Mark Ling Posted November 5, 2017 Author Share Posted November 5, 2017 12 hours ago, Jasent said: Love that lil crosspein lbs!!! 40 min that's fast! What steel did you use? Handle looks great Thank you! It was 3/4" square, saw a little cut off in my scrap pile and was bored so thought, what the heck. It being such small stock and also mild steel made it really easy to do. I was in a hurry, and so didn't do the nicest forging, so ended up going to the grinder, shaping the ears pointed, and shaping the pein, throwing it back in the forge to even out the look so it looks like it was forged... 10 hours ago, Daswulf said: guessing those are metal detecting finds LBS? Can usually always find some neat stuff along rivers. The hard part is hauling it all back. Yup, metal detector. Most of this was found in the river, though some was found on the banks. Last time I found a lot of lead, and like 5 musket balls, but most of it being older (early 1900's) slugs, some that are kinda neat, and boy, tons of .22 slugs! That time I didn't hardly use the metal detector, just went around to bed rock cracks, stuck my hand down in them, and would literally pull up handfuls of bird shot, .45 slugs, .22 slugs, and everything in between! There is so much lead in that creek, hundreds of lbs I'm sure. Then some of that wrought iron was just surface finds on the bank of a river under an old bridge. Though the square rebar I took a hacksaw and cut it out of a fallen down bridge, while something kept bumping into my foot (think it was a turtle, or hope...), and of course the teeth on the saw were extra fine.... That's not bad for a first time forging, tell your wife she did good. So today wasn't the most successful day, but more of a day of...experimenting (or just an excuse for not doing to well at the forge today lol). I folded and forge weld one of those wrought iron bolts together, and upset it to about 1" square to make a small hammer. I punched the hole, and noticed it was pulling apart, but I figured I could maybe forge weld it back together. Well I did, but then when I went to drift it It majorly came apart, took about 3 hours to get to that point! so back in the scrap pile...Oh well. I have great respect for the smiths that had only Wrought iron to work with back in in the day! I was given some copper cable, about 1/2" diameter, and so just for fun and to see if I could, I tried to stick the end of it together, which the first time went beautifully, and I forge a small leaf out of it. I then cut it off about 3 inches back, and tried to stick it together on that end, then I was going to untwist int, and do sorta a basket twist, but I couldn't get tit to stick together enough! Heat treated a Damascus knife, but after heat treating it revealed a delamination, so not sure If I will be able to save it or not. Had a big hole in my jeans, and a big piece of (hot!) scale went in the hole, and down in my boot in and burned about a quarter sized hole in my new sock and left a big 'ole blister on my foot.. Now to stuff that went well. I found a little piece of 3/8" brass in my scrap pile and forged a little leaf on the 3rd try, the two before that I melted... Forged a stainless steel leaf key chain, first time forging stainless, enjoyed it, I didn't find it as difficult as people say it is. forged a horse shoe heart, modified a ball pein from neighbors trash to a small straight pein hammer for texturing, also finished an over sized bangle, but was good practice. One thing I did like today, was I forged two small bull dog key chains out of 1/8x1/2" flat. Also included pictures of some flowers I forged a while back, they are one piece key chains. Forge a tenon on half inch round, about 1/8" round, but where the tenon meets parent stock it's about 3/16". Take about 5/8" of parent stock, and upset it in a bolster plate (like a rivet head) , then using ball fuller and hallow punch adding the petals and middle part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted November 5, 2017 Share Posted November 5, 2017 There are those days LBS. I had one last night where I couldn't seem to forge anything right so I called it quits. Went out metal detecting and walking a main river here today. It's an area that doesnt have a lot of steel or iron but I always find some old mine tags. It's fun and relaxing. I still have yet to drag a big batch of coal out that is scattered all over the bank. There is another river that I find old wrought iron and steel at but need the kayak to access. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted November 5, 2017 Share Posted November 5, 2017 A few bits from today's forging: a pair of door pulls, a single door pull, a 'spaghetti twist' bottle opener, a couple of letter openers. The pair of door pulls are for a barbecue cabinet done in rough timber so they are straight off the forge with just a bit of brass and a wax finish. Square forged lag screws will hold them on. Interesting doing letter openers for demos. Kids today don't know what a letter is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hans Richter Posted November 5, 2017 Share Posted November 5, 2017 Hi folks, still busy with the first casting attempts, try ‘cire perdue’ or lost wax technic now, after the clay disaster. Ending up with to not fully filled moulds of an bronze age axe. However the parts I got from the lost wax moulds are good shaped with a smooth surface. Prepared two new moulds with a wider sprout an pouring funnel and will pour them after kiln and burning out the wax. Feedback, tips or tricks are more than welcome. Have a nice Sunday. Cheers Hans Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 5, 2017 Share Posted November 5, 2017 CAn you preheat your molds? That helps with chill issues. Many places go directly from burnout to pouring with the mold still hot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lou L Posted November 5, 2017 Share Posted November 5, 2017 I keep forgetting to take pictures of what I make before I give it away. I’ve had a umber of friends and family ask for bottle openers so it’s nothing exciting anyway. Today I went at a pair of fire pit tongs for my cousin. He has enormous bonfires for friends and family that are unapproachably hot. I decided to make him some 36” tongs so he can adjust the wood in his fire. They are roughed out and only need to be straightened a bit, riveted and adjusted. I’m thinking about putting a half round on the reins with my swage block. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Ling Posted November 6, 2017 Author Share Posted November 6, 2017 23 hours ago, Daswulf said: There are those days LBS. I had one last night where I couldn't seem to forge anything right so I called it quits. Went out metal detecting and walking a main river here today. It's an area that doesnt have a lot of steel or iron but I always find some old mine tags. It's fun and relaxing. I still have yet to drag a big batch of coal out that is scattered all over the bank. There is another river that I find old wrought iron and steel at but need the kayak to access. today was almost similar hahaha. I tried heat treating a small ball pein that I made a while back, a really nice one that even I couldn't find anything wrong with (thats rare haha) and I quenched in oil, thought it was cool, the oil wasn't smoking any, and I dunked it in water, and hear "ting, ting, ting", pull it out, and is covered in cracks, big ones too! you would think I would learn by now....Oh well, can always make a new one, I'm just waiting for one of my hammers to survive heat treating haha. what do you swing? I use a ace 250, and just got a new water proof garret pin pointer, really liking it. the ace 250, from the coil and shaft is all waterproof but the control box isnt, so I can still hunt in water, just got to be careful not to drop it. Metal detecting is fun, as long as you dont just fine beer cans. Its funny though, on bad days when all I find is trash, when I find a wheat penny, Im like wow, this is a really good find, then on good days when finding alot, a wheat penny is just another find. I really enjoy finding the old iron, have quite a few forged single tree peices, alot of forged horse shoes, and forged horse tack and hinges, it's cool looking at it and the forge welds and all. Im sure if I didn't do blacksmithing I would just through out the iron like other Metal detectorist do. Littleblacksmith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted November 6, 2017 Share Posted November 6, 2017 Noooo! haha I do that too and need not to. Never think it's ok to dunk it in water after an oil quench. lol I've done it. best of luck next time. I'm using a Garrett AT pro (waterproof) and a Garrett propointer (also waterproof), "The Garrett carrot", did some research before purchasing anything and this was what I thought was the best bang for the buck. also paid for the waterproof headphones. lol Hopefully i'll eventually get some return on investment but it's more something to let loose and enjoy, and I Have. I'm really digging it. I sure can get lost in the hunt. I've heard good things about the Ace 250 ( if not Just as Good just a few less features) . I know exactly what you mean with the finds haha. just no more aluminum foil balls and cans haha let alone pull tabs. I never mind finding lead. I melt it down into ingots for now. Yup, I'll always be happy finding the rusty Iron. I find myself yelling "I'd take That" when watching detecting vids. Funny,... sometimes the best detector is just our eyes and "spider sense" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Ling Posted November 6, 2017 Author Share Posted November 6, 2017 hahaha, hopefully I have learned my lesson! wow, that is a good machine. eventually when I have the extra $$ I would like to get a Garret AT pro. I haven't really had any complaints with the pin pointer though with this one you have to hold down the button to turn it off, before the water proof garret pin pointer I had the black one that wasn't waterproof, and all you had to do was touch it, so it's just taking sometime to get used to. I know what you mean about getting lost in the hunt, one time I was metal