture. 

Frosty The Lucky.