What did you do in the shop today?

[CrazyGoatLady]

Anachronist58

Here you go. Reference for a mule shoe

[Anachronist58]

CGL, it was one of these:

[CrazyGoatLady]

Haha ok. I see how you shaped it then. Would you mind if I copy it? I'm always looking for new shoe projects

[Anachronist58]

I do not mind at all! If you get good results, I will copy right back at you. If bad results, I will know not to step in it!

Robert Taylor

[CrazyGoatLady]

Haha thanks. I'll make it a future project then and see how it goes 

[Anachronist58]

I shall stay tuned......

[Daswulf]

Rojo, I love the look of that leaf. 

Lots of awesome work Alexandr.

Cool chimes Robert. I deffinately have to try some from horseshoes. 

Dig the bottle openers Conrad. 

Potato, you can start bends and scrolls of the edge of the anvil or improvised anvil then flip and hammer back toward you. It's all about technique. 

[Conrad.blacksmithing]

6 hours ago, Potato-Demon said:

Third thing I’ve made and I think I’m getting slightly better, any advice is appreciated.

I would suggest to not start out making knives. You want to make things like hooks, bottle openers, leaves and other small stuff. All of these build hammer technique and skill. The difference is knives require hammer technique and this small stuff builds hammer technique.

[jlpservicesinc]

7 hours ago, Anachronist58 said:

CGL, it was one of these:

 

The shoes you used originally was a full swedged shoe. Most likely a heavy training plate.  The shoe shown is a plain keg shoe.

Robert, you did a great job on the photos and description of the work. Loved the photos.

I love the forge.  Electric blower or hand crank? 

Do you get a lot of radiant heat from the shell over the top?  

I have a wood fired forge that I designed much like yours but with an external shell that feeds warm air to the stack, both to create a helpful air draw to minimize draught threw the fire, but also to minimize the radiant heat externally. 

The reflective heat inside is a huge help to drive of gasses and create charcoal faster.  

Do you find that your generating enough charcoal or are you using up the burning material to forge with.

CGL, that's a mighty fine mule shoe.  Hard to come by and to find.. Yard find? 

Potato demon, I started out knife or blade making.  It's a great way to learn hammer control.   

I would suggest using a block anvil or scrap anvil like object because you will have a bunch of missed hammer strikes and while gaining hammer control on one sided tapers.

Also dont be in a rush . Focus on the hammer strike and the way the hammer face meets the work.  With taking your time, and this focus training you will gain skill the fastest vs trying to be fast.  

This is one of those things where slow is the fastest.  

[CrazyGoatLady]

4 hours ago, jlpservicesinc said:

 

CGL, that's a mighty fine mule shoe.  Hard to come by and to find.. Yard find? 

I think I found it in a junk store. The toe is worn down to nearly nothing. I have a few more that I got from a retired farrier. 

[Dax Hewitt]

Interesting day today. I took some I Beams out of the roof space of my workshop (old and very dodgy lifting beams left from the last owner) using a plasma cutter. 

I managed to set fire to me beard in the process, one side is still bushy but the other side dips in now. 

Fortunately I noticed the flames before I was burned but it's very annoying. 

[Jonnytait]

The smell of burned hair will be with you for a few days im sure lucky there was no injury

[Anachronist58]

Mr. Dax,

I set my hand on fire once with the flaming molten rubber of a car door seal. More similar to your adventure, Overhead cutting torch blowback gave me a nice neck tattoo.

Is it against your religion to even it up with some snips?

Glad you were not further injured.

Robert Taylor

[Hans Richter]

Dax, glad you'r not hurt. 

[Jasent]

Glad you didn’t get hurt.  Could have been worse.  Beard will grow back.  

[Frosty]

Uh HUH, you look like a welder there Dax. I have #5 lenses in a full face welding shield and wear a proper cap, since I started wearing them doing any out of position cutting I haven't singed anything but my wrists. I can't wear gauntlets for finicky things.

Glad you weren't injured though I have trouble thinking of red hot dingleberry burns as injuries. Eyes and ears not withstanding of course.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Marc1]

Beard will grow back. Your scalp would have been worse. You got away scot free,  Yes overhead plasma calls for bigger precautions.

I have a welding helmet with a leatherback lining and so stopped burning my head and neck when overhead welding or cutting.  I adopted long sleeve left glove long ago, to weld large material that requires long welds. Goes all the way to the armpit. I look like a crab. 

I am setting fire to my clothes now, so a leather poncho is the next purchase    

[jlpservicesinc]

For welding I own a complete set of leathers and am covered head to toe..  I have fully length gauntlet gloves a full leather jacket with neck cape.  The helmet goes over the neck cape.. 

I had put on a double set of snaps on the front of the jacket with an extra layer of leather so sparks and such can not go under it.. 

I also bought boots that the tongue is on top of the shoe vs inside.. this way it will shed spatter instead of burn a hole through the tongue. 

I also use and Papr setup for those hot days where I am getting setup. 

I have lost so much hair from being burnt or having hot spatter or flux rolling across my scalp..  while a bald man maybe attractive a bald woman is like a hairless cat.. It's just not seen that often. 

