Not bad for a zombie apocalypse fantasy pole axe. Personally I'd shorten the spike or maybe change it to a narrow spear blade. That's just me though. 

Are you going to have to demonstrate it? If not I wouldn't heat treat it at all, if it's a decoration. Zombies don't wear maille or much of anything so the long narrow spike would be more likely to get tangled in zombie skull or stomach muscles.

If you guys have demonstrations using your zombie weapons I want to see videos!

Please.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

On 10/27/2025 at 11:42 PM, JHCC said:

There are a couple of cheap alternatives to a swage block you can consider while saving pennies.

Another option I saw in a Nils Ogren video recently is to take a fairly wide, short cylinder of steel and start forging the circumference toward centre. This will upset around the circumference causing it to dish in on the top and bottom. You can then either forge down from the top with a rounding hammer to flatten the bottom side, or just grind the bottom flat. He welded on a hardy shank to make a cupping tool for forging rounding hammer faces.

Definitely a technique I'm going to steal!

After some more cleanup of the armorer’s swage block with the die grinder, I did a little preforming of some bowl blanks:

 And made another test piece for the DNA project:

8 hours ago, Nobody Special said:

my favorite anti-zombie weapon

My favorite is the commissioned piece I made a few years back for my cousin’s husband, to match the description of the “lobotomizer” from the book “World War Z”:

JHCC, I have a few long pieces of 4lead ~1-1/4” ball screws that would make a great mandrel to wrap the double helix around… I you make it into my area, you can claim one.

Keep it fun,

David

Feels pretty good to be able to get back in the shop. Got my daughters sconces done, or at least the forging and assembly. Still need to get and put on the reflective brass plates that will go in the open spaces. So i need to drill and paint. She will be using LED "candles" so she does not want a cup or spike to hold an actual candle. 

Got a request for an item that is not much requested any more these days, an ashtray. It will sit on top of a small pedestal. Got the ring for the legs welded and shaped. Got the 3 scrolls made for the legs and the sheet dished out for the tray itself. I hate working sheet in the forge. Seems i always get low on fuel during the process then have to wait while i make a bit more coke. 

Any way no pics of the ashtray progress but here are the sconces.

 

3 hours ago, Goods said:

I have a few long pieces of 4lead ~1-1/4” ball screws that would make a great mandrel to wrap the double helix around

I appreciate the offer, but after attempting unsuccessfully* to bend the entire spiral at once, I made a spiral bending jig from a piece of 1/4” round bent around a 1/2” round core. 

Heating with the oxypropane torch as I go, I bend an inch or two at a time, advance this twisted portion beyond the end of the jig (upwards in the photo), and repeat. 

 

*The workpiece shrinks around the mandrel as it cools, making it VERY hard to slide off. Trying to slide it before it cools messes up the spiral.

 

4 minutes ago, BillyBones said:

Got my daughters sconces done

Really nice design. Looking forward to seeing it with the brass reflectors. Are these going to be flat, or rounded? 

Flat, more or less just to fill the negative space. 

John, tap on the end of the coil in line with the wire and it will "unscrew itself from the mandrel. Be GENTLE you don't want to bend or distort it. By "inline with the wire" I mean directly on the end of the wire, NOT the end of the coil. If you were bending these with a guide you'd slide the hammer down the guide. 

If that makes sense. I used to have to slip coils off mandrels often in the day. I wound a dozen or so turns on a lathe, talk about friction!

Frosty The Lucky.

1 hour ago, BillyBones said:

Flat

If you go over them with a nicely polished planishing hammer, the irregular surface will give pleasing reflections of the candlelight.

Thanks for the tip, Frosty.

Bowl making with the new swage block setup and a mushroom stake in the vise.

Addendum: After taking these photos, I welded a bit of scrap onto the side of the stake's stem, to keep it from pivoting in the vise. Much improved.

Billy love the sconses. 

I took this and made it into this. The person who forged it struggled with the forge weld not taking.  

Just needed some TLC. 

Thanks. Nice recovery on the failed piece. 

Finished the ashtray i was working on. Also got 5 rings made for trivets i will be giving for Christmas. They will look more or less like the base of the ashtray. A bit shorter mostly. Wrist is still a bit sore so it did take me a bit longer to make the rings, about 45mins each. And they still need the wobbles and bobbles taken out and made round. But 5 for 5 welds so a pretty productive or at least satisfying day in the shop. 

 

Nice job on the hatchet head Jennifer. I was going to take a little issue with calling it a failed project but if the maker gives up, I guess failure is involved. It's just not the project and a student can learn provided s/he doesn't give up. 

That was a pretty darned productive day for a recovering gimp Billy, good on ya. It's normal to have to true up forged rings, hooks etc. It's almost the only thing I use the horn for.

Frosty The Lucky.

Thanks Billy, You have been knocking it out of the park.. Glad to see you back at it. 

Frosty, thanks..    I see this kind of thing so, so often.    I think it's bad training, instruction, and a combo of brain washing. 

