Stash, love the hammer. 

Pedro that is a very cool bell. 

Thomas- I was considering moving the handle back into the threads, but settled on the current version. I do have another bolt in inventory in case I want to do that. I was wondering- did you put a curve in the bolt between handle and working end to follow the swing arc?

Thanks Dax.

Steve

I did. 

Wow- that's about as far back as you can go. Thanks John.

Steve

You're welcome. 

(And thanks for reminding me that I have an order of five knitting bowls that I need to knock out over the weekend.)

Yes I curved and I went as far back as you can go too. It allows you to deep dish larger items like 2 gallon cauldrons.

As a smith you can adjust the curve multiple times till you get one you like...Then quench, temper, polish and prosper!

Stash, I would put a wider flange on the stake for it to rest on. That small pin can eat at the hardy hole.

Rojo Pedro, nice looking bell. How did you do the thumb tab?

Thanks all. It sounds pretty good but I will harden it and see if it sounds better.

Doc- i used a top fuller and smashed it down leaving a 1/4” square of full thickness in the middle and then smashed that in my vise. 

40%, fresh vinegar (acetic acid) at 14 hours. Phasing from stipping, over to some sort of corrosion inhibiting patination, all in the same jar. Caution:  There was a notable pressure increase at living room temperature, had to relieve it 3 t in 14 hours. Do Not Sniff Jar.

Robert Taylor 

1 hour ago, Rojo Pedro said:

Thanks all. It sounds pretty good but I will harden it and see if it sounds better.

Have you been exposed to hammer toning your bells? The Hammer peening causes differential (sic) hardening and helps to give voice.  Quite a good pinch that you have on there...

Robert

My oldest daughter requested a picture frame.

love it nice work!

Thanks

Beautiful!

(Nice picture frame, too.)

Very pretty, Les L.

Robert Taylor

That's a stunning frame. 

I have been working on a big project for over a year.

Finish today, brought 2 tables. Very heavy. More than 100 kg.

 

Those look awesome alexandr! 

Impressive!

On 9/5/2021 at 1:52 PM, Les L said:

Pat, what about using a thin diameter wire to rivet the pieces to the frame?

Oh man - this is a good idea.  Especially if they were brass Bluerooster. This globe is absolutely torturing me. So first try was the JB Weld but that stuff melted when I tried to blacken everything for paste wax. So Frosty suggested blackening everything separately then use clear epoxy and I actually had some. But like a dummy I didn’t hit the contact spots with some sand paper so the epoxy had something to stick to so everything popped right off from the slightest touch. So I pulled the continents off again and hit the contact spots but realized the epoxy I had was the type that people make jewelry and similar stuff out of on YouTube - wasn’t going to set up fast enough and I thought that stuff might end up being weaker than some 5min stuff. But I had Gorilla glue. Surely that would work as I’ve used it before. What I didn’t remember was what I used previously on steel was Gorilla Clear Gel Super Glue..NOT the original brown stuff which is what I had. So I was finally ready to glue them up and do the final assembly. Got everything clamped into place and started gluing away - some of you already know what happens next I’m sure. Original brown Gorilla Glue is an expanding glue so it bubbles and becomes a milky yellowish color. Needless to stay this looked absolutely awful against the the rest of globe. It literally looked like someone had blown a bunch of terrible sneezes all over it. So as soon as I realized why it was looking so terrible I AGAIN removed the continents and then spent around an hour removing the snot glue and hitting all the pieces with a wire wheel - they were just looking ugly after being handled so much to remove the snot glue so I’ll have to blacken everything again. So I went to Home Depot and got the correct clear gel super glue and 5 min clear epoxy both from Gorilla and both say non expanding. I just got home and Im completely exhausted as it’s now 3:30pm and I got out there at 6 this morning. This thing was supposed to be finished last weekend so this weekend I could start on Christmas presents. Going to try doing some forge welds and making some basket twist tree ornaments - hopefully next weekend. Sorry for writing a novel here but I figured at least a few of you would get a laugh at the misery today’s low attention to detail caused me. 
Hopefully I’ll be posting a picture of a finished spinning globe tomorrow.

And I definitely plan on making more of these globes now that I know almost everything NOT to do. The rivets is a really really awesome idea. Thanks Les and Bluerooster again. 

Pat, you can buy steel, brass and copper finishing nails, insert the head from the inside back it up and head the front. 
Alex, beautiful work, as always. 
All, thanks for the feedback, the advice I have read on this site, and information on how to correct my mistakes, has helped me get to where I am at this time in my short career 

Some bowl work. 

And making a large-radius bending jig for a commissioned piece. 

Made a towel rack today. Used 3/8" rod for the twisted part and found it's not easy to get an even twist over that length (16"). 

Got the Tanto clayed last week, and had to go to work. So I decided to harden it this evening.  On smaller blades, I usually heat them with the torch, and quench. But this blade is a bit longer than I've made before, and clayed as well. So I dug a quicky trench forge beside the shop, and used charcoal to heat the blade.  Got it up to temp, and quenched it. that part went ok, but after the quench, and clay removal, I found a cold shut on the cutting edge at the end of the blade.  Also one about halfway down on one side of the cutting edge.  Other than that it looks ok. The hamon is a bit faint, more so than I thought it would be. But then again, it's a piece of cable, and probably won't get very hard anyway.  

I didn't get a picture of my failure, but I'll have one tomorrow.   So, back to the drawing board. I have some more cable.  I wish I knew what cable chokers are made of. It sparks like low carbon, and probably is. 

Bladesmiths never make mistakes; they only make smaller knives. 

Ted, when you say not easy I think you are understating things a bit. That rail looks great.