Frazer Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 Similar to mine (seen on page 777). John, it might have been one of your posts that put the idea in my head.. Hard to say. I did it a couple of years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 Frazer, I like the stand you made for your cross! Is it meant to put a candle in front? I might have to make something like that now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frazer Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 You could if you wanted to. Thanks, it took me a couple of iterations to get something I liked. I started out just trying to freehand something together, but I didn't like the way that was going. So I made myself a drawing and that's what I came up with. I used some 0.75" x 0.25" flat stock. The length will depend on the size of your cross. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan Kraft Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 Y'all, it has been a darn long time since I posted, and a long time since I got out in the forge. The other day I finally got out and did some work. I feel obligated to post about it due to my long absence, even though it's not quite on par with what i would like the quality of my work to be. I've made one of my new year's resolutions to get out in the shop at least once every other week and try do something weekly. I shall post pictures in a bit, but i started work on a new twisted square bar necklace pendant and I made a small leaf keyring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 Howdy neighbor! Long time no see, have you mounted that stake plate yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan Kraft Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 Not quite yet, school got really crazy and Im just now getting enough time to start up in the shop again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 I understand, life gets busy sometimes, have you found an anvil an post vise yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan Kraft Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 Not quite yet, school got really crazy and Im just now getting enough time to start up in the shop again I don’t know why it just posted that again, sorry my schools WiFi is being whacky. I do not have a post vise yet nor a London pattern anvil but I’m making due with the anvil I’m using now. It would be very nice to have a post vise though, and more visually appealing than my current situation (more parent friendly) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 If you want next time yalls out this way again stop by the shop and I’ll loan you a post vise to use until you can find one, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 19 hours ago, TWISTEDWILLOW said: 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, Stop trying so darned hard! This stuff is FUN, don't think about it, don't plan of making one, just grab a bar and do it while you have a fire going. Preform a tear drop or Hershey kiss rough in the stem. Heat it and hammer it flat, no special blows or peins, just smoosh it! Just do NOT TRY next time. MacCleod: There's nothing more blacksmitherly than using salvage to make useful things. Not only is it not something to apologize for it's an admirable ability. Frosty The Lucky. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 Finished these up today.. Fun, fun, fun.. I had a tough time getting things to weld too.. Maybe something in the air.. Is 20F here.. LOL.. Though I had the portable indirect heater pointed right in the door.. Was a balmy 65F in there.. 1/4x1.25 though can be adjusted for up to 1.25X1/2" Maybe even 5/8" thick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 11 hours ago, JHCC said: I also have a texturing hammer (made from a flea market ball peen I have one made the same way, old ball peen and a hardy bottom tool from some scrap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donal Harris Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 I have a small ball peen I use for texturing. I just put random lines in the face of it with a cutting disc and then banged it repeatedly into some steel to soften the edges of the cut grooves. I use a small sledge for the same thing on larger items. Finally finished the hook to hang my daughter’s cutting board from. If you look closely at the holes, you can see a center punch mark that had I not missed it when drilling would have put the holes almost level with each other. As Twisted said, it is “rustic” but I am not totally unhappy with it. One thing I like about it is it isn’t a leaf. I may forge a leaf some day in “the other place” but not before if I can help it. Still not finished with my employee’s bottle opener. I was soaking it on the stove in instant coffee this evening, but had to stop because my wife has decided her kitchen is not my shop. I guess I need to see if I can find a small crock pot at a thrift shop. The chasing is not bad for a first try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 If you put a center punch mark in the same position on the other hole it'll look like it's rolling it's eyes. Just don't tell anybody at whom. As it stands (hangs) it's just part of the character and charm of the piece, I like it. I'd put it on my wall. I made my wood grain texturing hammer from a yard sale ball pein, I heated it to bright red and bounced it on a sharp hardy till it cooled, reheated it and did it again until it was textured enough. Once cool I hit it with the wire cup brush to remove burs and buggers. The sharp(ish) ridges only sort of line up in groups of between about 15 and 5 so it has a sort of organic flow. Makes a decent woodgrain like texture. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimaera Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 While no forging, I made an overly sturdy wood box out of some scrap wood to hold my high carbon steel- I’m pretty sure this thing could contain an atomic blast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 The betting pool on how quickly Chimera's high carbon steel supply will outgrow that box is now open. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 JHCC, Put me down for two files an a spring on the 8 week mark! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 Put me down for "Already when done; but just not realized yet!". Suggestion: add feet and a lid so you can sit on it in the shop. (I got a stack of similar items that were used to ship copper foil rolls in that I made a set of shelves with and several "boxes to hold tools and supplies for forge road trips"---with feet to keep them off the wet ground and lids to sit on during campouts.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimaera Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 Sorry to disappoint you gentlemen, but I’ve got 80lbs of leaf springs and cable by my woodpile- this is just for smaller pieces that would get lost there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 Well I was correct with the "already" part! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimaera Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 I suppose so! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 Shoot… we’ll I guess I owe you two files an a spring then Thomas, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 Naw; when I lived in Columbus OH, I stocked up on the 1.2% C Black Diamond files and probably have enough to last me to my shut down. Living close to the scrapyard I can pick up springs cheaper than you can ship them too. It's typical that smiths will have more scrap than they can store nicely... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted January 4, 2022 Share Posted January 4, 2022 I hear that Thomas lol, I got a 20’ steel pipe rack loaded down with odds and ends, then 3 big outside scrap piles, then I’ve got steel stacked up on cinder blocks, then I’ve got most all my long ibeam stacked on some heavy duty homemade steel saw horses, ive got a 4’x8’ x3/8” plate setting on one of my trailers waiting to get unloaded then I have a lot of odds and ends piled around my smithy and that’s not counting what’s in the scrap trailer But that stuff isn’t really good for much, that’s why it’s going to scrap lol, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted January 5, 2022 Share Posted January 5, 2022 Saying we used to have: "One man's trash is another man's treasure; but Terry's trash is NOBODY'S treasure!" 15 years in Columbus Ohio and then a move to New Mexico was a rugged downsizing of my smithing stuff. I'm trying to keep it under control out here as I realize that I don't have another 40 years of smithing left in me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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