What did you do in the shop today?

[Frosty]

Pretty decent second day at the forge Shaina. Here's an old timer tip. Next time you turn a twist too short and YES there'll be a next time. Instead of trying to match what you've already twisted heat and isolate the twist like you did but twist the next section the other direction. That will give you a reverse twist instead of an un-even twist.

Twists don't just start and stop, they transition from straight to twisted, call it the pitch so trying to restart the twist means your heat and twisting force would have to increase as it transitions from the existing twist to the straight bar. That is as hard as it sounds. This is why I prefer to twist before drawing a taper on a bar, I let the hammer make the transition from twist to taper. Doing the taper THEN the twist is a Momma Bear to pull off well.

Turning a short section into a reverse makes the uneven transition into an expected effect and you can tell stories about how many years it took before you could do it Just Like THAT. 

The real trick applies to much of life. IF you can't match a thing make it contrast in an attractive manner, it's easier and looks better. Hmmmm?

Punching always takes a little time and practice to learn, one day you'll wonder what the bother is about when someone talks about messing punched holes up. Heck I managed to pein the end of a friend's punch against the face of his anvil. It took him probably 10 minutes to get his punch out and redressed. I offered to fix it and he just gave me THE LOOK. 

You're doing great, keep the pics coming please.

Frosty The Lucky.

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

Forgot that I’d gave away my bending fork so I had to make another this morning,

just got done with the third bell, this one is the medium size blank, 

1/4” tapered an twisted for a handle, threaded the end of it

drilled a hole an put a nut on the inside, tried doing the final closing with a torch with the bell mounted in a vise an it started unscrewing so I welded the nut in place,

finished closing it up with a torch an hammer,

took it inside to show ash an max pitched a fit so I gave it to him an he ran off through the house ringin the bell

i guess after lunch I’ll make another one lol

im gonna try one of the big blanks next,

 

[BillyBones]

Shainarue, those look beautiful compared to when i started my journey down this path. 

Mothman, how is the top done? Is the bar split for the hooks and handle or are pieces welded on? 

Yesterday i tried working wrought for my first time ever. Moves like butter but of course i learned about working it to cold and it split. I was however able to eventually get a piece drawn out then folded back over and welded to itself. In that learning  curve right now i guess. 

[Mothman_c3w]

BillyBones, I split the top of the bar with a portaband.

[Wandering_R0gue]

Put In some forge time, despite some tennis elbow issues I've been dealing with. 

Made a candle holder for the Mrs. (After many requests to do so), and a blanket pin for a friend. 

Pin has ferro striker edge, flint striker face and the pin is a detachable awl. 

[Charles R. Stevens]

Oddly I develop tendinitis in my tong arm.

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

43 minutes ago, Wandering_R0gue said:

Made a candle holder

Looks awesome!

3 hours ago, Mothman_c3w said:

I split the top of the bar with a portaband

That’s pretty sweet I d like to borrow that idea sometime!

[BillyBones]

Mothman, thanks. That looks great by the way. 

Rogue, i have done a few candle holders like that. It is tough to get the spike bent then curling and keep it tight.  

 

[Wandering_R0gue]

Thanks BillyBones. Was my first one. The spike did t give me so much trouble, but getting good alignment on the handle proved more difficult. 

[jlpservicesinc]

Twisted Willow,  they look great.. very nice work..  Bells and tools..  If you can make the uprights parallel it will make scrolling and bending easier.. 

Mothman, great use or your resources.. I would have never thought of doing that..  Nice looking fireplace set.. did you do the broom too? 

Shaina that is great looks like your making very good progress.  Blisters are normal when starting out.. just throw some tape on them..   The will turn to callus after some hammer time. 

I won't wear gloves.. I find I fatigue sooner and end up getting burnt more.. (hot glove and all).. So stopped wearing gloves in lew of rougher hands and bad looking Mani's..   Today would be impossible for me to wear gloves while swinging a hammer..  To many injuries.  Not a one from swinging a hammer.. 

