April 11, 20215 yr Frosty, some of my lumps of coal weigh in at about a 100#. I stand them up and use an old ax to split the seem. Once i get pieces about dinner plate size and an inch or so thick i put them in an old tar bucket and crush with a 12# sledge. So i will call the next part overthinking, not thinking and heartbreak. First the heartbreak. Started grinding my slitter and discovered a crack. It is far enough towards the end hopefully i will be able to lop it off and draw it out some more to salvage the piece. I think i worked a little to cold at some point. About halfway up the grind spot on the left going diagonally towards the end. You can see it good on my phone but not so much here. Now the overthinking and not thinking. Made a chicken cooker for the hangy thingy. Was having trouble getting the weld for the treble hook. I figured the 3/8 bar may be cooling to fast and loosing welding heat from forge to anvil. So i put an anvil on my forge (read that as a 15# block of 4140) Put my iron in the fire, set my hammer close, on my tong rack, got my heat, grabbed my iron and then about blistered my hand. Not thinking, Hammer handle that close to the fire gets a little warm. Overthinking, chicken cooker is basically a vertical spit. Spits have forks for holding the meat when cooking. Spits have a fork on each end. So i made a sliding fork to hold the top of the chicken. Overthinking, how do i get that big fork through the bird? Going to be hard enough for that ring. The wire was for holding the useless fork back while i was welding the treble. Would like to give a special thanks to Jenifer, her blacksmiths diamond video gave me the understanding to do the welded collars. You can see one right below the loop on top. The idea is to be able to turn the hooks so you can get an even roasting. Also trying out a new finish. It is called Howard's Feed and Wax. A combination of beeswax, carnauba wax, and orange oil and "other ingredients" (what ever they are) Seems to like to go on metal much cooler than other stuff. Gives more of a silvery black finish also. I also made a hook, no pic, for grabbing the top loops to turn or remove the meat from the hangy thingy. Yes i know, i need to empty my ash bucket. It has been a day or 2.
April 11, 20215 yr Since I’m probably going to be doing more stick welding in the near future, I decided to make a chipping hammer. And a backscratcher: I also drew out the stem of my flux spoon to make it long enough to use without burning my fingers, forged out a square punch, and experimented with ways to straighten Pandrol clips.
April 12, 20215 yr (To be clear, the decision to make a backscratcher has nothing to do with the increased likelihood of my doing more stock welding.)
April 12, 20215 yr 3 hours ago, JHCC said: experimented with ways to straighten Pandrol clips. Specifically: 11 minutes ago, Frosty said: The thought never crossed our minds. The Grammar Hammer is double-ended.
April 12, 20215 yr 15 minutes ago, JHCC said: The Grammar Hammer is double-ended. Double ENDED, like a barbell sort of? Surely you don't mean two faced! Frosty The Lucky.
April 12, 20215 yr I was scrolling through Facebook today and what should come up but a reminder of a post from last year. It was my first attempt at forging anything. It had my make shift charcoal forge my railroad anvil and what I made. I was at the time attempting to make handles for a book case I made for my youngest daughter. I'll attach pictures of all. I've spent some money since then. You'll see I'm using a set of channel locks for tongs. I've come a little way since then. Oh, and what I was working on today is at the bottom. Fitting the guard and handle on my short sword. More on that in the sword thread. 17 hours ago, Frosty said: Double ENDED, like a barbell sort of? Surely you don't mean two faced! I don't think that's Shirley.
April 12, 20215 yr Lets see: Saturday: usual trip to the scrapyard, didn't find much only 24# out. Best was 3' of 3/4: wrought iron rod, a bit heavily weathered. That afternoon I spent 2 hours and finished forging the last hook for my coat rack project. It's soaking in vinegar right now. Also stamped the hooks with my initials, BLO over the stamp and hung out to cure. Sunday after church: I drilled the holes in the hooks for mounting, BLO and hung out to cure. Spent some time trying to find the studs in the wall for mounting the coat rack when it's done. I also did some shop cleaning---got 6 whole inches in from one side of a work bench! I also made and mounted a tool holder for all the punches I've been using working on the coat hook heads. It started as a strip of 1/2" black pipe sections: they had been welded together on the ends so it could be dropped in a automatic band saw and cut to the same length with nobody watching it. I picked up the 3-4" tall drop for my possibles pile. So I took a short section of smallish angle iron; drilled two mounting holes. clamped the strip of pipe sections to it and drilled through the side where two pipes met on either end and the angle iron and then took a couple of 16 penny nails, cut them to length and riveted the pipe chunk to the angle iron and screwed it onto the side of a workbench near a post vise. Note no welding was done by me---lots of ways of getting around not having a welder!
