What did you do in the shop today?

[George N. M.]

It's always a good day when we are on the green side of the grass.

One thing my Viet Nam experience taught me is perspective.  When things have gotten tough (and sometimes they have been very tough) I think to myself, "I'm not in a hole in the jungle, it's not raining, and no one is trying to kill me.  How bad can it be?"

G

[Gandalfgreen]

so sorry to hear and so irritating that things needed for medical issues cost so much. Anything diabetic related should be cheap and accessible have a few family members have similar issues with getting supplies  be safe and hang in there. everyones work looks amazing I havent been able to light my forge in a month days off been either too tired bad weather or no propane. hell month is over so hoping to get right back at it monday if mother nature allows it. no clue what I will be making but I am pounding hot steel with my hammer this coming week. need to clear my mind and get to use some of this money I have earned on some materials.  JHCC if you see this I have not forgotten about thise few things I will figure out when I can get out to you as well. thanks for all the motivation everyone keep up the great work.

[Chimaera]

Knocked out this little drop point for someone who got his Eagle Scout award. I think it might be my best yet- clean grinding, smooth lines, I remembered to use my touch mark, wonderful heat treat - I really like it. I think I’m going to do an upswept skinner with the same style handle soon. I just need to keep working on my grinding, and I need to make better things.

[SHC]

My diabetes (t2) has me trying to keep my blood sugar down. When I was diagnosed it was quite early. I managed to lose a lot of weight by eating mostly grilled meat and fruit. Yes fruit has a lot of fructose, but the right ones tend to have lower carbs and a good deal of fiber. I went from 298 to 217#. My A1C went from 8 something to 4.8 at its lowest. This took place in the space of less than a year and I got in trouble for dropping my A1C too fast. Apparently that can cause heart failure. I told my doctor she should have warned me because I would have greatly enjoyed some fried chicken and mashed taters every now and then.
I’m also anemic. My doctor said she’d prescribe steaks if she thought my insurance would pay for it. Alas, steak is an out of pocket medical expense. My neighbor dropped off some deer meat in exchange for some work I did to his rifle. Deer meat ain’t my favorite to cook, I usually manage to dry it out quite well when I’m NOT trying to so I  just make jerky from it. Makes for a tasty snack on the road. 
 

As to forge work, I’m trying another set of tongs. My first set were trash, I’m gonna salvage the reins for some sort of bird feeder hanger. The second set were flimsy but work. I know the biggest mistake I made with them, I used stock that was too light to begin with. I got an Amazon gift card from work for my safe driving record and bought a set, but y’all know at least a little diversity is needed. I’d read wolf jaw tongs are a good all around style for beginners, and they have been but they’re not great for everything. So I’ve watched some videos and did some reading here on IFI. Sorry, no pics of what I’m building yet, but they’re just basic flat jaw tongs if that’s what you call ‘em, for holding flat stock.

It’s not easy to make the time to do this with a demanding day job and home life. So last night I got home from work at around 1900 and moved my bench grinder to the back porch so  I could grill some chicken while cleaning up the hoof pick I made and the new tongs that only lack riveting now. I need the hammer skills so that I can forgo the grinding as much as I can, but I just ain’t there yet. 

[BillyBones]

My dad is diabetic. Not sure which type but he does not need insulin. His has been determined to be from agent orange exposure in Vietnam. Fortunately for him, it being service connected all his meds and supplies are provided for by the VA.   

I want to say my dad was with the 583rd engineers. I could be mistaken, i will see him here in about an hour and will ask to make sure. No clue as to where at in country. Then again i barely remember where i was at in Iraq. 

[Frosty]

I have flavored glucose gel tubes and the orange is almost good enough to spread on toast. The cherry is . . . cherry, ugh. 

I have a Freestyle Libre 14 day CGM and love it. I brought my A1c down from 7.2 to 6.3 between visits to my Endocrinologist. Being able to check my BG any time is great, it does things I didn't anticipate. I can tell exactly when my last insulin shot is used up or if I had enough for breakfast.

Frosty The Lucky.

[JHCC]

Made a new touchmark from S7. 

 

Also went to harden the S7 chisel I made the other day and discovered that it had a crack all the way up one side. Bummer. 

[MacLeod]

Happy new year everyone! Hope 2022 brings you all health and happiness!

I've been busy building a new workshop, it's a bit embarrassing as it's mostly made from recycled materials but it means I won't be hitting my hammer on the roof and won't be setting myself on fire so often I got timber delivered for most of the frame and with the price of timber I was measuring 5 times before cutting and thinking about how to use the offcuts.  I got corrugated iron sheets on the mainland I got a deal there but had to retrieve them from a demolished cowshed myself. Theres even some pallet wood in there too. The roof is on and its survived the first hebridean gale of the year. Had a late night last playing the pipes and drinking far too much whisky so today was mainly head scratching time.  Just thought I would jump on here and wish you, my mentors and educators all the best. JHCC is still a machine I see and Thomas P is still going strong despite his health and frosty doesn't like cherry  he hasn't tried the cherry brandy!

Maybe I'll post some pictures in the workshop section and get some advice on layout, but the standard of shops that these guys are building is very high. Bliadhna mhath ur!

 

 

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

Just finished up making a few more split crosses, I been playing with this cool little hammer I found awhile back, it’s a straight pean on one side and a cross pean on the other, 

it’s pretty light but it kinda works good for making a wood grain texture,

[JHCC]

I’ve got one too; great for texturing leaves as well. 

[BillyBones]

I was wrong. My dad was with the 20th engineers, 544th engineer company in Long Binh. 

 So went out to the shop, discovered that winter has returned. Past week has been in the upper 40's to upper 50's. Today in the 20's and snowing. Think i may just chill on the couch today.