People are taught that something like this can not, nor should one try to fix it..  If the weld didn't take scrap it.  Few are really taught proper process, and when they are, they revert to their preconceived notions of how it should be done vs how it IS done. 

I think it's more the instant gratification culture that's been developing for the last few decades. Especially now folk expect to get what they expect . . .Now. And seeing as stuff is so available if their expectations aren't met immediately they give up. Some really angrily, I've had a couple of those in my shop. One especially, he demanded I skip the basic skills part (they're not important you know) and just show him the secrets of forging a knife. I'm not a blade smith and don't teach blade smithing. (Take a blade smithing class?, the University does or did then offer them) THEY wanted money, "HECK" NO! Then give me some knife steel! I was thinking this guy is starting to have a psychotic break and discretely put my hands on the BB bat section I use as a bopper. I flat out said NO, I not giving you anything. He stormed out the door shouting and I missed him grabbing a 1" x 2" x 48" length of clear hickory I'd bought for hammer handles. 

When I looked around at the 6-7 other guys in the shop they were all holding hammers, tongs  a couple lengths of steel and looking really concerned.

I stepped out the shop door to see him jump into his vehicle, slam the door and sling gravel on his way out. It wasn't till later one of the guys said he grabbed something out of his pickup but it was junk. I figure he had to have a token victory of some kind and evidently $50+ worth of cabinet grade hickory wasn't enough.

He was the most dramatic and perhaps the most in need of professional help but the just show me the secret mentality got to the point I rarely showed anybody I didn't know well anything in my shop. 

I understand that from kids, you see it all the time and heck, I remember being one of those. But from apparent adults it's disturbing and at my age and condition frightening, I doubt I could hold my own even with a weapon, it's not like I carry a firearm.

Frosty The Lucky.

I've been super busy with work, but I finally finished the refractory and started playing around with the burners.  I didn't realize the hole through the insulation had to be wider than the diameter of the burner, so the first time through, the flame detached.  But I did some reading on IFI, redrilled the holes to 1-1/4" diameter (for the 3/4" T-burners), rigidized them thoroughly, then tried it again.  The flame is now retained, but the mixture is rich (?)  I threw away my ceramic wool scraps, so I couldn't seal the opening.  Is that the problem?

The MIG tips are centered in the opening, so I assume that's not the problem.

It looks like the funky green paint on the burners isn't going to last long. 

Sealing the opening shouldn't affect mixture.  However, hot gasses leaking out between the pipe stub and the burner tube can heat the latter, potentially contributing to burn back.

I delivered the table lamp to the location and agreed on a new job. I also took some photos of my previous work. I've been working with this client for about 10 years.

4 hours ago, MeltedSocks said:

 The flame is now retained, but the mixture is rich (?) 

Maybe take another look at the T-burner page?  One tip it gives is to shorten the MIG tip if the mixture is too rich.

Another successful installation I see Alex, happy customers area treasure.

You've showed us pictures from this house before and I recognize a lot of your work. I have to ask about the blue and white fireplace. (Kitchen?) Is that enameled, glazed ceramic, or?

Frosty The Lucky.

1 hour ago, Mike BR said:

Maybe take another look at the T-burner page?  One tip it gives is to shorten the MIG tip if the mixture is too rich.

I did that this afternoon.  Look how much I had to cut off.  Is this normal?  I did get a bluer flame, but it was on the brink of detaching.

My insulation is 2" plus a good layering of satanite.  How far past the metal shell of the forge should I insert the burner?  To get this blue flame, I had to insert it to within 1/2" of the inside of the insulation, but I read somewhere else that it should only be inserted 1/2" past the outer shell.

https://youtube.com/shorts/-YpL6Cy8UDc?si=unC-4PLkYLq_UrAE

12 hours ago, MeltedSocks said:

How far past the metal shell of the forge should I insert the burner?

as far as needed.  Unfortunately, as you've discovered, the important part is not how far past the shell, but how deep the burner is in the wall of the forge.  It seems obvious to me that the person writing the instructions didn't completely understand the physics behind burners and/or also assumed that every forge is built the same with the same insulation thickness.
My first forge had 2+" of castable and IIRC the burner was only ~1/2" deep from the inner chamber.  In my current big forge, it's about 3/4"-1" deep from the interior walls (See video)

 

This is a DIY forge I made out of an old Harbor Freight portable air tank.  I've tried to copy the Chili Forge in both outer dimensions and insulation thickness, but decided to use the Frosty T-burners because everyone seems to like them.

19 hours ago, Frosty said:

I have to ask about the blue and white fireplace. (Kitchen?) Is that enameled, glazed ceramic, or?

Hi, Jer! This stove is in the bedroom. This estate has two houses and a bathhouse. Each room has its own unique, handcrafted stove or fireplace. The client chooses the tile design herself, and the tiles are made accordingly. The houses have heating. These stoves work, but they're more for show.