January 27Jan 27 2 minutes ago, MeltedSocks said: Picture of the actual cut or it didn't happen. Really clean and can hardly see it now or i would. Only reason I still have it wrapped is in case it springs a leak again. Actually it's embarrassingly clean and small now that I really look at it. Looked bigger when I realized what I did. Kinda like when that 36 grit belt blew apart on the grinder and smacked me. Lot of blood at first then, oh wait it's not that bad.
January 27Jan 27 Finished the bolster today. It will fit both my hydraulic press and the power hammer. Tomorrow I'll try it out.
January 27Jan 27 I finished off my belt buckle last night, only to find that the wire piece where it attaches to the end of the belt was not wide enough. I tried to gently tap it flatter and wider with a small hammer, and of course I snapped it I'll be able to fix it but I will have to re-harden, re-hand-sand and re-etch it.
January 28Jan 28 Can’t wait to hear how they work, Melted Socks! Hefty, I feel you. My first attempt at a miners candlestick was for a friends birthday, I worked for most the day, and it cracked. Wasn’t able to get it to him in time because I had to scrap it. I restarted and he loved it. Can’t wait to see how the belt buckle comes out! I did my second forgeweld today. No flux. My friend (same one that got the miners candlestick) helped me build a brake rotor forge with a hand crank blower, and for all the controversy about them, it works great. Clean, hot forging, easy fire management.
January 28Jan 28 It’s great nail the weld for the first time, isn’t it! One tip for next time, forge a steep scarf on the end of your bar before you fold it back for welding, and make it extra material in the scarf. That way it will blend nicely without the cold shunt. Then if you need a clean step in thickness, you can forge the blended scarf to original bar thickness and keep your material clean, strong and to desired length. (Comes in handy building up mass for one piece ladles and spatulas…) Keep it fun, David
January 28Jan 28 I use a brake rotor for my fire pot. What we called top hat rotors when i was still working on cars, work the best. They are the ones that have the brake shoe for the parking brake built inside the rotor. A lot of rear disc trucks and some cars use them. They are deeper than a regular rotor, ~2 - 2 1/2" or so. Works dandy.
January 28Jan 28 I've still got a brake rotor sitting in my shed for this purpose, but because I can't find a good coal/coke source near me, I'm still using a side blast JABOD with charcoal. In other news, I finished the belt buckle! I plan on wearing it to work because it's small. It's small because it was forged in a JABOD and hand hammered! I also plan to make more, and bigger ones! Cheers, Jono.
January 28Jan 28 I tried out my drift and bolster on my hydraulic press. Worked great, and knocking out the drift was easy. After using the press, I was able to use my long drift and a hammer to max it out. The only frustrating thing from today's session is the hole shrank back some. I can't really over-size the hole, now, unless I make a larger drift. I may just finish this hammer then make a larger drift for my next hammer. I normalized it, then went to Walmart to buy 5 gallons of canola oil and a large enameled canning pot. The faces are pretty square. The camera perspective makes them look trapezoidal.
January 29Jan 29 Repaired a garden fire place. Was broken in shipment. And made a firepoker for the same guy. Handle should be bigger and the ball at the end a ball.
January 29Jan 29 Yesterday's project was moving a power hammer into its final location. Has been a long time in getting to this point, so a personal milestone. I'm an IT infrastructure guy by trade, thus enjoy the work of design and building, however those pursuits can be quite counter to the wise advice to get started with simple tools, keeping the focus on the skills to be learned. Video of the process: https://youtu.be/GgXAwu_UEG4 --Larry
January 29Jan 29 Congratulations! I look forward to see the work you produce with it! Keep it fun? David
January 29Jan 29 Larry, congratulations. Enviable point, to be sure. Also, I like your shop. It is clean and bright. (unless that's not your shop and you're just using the power hammer to flatten aluminum cans in your garage?) Socks - Excellent work on that hammer. I have made a few with my coaliron press. It does okay. Your die plates look better than mine, though. I need to get around to making more but I never think of it.
January 29Jan 29 Congrats on the new toy, Larry! Thanks for the encouragement, guys! I heat treated the hammer this morning and installed the handle this afternoon. It has some flaws, but for my first hammer I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. I used bubinga for the wedge. I hate the way the metal ones look because they split the wood, but I may have to eventually use one. It's got nice rebound. Can't wait to use to tomorrow.
January 30Jan 30 Soak the head in a pan of linseed oil. It will soak into the handle and swell it up.
January 30Jan 30 15 hours ago, JHCC said: I don't see any beards -- which one is you? Green coveralls--I've had a beard most of my life and still like those pics better... 15 hours ago, Ridgeway Forge Studio said: Also, I like your shop. It is clean and bright. It remains to be seen just how well clean & bright work in the blacksmith's context let alone maintaining it! My preference does run toward being able to see clearly though. Nice job on that hammer Nate! I'll bet it spawns more!! --Larry
January 30Jan 30 Your first hammer is beautiful. You did a great job keeping the eye in line with the hammer faces, and they themselves look good and smooth. Impressive work .
January 30Jan 30 Nice hammer! You might want to soften the face edges just a bit more, but otherwise it's looking good! 1 hour ago, LarryFahnoe said: I've had a beard most of my life I just shaved mine off; the CPAP mask fits a lot better without it.
January 30Jan 30 I'll probably round over the edges more, but I wanted to try it out today. I did most of the rough tapering on my power hammer, but did some finishing manually on this new, larger drift. The hammer felt really good in my hands. I think I need to make another pair of pick-up tongs specifically for grabbing little drifts and other small pieces of round bar. I dropped that drift at least a couple dozen times. I'm thinking a version of these shown below with smaller semi-hoops (or whatever you call them). No boiled linseed oil in my workshop. Lowes has it though.
January 30Jan 30 Want to make a new towel bar for my kitchen. Found me a piece of hex to make it from. I do not work hex very often so a bit of practice also. I have no idea what the alloy is but to do 1 turn of a twist in a 3" section took me 3 heats. Cutting off a small piece took chunks out of my band saw blade. The spark pattern was not a lot of sparks but what was there was 4th of July fireworks. 7/16" hex 16" long, looks like a few new tools to be made instead of a towel bar. No boiled linseed oil in the shop is kind of sacrilege as a blacksmith.
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