[jlpservicesinc]

Today was Fitchburg forge in competition..  I had my butt handed to me..  I'm exhausted but had a great time demonstrating for all the onlookers.. 

Got a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place.. But there were only 3 in the pro division..  Could have been my golden moment. 

  I refused to make a tool (slitting punch) to the required size for the stock.. I like to make them a little tight..  But the judge wanted the size for a 1/2" upset AKA blocking.. 

should have been 1.125 to 1.25" and I went with 1" 

The tools were then used to make the little crane and is the reason I sized them the way I did.. 

I'm amazed how set in my ways I am..  The little crane is really cute..  the horizontal is fed completely thru the upright.. 
Hence the slot punch and Blocking..   For those not familiar with the terms they are in Mark Aspery's book..  

Was a fun and very challenging day.. I'm another year older.. I really need to get out and forge more before doing these.. I can barely move tonight.. A vitamin I night for sure. 

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

1 hour ago, jlpservicesinc said:

they look great.. very nice work..  Bells and tools..  If you can make the uprights parallel it will make scrolling and bending easier

Jennifer, 

Thanks!!! I’m havin a ball makin these bells! Lol

your heart an crane are beautiful!

Yeah I got that one side of that bending fork way off cause I was in a rush to get started on the bells lol,

Ive got bucket loads of sucker rod ends though so I’ll make a cleaner straighter one later,

I finished up another sleigh bell this afternoon, this one I decided to use a larger blank and do a wood handle on it,

I like it the most, I think I’m gonna focus on making the bells with wooden handles,

 

 

[ThomasPowers]

Billy et al: bending spiral candle holders with a central spike.    Make a simple tool for the post vise. I used a piece of 1/8" sheet metal and welded some angle iron to the bottom across a diameter and then drilled a center hole that just went next to the back of the angle iron.

To use: Place in a partially open postvise.  Taper your spike, reheat, put spike down the hole and close postvise trapping it between a vise jaw and the angle iron leg.  Run around the vise cackling and winding your spiral, reheating as necessary.  Bend handle and done!

[Shainarue]

Thank you to everyone for the encouragement and support! 

Frosty, thanks for the twisting tip and also, "ouch!" for your friend's anvil! I had another two hole punches to do today and they went better so yeah, I think practice will get me there for sure. 

Twisted Willow, I love those finished bells! Also, I need to make a list of all the tools I want to make once I have a welder. 

Rogue, that candle holder is beautiful. Was the blanket pin for a backpacker? Kinda cool to have a multifunctional accessory like that. 

Jennifer, that heart is beautiful. 

2 hours ago, jlpservicesinc said:

just throw some tape on them.

That's exactly what I did in class that day. Mostly because they had broken though and I didn't want them to get worse. This morning, I had the broken ones with bandaids and the one big one with a piece of moleskin with a hole cut out (like a bunion pad) and then covered that with a bandaid. Then I took Charles' advice and put a well fitting leather glove on that hand. Today was a piece of cake. No issues at all with my hand. Most of the time, I'll only be forging an hour or two at a time so I won't be regularly the glove unless there's an injury to protect. 

 

[Shainarue]

Today was the final day of the Blacksmith Beginners class. We started with a letter opener, learning how to bevel and how to use a hand file. I need to practice this more. I like my little pigtail curl on the end but it's so tiny in comparison to the rest of the piece so that wasn't thought through well. Another uneven twist as well. I think I'll reheat the end, cut off the curl, taper and do a bigger curl. 

Then we worked on the handle of what would later have the shovel. 

After lunch I had time before others were done and I was able to finish the 2nd leaf I started yesterday. 

We were shown how to form the shovel pan in a swage block and then hammering in the rivets which the instructor drilled holes for. (I asked why we weren't punching that and he basically said time constraints.)

