Goods Posted December 22, 2019 Share Posted December 22, 2019 Yeah, I’d say it needs to be a little bigger. Do you have tongs that will hold this stock size? If so, it would probably be much easier starting with shorter stock. (Sorry, just looks like the hard way to me.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les L Posted December 22, 2019 Share Posted December 22, 2019 Billy, I hope you’re feeling better. The bottle openers look great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyBones Posted December 22, 2019 Share Posted December 22, 2019 2 hours ago, KingAether said: we both have big hair Aint seen dreads like that since i was on tour with the Dead. Or at least what i remember from my deadhead days. My daughter combed hers out about 2 years ago, she keeps one though. She has dreaded her hair on and off since she was 15 or so. She wanted to be a hair dresser a while back ago so she went to school for it for a while. She learned how to comb them out there, i did not think you could do it. Les, thanks, i feel much better got about 3 hours in the shop today. Hammer aint as heavy as yesterday. How far you live from Baton Rouge? I used to live in Denham Springs, in Livingston Parish. About 20 mins outside the red stick. Laissez les bons temps rouler. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueRuStudios Posted December 23, 2019 Share Posted December 23, 2019 Well, this week ended with the linseed oiling of some Xmas presents for my family and friends. I won't lie, they don't look super fantastic, but I'm fairly proud of all of them for my first real undertaking in the blacksmithing world. The photo is of all of my ornaments before I wire wheeled off the forge scale and oiled them. They are drying now, so finished photos will have to wait. Hope y'all like em and have a wonderful week! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Ling Posted December 23, 2019 Author Share Posted December 23, 2019 Round the edges of your hammer face over some, it shouldn’t be leaving marks like that. Either that or practice hammer control. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted December 23, 2019 Share Posted December 23, 2019 Looks to me light anvil is to high or the face of the hammer is hitting heel face first. Flat face is ok if one has practice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc1 Posted December 23, 2019 Share Posted December 23, 2019 You can improve on those fish tale ends by using a light cross peen hammer and make a little fan with the grooves along the flat bar end. A bit of filing the edge end round, and it will look great. I like your candy stick twist. A bit hard to chew I guess As for hammer, you can grind the edges of your hammer, or if you can afford one, get a rounding hammer ... or make one. After 55 years of cross peen hammers, I am using rounding hammer for almost everything ... well obviously not for making a fish tail end Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Ling Posted December 23, 2019 Author Share Posted December 23, 2019 He’s been converted welcome to the rounding hammer cult. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George N. M. Posted December 23, 2019 Share Posted December 23, 2019 Dear Blue, You can get an interesting effect by using a wire wheel and take off the black scale off one side of the flat, twisted "icicles" or one or two of the faces of the canes. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conrad.blacksmithing Posted December 23, 2019 Share Posted December 23, 2019 I like the canes Blurustudios! Today I made a nice axe for a guy then burned a cheek while heat treating. After much grieving I welded up a stand for my leg vise. I plan to get a large plate and weld it to the bottom so it doesn't tip over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted December 23, 2019 Share Posted December 23, 2019 KingAether When making the hair clasp, taper and make a pig tail on one end of long stock. Use a piece of pipe as a mandrel to form the loop. Cut and taper the end and make a pig tail. Then the second loop around the pipe. You will know the length of the taper and pig tail and loop because you took notes when you made the first one. (grin) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les L Posted December 23, 2019 Share Posted December 23, 2019 Conrad, that was a good looking axe, I can imagine how you felt. Billy, I’m 25 miles west of Baton Rouge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueRuStudios Posted December 23, 2019 Share Posted December 23, 2019 11 hours ago, George N. M. said: "You can get an interesting effect by using a wire wheel and take off the black scale off one side of the flat, twisted "icicles" or one or two of the faces of the canes." That's such an interesting idea! I'll have to try that when the call for presents is up again! Thank you all for the great I put. You nailed it, I'm hitting with the heel of my hammer. I wasn't super worried though as most of the tail ends are getting ground off and a hole is getting punched in them too, but I need to work on my strikes. I just bought a rounding hammer for myself for Xmas, so I can't wait to get it and learn how they work! Also, here is the finished product of the canes. The icicles are on hold until I'm back at work (they have a bench grinder; I do not.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted December 23, 2019 Share Posted December 23, 2019 The twisted metal of candy canes can be cleaned with the wire wheel in two ways, one is clean only one flat to shiny before the twist leaving 1 of the 4 surfaces different. The other is to wire brush 2 opposite flat surfaces leaving 2 surfaces with a fire finish. Using a grinder with a fine grit stone or fine grit sand paper will give you a different texture to the metal. Another *twist* to the project is to use a center punch and put a indentation or dot ever so often into opposite flats before twisting. You can make a ribbon decoration from flat bar with one surface wire brushed to shiny, the other with a fire finish, then twist Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 23, 2019 Share Posted December 23, 2019 Also you can make them from Stainless and clean them up shiny! Removing rust from an anvil face: pounding hot steel on it does a great job! Crunchy Axe: mount that one to the wall of the shop as a decorative piece, or cut/grind off a bunch to make a bearded hatchet with a slim eye. (if the crunchy part doesn't go all the way.) I went to the shop sale of one of the Founding members of SWABA Saturday. I bought a Beverly B1 shear, a Whitney #2 punch, 3 handled punch heads, a sheet metal stake, 2 handled fuller heads---including a very large one with a very gentle curve to it, a sheet metal forming piece that looks rather like an ocarina and was chromed (and was a commercially made piece---had the sticker on it.) and a handful of silver smithing hammer heads. Some of this stuff looked to be Lynch collection stuff. I also picked up a copy of Otto Schmiler's Werk und Werkzeug. The triphammer and 250# Fisher anvil went cheap but out of my range. There were 3 modern swage blocks sold for $$$ and 2 postvises. What I really missed getting was a cast steel stake anvil---75 pounds??? Robb Gunter got that and at a price that made me happy, (IE I was out bid by a bunch.) Sunday after Church and the greening of the church; I went out to the shop and fitted the stainless cooking tools to the Chicharrones cauldron. Did it cold and the only real problem is that the pot has about 1/8" of lard on the inside so after every test I would have to wipe down the piece before modifying it more. Used my new large fuller, anvil face, screwpress and a wagon tyre for shaping them. Hopefully we will be paid in fresh Chiccharrones...it's matanza season! I'll probably be offline till after the new year; all y'all be safe! