Rojo Pedro Posted March 8, 2020 Share Posted March 8, 2020 Finished my first ever tongs. Not pretty and a little sticky but work well for what I needed and I am real happy with them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluerooster Posted March 8, 2020 Share Posted March 8, 2020 Spent the day finishing up the door latch project. All made from re-bar, except the handle, which started as an old sway bar from my tractor, and rods which started as, rods. The thumb latch handle came out a bit wonky but it's my first time. I left all the hammer marks, and painted it black. Now wishing I hadn't painted it. I need longer bolts, to install it properly, so it's just got a couple screws holding it for now. Had to add a counter weight for the cross arm, as I didn't have a spring on hand. Looks better than the tongs I made today. :D I made a pair of down and dirty, bend 'em, pin 'em, cut 'em and use 'em tongs. Needed something to hold a bolt endways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris C Posted March 8, 2020 Share Posted March 8, 2020 That looks mighty nice, bluerooster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluerooster Posted March 8, 2020 Share Posted March 8, 2020 Thanx Chris. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peppie Posted March 8, 2020 Share Posted March 8, 2020 Fabbed up a tooless bandsaw table mount Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les L Posted March 9, 2020 Share Posted March 9, 2020 Peppie, that is a very neat fab job, one of the best I’ve seen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peppie Posted March 9, 2020 Share Posted March 9, 2020 TY Les, I got the basic idea from a local smith... but had to add my own twist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris C Posted March 9, 2020 Share Posted March 9, 2020 I had a friend come over today and help me put my forge up on it's stand. Got the tabs welded to it a couple of days ago that will hold the shelves I made today for the soft firebrick "doors" both front and back. Pretty much all that's left is to cast my ribbon burner and get the black pipe needed to hook everything up. I've been at this so long now it's ridiculous. Have had WAY too many side roads and rabbit holes to distract me from getting this finished. Pretty excited to start forging in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Crew Posted March 9, 2020 Share Posted March 9, 2020 If it makes you feel any better . Mine is not done yet either. being a welder I fabbed up the shell and the stand quickly . Then i put in the Kaowool and rigidized it not my thing but not to bad. I am hung up on the refractory cement. I hate concrete It is wet and yucky . I am a perfectionist and I know that i will do a crappy job on the hard liner. So I let other things side track me and it sits waiting for attention. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 9, 2020 Share Posted March 9, 2020 So make a form from linoleum and cast the inner liner in place. Once it's set, peal the form. Lube it GOOD if you use Kastolite 30, the stuff sticks to milk jugs. You'll be disappointed if you use refractory cement, the stuff just isn't intended to be in the fire. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoshinjoe Posted March 9, 2020 Share Posted March 9, 2020 Peppie and bluerooster awesome work. That latch is fantastic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluerooster Posted March 9, 2020 Share Posted March 9, 2020 Thanx. Peppie, good looking mount. Wish I'd thought of that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 9, 2020 Share Posted March 9, 2020 John: "Stay close to the candelabra; the stairs can be twecherous in the dark!" Saturday I went down and picked up the last load of 4"x12"x16' that my mother was going to pay someone to haul to the dump. Now I need to do a load or two of the 2"x12"x16' boards left. I expected that as soon as I bought another small pickup I'd immediately have a need for a large one that could tow a trailer... I wish I could haul the boards as 16's as they would be nice for a building project I have. 8' isn't bad in my pickup with the tailgate down... Sunday we had RAIN! It was real nice being in the shop and listening to it hitting the metal roof. Even nicer that I had unloaded the wood before it started and had it under cover. I had a friend come out after noon and work on his pineapple twist project, he likes my chain hold down as it allows him to do an entire side with the hot cut in one heat. Me, I did another handle cleat for the Bladesmithing club's anvil stumps. Took a break around 5 when my wife made it home from Church; but as she had been on the go since 6:15 am; I told her I'd handle dinner and she should go rest, at 73 she doesn't have the stamina she had when she was in her 30's... So I went back to the shop and decided to work on my 25# LG trip hammer tear down. Took me under 10 minutes to remove the bottom die! Then the toggle arm nuts came off easily,...got the spring off, things went swimmingly until I tried to remove the top die. I may have to do that with it off the hammer. Got my muffin tin out and as every nut&bolt came loose put it in a cup and labeled it with soapstone. My friend is working on his 50#LG too; unfortunately the previous owner thought that any issue with it could be solved by welding stuff together. His tear down involves a LOT of grinding! I had been shooting all the nuts and bolts and wedges & everything with penetrating oil a couple of times a week since I got it home. Looks like it's really paid off! Of course my hands were an amusing shade of ancient grease when I went back into the house...when it was getting dark. Today I have a member of the bladesmithing club stopping by after work. He wants a section of Oxy tank to build a forge from and has access to cutting equipment over spring break. I have a bunch of tanks but no way to cut them. So well worth my while to trade him forge bodies for tank ends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted March 9, 2020 Share Posted March 9, 2020 Make sure to bring some of them to Quad-State in the fall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 9, 2020 Share Posted March 9, 2020 Hey when I lived in OH and SOFA was doing a gas forge building workshop; we went by a hydrotester in Columbus OH and picked up several full sized pickup loads of failed tanks---they required that they be cut in two before they left the yard. Much harder to find such stuff here in rural NM! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyGoatLady Posted March 9, 2020 Share Posted March 9, 2020 Thomas sounds like a good weekend you had. Nothing in the shop yet today for me. Got my propane tank filled up yesterday so I can start work on two more paying jobs tonight. It's a good feeling that people actually want to trade cash for something I make. