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I Forge Iron

What did you do in the shop today?


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I like your mantis, Das. You have really got the triangular head shape and the mouthparts well defined. It has the proportions of the baby mantises we often see here. And the typewriter parts worked well, despite being a pain to weld.

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Thanks Aus. It's not as defined as I wanted but I came to that point where the more i was trying to define it, the more I was messing it up. So I called it done. 

Working on a hummingbird for a gift tonight.  Has a great part and was modifying it with the 3" roloc disc grinder. The compressor kicked on, it flung out of my fingers and I have No idea where it wound up lol. Ah well. Redesign. 

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Ha! I've had that happen too, Das. I had spend some time shaping a little piece of wrought for an owl beak. The bench grinder wheel picked up on a short sharp edge and threw it into the back of the scrap table. Never did find it.

Good luck with hummingbird #2.

I made a couple of these today. Very popular with musical types.

 

treble clef again.JPG

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Haha yup there is a black hole in my shop too. Usually I either see it fly or hear it "ting" off of something but this one vanished and the compressor running made it impossible to hear. Don't even have a direction to start looking. Must have been the black hole. 

Picked up a drawer organizer bin with a drawer full of those little clips and other fastner parts at an auction. Very convenient for when the black hole strikes. 

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Whence they occasionally emerge in unusably small pieces. 

Today, I added 1/4”, 3/8”, and 1/2” round swages to my swing-arm guillotine (adding to the existing 7/8” square for forging hardy stems).

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I think that’s the last job before I have to return the college’s drill press and welder. It’s been a good run. 

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3/4” x 2-1/2” bar, probably A36 or something similar — it used to support the top of a fireplace opening. I cut it into three sections: two welded together as an upside-down “T” for the base, and one for the swing arm itself. 

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The vertical support is 7/8”x 2” A36 (salvaged — with permission! — from one of the college’s construction projects), with the bottom trimmed down to fit my 7/8” square hardy hole. There are two pieces of 1/2” round that act as guide bars for the end of the swing arm. The pivot is a 1/2” bolt from the hardware store. 

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You can see that the outboard end of the swing arm has been reshaped to clear the base as it pivots. It also has a handle which is convenient for lifting the swing arm to allow the workpiece to be rotated.

I may trim down the vertical support; that extra height isn’t doing anything useful. 

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Time to scrounge and sell off work you wanted to keep to purchase a welder John. ;) been there many times. The payoff is worth the sacrifice. Nice work. 

 

Didn't get as far with this humminbird as I wanted. Almost there. Assemble wings, make base and probably a spring to attach it for a little movement. 

All the feathers are cold hammered nails. 

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Das I intend this in the most positive way. You see the world in a very different way than most. My imagination does not get me to the point of seeing a “bug” from a mess of salvaged steel. It amazes me. Very nice stuff. But you gotta be a bit weird  just sayin. 

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There is a farmer near where I live Fort Collins Co. that has done larger sculptures for years. Called it the Swetsville Zoo. Bill Zwets I believe. His stuff not as intricate as yours but still it took some creativity. 

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I heard recently that he was needing to sell the place and his fear was that his art might get scrapped. I amgiing to check it out the next time I am in that area. My kids toured his place on class trips a bunch of years ago. I don’t believe he ever charged for tours. Just took donations. 

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Thats very sad. Hopefully he keeps it going. That is all too great to scrap. Maybe part of why I was helped along with "Everything is for sale" cant take it with you and eventually someone finds your good natured mission useless. Sad.

Finished the hummingbird gift tonight. 

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