Les L Posted February 3, 2022 Share Posted February 3, 2022 Frosty, I don’t have any tea, I’ve never been able to get my pinky to stick out right to be able to drink it. I’ve got plenty of good dark roast coffee that I make in one of the old drip pots every morning, nothing added to it, couple of cups in the morning is enough for the day. I’ll try some of that. John, I like the looks of your handle, but I wanted to highlight the grain in mine. The stain didn’t quite bring it out like I wanted, but after a couple coats of BLO it’s close enough for a first try. Alexandr, that’s about 75 yrs of accumulation for the area I live in Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted February 3, 2022 Share Posted February 3, 2022 There's always nitric acid and a heat gun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexandr Posted February 3, 2022 Share Posted February 3, 2022 3 minutes ago, Les L said: that’s about 75 yrs of accumulation for the area I live in We can get so much snow in one night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les L Posted February 3, 2022 Share Posted February 3, 2022 Alexandr, my dad was in the service and we were stationed in Germany when I was young, I can remember walking to school through a path/trench of snow over my head that the soldiers would walk down every morning from our quarters to school. Beautiful country that I miss, other than the snow. I would love to be able to visit your country, but at this time I will have to wait for the pictures you send of your spectacular work and the wonderful architecture that is in your country. Hopefully things will change before I’m too old to travel and I will be able to visit you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rojo Pedro Posted February 4, 2022 Share Posted February 4, 2022 Love those hawks fellas. Very nice work Lived in the desert most of my life and no thanks to snow! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M.J.Lampert Posted February 4, 2022 Share Posted February 4, 2022 9 hours ago, Les L said: Alexandr, my dad was in the service and we were stationed in Germany when I was young, I can remember walking to school through a path/trench of snow over my head that the soldiers would walk down every morning from our quarters to school. Beautiful country that I miss, other than the snow. Where in germany was this and when I've got contacts in the swiss, german, french corner and their lucky to get an inch throughout the winter few years back they got like 2.5 inches for 2 or 3 days area shut down til it melted away and where so exited to se that much at once also was first snow in 3-4 years. though ive heard about more snow in years past lol meanwhile i sit here with 2-2.5ft outside and more coming for the next few days M.J.Lampert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted February 4, 2022 Share Posted February 4, 2022 Où sont les neiges d’antan? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les L Posted February 4, 2022 Share Posted February 4, 2022 4 hours ago, M.J.Lampert said: Where in germany was this Baumberg the first tour and Kitzagen (misspelled) the second. The second was where we had the most snow, 1964-1966 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyBones Posted February 4, 2022 Share Posted February 4, 2022 3 hours ago, Les L said: Baumberg the first tour and Kitzagen Les, i was in Kitzingen (spelled correctly, ) with the 1/69. Cant find my pic of the leaning tower. Then i got to got to Aschaffenburg with the 4/66. Alexander, that is a lot of snow. And here i sit whining about the 6 inches we got yesterday. But it is supposed to get back up in the upper 30's or 40's next week so it will be gone soon enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 4, 2022 Share Posted February 4, 2022 Roads covered with ice yesterday, clear and dry today and NO snowplows or salt trucks! Not supposed to hit the 60's degF till the 12th though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les L Posted February 4, 2022 Share Posted February 4, 2022 Billy, we went up to the top of the leaning tower when we were there, the bottom two floors had fences around the low side, at that time, the upper floors were open where you could walk to the edges, if you were dumb enough. I can’t remember the unit my dad was in when he was there, he was artillery, we have pictures with the big guns set up at Grafenfier. (?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexandr Posted February 4, 2022 Share Posted February 4, 2022 I'm working)) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donal Harris Posted February 4, 2022 Share Posted February 4, 2022 On 1/28/2022 at 3:32 PM, Grouser said: I scored a bucket of balls from a ball mill. They weren't forged,, I just drilled a hole through it slipped it on,,, kind of disappointing huh Not disappointing at all. We use what we have. No need to make a ball when one is at hand. This is what I plan to work on in the shop this afternoon. It is two failed WI Christmas ornaments. I forge welded them together to make them thicker. But rather than rescue them, I’ve now decided to go for a small neck-knife instead. One or the other of the small file pieces will be the steel sandwiched inside. I hope to end up with something leaf shaped with a cutting edg on one side and a false edge on the other. (Cutting edges on both sides would be illegal I think. Handle will either be UV darkened bois d’arc or bone. Or perhaps antler. