What did you do in the shop today?

[SFC Snuffy]

Made some more progress on the stand for my swage block. I wish now I had done some things differently, but overall I'm happy with the results. It's all glued together and bolted, but I need to fabricate and install the retaining brackets on the corners, paint the bottom with exterior latex, and treat the top & sides with deck sealant. So little time.

[Jim Coke]

Greetings Snuffy,   You don’t need side retainer brackets on the top . You will find they just get in the way. You could also shorten the side columns by 2 in or so . That would make positioning the block from its vertical to horizontal much easier. Just this ol boys suggestion. 
 

 

Forge on and make beautiful things 

Jim

Greetings GolfFishHunt,

       Your steel casters unless locked to the floor will move . I suggest a bracket off the cinder block with a quick release to move the forge. Nice fire pot. Looks familiar. You will also need a steel pass through for your pipe . Wood is not good.
 

Forge on and make beautiful things 

Jim

[KYCATS]

59 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

Motorized?  Like the Wild Wild West movie perhaps?

Now that's an idea lol. And I like that skull Michael 

[marcusb]

Brought some anvil timbers down off the hill from the sawmill and stacked them in the new shop to dry. One on the front is to become a yoke if I do my part.

[slanwar]

On 10/12/2019 at 10:09 PM, SFC Snuffy said:

Not *in* the shop, per se, but I picked up some hickory 4x4s today with which I intend to make a stand for my 

Where you buy hickory from? Can’t find anywhere in NJ, I made a viking axe and I end up using oak for the handle 

[ThomasPowers]

For special items I keep a few broken sledge hammer handles around to cut down for odd shaped use.  Make friends with a contractor and you can get a gracious plenty of them. (My brother had a small landscaping business and some day labourers would break the handles on purpose so they didn't have to work until the "Boss" came back around to check on the job...)

[alexandr]

Installed fencing.

In the workshop, as usual, do not get through.

To be continued.

 

[SFC Snuffy]

Slanwar, I'm not native to Missouri but I understand hickory to be plentiful around here. The sawmill where I bought my 4x4s offers white oak, red oak, walnut, pecan, hickory, and ash, all custom cut. They also buy standing timber.

[horse]

I live in Colorado and there is no hickory grown here but I use it to smoke meats. At nearly 7 hundred per cord it makes it expensive to burn but only a couple of dollars per piece as fire wood. Check with fire wood companies and they should let you pirate enough pieces that you can cut down for handles for a not a lot. I am quite certain that hickory grows in your state. 

[jlpservicesinc]

alexandr  I love the items you turn out.  With being involved with smithing for so long and understanding logistics of what it takes to produce good quality ironwork. I am always amazed how much you produce in such a magnificent blend of wood and metal. 

I've got a bunch of business related questions for you but won't post here.  I'd love to hear more about your business as I am sure others would too. 

it's tough to produce day in and day out and do installs no matter how good you are especially by ones self. 

Anyhow, great work and thanks for sharing it.  The work and how quickly you keep it moving along just keeps me full of questions. 

 

[alexandr]

1 hour ago, jlpservicesinc said:

I've got a bunch of business related questions for you but won't post here.  I'd love to hear more about your business as I am sure others would too. 

Thank !
Ask, I will try to answer. (problem with english)

Started a new job. Furniture, lights. 

[jlpservicesinc]

SFC Snuffy, I'm with Jim Coke.  Lower those side timbers some. I like about 50% of block or less depending on how tight it fits.  This of course depends on block size.  It's hard to tell how big the block is. but if I had to guess it's say it was 18" or so judging the timbers size as a best guess. 

[JHCC]

1 hour ago, jlpservicesinc said:

I’ve got a bunch of business related questions for you but won't post here.  I'd love to hear more about your business as I am sure others would too. 

26 minutes ago, alexandr said:

Ask, I will try to answer. (problem with english)

Why don’t the two of you collaborate on a new thread over in the  “Business Side of Blacksmithing” section?

[picker77]

SFC Snuffy, nice solid chunk of work, not likely to fall apart any time soon, ha. I've looked off and on for a while, have never seen a decent swage block for sale in my area. They are much less common than anvils, which are pretty rare themselves.

BTW, would that by any chance be Chief Shipfitter Snuffy? If so, thanks for your service!

