What did you do in the shop today?

[Rojo Pedro]

One lucky girl HojPoj. Very nice!

[jlpservicesinc]

3 hours ago, DHarris said:

Jennifer, I am deeply wounded. 

You didn’t mention me as a “brite star”.  
 

 I am a pro at starting and never finishing projects. 

There are a bunch of you guys..  To many to mention all by name..  

I really love seeing all you guys picking up projects..  Some get finished and some do not.. 

I had a huge pile of scrap which I then recycled into something else once I got better at it.. Worked out perfectly. 

[Anachronist58]

In honor of this being page # 777 on this thread, let me tell you that I have been overwhelmed by the stuff that can be discovered here.  Best I can do, is skip back a couple of pages.  Here is what I did the shop today.  It is a chili with no beans pipe clamp:

Safe and happy holidays, everyone!

Robert Taylor

[Frosty]

 love your star candle holder Pat. It looks very marketable to me. Don't worry doing it a few times and you'll develop tricks and jigs to make it go quickly. 

That is wicked COOL Hoj Hoj, just outstanding! Rather than magnets it'd easy enough to forge hold downs for the anvil that would be much stronger than magnets.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Stash]

Well, I think I’m all done with Christmas gifts now. Production mode yielded a bunch of icecicle ornaments and I finished a few more tray- dish thingies. Today I’ll wrap things in tissue paper and hand- deliver the goodies. As we say in the Philly region, Merry Christmas to youse and yours!

Steve

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

I just finished up some last minute Christmas gifts, some ornaments a cookout fork and a fire poker 

[Pat Masterson]

On 12/14/2021 at 6:59 PM, jlpservicesinc said:

 

 

Tried doing this for my mothers birthday and failed three times. I tried to do it with round bar and square bar so only half would be pretwisted. Pretty sure it was because the square bar started off larger than the round bc I didn’t have matching sizes so I tried forging it down to size first. This meant they just would not twist at the same rate no matter what I did. This is really really nice though. Great job. 

[ThomasPowers]

Rearranged things so my coal "travel forge" is out and my NTM cast iron firepot surrounded with firebrick forge is in.  It came in the hoard and has an enclosing hood for it but I think that will need some work to attach to my chimney and so just placed the chimney like I did with the travel forge.  The problem with rearranging the shop is every thing is heavy and so you are playing Tetris with hundreds of pounds of stuff.  Much more fun 30 years ago! (Quicker too.)

[BillyBones]

I suppose i would be more like a quasar than a bright star. Every once in a while i have a bright and stunning flash but most of the time just a boring old speck. 

Anyway, to all my IFI friends have a very Merry Christmas. May the day be filled with the love and joy of family and friends.

Got my best present from a SIL last night. 10 year old single malt Irish whiskey. 

[Jobtiel1]

Merry Christmas everyone! My gifts were blacksmithing books! Ready to learn and practice more stuff!

~Jobtiel

[Chimaera]

Merry Christmas everyone! I received a lovely leather apron and a grinding respirator, along with some new belts. I’ve got a squirrel tail clip point/ slim Bowie that I’m finishing up.

[jlpservicesinc]

19 hours ago, Pat Masterson said:

Tried doing this for my mothers birthday and failed three times. I tried to do it with round bar and square bar so only half would be pretwisted. Pretty sure it was because the square bar started off larger than the round bc I didn’t have matching sizes so I tried forging it down to size first. This meant they just would not twist at the same rate no matter what I did. This is really really nice though. Great job. 

the smaller bars will pull to the center faster than the thicker bars.. You can account for this by making them about a 1/4" longer and bowing them in the middle before welding them..   The bow will take up for the extra thickness.. 

Keep the smaller bars towards the outside on the twist vs getting them sucked to the center. 

just posted the "Blacksmith twist handle poker challenge"  Video hasn't processed all the way yet. 

A christmas present for all. 

[alexandr]

Finishing work this year. Bedroom furniture.

I also celebrated Christmas at a nearby cafe.

[George N. M.]

And Merry Christmas to you too, Alexandr.  My wife says that you are so good to post these beautiful photos of your work and the St. Petersburg area.  The floor in the cafe is pretty spectacular, "too much is never enough."

GNM

[BsnNFrnt]

+1 to Alexandr, always great to see craftsmanship at that level. 
Hard to get cabin fever when it’s 83 degrees outside, so we smelted copper and brass. Three generations and Christmas music blaring, could not get the youngest generation in frame. 

