What did you do in the shop today?

[Gergely]

Thanks, Frosty! I try and find the first heart I made a year ago. The difference is relevant (at least  )

Hi, Ben! Very nice looking hammers and photos!

The main change I made recently to enhance consistency is that I switched to laser cut starting stock. Originally it was 120x5x10 mm flat. You can see the new blank in the picture (It's cut from 4mm thick sheet):

 

Other than that I use only a 30mm dia round piece in the hardy hole. It helps shaping the upper archs of the hearts.

Bests:

Gergely

PS: 40 more horseshoes today  + blackened the hearts

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

Ranchmanben, the way I saw hearts being done from horseshoes that was very consistent was he would take a heat and fold the shoe in half so it looked more like a loose "J" than a "U".  From there the J was straightened out into a I. The ends were drawn down on edge as a slender tapers then the curves were bent. The final step was to unfold the heart and tap the folded section at the tip flat. This method drew both sides out and curved at the same time, so they always matched. The fold was done at the bottom point so horse heads, etc could be done at the top as well as scrolls.  With the fold at the top , the bottom could be scrolled or otherwise enhanced, attached to a rod, etc..

This demo was at a Renaissance Fair and the smith and his wife have a traveling "castle" built onto a Frerightliner F-70. I can't remember the name they go by at the moment, but he forges in a kilt with steel scales on the front. He called them unicorn shoes, not hearts though   He did several demos during the day. Each one was 15 minutes and in that time he would do four of each item that were given away at the end by a drawing  - each person attending got a ticket when entering. During the demo his wife would tell a story that was related to smithing. The one I saw talked about Thor an Loki. One demo did unicorn shoes, another was kilt pins....etc.

He used a gas forge due to the fair, and a 500# PW anvil. The shoes he used were smaller pony shoes, not full size.

[Ranchmanben]

Cleaning day. Not finished but it’s a vast improvement. 

[Mark Ling]

oh man, been a while since Ive seen a shot of your shop, its real nice!

forged out 4 pairs of flat jaw tongs. All drawn out by hand, was surprised I was able to make 4 in the little time I had.

                                                                                                                                     Littleblacksmith 

 

And here is a hammer eye punch Bounty forge and I made the other night out of some 5160.

 

Still got a few more tongs to make until I am where I want to be, and then this winter I will make some more.

 

[JHCC]

Nice consistency on those tongs.

[Mark Ling]

Thanks! I actually even made a little stop for my anvil for doing the first set down so all the jaws would be similar sizes, so less grinding. It's crude but worked.

 

                                                                                                                                                  Littleblacksmith 

 

[Ranchmanben]

Thanks Mark. I’ve been building up that shop the way I want for eight years now and in another eighty I’ll be half way finished. Those tongs are mighty nice! I’m going to have to steal your set down stop idea. I’ve still been marking my anvil with a sharpie which works pretty good until you see such a superior method. 

[Al Stephens]

Ranchmanben, Nice Shop! But I have to ask, where's the chimney for the coal forge? Or is it a "down draft", if so we need LOT'S more pictures. Al

[gaswizard]

Today I finished up a restoration job of a 1870 glass gas chandelier for a customer. Ground down the gas valve stems and re-seated them up followed up by grease, red wax sealed then pressure tested. Shipping this to Pennsylvania very soon.

[ThomasPowers]

Pretty and pretty specialized too.  My house in Ohio had one of the original lighting fixtures up in the attic---a combination gas and electric one.  Still in use on the electric side but I never had the chuptzah to mess with the gas side---it was holding pressure and I figured that would no longer be the case if I messed with it just from curiosity.  (Pretty much dated the house too as combo fixtures didn't last lone in the cities...)

[Frosty]

Nice tongs Mark! The stop you use to set your shoulders and bits consistently is called a "kiss block" in common blacksmith jargon. "Kiss" because when you kiss it  with the hammer you stop hammering. "Block" because it's there to block you from going too far. My interpretation of "Blocking" is mostly educated speculation as that's a good description of what it does.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Ranchmanben]

Al, I only burn coke in that forge and there’s no chimney of any sort. One of these days I’ll talk the boss into letting me cut a hole in the barn for a chimney. Until then I use a combination of very big fans and large doors open to have enough air flow to not die. 

[ThomasPowers]

Try talking the boss into letting you make a hole in the wall and use a dogleg chimney.

[Mark Ling]

Thanks Ben! yeah, it works good for marking where to set down, and then you have to move to another section of the anvil where the stop isnt in the way, cause obviosly as you forge out the jaw it lengthens, and so the stop would get in the way.