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimaera Posted February 4, 2022 Share Posted February 4, 2022 On 2/3/2022 at 9:20 AM, Les L said: I made a mouse hawk yesterday, my first wrapped eye Les- That's really neat! I don't think I'd ever heard of a mouse hawk before. I want to make a tomahawk but dont have the right flat bar right now. However, I think I could pull off a mousehawk and such a small one would probably be quicker and less material to mess with (I've got a small forge and not the best tongs). Also, I think I would be able to use one of that size for throwing at home. A full size might be a bit big for my small property. As far as your handle- I've torched all my hammers, and I LOVE it. It gives a great feel, and if you hold the flame back a bit and are careful, you can get your grain to really pop beautifully. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les L Posted February 4, 2022 Share Posted February 4, 2022 Chimaera, thanks for the feedback, I started with 6” of 1/4 x1 flat bar and inserted the hc bit, a piece of spring steel. I followed JLP services video for the wrapped eye tomahawk (thank you Jennifer) and was able to complete it. I’ll do some work with flame coloring the handles, along with all of the other great tips I’ve received. I asked my wife to buy some tea the next time she went grocery shopping, she said “what” very loudly while looking at me very funny. I told her, don’t ask I’m trying experiments that very knowledgeable people have advised for staining the handles. I currently have some rusty metal soaking in vinegar, thanks John, I was barely able to find some rusty metal, but I persevered while I dug through my scrap pile. I’ll report my findings on the different processes as try them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted February 4, 2022 Share Posted February 4, 2022 1 minute ago, Les L said: I was barely able to find some rusty metal Good gracious! How young is your scrap pile!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 4, 2022 Share Posted February 4, 2022 Is good Joke, John, no? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les L Posted February 4, 2022 Share Posted February 4, 2022 It’s only about 40 yrs old, took me longer to cut a piece off and put the rest in the pile than finding it. I baited the hook good on that one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyBones Posted February 4, 2022 Share Posted February 4, 2022 Les, if memory serves i believe it was the 9th artillery there. We were supported by the 1/9, again if i recall correctly. Ah, Graf, that was, well it was Graf. Bet your dad spent a few days at area mud in Schweinfurt too. The 69th was the armor unit there so i was one of those guys you saw cruising around on an Abrams. So i went out yesterday and today. Ran out of fuel for the heater and i just aint into 17*F anymore so i called it a day. Made a wall sconce candle holder. I made some tear drop punches a while back and gave them a try. Failed horribly. The punches worked fined i just cant get them back in same place or at the same angles and such. So i flipped the plate over and took off the edges. The failure. And here is what i cam out with. Yeah i know, i should clean up sometimes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donal Harris Posted February 4, 2022 Share Posted February 4, 2022 Gotta melt the forge before 8 can use it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les L Posted February 4, 2022 Share Posted February 4, 2022 Billy, I was about 10 then and can remember sitting in his lap driving one down a trail, through trees, and him telling me not to hit one. Fast forward a few years later, after he came back from his first tour in Nam, after a “Fire Power Demonstration” as it was called in those days they were one person short to bring all of the pieces of self propelled artillery back, guess who the 15 yr old was placed in the second one and told to follow every one of my hand signals Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 4, 2022 Share Posted February 4, 2022 DH when we mention controlling the fire with water we didn't mean the solid stuff Don't melt the forge just the "topping"! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimaera Posted February 5, 2022 Share Posted February 5, 2022 3 hours ago, Les L said: 6” of 1/4 x1 Do you think that 3/16x1 1/4 would work? I guess I could try to thicken it a little, but I've got a bar sitting here that would be perfect if that's acceptable. I've also got leaf spring flowing out my ears, so that shouldn't be a problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted February 5, 2022 Share Posted February 5, 2022 Should be okay so long as you’re fairly gentle with your forge welding. Think about tapping it together rather than squishing; that should help you keep from forging it too thin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimaera Posted February 5, 2022 Share Posted February 5, 2022 John, would upsetting the welding area to thicken it be advisable? Just to add a bit more meat there? Then the eye I can leave as the 3/16, and I can weld in a 1/4” spring bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.