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted December 23, 2019 Share Posted December 23, 2019 wow, sounds like a great auction.. Was there a flyer from the auction house so we can see photos? By the way.. they do sell modern digital cameras pretty cheaply that don't have GPS or any connection to the outside world for tracking purposes.. I mean I know you stay away from smart phones for that reason.. but now a cheap digital can be bought at nearly any store when stopping off for beef jerky and a soda. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 23, 2019 Share Posted December 23, 2019 Most of the stuff was on $10 table, $20 table, $2 box, etc. The big ticket items were on a silent auction basis. I bid 3 times on the stake anvil before it went beyond what I had to hand. Boy did it have a nice ring! Mid sale they cut the table prices by 50% . However the rule was only $50 per load. You could go back and get another load after standing in line and paying for your current one---The idea was that all the members of the club could get something tangible to remember the deceased by. (I'm having my wife callig that the book I bought came from Leif's books.) At the end of the sale anything left was auctioned off. This was done in the club so that the prices were fair and the shop was cleaned out to bare walls at the end. As for photos; I'm of the opinion that they get in the way of doing stuff. You can do stuff or you can be taking pictures of doing stuff. My avatar photo was taken by a friend as I was "doing stuff". (Probably in reality I just don't want to bother with another fragile item....I still remember when I was a kid and an underwater camera got dropped off a cliff onto the rocks. Luckily I was not involved!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingAether Posted December 23, 2019 Share Posted December 23, 2019 Thats Glenn, helped a bunch doing the ends first.. Definitely did not take measurements though lol Made another today and its equally to big as the first was to small, hopefully third times the charm and another tomorrow will be just right. Can definitely see a little progress though, better curve at least on one side :L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyGoatLady Posted December 23, 2019 Share Posted December 23, 2019 King Aether, thanks for showing us your work. You are taking it to the anvil and figuring out what you need to do. You'll keep seeing improvement and be able to see your own progress as you go. Most of all, you sound like you are having fun! Keep it up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingAether Posted December 23, 2019 Share Posted December 23, 2019 Thank you CGL, yes lots of fun, a little frustration but mostly fun. Thank you for all the support so far, really appreciate it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyGoatLady Posted December 23, 2019 Share Posted December 23, 2019 I come at this from being someone who has had no classes and no smith teaching me hands on. Lots of studying and the help (lot of that, too)of the wonderful folks who contribute to this site, and select video teachers. But all of that won't amount to much if you don't get out to the shop and work at it. That's when you really start to understand what you're being taught. The Ah Hah! moments are great when you do something that looked nearly impossible to you. If all I can really contribute is encouragement to others, I am happy to do that. It can be a bit frustrating, but try not to overthink things and remember you only get good at something when you keep doing it over and over. Above all, have fun and be safe. I look forward to seeing more from you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Ling Posted December 24, 2019 Author Share Posted December 24, 2019 That’s very interesting thought Mr. Powers about you can either be doing stuff or taking pictures. Obviously it’s hard to do stuff while taking pictures but I feel like I still get a lot done and I take quite a few pictures.....though for me it’s somewhat more necessary in the means of making money, makes things a little better when a customer can see what they are buying and even better when they can see pictures from the process. The later is a bit more difficult to do, but with one of the latest classes I did I had a photographer come out and take plenty of pictures. It seems like most of the “admins” of the site I never see pictures of their work...wether it’s cause they’re rarely in the shop, it gives the illusion nonetheless. Or if it’s cause they’re just too busy to stop for a few seconds to take a picture, or worried about being able to be tracked, I’d really love to see some of yalls work. Y’all are people I admire, but as I think about it more, I admire y’all for the kind of people y’all are, not yalls work, cause I rarely, if ever have seen it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyBones Posted December 24, 2019 Share Posted December 24, 2019 KingAether, dont know i this will help but here is one of the barrettes i made for my daughter a while back ago. It is 1/4" (6mm) spring steel. I started with 13" (325mm) drew out the ends till it was 14" (350mm). The pin started the same then once i put the end on i cut it to size and tapered it down. This one she could not use the space between the body and the pin is only about 1/2" (13mm). Made a plant hanger for one of my aunts today. Just painted this one, flat black but i was in a hurry to go get the old lady tonight so the pic as taken while the paint was still wet. After looking at the pic the loop on the end could use a little work. Oh and a rope twist that is kind of hard to see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasent Posted December 24, 2019 Share Posted December 24, 2019 I just love basket twists. Nice job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted December 24, 2019 Share Posted December 24, 2019 7 hours ago, KingAether said: Made another today and its equally to big as the first was to small, hopefully third times the charm and another tomorrow will be just right. As noted before, scroll the ends first, then make the S-bend. If it looks like it’s still going to come out a little too big, you can use a pair of scrolling tongs to curl the ends a bit more Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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