Jump to content
I Forge Iron

What did you do in the shop today?


Recommended Posts

  • Replies 26.1k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • JHCC

    3105

  • ThomasPowers

    1935

  • Daswulf

    1639

  • Frosty

    1610

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

Thongs are what flip flops were called in the old days. I recall driving a friend of Dad's crazy trying to get him to explain how you lace boots with thongs. I was maybe 7-8. I can just imagine my thoughts about your thong being completely hidden in your butt crack.:o

Frosty The Lucky.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My first attempt at coat hooks. Figure I can hide them in a dark closet somewhere (or give them to a relative). Those curly thingys are tricky (squished the one in the top back). I started quenching them after that to make the offset. 

NuwRJXE.jpg 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I too think they look good. The next time you "squish" a scroll, heat it back up and take an awl to open it up some. Really if you hadn't mentioned it, I doubt if anyone would have noticed. Nice job on a first coat rack, now go and make about 50 of them.:)

I just showed them to my wife and she said they are beautiful and didn't mention the scroll.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not bad at all Ted, a little flattening on forged finial scrolls is pretty normal. If anyone notices or mentions it explain how many years of research and practice it took before you were able to achieve the effect. NO, do not actually mention how long you've been working at the anvil! It's not an accident that Bull Shooting and Black Smithing have the same abbreviation you know. ;)

Did you punch or drill the screw holes? Punching is pretty easy on that size stock IF you move fast. I like marking the spot cold with a center punch and a hard blow. Then I use a counter punch to make the counter sink and lastly punch the screw hole. Using the counter punch first pooches the shank out nicely and leaves little of the original thickness to make the through hole in. 

I used to punch the hole then try counter punching it and it was a PITA to get it even, it's much easier the other way even if it doesn't sound like it.

Frosty The Lucky.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the encouragement everyone, I appreciate it. Also, thanks for the clarification of terms, I'm still getting my fullers mixed up with my drifts. :unsure:

The awl sounds like a good idea and I'll use it next time, thanks. 

Frosty: You would bring up the holes! You would think after the thousands of holes I've drilled I could get a couple straight! I didn't think about the holes until the last, so I had to drill one from the back side on each. I didn't realize that the steel was a little twisted until the hole almost came out the side in the front. At that point my screw selection went from countersunk to large flat head to hide my poor machining. I used some sheet metal screws, which took some delicate grinding to make them look like a normal hex head. I'll give your method a try next time. 

I reheated both of the hooks and trued them up, but not before the damage was done. It was a good learning experience.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very nice and clean job Ted!  My only recommendation is that you use a punch to countersink the screw or bolt holes.  I made the same mistake on my first coat rack last year.  When I made lantern hooks for the dinning room this spring I used a punch to countersink the holes and it made drilling easier and the screws recessed nice and flat to the stock surface.  If you want to punch the holes all the way through that's fine, but I prefer to drill them so that they are exactly where I want them.  I've punched my holes before too and it's pretty easy as well.  Your scrolls look just fine too.  The great thing about scrolls is that they vary so much that you can get away with a tight one if that happens.  I just try to make them all scrolled close to the same way.  Great job....."It will hang" :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Made some small wall hooks to hold a tapestry that was given to me by my grandfather. Hung it next to the chandelier I did awhile back (finally got the wax candle covers in) and just like that we have a throne room. If anyone is looking for quality wax candle covers (both translucent and sleeves) take a look at Lumiere Candles, Inc. (https://www.candlecoverstore.com/main.sc;jsessionid=17B99B9FA38434328933EBCF4933E092.p3plqscsfapp002). They offer a discount to those in the trade.

IMG_20180717_141823269_HDR.jpg

IMG_20180717_141932218_HDR_2.jpg

IMG_20180717_154805898_HDR_2.jpg

IMG_20180717_155846858_HDR_2.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow. Those are bigger than I thought given the first picture. Seeing the tapestry hung from the part I thought was a finial really changed my sense of scale!

I got the rough forging done on my hardy (hardie?) cut off today. I wore a steel thong, and it was very uncomfortable, but I felt safer. I'll planish it a bit to make it look nicer, and then file it to finish. It looks like I didn't get the twist completely out of it. I'll just tell everyone that it's just canted enough to fit the curve of my wrist. It's a feature, not a bug.

