What did you do in the shop today?

[Steamboat]

Thanks, SpankySmith. Glad you liked the stand. I did actually give it quite a bit of thought as I was building it, even though I had not planned it in advance. Whenever I build something without a plan in mind, it usually takes me longer, since I have to consider all of the new possibilities after each step of the process. In this case, I happened to have some scrap metal that practically begged to be made into a stand. For instance, the scrap channels were obvious candidates for the uprights, and the leftover triangles came in very handy as gussets.

Al (Steamboat)

[MotoMike]

Really Al, it's sculpture

 

[JHCC]

47 minutes ago, Steamboat said:

Is it something that will require the use of the SCUBA-tank dishing form? Do you do any diving?

No, and no. My supervisor's husband runs a dive shop, and I bought a decommissioned tank off him some months ago. Here's the dishing form I made from the bottom:

Basically cut off the bottom, inverted it in a section of the body of the tank, and welded it together and onto a base (shown here with hold-down chains but subsequently given more permanent fittings to key it onto the anvil). The new one is made from the top end (with the hole plugged), which is deeper and appears to have two different radii. I think instead of having it mount on the anvil, I'll make it taller and with a stem to fit into the portable hole. Might fill the interior with sand, for greater mass.

47 minutes ago, Steamboat said:

Maybe you could give us a hint.

Nope.

[GrumpyBiker]

Welded on my own bracket to the previous owners mounting bracket (or what was left of it.

 

I'm no welder so it felt like there was as much grinding as there was welding !

 

 

[Steamboat]

Good idea to take advantage of what was already there. That's a good-looking anvil on a solid-looking stand. 

I just now noticed that the plates are welded on both sides of the anvil, so you have hold-downs on both sides. Should hold well.

Al (Steamboat)

[Daswulf]

I like it GB. Nice use of what's there. 

[Mudman]

[Daswulf]

Very nice Mud. 

I made more "junk" for the freaky fair. 

The snakes tongue doesn't look quite as big in person. 

[ausfire]

Looks like a bit of (very) flattened threaded rod for the snake there, Das. I have often been asked about forked tongues on the snakes. What is holding the copper (?) in place?

And nice openers, Mudman. Clean design. Well done.

[Daswulf]

Yeah this snake was well abused into shape haha. I need more practice with these. 

The mouth was cut open with a hacksaw and once all you're done put the tongue in the mouth and tap it shut. 

[Steamboat]

Mudman, nice openers. The equine model should be an especially popular item.

Das and Ausfire, since you've both been delving into the herpetological branch of blacksmithing, have either of you considered creating some visual metaphors or visual puns in steel of well-known things or idioms like "snake oil," "snake in the grass," "snake eyes," "lounge lizard," "toad in the hole," etc.? Might be kind of fun. 

Al (Steamboat)

[CWest]

I really like those openers. 

I managed to knock out a paper holder as a gift. I wish I would have kept track of the amount of material used, in case of similar projects in the future. 

[JHCC]

Measure the volume with the displacement method and multiply by the density of steel. That’ll get you close. 

[Ranchmanben]

Cleaned up a couple of anvils. Just the top two. 

[Mudman]

Thanks fellas.

More bottle opener. Trying to refine things, and get smoother at it. 

[Ranchmanben]

2 hours ago, Mudman said:

Thanks fellas. More bottle opener. Trying to refine things, and get smoother at it. 

I love scale free, smooth forgings. That one is both. Great job. 

[Mudman]

Thanks ranchmanben, did a lot of brushing. Still not satisfied with the finish though. I want it cleaner haha.

[Ranchmanben]

I know the feeling and the desire to have perfectly smooth forgings. I don’t know if you do it but I recently learned to only use your block brush in one direction. That helped me some and you can also burn scale off with a torch when you really really want to be particular

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

I haven't tried it but have heard that dropping small parts at black heat in vinegar will remove the scale.

[Ranchmanben]

I’ve left a few parts and hammer heads in vinegar over night and it certianly removes scale but it also reveals pockmarks in the metals where the scale has been hammered into it. The lesson I’ve learned is to brush loose scale off when you get to the anvil, ideally with the material hanging in open air, and vigorously brush before it goes back into the fire. It gets to be a habit. In my experience, scale makes more scale. If you start removing it at the beginning of a forging you don’t end up with those stubborn bits of scale that won’t come off with a jack hammer.  

[Daswulf]

1 hour ago, Irondragon Forge & Clay said:

I haven't tried it but have heard that dropping small parts at black heat in vinegar will remove the scale.

On rare occasion with small known mild steel pieces i have quenched them quickly in water to remove some scale. .....

[Ranchmanben]

I do that too Das. I will also sometimes dunk my brush before I use it. It’s a farrier trick that’s surprisingly effective. 

[Mudman]

I'll try the vinegar dunk. Part of me, is chasing a better finish- more than I am trying to get better. 

See some folks, with finishes that look like it was all done in one heat. They say they brush a lot, while I'm certainly getting better at it, still not anywhere near their work. I'm brushing like my life depends on it. 

fullered areas give me the most trouble. If only my rage could scare off the scale. 

 

Das, those snakes look like they would make cool ring/pin thingies (forget the name) that people used on coats in the olden days. 

[Exo313]

8 hours ago, Mudman said:

Das, those snakes look like they would make cool ring/pin thingies (forget the name) that people used on coats in the olden 

What is the plural of Ouroboros? Ouroboroi?

Agree, though. Would be a good cloak pin. 

[JHCC]

Yes; first declension, masculine nominative plural  

The true penannular broach has a gap for the pin to pass through, which wouldn’t work with the full-circle theme of the ouroboros. The pseudo-penannular type with an unbroken circle would work better artistically, if slightly less practically.