Finally, the instructor demonstrated the watering can handle and the coal rake. Both used new twist techniques. I really liked the twist on the coal rake. It started with kind of a rhombus shaped square. After he demonstrated there was only an hour of class remaining! So I was rushing the watering can trying to get both projects done in an hour.

Finished the watering can in exactly an hour even with the regrettable rushing, lol, but no one else had gotten past it either and the instructor said he had other stuff to work on our there anyway so we were welcome to stay and finish it we wanted. I was the only one who opted to stay and I finished the coal rake finished in about 35 minutes. 

[George N. M.]

Well, did you have fun and feel that you learned something?  Did it inspire you to continue in the craft?

GNM

[Shainarue]

Oh for sure! I guess I left that part out, lol

I learned a bunch, had a great time, and I'm looking forward to practicing it all on my own forge setup.

The only thing I didn't like was how much it left me wanting for better smithing tools like a better anvil, a post vice, and swage block. They just made things so much easier! 

[lary]

 

 First post vise I got was shipped from Kansas, definite improvement over a bench vise. Thanks for sharing your progress with the class. 

[Mothman_c3w]

14 hours ago, jlpservicesinc said:

Mothman, great use or your resources.. I would have never thought of doing that..  Nice looking fireplace set.. did you do the broom too?

JLP, thanks for the kudos. Also, yes I hand-tie the brooms as well.

[ThomasPowers]

Actually a good sheet metal punch is generally faster than drilling for thin material.

[Rojo Pedro]

Looks like fun Shainarue. Speaking of punching, I found an unfinished split cross under my bench and decided to make a loop on top for a celtic looking cross but i got carried away. 

turned out pretty cool. Also worked on a blacksmith knife from 3/4” coil spring. Lots of material in a 3/4 spring!

lots of fun thanks for looking

[JHCC]

Very nice cross! Similar to the “croix pommée” of heraldry. 

[anvil]

nice stuff!

Shainarue, on your watering can, if you poke some holes on the sides of your can, you will have better control of where you put your water. 3 or 4 holes about a third or so of the way down from the top on both sides works pretty well.

TWISTEDWILLOW, I really like your bells. For your metal handled ones, if you punch a square hole and forge a square tenon, when you peen it over, it wont spin. Also, after threading it, you can peen it over instead of using a nut. I do this with a round punch. \

jlpservicesinc,  Jen, nice work! On your heart, at the bottom a forged right angle bend with a tapered(pointed) bottom corner would create a nice ending. Didn't I see you did one in a previous post? 

Altho its prolly not quite what they meant, you could make the fire crane out of one piece using two right angle bends at the bottom with 0 distance between them to get the square mass and tenon material. , then a light forgeweld for extra length. When having the confidence working to dimension, both tenons, the slit and drifted mortise and the scroll end could be forged on a straight bar which is the quickest and most convenient way. The heart could be done the same way and the leaf finials could be done first on a straight bar. 

Not a beginners approach, but certainly doable at the intermediate level.   

 

[Shainarue]

26 minutes ago, anvil said:

poke some holes on the sides of your can

Ope! I have mine in the bottom. Easy enough to get a different can though, lol

Thomas, I figured that was the case as he had just gone on about how hot punching is so much faster than drilling so that's why I asked why we weren't punching the sheet metal. Seemed like it would have been just as easy to mark the holes (silver, soap, or punch) and then punch them. I wonder if he just didn't have the right size punch for everyone to use? 

Rojo, that's a beautiful cross. 

[jlpservicesinc]

Shaina,  while better tools can make it a little easier,  using tools like a chunk of steel and such can actually increase your learning.

 

The tools for me where I found the most important when having gotten them was a good blower.  Then a good firepit, then vise and lastly a good anvil.

Starting on knives meant no rounds and if I needed something turned then I'd use the vise. 

Anyhow, now the basic tools are all that are needed but having some other tools can make the work faster and easier.