Very nice all above.

I need work with ball ends but getting better.

Also normalized a leaf spring knife, made a bottle opener and a couple spacers for my vise to use with an offset bending idea I want to try. Not a lot of time but a lot of fun  

 

Everyone's stuff looks as amazing as always! I took a summer break from smithing, but I'm finally back in the "shop" and it feels great!! Forged out a little EDC fixed blade for my uncle. 5160 with Jatoba handle. I made a few leaves with varying levels of success (they all resemble leaves at least!) I have a very much work in progress kiritsuke looking thing. Not sure whether I'll continue with it or start over (it has a lot of problems). Just today I made three sets of somewhat matching mokume earrings. I think I might try sandblasting a pair for a nice matte finish, polishing another, and I'm unsure of what I'll do with the third. I also have a cable damascus earring currently etching. I ended up drilling through the side on the other one in the pair . Struggling to get a good etch on my cable. 

Finally, I just recently got a new two burner propane forge. I've only lit it a couple times, so I'm excited to put it through the paces. I think it will be especially great for forgewelding.

Jennifer, just my swage block and a rawhide mallet. 

had the kids and grandkids over today so not much shop time. Did get this here coffee scoop almost done. A bit more file work and should be aah-aight. 

Nice work. I especially like the ball ends on the "s"hook!

X2.

I totally did not know you could blue rusty tools by simply boiling them in water!!!!  I wonder what else I don’t know today that I will know tomorrow?
 

 

Yes, it turns the Fe₂O₃ (hematite) into Fe₃O₄ (magnetite). Some people patinate their work by forcing it to rust and then boiling it.

That's very interesting DH! I might have to try that next time I forget to oil my stuff, haha.

Not in the shop yet; went into town to get some fittings for my Quad-State shade structure and have lunch with my wife.

(Noticing that I seem the one planning on bringing stuff to make a more comfortable camp for Q-S.  I guess it's a factor of being 30+ years older than the other smiths travelling with me...I learned over the years that the more comfortable I am in camp; the more fun I seen to have at events!)

You got that right Thomas. 20 years as a field guy reinforces an old wisdom, Take care of your back and feet first. One of the other axioms being, Warm feet and warm head means YOU are warm.

Even tenting I used a cabin tent and queen sized air mattress. I always slept warm and comfortable and had plenty of room to dress and undress out of the weather. The guys using 1 man dome and  tube tents were always sore and tired. 

If you're going to camp make it a good one.

Frosty The Lucky.

A tube tent kan still keep you warm and dry. A good sleeping system (matrass, sleeping bag ,...) Is what makes the difference (ok dry inside the tent is importent too).

It is more comfy to stand up than to crawl, but if it is only for sleeping dry, go with good sleeping gear.

I remember the days of sleeping in my van sort of on top a goodly part of my scrap pile....happy that they are way in the past!

Back ontopic. My lessons have begon again. So i played with coal again. And worked on a real anvil shaped object. 

Making a fruitbowl out of 30x6 with a length of 200 (all mm, to lazy to convert for you lot). A practice on using a cold and hot chisel, eyeballing (keeping all the small stuff the same size) and not buring your piece (did i mention small amd thinned out stuff?)

Now only a cross with the 4 legs peened out to 30mm at the ends again and the middle of the legs (close to the cross)is 15x6.

fergot to take a picture.

2 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

I remember the days of sleeping in my van sort of on top a goodly part of my scrap pile....happy that they are way in the past!

All night wondering what piece is poking you.

If everyone would just agree to post dimensions in royal cubits....

In what? 

Royal Cubits; they have been around for close to 5000 years now!

And pay for everything in spices.

Gawoon, many (most?) of us are bi measuring systems literate and can function in either metric or imperial.  I actually switch back and forth in the shop.  I am comfortable in metric for length/distance and weight, less so in area since hectares does not come up ofren.  One thing I have difficulty with is the celsius temperature scale, if the forecast is for 35 degrees celsius I don't know, without calculating, if folk will be wearing tee shirts or sweaters.

I have run across mining papers which give measurements in very obscure units, e.g. poods per arpent.  It is always fun dealing with old surveys which are in chains, rods/perches, and links or refer to landmarks like Jones' Field or "the old blasted oak" which have been gone for decades, if not centuries.  Fortunately, that is not as much a problem in the western US as it is in longer settled areas.

GNM

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

I had friend in New Jersey whose property was originally surveyed in "metes and bounds" including one corner that was a "white oak sapling".  When they bought it; the white oak sapling was triple trunked, *huge* and dead!   They had monuments poured for for their corners.

(My house is missing a corner post as the fellow across the street cleans the berm with his tractor's bucket.  While it was still findable I strung a line and walked the boundary dropping rocks so I sort of know where it went to build my shop with a proper offset.  Funny that I own both streets that are the North and West boundaries of my land; but there is an easement that I have to let folks use the streets... The post in the dirt alleyway I put in a RR spike next to it to make it easy to find with a metal detector.)

2 hours ago, Gandalfgreen said:

And pay for everything in spices.

Says the chef. 

I bought this 5 weeks ago in RI.. I left it at one of my customers barns because I was on the motorycles and did not want to carry it around.  

I picked it up with the car today.. 

Old Buffalo Silent 200 12"..  I love the stylized writing on the early ones..   It is completely seized up and the fan blade is not in great shape..  The gear housing looks good with no cracks.. 

I'll free it up and replace the shafts as need be..  These early models use metric bearings..   both sides of the fan shaft have magneto bearings on it.   Like 12.00 for bearings.  The trust loads are controlled by double threaded nuts.. 

This is actually one of my favorite designs of the Buffalo blowers..  The later models cheaped out on using real ball bearings and races..   The switched to cast iron as a bushing with a axial load bearing.   When these bearings rust they just sound terrible and the inner race is tapered.. 

As long as the pinion gears are decent it will run nice and quite even if there is rust.. 



 

45 minutes ago, JHCC said:

Says the chef. 

I have been had... back to the mixing bowl

My first project.   Clumsy start but ended up with a couple of passable hooks

 

 

1 hour ago, PCRDNADave said:

My first project.   Clumsy start but ended up with a couple of passable hooks. 

I remember making leaves just like that at first. It’s a good start. Almost 2 years in now and everything’s looking a lot better. Everyone starts where you are. You have a lot to look forward to. 
 

Here’s the last couple things I’ve made. Working on a gravy ladle to go with the flesh fork now. Everything is hammer finished.

Dave, welcome aboard from 7500' in SE Wyoming.  Glad to have you.

If you put your general location in your profile we can better answer any questions.  Many answers are geography dependent.  I'm assuming that you are in West Virginia, USA because of the license plates on the wall.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."