September 27, 20214 yr While watching the demo put on by Marty Reisig at Quad-state he said he has been asked numerous times how long he has been a smith. He said "I have spent 45 years learning the art."
September 27, 20214 yr Did nothing in the shop all weekend. Went camping instead. While there I ran across a couple items of interest. I couldn't find the owner, but I'll give him a call inna day or two. The vise I'd like to have moreso than the others. But that big "double barrel" drill press would make a fun addition to the shop.
September 27, 20214 yr Vise looks like a Columbian and a good sized one too! Friday I had a bout of Food Poisoning and spent the day "resting". Saturday, my wife drove us down to see my Mother and take her out for Lunch and to hit up a used bookstore in El Paso Tx. Sunday, after church I went out to the shop and started building another anvil stand from spare scrap wood. Sure wish I could use something other than a bow saw to cut the 2"x12" planks! Planks were not in great shape so I did some glue up to get rid of some old wood glue as well. This was part of my scheme to have differing height anvil stands for teaching. I want all 8 London Pattern anvils to be usable for a range of students.
September 27, 20214 yr my buddy came way down on what cards he wanted realized the difference in value and well was able to work it out so I now own that welder 2 masks a giant brand new c clamp. and few odds and ends and this grinder below
September 27, 20214 yr Congratulations Gandalfgreen! I m glad you were able to work out a better deal!
September 27, 20214 yr Thanks willow. Been a great day got that deal done. Ordered a high pressure hose and regulator that fit my price range. suppose to be here wednesday which fits perfect next day off is thursday so plan to coat forge and fire then let sit till sunday and coat with kastolite. if those days go as good as this day off should be forging within 2 weeks hot diggity dog.
September 28, 20214 yr Working on a candle holder, need to put some leaves. I'd never tried to do that before and I must say, it's time to find or make some more tools. I'm going to tighten up the base a bit but it'll have to be over the coal forge but I'm very happy with it so far.
September 28, 20214 yr 9 hours ago, Chad J. said: it's time to find or make some more tools. It’s always that time!
September 28, 20214 yr Looks good Chad Finished a hook and started a file knife. Need to practice ball ends
September 28, 20214 yr Went out to the smithy after dinner and took 3 pieces of plank out of the clamps and cleaned and glued 3 more pieces and put them in clamps for the next anvil stand, then Rang the Anvil and Toasted Bob Cruickshank. Then it was too dark to do anything else.
September 28, 20214 yr Had to try out the new toys. Still a little work to do. Just a tad off center but still some drawing out to do so that should be fixed and one little spot where my cheeks did not quite meet that did not weld. Mild steel with an old rasp for the bit.
September 28, 20214 yr Haven’t gotten on here or really been able to work on any projects for about two weeks…but the bright side is I get 20 or so pages of new “what did you do in the shop today” posts to go through. I got out of work a bit early today and finally, finally finished this globe. I don’t even know how many months work of weekends this took but I’m pretty happy with it - would do a lot of things different on the next one but still pretty cool. Strange thing - the sheet metal I used for the continents took the paste wax finish differently than bar stock…I definitely went past temper colors to a black heat then hit it with the wax when it got down to the right temperature but they still came out with all of these crazy colors - still temper colors I guess but they look quite - “earthy” so I’m actually loving that part. And it spins surprisingly well. I just made a little washer for the center post that went under the globe and that keeps it at the right height. So much trial and error with this thing I’m glad it’s over lol. And going with my normal theme I came to realize that this coat hook for Mother’s Day wasn’t very well though out either. The mourning holes weren’t spaced far enough apart to each hit a stud so I mounted it to this piece of wood and mounted to the board to the wall so it will actually hold some heavy coats. Hope everyone is staying safe, healthy and happy. IMG_1217.MOV
September 28, 20214 yr How did you cut out the continent's again, that looks great. How did you amount for the curvature or did you kinda wing it?
September 28, 20214 yr You know that if you just stuck to the Super Continents like Pangea and Rodinia and others; then it would be easier to cut and mount them on globes!---Of course the globes would also be more lopsided in weight... Nice and cool today would be great to sneak into the smithy, save for the dark and wet!
September 28, 20214 yr Hope you used the latest ellipsoid although I’d bet your magnetic interference is through the roof!
September 28, 20214 yr showed up one day early heck yes. 12 ft s.s. braided line 0to 30psi regulator and a pressure gauge. tomorrow night could be firing up the forge though just to dry silica. so close and so ready.
September 29, 20214 yr Gandalfgreen, sounds like an exciting next installment coming... I almost never get to do hot work. This is about to change as the next phase of my project unfolds. Such a thrill just forging out a simple cable hanger... Robert Taylor
September 29, 20214 yr Weather is 20 degF cooler; firing up the forge is beginning to sound like a *good* thing to do! (Of course I have to sweep the woodstove chimney in the house soon too. At 75 my Wife gets cold easily. (As I go to bed earlier; having to get up and go to work in the morning, a common comment when she comes to bed chilled is "Been dead long?")
September 29, 20214 yr 23 hours ago, Chad J. said: How did you cut out the continent's again, that looks great. How did you amount for the curvature or did you kinda wing it? Thanks. For cutting them out I started with a Dremel but that quickly became aggravating so I went with the angle grinder which cut through the 22 gauge sheet like butter obviously. Just did rough cuts and then I was able to get the finer shapes on my little belt grinder and some filing and then a lot of shaping with a ball peen and stump with a bowl impression I hammered into it. And yes - if the term “winging it” was in the dictionary it would have a picture of me holding this globe. Definitely want to make another one. Next one I’ll use a uniform size for all of the spokes instead of two different sizes which I just did because it was what I had on hand. As far as the continents go I’d probably do it basically the same way except without trying to get so much little detail - once the whole thing is together I think the little parts that were very difficult don’t really make it much better looking. Attaching the continents was my biggest problem. Tried welding first and blew right through cuz I’m terrible at it. Tried JB weld then it melted when I wanted to blacken everything, then the wrong type of gorilla glue and then finally got it with the right gorilla glue. I forget who but someone on here suggested attaching them with brass rivets and I think that would look really awesome so that would be my next try. Thanks again for that suggestion whoever you are!
September 30, 20214 yr Today Been working on tearing down last year’s stove pipe and installing new for this year out in the shop it’s still warm outside here but it won’t be long before it cools down an I hate climbing up on the roof in cold wind, I’ll finish up in the morning, also the shop cats weren’t much help today…
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