April 12, 20215 yr JHCC- Though I didn't connect it to the stick welding, I did make an erroneous mental connection between the very vaguely spoon shaped object on the anvil and the longer handled flux spoon. I thought that perhaps you had made the handle a bit longer than necessary.
April 12, 20215 yr Chad J- beautiful work. Looks like you've come a long way. I must ask- why are you constructing a coffin? Especially one with so many compartments?
April 12, 20215 yr Not looking forward to the afternoon. I have had to shave the beard and moustache so that I will get an adequate seal on the respirator. Now I look funny. I get to suit up and sand potentially lead based paint off of window frames so we can paint. Long sleeves, gloves, long pants, and so on going to go directly into the wash when done.
April 12, 20215 yr 17 hours ago, Chad J. said: I don't think that's Shirley. No pet names where you're from? Cool casket book case. Book Coffin? I've seen row boat book cases but I think this is the first book coffin. I like it. 13 minutes ago, Paul TIKI said: I have had to shave the beard and moustache so that I will get an adequate seal on the respirator. Now I look funny. I shaved a 25 yro beard when we started wearing face masks against Covid. Don't worry, you don't really look any funnier without it, it just seems that way. Once you get a little color only family will know. After better than a year and full vaccination I started letting it grow again a couple weeks ago. Talk about feel and look funny! Frosty The Lucky.
April 12, 20215 yr I always wanted one of those big long hillbilly beards i could tuck in my belt. I can not get past maybe 1/2" before i have to shave, the itch drives me nuts.
April 12, 20215 yr I keep mine trimmed to about 3/4"-1" or it snags on things. Mine stops itching about 1/4" but that first week is crazy making. I'm forever feeling or looking for what's crawling on my face. I used to shave in summer but Deb prefers the beard, probably because it covers part of my face. Frosty The Lucky.
April 12, 20215 yr Chimera, my youngest daughter is into the goth scene and asked for a coffin shaped bookshelf, she wanted it stained completely black though I preferred the natural accents. Also thank you, I'm getting excited about finally finishing that blade though now I have to figure out a pommel. Frosty, thanks! I've toyed with the idea of making and selling those. It seems like there are a lot of people who just want Halloween all the time now and it was a fairly simple build. But that'll be when I get the shop set up completely.
April 12, 20215 yr Oh! I wasn't sure if it was supposed to looks like a coffin, or if it was just accidental. Either way, I definitely prefer the natural wood accents. It looks great!
April 12, 20215 yr I've seen a number of designs for bookcases and various cabinets that ultimately convert to caskets (the straight sides being better for this purpose than the tapered sides of a coffin). Oddly enough, the cabinet designs seem to favor liquor and guns, a combination that could indeed lead to an accelerated need for their alternate use.
April 12, 20215 yr 4 hours ago, Chimaera said: the longer handled flux spoon. And here it is. The section between the handle and the bowl has been drawn out to about half again its original length.
April 13, 20215 yr JHCC, what was the original piece? Bar stock square sock? I made a new quench tank for longer blades. It's 4 x 4 x 36 inches tall so I don't think I'll have to make another unless I start making sabers.
April 13, 20215 yr I honestly can’t remember — I first made the spoon a while back, before I started using a gas forge. Maybe 1/2” or 3/8” round?
April 13, 20215 yr 41 minutes ago, JHCC said: Somewhat more minimalist than your usual offerings. I did it on purpose. I plan to plant flowers like on the house.
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