detecting next to a house, and it turned out that on the side of the house there was a huge (biggest I've seen so far) yellow jacket nest, and I was focus on metal detecting and so I brushed up against it and got 4 stings to the face haha. At least in the rivers it seems that most of the lighter aluminum floats away, that's one thing I like about river hunting. Auquachiger passes up a lot of good big wrought iron. I remember one time he passed up a almost functioning rivet forge in Alaska, but he didn't know what it was. Littleblacksmith I will start a new thread for metal detecting in the "everything else" part of the forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted November 6, 2017 Share Posted November 6, 2017 Yeah I watch his vids and yell out the answer most of the time when he didn't know what something is. But I have also learned a lot watching. Yes I would tame a lot of things he pitches back. Well, if I could carry it all. I did a lot of research before I bought equipment having used the cheap stuff others had before. I wanted and saved up for the best I could afford. I try to be the same with other tools for things I'm seriously interested in. Rivers still have a lot of junk cans and pull tabs and melted aluminum and foil lol. Let alone broken glass to watch out for. I planned to get out a lot more this year but it was raining a lot of weekends and rivers were up a lot. Hopefully I'll get out more later and next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted November 6, 2017 Share Posted November 6, 2017 1 minute ago, Daswulf said: Hopefully I'll get out more later and next year. Do it before the baby arrives, my friend. You will discover that your time is not your own in the same way that as it was before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted November 6, 2017 Share Posted November 6, 2017 I realize this lol. After the child arrives all will be a bit different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bounty Forge Posted November 6, 2017 Share Posted November 6, 2017 On 11/3/2017 at 8:57 PM, littleblacksmith said: well this is from a while back, but last Saturday spent part of a day at a couple local rivers searching them. Didn't really find much, found some lead, a couple small musket balls, and did get some nice sized wrought iron. Oh, and something that was cool, was I got a short section of about 3/4" square rebar, pretty old for rebar maybe early 1900's?. Then from a while back also, I had an order for intertwined horse head horse shoe hearts. The other night I had some forge time and knocked out a small little jewelry sized cross pein out of 3/4" square in about 40 minutes, and got it handled tonight, used a mesquite wedge for contrast. Nice finds! I have never gotten into metal detecting, but it looks like a pretty good hobby to go with blacksmithing. The square rebar is pretty cool. Looks like you had a busy day forging. I like the brass leaf a lot. I've only pulled off a small ring so far. The copper leaf from the stranded wire is really cool too. Love the little hammer...it's just fun to look at. Your flower design is really good. I like the stem off the back instead of being off the side like I see it often. On 11/5/2017 at 1:46 AM, ausfire said: A few bits from today's forging: a pair of door pulls, a single door pull, a 'spaghetti twist' bottle opener, a couple of letter openers. The pair of door pulls are for a barbecue cabinet done in rough timber so they are straight off the forge with just a bit of brass and a wax finish. Square forged lag screws will hold them on. So I'm in love with the brass finish on these! I haven't heard of or seen this finish technique until now. I originally saw it on another post of yours...in the brass/copper finishes forum, and you described how to do it. I plan on giving it a try next time I forge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 6, 2017 Share Posted November 6, 2017 Some of the sq rebar from the 20's would harden when quenched in my experience. (Lots of it in the spoil banks along the downtown rivers in Columbus Ohio...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bounty Forge Posted November 6, 2017 Share Posted November 6, 2017 Any idea as to the grade of older rebar? Is it similar to today's grades, or totally different? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 6, 2017 Share Posted November 6, 2017 TOTALLY DIFFERENT! (and unknown!) There were building to a different set of specs back then; why the nuclear power plant containment shells and interstate bridges were practically *missing* back in the 1920's! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lou L Posted November 7, 2017 Share Posted November 7, 2017 On 11/5/2017 at 9:31 PM, JHCC said: Do it before the baby arrives, my friend. You will discover that your time is not your own in the same way that as it was before. So true. My Ace 350 has been in dry dock for a while. I used to seek out old settlements in the woods and find all sorts of old metal tools and such. I also found the remnants of an old railway, some mills, etc... So much fun to do the historical research and find out who built and lived in the settlement. The oldest place I’ve detected was built around 1650 but reached prominence around 1680. I have some wrought iron I dug up there. That’s where I found the hames (bridle part for a carriage horse) that Charles identified for me. Sadly, that hobby takes me away from the family for long hours and the wife is never happy with me when I return with a load of “junk metal”. She is much happier having me around the house at the forge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted November 7, 2017 Share Posted November 7, 2017 29 minutes ago, Lou L said: She is much happier having me around the house at the forge. In the “Could Be Worse Department”. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lou L Posted November 7, 2017 Share Posted November 7, 2017 The object lesson here is this: Start out your marriage with some seriously time intensive hobbies so that, by comparison, forging seems acceptable when children are running around the house. It’s all about desensitizing your spouse to your habits. Bringing hands forged gifts for the hosts of parties also helps. I just brought two bottle openers to a party this past Saturday and they were the rage. My wife was more than happy to brag about the time I spend hammering away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted November 7, 2017 Share Posted November 7, 2017 Yup. Mine sometimes Tells me to go to the shop lol. I'm sure that might change a bit and I'm OK with that. We Are good at this point. I can't wait till my child is old enough to come learn and "work" with dad tho tonight I've been working on my demo coal forge. Still a ways to go and I really want to make it collapsible and portable as possible. Table is 2'1/4"x34". Trying a new style brake rotor fire pot. It's replaceable like my other forge so no worry if it needs changed. Could even use my go to fire pot rotor if needed. Next up is to cut the fencing for stock access, figure some easy collapsible or add on legs, and possibly an add on hood to keep coal smoke out of people's faces. Also have a 12v VW blower to wire up and test run. With that I'm debating cordless drill batteries or a deep cycle. Experiment time. Other case is a champion 400 blower that isn't refurbished yet. Height will be same as my current forge so I can put it under my hood to test out. 22 minutes ago, Lou L said: The object lesson here is this: Start out your marriage with some seriously time intensive hobbies so that, by comparison, forging seems acceptable when children are running around the house. It’s all about desensitizing your spouse to your habits. Bringing hands forged gifts for the hosts of parties also helps. I just brought two bottle openers to a party this past Saturday and they were the rage. My wife was more than happy to brag about the time I spend hammering away. Lol! Yup my lovely lady has spent much time in the forge so understands what I do and that I enjoy it and make her fun stuff like the octopus. all she asked for was a " holder" for her seashell. Keep momma happy and impress her family/ friends a bit. So far it's working. Really tho, I can't wait to atleast try to teach my child this stuff, and it's so far off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted November 7, 2017 Share Posted November 7, 2017 It’ll come faster than you think! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4elements Posted November 7, 2017 Share Posted November 7, 2017 I met a couple of smiths in person whom I had only meet online. on Thursday I met Ohio. We chatted a while before I went to work. I offered her some steel I thought she could use to make an improvised anvil, and she have me a jar of her homegrown honey. On Saturday I invited Shady McGrady to my place and we forge welded some chain links in my charcoal forge. I enjoyed meeting both of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted November 7, 2017 Share Posted November 7, 2017 Isn't it great meeting some great people from on here? I'm telling you, even if I didn't meet them and only knew them here, now I can see that I'm missing out not meeting them in person. Unfortunately we have our limitations on time and travel. So I'll maintain what I can with them here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4elements Posted November 7, 2017 Share Posted November 7, 2017 Daswulf, I'm just fortunate to have some people close enough to reach out to. I got to know them through this forum and got comfortable enough to contact them. Glad I did, now we can see what we can build as friendships. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 7, 2017 Share Posted November 7, 2017 With kids: (especially new ones) try to arrange for a regular time when you are NOT on kid duty and MANDATORY---arrange a time when *she* is not on kid duty and not on house/cooking/work duty. Each of you need time to yourselves---and hopefully time together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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