 

[Pat Masterson]

Thanks for the tips JLP. 
I finally finished this ball peen hammer into a hatchet project. Unfortunately I got overzealous with trying to get it heat treated right and it cracked. It’s a small crack.. so small I couldn’t get a pic that showed it. Luckily my brother lives in an apartment so he has no real need for something like this anyway. Before I even showed him the crack he said he just wanted it to be something on display since it was once my grandfathers hammer. He loved it. My first shot at leather work also. Not so good…but good enough I guess. Going to make him something to display it in his house as well. Gave my other brother the globe. It was hard to let go but he fell in love with it when I showed it to him a few months back so now I have a reason to make another one. And for once I finished a project same day and came up with it on my own. I know it’s not the most brilliant idea lol but my aunt loves dolphins so I worked on this little dolphin candle thing allll daayyy long so she could get it tonight. 
Well my holiday season technically started back in August to make all these gifts like I’m sure it did for a lot of us here…I’m glad it’s over lol. But I did want say that this last year that I started smithing has been different for me…gave me something to care about at a time I didn’t care about much else. This site has been an enormous help and inspiration to keep going with it so I want to say a sincere thank you and merry Christmas/happy holidays, whichever applies, to those that keep it running and to the people that repeatedly answer my dumb questions and give great advice - Thomas Powers, Frosty, Daswulf, Jlpservicesinc, Les L, Alexandr, JHCC, Jobtiel1, Frazer and probably a couple dozen others that I apologize for forgetting or if I spelled your name wrong lol thank you all and Merry Christmas again!

 

[Daswulf]

Robert, love the pipe clamp. Ill have to keep that one in my idea tool box. 

Steve, thats some nice work. I especially love the look of the copper (looking or actual copper?) Dish. It is very pleasing to look at. 

TW, the poker fork and ornaments look nice. Good job. 

BNF, hope it was a safe and successful pour. I do wish you would use a little more ppe. Just cause it went fine a couple times doesnt mean something couldnt go wrong next time. Gatta be safe. This stuff is dangerous enough as is.

Pat,great work. Everyone will love them im sure. How did you cut out the plate. It turned out really good and would be very marketable. Nice work. And thanks. Keep up the great work!

[Frazer]

Finished a couple of last minute Christmas presents.

Wizard hooks (one of them doesn't belong)

And a split cross with a stand for my 95 year old great grandma.

 

[Daswulf]

Nice work Frazer!

[Mothman_c3w]

I made this a couple weeks ago, but I could not post it until the recipient opened it.

Made from a few inches of 1/4"x 1/2" steel and Tobin "bronze" for the flame. I drilled a small hole in the throat and silver-soldered the flame in place. Finished with a clear enamel coating.

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

That looks awesome mothman! 

[Chimaera]

Everyone’s got such beautiful projects! While not as nice as your guys’ stuff, I finished up this clip point/slim Bowie. While it’s hard to see, it’s got a false edge and a hammered spine. I’m really happy with how it turned out. No hammer marks where I don’t want them, pretty sharp- I just need to make a sheath! Over these coming months I need to do a lot of practice grinding- getting nice bevels is tough, especially on hardened steel!!!

[Les L]

Beautiful work everyone! As others have stated, thanks to all on this site for the help you give us on learning this craft and the great ideas for projects.

[Frosty]

I love the hooks Frazer and the crucifix is moving. Well done!

That's a beautiful pendant Mothman, it's really getting my idea gears turning. The recipient is going to LOVE it!

Frosty The Lucky.

[ThomasPowers]

BSNFRNT: were you actually taking ore and making metal from it---smelting; or were you *melting* metal for casting?  VERY DIFFERENT; especially as I don't recall any "brass ore".  Closest I can come to that was Biringuccio  mixing zinc ore in with molten copper to "color it".  ("De La Pirotechnia" 1540)  The term smelting is almost universally misused on the net; I guess folks think it sounds more impressive than melting or foundry work.

I gave my 4 grandsons in Albuquerque tools; which I expect will see a hard life; so they are mainly cleaned up scrapyard finds; but of mostly good to great brands.

Gave3 my two Daughters the "rusty Barbwire Basket Icicles"  (nicely cleaned up and painted silver of course.)

And when back from the city I snuck out to my shop and built my first fire in my NTM forge to see how it does with a "traditional" firepot---me having been using my "improvised firepots" for decades now.   Worked great!   Unfortunately it's set up in the forge for folks who crank with their left hand and work the piece with their right hand, *backwards* to how I do it. So I have to make a couple of mods  so I can use the clinker ball with it facing the wall.  I have a friend coming over today after (remote) church to help me cut a pass through in the wall of the shop and perhaps get the hood mounted on the forge---unfortunately the hood that came with it has an 8" chimney connection  and I use a 10" pipe...(it also needs a pass through as well.)