[Dax Hewitt]

Thanks for the kind words guys. I though I had taken good precautions, flame proof overalls, full welding mask and gauntlets, eye protection behind the mask just in case, scaffolding so I was not cutting above myself. 

For some reason though the fact that hair is very flammable slipped my mind. The problem was block back when I got to the root of the I beam, I didn't slow down enough to compensate for the extra thickness so a bunch of sparks came back at me and having checked afterwards my beard was poking out of the bottom of the mask. 

It will be used as a learning experience though and I'm going to turn the event in to a tool box talk safety briefing for me service engineers in the new year. 

All good fun though but a tad strange to see flames out of the corner of your eye then realise its your own face. (I would put a smiley emoticon here but my phone and this forum don't like doing that) 

[JHCC]

Good day’s work: finished up a spatula (with bottle opener in the handle), a nail header (shown with test nail), and a knifemaker’s file guide (all of which had been sitting around half-finished for a while) and made a belt buckle from wrought iron.

(Not shown: two pairs of in-progress tongs whose reins are being drawn out on The Pressciouss.)

[Anachronist58]

Personally, Jennifer, I would trade my hairness for another's baldness any day...

10 hours ago, jlpservicesinc said:

The shoe shown is a plain keg shoe.

I am a bit confused, the chimes were from the same type of shoes as pictured - as I drew them out, I made them narrower and thicker...

Thanks for the compliment on the presentation. I use a hairdryer on the lower setting. It is very handy when I start the wood, it is a screamer!

The shell is bare steel, less the ash-made trough on the bottom, so there is indeed a lot radiant heat. Someday I will sheet it and put a blown hot fresh air pipe into the Smithy.

Would REALLY like to see some pics of YOUR wood burner!

The big aluminum pot is full of minus ½" charcoal fines.  The forging cycle starts with picture #1 (and note that the tuyre holes are visible): 1)Start small wood fire. 2)Put the air to it. 3)Load wood on the sides, just like green coal. 4)Throw a few handfuls of fines over the tuyre. Throw more wood into the back. 5)Add your stock. 6)Blow and Forge. 7)Rake charcoal forward & throw more wood into back, add more fines to taste. 8)When through forging, load with wood and when volatiles are burned off, close front and rear valves (flue & front door). Fire is killed.

Below is the clean-out result:

3 gallons of material. All +½"is surplus. Some -½" is surplus. ½ gallon of loose ash, aka, forge liner/crucible stock.

There in the green scoop is the CLINNNKERRR! Terrible! That is the big downside

Nice stuff, JHCC.

Dax, what is that smell - yikes it is meeee!

Robert Taylor

 

Edited December 27, 2019 by Anachronist58
Post Assembly

[MacLeod]

jhcc I like the spatula/bottle opener, would be handy in the summer for not having to leave the bbq!  Consider your design stolen!
 

I’m gonna show off too.  I escaped the left over turkey and the bedlam today and spent most of it in the shed.  
 

Since taking frostys advice and copying bits of Ausfires pokers, the ones I send up to the shop are flying out the door.  I am condemned to makings rams head pokers for ever, wish I hadn’t bored everybody to tears with them in the first place.   I’m a bit quicker with them now though and can get on with other things while having one or two on the go.  I finally made some punches and chisels out of coil spring (including an eye shaped punch!) and my first hardy tool for Anvilina.  To the untrained eye, this hardy tool may appear to be some coil spring hammered into a Y shape, but honestly some thought went into it and now it’s an effective bending tool.

 Oh, also pictured, as two of my nieces are visiting the island for New Year they will get disappointed with ‘Viking style’ pendants as Christmas presents.  The others got amazon vouchers.
 

I’m home for two weeks, this doesn’t happen often,  so after all scheduled jobs have been completed, apart from dirt biking with the wee fella, chasing sheep and shovelling horse stuff I’m getting to spend a lot of time with Anvilina.  I’m still not allowed to take her into the house though.

Anyway, the real reason for posting was to wish everybody here a great holiday and all the very best for 2020.  Thank you for all the advice, instruction and encouragement in 2019,  your  kindness in giving help so freely is very much appreciated,  however, please be ready to field further daft questions in the coming year.

Nollaig Chridheil agus Bliadhna mhath ùr dhuibh uile! 

 

[GolFisHunt]

Nice work, MacLeod!

I had a nice fire going yesterday while doing some simple j hooks and thought I would try a forge weld. A random scrap of 3/16x1" looked helpless enough. Seemed to stick even after quenching. I can make out the seam on the cut.

I think it was a success. That makes one.

 

[BillyBones]

2 hours ago, MacLeod said:

Nollaig Chridheil agus Bliadhna mhath ùr dhuibh uile! 

Hope years was a good Christmas and have a happy New Year. 

[JHCC]

2 hours ago, MacLeod said:

I like the spatula/bottle opener, would be handy in the summer for not having to leave the bbq!  Consider your design stolen!

I stole the idea myself, so I can hardly object.

My problem is that I keep giving bottle openers away, and this will guarantee that we keep one in the house!