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 9, 2020 Share Posted March 9, 2020 I suggest you take a bit of every sale and put it away in the "more tools" and or "more fuel" fund so when the need is there it's not so much a hit on the household budget. Right now, besides shop electrification, I also have "parts for the power hammer" to be saving for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyGoatLady Posted March 9, 2020 Share Posted March 9, 2020 That is exactly what I've been doing Thomas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobasaurus Posted March 9, 2020 Share Posted March 9, 2020 Made a quick damascus bottle opener this weekend from a scrap cut off from another project. It has some imperfections but it came out okay. I also converted my steel bowl into a headphone stand (with my very first forged leaf). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyGoatLady Posted March 9, 2020 Share Posted March 9, 2020 Really nice work bobasaurus. I'm going to make a bottle opener for a friend for his birthday this weekend. Yours looks good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted March 9, 2020 Share Posted March 9, 2020 Look at you go Bobasaurs.. Nice work. Love the all of it.. CGL.. As a suggestion.. Now is the time to start looking at what you (want/should) be charging.. At the end of the day. You want to feel good about what you are making and the price you are selling for.. If either of these are "NO Bueno".. Then re evaluate.. The only fair price is the one that is fair to you.. People are funny about thinking about "Well it's part time".. or "Its extra income".. Any job that while I am there demands my full attention is "Full time".. I have never had a single job ever " That the money is extra".. LOL.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyGoatLady Posted March 9, 2020 Share Posted March 9, 2020 Thanks Jennifer. My friend has an order for cutlery for her husband and her for their anniversary. Since she's my friend and they have supplied me with material before, I wasn't sure about even charging her. But she said she understands the work I put into it and wants to pay me for it and for whatever I quote. This other order is for a 20 piece set. I'm not sure what to do with that one quite yet even after much contemplation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted March 9, 2020 Share Posted March 9, 2020 I had taken some business courses years ago.. All corporate type stuff.. It really becomes this simple.. We are the ones that will complicate it.. Well If you did not have another income coming what would it take you to pay all your bills, keep the forge going with lights on? Thats a great place to start.. "One" needs to be honest with themselves.. People are very funny about money.. Funny about talking about it, funny about telling others what they should or should not charge.. LOL.. One guy I know will contact me with a photo and then ask me what I would charge for it.. LOL.. I tell him and then every time he says " How can that be fair".. Fair to who??? Fair to me??? I'm the one making it.. Yet he is fully retired has a retirement income coming in and he claims to do it for fun, in a house hold that the wife is still working full time.. So, dual income with nearly no expenses.. I will never be able to charge what I get in farrier work.. So when I price something out, I take into consideration everything that it costs me if I were to run it as a business for the area I am in. Rent/mortage, heat/AC, lights and electric, forge costs, sick time, health insurance, retirement, emergency cash reserves. Every facet that needs to be accounted for as a business and as my personal source of income.. I know everyone has an opinion and I also know the listing of what others find to be important to them.. I can tell you that any good business plan will have all the costs of doing business listed and ideally there has to be a profit or gain over what the bottom line is, if that was the only revenue. Not just a few pennies but a suitable amount with reserve. I was told by a really smart farmer friend of mine that if I purchase something for business to make money with or as an added feature, that it has to pay for itself the 1st year.. 2 years tops.. If it won't do that, then figure out another way to get the job done.. He then said. As a hobby it's a cash cow and throw what ever you have at it as long as you don't go to far into debt to do it.. I've looked at these things over the years with each piece of buy and then what the overall pay back will be.. If I wanted to make money selling hardware and forged items the market is there.. I sell a few items a year but this particular aspect of the business is more long term.. The investment is simply in the building of this side of the business.. Technically it won't ever pay for itself so is a bad investment.. It goes against the model but I know this with eyes wide open. If you want to run it as a hobby then you will be treated as if it is a hobby.. We know how that works out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthur210 Posted March 9, 2020 Share Posted March 9, 2020 I was able to spend a few hours in the shop this morning. Finished a few punches: 2 eye punches. 1 square punch and 2 ball punches (to make the eye punches and other texturing). All from a small coil spring. I also made 2 drifts from a 3/4" diameter length of unknown steel (sparked like medium carbon to my admittedly novice eye). First time.I make eye punches. Figured I'd make 2 different ones. One has a centered pupil while the other one is offset as if partly hidden by the eyelid (for an angrier/more aggressive look). Had to try them out eben though I was winding down, so I heated up a small piece to do so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluerooster Posted March 9, 2020 Share Posted March 9, 2020 jlp, thats a good way to look at it. Also, In my regular job I charge a labor rate of $40-$70/hr depending on what's to be done. I have the benefit of having a book that outlines time to perform certian tasks. So if the book says it takes an hour to do something, and I do it in 10 min. I still get paid for an hour. (>30 years experience has it's perks) Add to that consumables, parts, and shop expenses. As a beginner smith, I can't justify charging that kind of labor. But as time goes on, (mabe 100 years) labor may well increase. As it stands now; if someone sees something that I've forged, and asks "how much?" I'd probably say ten bucks, or mabe even give it to them. But I know the quality isn't the best, and I may have 2 days in it, along with several pounds of coal, hadda make a tool to make the gizmo, etc. But, It still stands that I'm no where near a smith, much less a master. So I can't, in good conscience, charge top dollar. Anyway, I didn't do much in the shop today. I took apart a hub assembly from a 2012 Chevy van. I wanted the bearing races. Found out that the outer housing that bolts to the steering knuckle, is also the outer race. It's either cast, or drop forged, then case hardened on the inside to form the outer race, Monolithic. Well the inner race is still a separate part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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