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

10 minutes ago, JHCC said:

I’ve got one too; great for texturing leaves as well. 

That’s a good idea JHCC!

Although currently my leaves look more like butter knives

It’s sad I’ve learned how to do more advanced projects like forge welding, but when it comes to making a stupid leaf I screw it up every time… 

I’ve watched videos, I’ve read threads and about everything in between, but even when I try to follow step by step I have yet to make a leaf I haven’t thrown in or (at) the scrap bucket! 

so needless to say it’s gonna be a little bit before this cool little hammer gets to texture a leaf lol, 

[Daswulf]

No worries TW. We all have things we are better at and things we aren't.  If you want to get it, just keep trying. If you enjoy other things you are better at, do those.  No one can tell you you Have to do a thing. You can try if you like tho. 

 

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

Lol, I haven’t given up on leaves I’ve just been alternating from repeating projects that I’ve got down good and trying to refine them to then trying new projects I haven’t done before,

and every once in awhile I’ll grab some leftover bar and try 3-4 leaves till I get aggravated an move on to something else, 

[JHCC]

Also started grinding up some brick dust to make chasers pitch.

(Historical note: the brick in question was from the original foundation of a hotel built in our town in 1834. It burned down in 1866 and replaced with another hotel that was itself torn down and replaced in 1955. I salvaged this brick (and a few others) from the excavations when the 1955 hotel was demolished and replaced by the most recent version in 2017. Also, a dishing mold and hammer make a good mortar and pestle.)

 

[ThomasPowers]

MacLeod; noting wrong with recycled materials for a shop; my forge extension is 20'x30' with 10' walls. The walls are a recycled metal roof from a friends house after the killer hail storm we had out here. The uprights are made from recycled utility poles, (2 40' poles, cut into 4 20' poles And the last bent is fastened to the "clean shop" building.  The roofing is overruns from reroofing all the schools in town after the hail storm, the trusses are older than I am and showed up on craigslist. Finally the roll up doors came from a storage facility that replaced all their doors, picked it up on the way home from Quad-State one year. (Also a "man door" that our church replaced.)

[George N. M.]

TW, here is a simple way to make leaves:  1) start with round stock, say 3/8" or 1/2." 2) put a fairly steep taper on one end. 3) just behind the start of the taper neck the stock down near the tip of the horn using the ball of a ball pien hammer 4) when you have the neck down to fairly fine, maybe 3/16 to 1/8" the flatten everything down on the face of an anvil and you have your leaf shape. 5) add any folds or veins you like.

Once you have it down you will be able to knock them out in about 2 heats.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

George, thanks for the tips,

I don’t know what I’ve been doing wrong with leaves but none I’ve tried have looked remotely like a leaf….. and I’ve tried more times than I wanna count, 

most of the time I can read what y’all say on here and apply it,

for example, Frosty walked me through basic forge welding, and I got it on my first try!

since then some of my welds fail but I have more successes than fails, 

Another example, sometimes I can watch a video an get a project down, that’s how I learned how the split crosses were made just a couple days ago now I’ve been turning them out easily, 

and sometimes I can just figure stuff out on my own, like how I’ve been making cook out forks pretty regularly, 

But the simple stupid lowly leaf is mopping the floor with me lol,

I see new people every week join on here just starting out that can make a better leaf then I can, 

Its one of the many cases were having a more experienced smith in person that could probably teach me in a couple minutes how to do something I’ve struggled with for a long time,

I know When I finally figure out how to make a nice leaf I’m probably gonna do a face palm and shake my head, because I know it’s a simple project, and I’m gonna feel pretty stupid lol, 

 

 

 

[Gandalfgreen]

Twistedwillow anytime hammering is better then no time at all. I'd rather be able to forge weld then make a leaf but that's me. hopefully my kid let's me get a few hours in tonorrow and I prolly at least harden my hammer head.

[George N. M.]

TW, the shape you are looking for before you flatten it is a rain drop shape with the stem attached to the rounded end.  The tail of the drop becomes the point of the leaf.  Complex leaves, e.g. an oak leaf, are better cut out of sheet metal of around 16 gauge.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Chimaera]

Tw- lovely crosses! I thought they were wrought iron. I really need to figure those out.

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

Thanks Gandalfgreen and George!

Chimara, they are a really easy project, I watched a couple videos and started making them in a few minutes, 

3” long of 1/2” square,

cut down the middle  2-1/4” one way then turn over 90 degrees and flip it around to the other end, and cut down the middle to 1-1/4”, 

so that the cuts over lap, that’s what makes the little star in the middle,

then heat and unfold the four sides, I followed the guy in the video and used a flatter to straighten it out, 

then heat and straighten out the four sides and used a hot cut to trim one of the long sides, 

Then just use a cross pean to texture, although I’m thinking about making some with a little ball pean to get a different look,

ive heard Daswulf talk about a video by TecJoe showing how to  make them from a railroad spike but I haven’t got a chance to watch it or try that yet, 

 

 

 

[Frazer]

TW, nifty hammer and nice crosses.

I have a texturing hammer I use to create the wood-like appearance with rather than a peen. It's basically just a junky hammer head that I had a go at with a zip disc and a grinding wheel until I was happy with the look I got. I've found I get a more repeatable texture with that.

Your way looks nice too, I'm just throwing the idea out there for folks.

[JHCC]

I also have a texturing hammer (made from a flea market ball peen whose face I shaped with the edge of a thin cutting disc) that I use for creating woodgrain. I don't have a photo of it handy, but here's an example of what its results look like:

The face of the hammer is slightly domed, so you don't get a hard edge to each section of texture. Overlap the hammer blows slightly, and you'll get a nice even texture across the entire piece.

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

That’s a nice texture JHCC!