[ThomasPowers]

I bought my swage block when I was in OKC back in the early 1980's, found it in a Thrifty Nickle I was perusing over breakfast.  Actually the ad said it was an anvil but when I called the seller they told me it was "a funny anvil with all these shapes on it"  I said "it's a swage block and I'll buy it!", then called my boss and told him I'd be late.  Cost slightly under US$1 a pound IIRC.

Now I realize it was all part of the cosmic plot to drain Oklahoma of smithing stuff, I guess I shouldn't mention the two triphammers I took out of there too.  Oops!

[Marc1]

I am building a pizza oven.

Not very blacksmithy, but a lot of fun. Got myself a wet brick saw, and cutting bricks with it is a breeze.

Noisy though. My dog runs away as soon as I start  

[SLAG]

Marc1,

I suspect that your dogs are reacting to the probable high pitch noise emanating from the saw. The majority of humans do not hear those frequencies and are,  thus,  not aware of them. A minority of people can hear them and I can say that those sounds are extremely, annoying and stressful.

The condition, I discovered last week,  is called 'hyperacusis' .

If you had put a canary on top of a 2000 a.d. or earlier color television set, it would be dead within one week.

  (I am not making this fact/story up).

SLAG.

 

 

[jlpservicesinc]

One of our dogs hates the electric hand mixer (beater)..  He doesn't mind the vacuum. But as soon as the beater comes out he heads for the hills. 

[BillyBones]

My dog would attack the vacuum cleaner. 

Anywho, i finished this today. My neighbor gave me her old porch railing that all the spindles are 1/2 square bar. Good heavy duty railing. She asked if i could make a shepherds hook but i have not been able to get out to my supplier to get something long enough. So until then i made her a plant hanger to hang off the wooden railing she put up.  

1/2 square bar drawn out some so it should hold a medium sized pot. 

[671jungle]

I know I said forgings are on hold, but I couldn’t resist. First try at a cobra  bottle opener. So much I would do differently next time. Like flip the textures. The twists would’ve looked better on the belly and the peens on top for scales.

[CrazyGoatLady]

Very nice Billy and jungle! 

BillyBones, I notice you seem to get a very black finish on your work. Do you mind if I ask how you do it? I use either paste wax or boiled linseed oil. Sometimes I can get the BLO to get pretty black, but not always. I figure it's my timing on the heat but I'm not sure. Anyway, I'd appreciate any input you may have

[picker77]

On 10/24/2019 at 10:24 AM, ThomasPowers said:

I bought my swage block when I was in OKC back in the early 1980's, found it in a Thrifty Nickle 

Suspicions confirmed, TP. Yep, not so long ago we had half a dozen little freely distributed "classified ad rags" like the Thrifty Nickle, Penny Trader, etc. in the newspaper rack at convenience stores. A few were pretty thick. Even as recently as the early 2000's I routinely stopped by a 7-11 every Friday AM to get the latest. They were little gold mines if you jumped on an ad soon enough, as you did. Fleabay killed off much of that, and then CL came along and delivered the coup de grace. I miss them, but I suppose time and technology does move on. I use an E-reader for many things now, and if I do pick up a real book I sometimes catch myself tapping the right edge to "turn" the paper page, or trying to zoom a printed image by spreading thumb and finger.

[58er]

fl

[BillyBones]

18 hours ago, CrazyGoatLady said:

I notice you seem to get a very black finish on your work.

Johnsons paste wax. Which i thought was only used on the tile floors in the barracks. 

I provably put it on to hot, sometimes it just boils off with out leaving anything behind. There have been a couple times i had to turn  fan on and step out of the shop becuase of the smoke. I have found that if i set a piece down to cool off i will more often than not forget about it till i am shutting the shop down for the night and it never gets waxed. So i get impatient and wax it too hot usually. 

If using Johnsons and turning up the temp on your piece be careful, the stuff is flammable. We used to light it on fire when doing the floors in basic training. Let it melt then pour it over the floor and buff it out. If it does catch on fire, do not panic, just put the lid back on the can. 

58er, cool flowers. 

[CrazyGoatLady]

Thank you Billy. I use Minwax. Nobody around here has Johnson's. Even home depot. I can't get it real dark like yours. I was putting it on too hot as well, but I'm a little more patient at waiting longer. I've read the threads on it. Just wanted to ask because your work is really dark and I like that. Thanks for your response!