Glenn Posted November 22, 2018 Share Posted November 22, 2018 Look at gas welding rod or electric arc welding rod for a lighter weight material. Round to square is good practice, or leave it round. Bare rod is nice, or just remove the flux. Nice project. fits the bun well I would consider shortening the length of the keeper for the safety of others, and so it would not get snagged on things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cannon Cocker Posted November 22, 2018 Share Posted November 22, 2018 Thanks for the advice Glenn! I used 3/8 square bar so there was a lot of drawing out for the project. I was thinking that 1/4" would work better. I saw a similar design on the pinterest and it's keeper pin was probably 2" longer than mine. Way to long....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted November 22, 2018 Share Posted November 22, 2018 I pity the moose that tries to bite that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted November 22, 2018 Share Posted November 22, 2018 For smaller steel square stock, take a look at small key stock. You may want to look at the hair sticks at BP0119 Hair Sticks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cannon Cocker Posted November 22, 2018 Share Posted November 22, 2018 I like that little rose hair pin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc1 Posted November 22, 2018 Share Posted November 22, 2018 Nice job CC, makes it twice as valuable because you made it for your sister It is probably too heavy to be practical but making it with lighter stock now that you made one, will be easy. If you forge a little bump in the pin just in the right place so that it can not slide out too easy, you can make it shorter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psacustomcreations Posted November 23, 2018 Share Posted November 23, 2018 (edited) I have not spent much time at the forge the last couple of weeks. I forced myself to remove everything from my main shop and clean and organize it. A lot of it went into my 40 foot storage container. It feels good to have room to work and a clean shop. I also spent a few days putting ridgidizer and refractory on the door of the forge . The goal was to turn these pieces of 3/8" round bar into square bar and taper the ends. This was the first time I used my new 2 pound Mustad rounding hammer I got at Tractor Supply. It was also the first time I used tongs while working. Previously the square bar I was using was long enough that I didnt need tongs. I have a friend coming over tomorrow. He will teach me blacksmithing for a few hours and I will teach him TIG welding. Pointers or suggestions are always welcome. Edited November 23, 2018 by psacustomcreations Wrong about time about time at the forge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted November 24, 2018 Share Posted November 24, 2018 Got in a few hours today. Practiced some new techniques on the treadle hammer, and made some tools I’d been thinking about for a while. A dog-head hammer from the hexagonal end of a torsion bar: And a pair of horizontal-style scrolling tongs: (Also made a bunch of mistakes, from which I hopefully learned some good lessons.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted November 24, 2018 Share Posted November 24, 2018 How heavy is the hammer John? And what diameter was the shaft of the tortion bar? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted November 24, 2018 Share Posted November 24, 2018 Three pounds, and 1-1/8”. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jclonts82 Posted November 24, 2018 Share Posted November 24, 2018 Today I got my highest layer count to date.. if no loss through scale and grinding, 640. I’m gonna call it 600. To see what it looked like, I cut a 1/4” x 1/4” X 2” slice off the billet and hammered it thin in 2 directions just to see. Made a goofy little keychain! And it survived being hammered on the side of the grain, pretty stoked about that. stack progression: 20:80:320:640 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cannon Cocker Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 Hey John, what is the purpose of a dog head hammer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 Historically, this kind of hammer was used where you wanted precise, flat blows: knifemaking and filemaking are two well-known examples. British knifemaker Owen Bush (IFI member Badger) has a good YouTube video showing use of such hammers. Also, note the hammer used in this video of Albert Craven, the last production hand-forger of blades in Sheffield: https://youtu.be/zpeyhC-UIFg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helena Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 Wow JHCC! That old master in the video is amazing. He forged 288 knives a day at his peak! And how quickly and accurately he could still bang a knife out blew my mind. I laughed out of disbelief! Truly an inspiring smith. Thanks for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 28 minutes ago, Helena said: He forged 288 knives a day at his peak! More than that: remember that he said fourteen to a dozen "for breakages and wastage". That's 392! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 Most fail to recognize as a blacksmith or knife smith or farrier in the old days it was production work.. The guts and glory were lack luster at best... it was only after making 200 of one item to an exacting spec I came to appreciate variety.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olydemon Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 Completed a gift for my oldest son. He wanted a hanger from Amazon for his headphones. Why buy when I can make. I had started this project a few weeks ago (had to let my arm heal as you will see why...) The starting stock was 1.25" 4140 round bar about 7.5" long. I drew this out by hand to a point about 14" long, leaving the original stock size at base. Process photos in the link show drawing it out and some sucker welding pics. Once the taper was finished, I welded the beads on and then let my arm rest for a week.... haha... actually this was last Sunday and I generally only forge on the weekends. Yesterday I finished the suckers, and then put a curve to it as much as I could. The 4140 is really tough to bend after its about .75" diameter, but It worked well for the hanger hook. I also forged out the base from some 3/16 x 4 square giving it a star shape with some texture. I didn't want to have exposed weld bead at the base, so I drilled a couple holes in the back to weld the 2 pieces together. Worked out well, and I think he will be stoked. The Imgur album for the rest of the photos.. https://imgur.com/a/MWfRrRG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 1 hour ago, olydemon said: Completed a gift for my oldest son. He wanted a hanger from Amazon for his headphones. Why buy when I can make. Very nice bit of work! And you're right, no reason to buy something when you can make something of such good quality! That's a hook he'll have for decades into the future, maybe buried in a box somewhere, but you can be sure he'll remember it fondly when he runs across it again! Good job on the plug-welding from the back. The crisp transition is exactly what it called for. The only thing I would have suggested different would have been to drill a 3/4" hole in the base plate and chisel through a few radial lines. Then you could have drifted the hole open larger, driving the "spikes" out much like you see when a rifle round punches through some sheet metal. Insert the tentacle, weld from the back, and then glue on some felt or leather to hide the joint. It would look like the tentacle was breaching through and you'd have a convenient way to hide the joint with a scratch-free surface. Love those suckers on the tentacles. Makes me wish I had a MIG gun instead of the ol' stick-burner! I've tried and tried, but I just can't make that happen with the arc welder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 That's one heavy duty headphone hanger. Awesome work. It is a lot of work moving that size material by hand. I haven't made any of these yet but when I do I know the first ten or so will probably get claimed by my better half. Love the idea for the backing plate Vaughn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 Made a quadruple hook for the kitchen: the top three for colanders and the bottom one for mesh strainers. (Imagine my surprise when this random piece of salvaged scrap turned out to be high carbon and one of the hooks snapped off. Thank goodness for MIG welding.) Also started another bowl in the new hollowing form. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psacustomcreations Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 I spent a few hours yesterday with a friend teaching me a bit more. We did tapers, "S" hooks, braids, and twists. That is the first pic. Today I continued that and welded a few pieces of 1/4 round bar and some 1/4" square bar together then twisted. I also practiced punching holes in a hook. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Ling Posted November 25, 2018 Author Share Posted November 25, 2018 finished up this 20 oz hammer that I had forged a while back. I polished the faces to cover up a bad blow from a striker....I kinda like this style but not really at the same time. Littleblacksmith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 Nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 Well Mark, you can always send your rejects to me for proper disposal. looks great. PSA, its great learning from someone else in person eh? Nice job. Punching holes gets better and easier once you get the hang of it. John, I've certainly had the " surprise! I'm high carbon steel silly." Hit me before. Oops.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psacustomcreations Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 Thanks. We had a good time yesterday but the rain and cold got the better of us. When you have the door open and it is 35 degrees and raining outside it still just sucks. I had an errant strike with the punch on the hook but definitely learned a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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