Very interesting Marc, have to contact a german manufacturer to get on the blanks, but non of the Belgium lock maker wants to ‘ burn his fingers’ by making a copy

Quiet day at the forge today - only one visitor. He was from Richmond, Virginia. He was a pilot who had restored a Piper Cub and we had a good chat about aviation in general and the Boeing Factory at Seattle in particular. Anyway, he was very interested in the forge and watched me make a ram's head for the handle of my charcoal shovel. The old handle had rusted away so I made a much more robust one from 12mm rebar and copper riveted it on.

Also made a few more cat spanner hooks to keep myself amused. Made a ram-handled stove plate lifter as well. A lot of people have those old cast iron woodstoves around here and often the plate lifter gets misplaced.  Here's a pic or two of the day's fun:

 

ausfire - Those kitty wrench hooks are cute.. nice work..

2 hours ago, jlpservicesinc said:

ausfire - Those kitty wrench hooks are cute.. nice work..

Thanks. Very popular with the kids.

I love the expressions you are getting on those cat wrench hooks. 

20 hours ago, Daswulf said:

I love the expressions you are getting on those cat wrench hooks. 

And sometimes it's by accident!  The cat on the right already had a mouth - the 1 stamped on the 1 inch wrench.

On 3/11/2018 at 6:51 AM, ausfire said:

Wow! Easy Peasy? I really think I would have to see that done. Way beyond my current skill level, but thank you for the advice.

 

On 3/11/2018 at 7:00 AM, JustAnotherViking said:

Many thanks for the advice jlpservicesinc, i'll have to see how I get on next weekend when I get back to the coal forge (the gas one I have at home is too big for my burner to get up to welding temperature..

Sorry if this isn't appropriate..  I don't want to beat a dead horse and if over the line, just let me know..  Or delete this post.. 

After reading the replies to my explanation on technique and feed back I was feeling inspired..  I decided yesterday to do exactly that.. A How to with this subject covered (Blacksmith twist with an easier way to get a weld without having to add it to the main shaft  via lap weld).. Video is Not ready yet as it's still in edit.. 

But here are a few pictures..  As always, no story board or warm up, just film and go..  Here is are the results..  The video of course will have all details on forging it but the drawng posted earlier give it all..  i had to use( 9) 1/8" rounds to get the proper gapping for the weld..   

As one of the corrections I used 8" long round stock for the handle as I would for a lap weld..  This left to much handle length..  While it worked I like the basket to fill the hand with little extra..  Also the 1/8" is a little narrow and it makes it tougher to keep it clean where the ball was forged.. You can see the ripples and the extra length.. 

JLP, I just saw this on FB. I can't wait to see the video. Very cool!

ausfire, speaking of size markings on wrenches. We had some at Jelly Belly for the taffy roller, and they were made in either Australia or England. I see a bolt with a 1/2" head and grab the 1/2" wrench which is more like 3/4" open end??? Looked at the other wrenches and they are all oversized?? WTH? Then it dawned on me that they were marked for the size of the threads, not the heads like here in the States... So, for a 1/2" head you grabbed the 5/16" wrench.

 

Yeah, there are so many different markings on wrenches. AF, BSF etc. You are talking about BSW (British Standard Whitworth) there, and you're right - the measurement is thread diameter not bolt head width. I don't normally use them in scrap art (or cat hooks) because they are in demand from people working on old (British) machinery. Any I come across in good condition are donated to the railway restoration people for use on their old locomotive restoration.

Got the transmission out of the jeep finally. Next is to swap some parts and start the reinstall process. 

Yeah I know it's not blacksmith related really but it's this blacksmiths transportation. Ugh. Fun times. 

I made my first kydex sheath today. Only took one reheat to get it shaped right.... I did make it for the wrong side though... Might make another one just because haha.

That kydex is neat stuff. Might have to get some. 

Finished the hot work on Lisa’s (much delayed) Christmas present and forged & heat treated the blade for a crooked knife. 

One of the neighbors stopped by with his little boy, so I made them a nail (for Lent; they’re devout Catholics) and a RR spike bottle opener that came out very well. 

Made a couple of twisted S hooks while waiting for a bunch of schoolkids for today's demo. Made one for the demo too (they're quick and easy for limited attention spans). It was their teacher's birthday, so it made a nice little gift.

Also, inspired by a recent post about troll crosses, just had to give it a try. The first one is a bit off because I didn't get the untwisted part in the centre of the loop.  The second one I twisted the full length to avoid that problem. And the third was from round steel so I could set the crossover down a little. I guess the crucial thing with these crosses is to have good symmetry and the scrolls are ordinary at best. I'm going to make a small jig to get those scrolls consistent. 

And I also made a longhorn bull bottle opener for a cattleman neighbour of mine. He rang me recently to say he had burned a heap of big timber. I picked up nine big bags of good hardwood charcoal after the fire had cooled. 

 

Wasn't my day,,tryed one, just couldn't get centered , messed up the twist in the end

You’ve got all the elements there... just needs a little balance. Good practice for sure.

Aus, Reeltree, Those "messups" are still cool and someone will love them.

Thx ,, the strange thing is I measured to center then punched a mark , still could not bring it home,,o'well 

10 hours ago, Daswulf said:

Aus, Reeltree, Those "messups" are still cool and someone will love them.

Yes, they are give-aways that someone will like. I managed to forge a good troll cross today using a small jig I made for the scrolls. Not perfect but better.

Das, recall you saying on an earlier post that it was good to practise scrolls using only a hammer. I have tried that with limited success. I guess it's a way of making tight scrolls without a gap between the coils. Would you be kind enough to explain how that is done?

Aus, I'm not the best at explaining such things but I'll give it a try. It was something shown to me and might have seen it in a video as well, but I doubt I'd find that vid easily. 

Basically make your taper and round it ( if you are going to make it round). With the stock taper laying flat on the edge of the anvil with just the tip off the edge of the anvil give the tip a light swipe down with the hammer face, move the stock out off the anvil edge a little more and continue a few times. You are making a small "J" with the little hook facing down. Now flip the little end of the J up and with the long of the stock flat on the anvil and and the little end of the J up, tap in on the bottom of that J and it will curl into a scroll. Of course you'll want that little part of the J a little tighter in towards the long of the stock. And keep it at a good heat while doing this. 

Hope that was understandable. Here's some quick sketches. 

On starting the downward J, the smaller you start it (as long as the point is skinny enough) the tighter the scroll. And you really just wasn't to sort of brush it down with the face of the hammer. You're not using the anvil for it except to rest the stock. 

 

Excuse the video quality... I was trying to balance the phone on the anvil. 

Hope this explains a bit 

 

Yup. If you keep it up to the higher working temp it keeps a nice uniform curve as you work it. 

You guys just need to embrace the asymmetric  side of life. Even when the twists are off center they look good, just run with it.

'hand forged with passion, one of a kind item': all about the marketing