 

as-forged-hardy2.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I still don't trust my four year-old with a steel hammer; he uses wooden mallets, a poly-plastic mallet, and occasionally a little 8-oz. claw hammer to drive nails.

But then, we don't have a forge at our place and he mostly uses his hammers to pound clay (inside) and break bricks (outside). :rolleyes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

She’s been “forging” since she was a year and half. Her forging is hammering on the anvil til she finds the place it rings the loudest then we both hammer that spot. We recently started working on hammering specific chalk marks on cold stock. She does good for a couple minutes before I turn her loose on the dogs. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, bajajoaquin said:

Wow. Those are bigger than I thought given the first picture. Seeing the tapestry hung from the part I thought was a finial really changed my sense of scale!

They are about 8" tall and protrude 4" from the wall. Made out of 1/4" thick x 3/4" wide stock. The tapestry itself is around 54" wide by 38" long.

Mod note: Please do not quote entire blocks of text and photos that are not relevant to your reply. It makes the forum hard to read and eats up bandwidth for our members who use dial-up internet. 

Edited by Mod34
Excessive quoting removed
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pounding out a lance head to a costumer. It's almost 2' long. Starting stock was 32 mm / 1 1/4" dia railway coil spring.

Also have been working on a wall hook prototype. It takes some time till it's gonna be a finished design, but getting there slowly :)

1965456704_201808landzsa1.thumb.jpg.f3a64d3ca1bb4490cc0fe9a1a86163b3.jpg

1669080643_201808fogasproto1.thumb.jpg.ec5bb3b22317730252868ecc9d697683.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Forty hooks, start to finish.

 

IMG_6786.thumb.JPG.f31e070624d4d743ff9e371a0234aafd.JPG

 

Even after making a few hundred of these things, I can't get them to come out "perfectly" even.  Tolerance stacking/collision, I guess, when there's so much variable in the length of taper and the size of the curl.  It doesn't seem like much, but it adds up when you bend them around the form to get a consistent gap size.

 

Still, it's a fun thing to sink your teeth into.  

 

Now, I'm off to make a dish for a lady that needs some iron in her life....

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Over the last 3 weeks I spun 100 6" aluminum 6061 balls that are .055 thick with a pacman cut out. These attach to fascia on the Marin Civic Center building and get anodized 804 inorganic light gold. This was last building Frank Lloyd Wright designed before he died.

Cheers and "happy metal working"

Paul

DSC04332.jpg

6 inch ball.jpg

DSC04503.jpg

DSC04505.jpg

DSC04507.jpg

6 inch spun ball project.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I saw a guy on YouTube do some braiding so I thought I'd give it a try. I was just sort of winging it, and this is what resulted...

wLOgyIT.jpg

pXZiwpw.jpg

The braids got a bit tighter down towards the end when I got the hang of it. I used two pieces of 3/16" "music wire" (why do they call it that?).

 

Ted

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, VaughnT said:

How does the split chuck assembly work?  Looks like you've well and truly wrapped the aluminum around the ball, and you've got to get the ball out of there....

It appears that after the ball was spun, the center mandrel comes out to release the multiple pieces of the form,

- Just my guess on looking at the pics.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 8/3/2018 at 3:53 AM, VaughnT said:

Even after making a few hundred of these things, I can't get them to come out "perfectly" even.  Tolerance stacking/collision, I guess, when there's so much variable in the length of taper and the size of the curl.

Vaughn,

To keep your sizes consistent, try to use a jig.  I made mine from various sizes of steel pipe, axles, tubing, etc.  Here is an example of one I use for horseshoe hooks.  Pipe size is 2 1/4" and the stub is 3/8" rod.  Use a hook that you like to set up the space between the pipe and stub.  Drill a hole for the stub and plug weld it in place from the bottom.  (The other picture is a jig for small hooks using a piece of axle shaft about 1 1/2' diameter.)

To make them consistent do this:

From stock at least long enough for at least one hook, make your finial first,

Heat the lower part including the finial enough to form the anticipated hook curve,

Dip the finial in water to cool, hook it between the stub and pipe and quickly bend it around the form.

After you get the shank straightened out, you can cut it off to the required length, then make your dimples and holes.  That way you have your curves all the same and cutting after bending lets you come out with equal lengths for the shanks.

 

001.jpg

002.jpg

003.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


×
×
  • Create New...