Thanks Frosty! well, I'm not sure if you would call this a kiss block. This isn't used to know when to stop forging the thickness of the jaws down, but is used simply as a stop for doing the first set down. I take the bar, butt it up angianst the stop, give it a couple hits, then move to another section of the anvil so its not in the way. No kissing involved . Just used as a stop, but maybe it would still be called a kiss block.

                                                                                                                                                   Littleblacksmith 

[Zrognak]

Got invited to my brother for dinner but before I left I made a really small anvil or if it can be called that. It is made from some type of rail, dont know if it is a rail from a barn door or if its from some kind of lumber rail and don't know what type of steel it is, but it can be heat treated from the testing I did of smaller pieces from it so ill do that in the morning, im out of coke but I think i can scrape together some charcoal even though my lungs hate it will be wearing a dust filter.

It is nothing fancy, I know some might wonder what it can even be used for cause it is so small with a thin neck, but I will use it for really small works, with my extremely tiny hammers.

it is 64mm tall and 110cm long. going to make a hard wood base for it so it sits a bit more sturdy on the work bench.

 

Hope everyone had a good day.

Cheers!

[Frosty]

Hmmmm, I misunderstood what you were using it for. There's a term for it but it escapes me. "Story mark" maybe? . .  eh. Gauge? DRATS! Now this is going to be stuck in my head till I remember it or someone else posts the term. Guess I could look up what the stop on a cut off saw to duplicate cut lengths is called.

If I'm still asking myself this tomorrow I'll think of a way to get even. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[JHCC]

The term you want is “stop block”.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

I've heard it called a bump stop too. I just looked at the parts diagram for my vertical bandsaw and it's called a stop gauge there.

[JHCC]

And if it pivots up and out of the way, it can be a “flip stop”.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

1 hour ago, Zrognak said:

wonder what it can even be used for

Looks really nice and would be a good a jewelers anvil.

[ThomasPowers]

Trolly rail and mine rail can also be fairly small.

[Frosty]

1 hour ago, JHCC said:

And if it pivots up and out of the way, it can be a “flip stop”.

Thanks guys those is them! Here's another you see used in the summer. Curbs are known as flip flop stops. 

Zrognak: That'd be a beautiful jeweler's bench anvil. Put a good polish on it and it'd be a sweet addition to any shop.

Frosty The Lucky.

[smokey07]

very envious of you folks time in the shop. i actually got to walk in mine today for the first time in a month. with all the wildfires in the pacific northwest, and my "partime" job driving a water truck for the fire crews, our shift is 14 days on , then 2 days off, then 14 days on again. when you get home for the 2 days, is about enough time to do laundry and SLEEP then back out again. oh well it will get better once winter gets here. Smokey.

[ThomasPowers]

Take care of yourself, try to eat decent and exercise as much as you can.  My first job out of college was babysitting oil wells; 12 on 12 off 7 days a week; usually no down time during that boom. Also it was about a 3 hour drive from the head office and my apartment so sleeping in my own bed was pretty rare.  I got an old van and set it up with a bed and camped out to get maximum off time; did a lot of reading, hiking, fishing, rock collecting.  Pretty much didn't have a social life till the bust hit and all my time was time off. I'm too old for that now!  

On one rig they told me about seeing a flickering light in my van and sending a hand down to check that I wasn't on fire---he looked in and saw that I was sitting in my sleeping bag wearing a parka and gloves, drinking a beer and reading a SF book by the light of a flickering candle lantern...

I did pick up a bunch of smithing stuff wandering about the small towns out there. I lived on the cheap and so saved a bunch of money and bought stuff just for me! (Came in handy after I married and had a family and had NO budget for luxuries like scrap metal...)

Stay safe and plan for your time off!

[Zrognak]

Irondragon forge & Clay and Frosty thank you that is good to hear, it is partially what I will be using it for so, as for polish that is a great idea i got it at 400g right now but im going to heat treat it so though I continue after it is treated.

ThomasPowers that is cool, I found the rail near a house my mother and father owns, believe the house is around 120 years old or so, no idea how it got there there was a old barn there but it did not have any huge sliding doors could also be a rail they used for hanging up game and livestock for butchering , maybe the people that lived there ones brought it home to use for something, but that is cool did not know they used such small rails in mines good to know, either way it seems to be some type of steel, never been good in knowing these things by just doing tests, but the piece i tested to treat broke off cleanly and the grain structure was quite smooth actually, so we will see how hard it gets. Going to search the forums for info on heat treating similar things cause never done one of these before.

Awezome stuff in this thread, always fun to look at talented peoples works, even if you are just cleaning the shop it is fun stuff it is good to see peoples workshops.

Cheers!