What did you do in the shop today?

[Frosty]

Mark's anvil wasn't damaged but his punch needed help. My only saving grace was that HE told me to punch the first side deeper than I was used to so the other side was easier to see to punch the slug out. 

Now that you have a watering can. I prefer the holes at the top too and an acquaintance opened a soup can from the side near one end and put holes in that end. Another opened a chicken / beef/ ? stock can with a pre pop top, can opener and punched ice pick holes on the other side of that end. He could apply water through the large hole or sprinkle depending on which way he turned it. 

Anyway, now you have a watering can you can control the heat in bar as you twist. When the twist is as tight as you wish simple cool it with a LITTLE water, the hotter section next to it will twist more, when it matches cool it and twist on. Hmmm?

It takes practice. Big surprise? . . 

Punching sheet metal really needs a "sheet metal punch," it can be done with a punch and bolster plate but a dedicated sheet metal punch makes it EZ as using a stapler ad they're surprisingly inexpensive on Amazon, Grainger, etc.

Frosty The Lucky.

[jlpservicesinc]

Anvil, I have a very hard time  shifting gears now and and getting into someone else's mind thoughts and patterns especially when I dont agree.  

When it comes to the competitions the judges expect people to comply with the designs parameters and this particular judge is a CBA and ABANA curriculum person so much of it is based on the Mark Aspery series of books. 

So there are a lot of things in the books I dont agree with based on experience and couple that with getting my mind around an inherently weak design goes way against my yankee common forging steps, especially being in the colonial hardware mindset.

 

With this said. I understand why the chimney crane ( which if called a swivel flower hanger or drying rack would not have messed with my sensibilities) task was asked for and would have delighted you with the "Wrought iron joinery" aspects.

I can feel myself getting older and having less mental flexibility.

Also I dont forge enough to get in good enough shape to output as long as needed for the competition.  So lose steam.

I also dont take the time to make nor use tools that would lessen the burden.

 

Many things  "I could do" but usually wont put the time to them. 

To many horses a day and to many other things to get done.  

You would have loved the competition as it was very Wrought iron work heavy. 

I asked about the tapered angled bottoms I thought the same thing and was told absolutely not.

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

Jennifer,

Ive never seen a blacksmith competition in person, are they timed? How do they choose the winner? Do the judges vote on which piece they think is the best? 

im no expert but your projects look just like the pictures to me, I don’t understand how you didn’t win?

[Frosty]

Parameters can be anything. Usually how close to the competition parameters and shortest time determines the winner. Forged in Fire is pretty typical for competition, "parameter and judging" as applied to a bladesmithing competition. 

Good looking pieces Jennifer, I'd brag about having that crane. Too bad about not meeting parameters, it happens to anybody who competes.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Shainarue]

Today I finished up some Halloween bats that I had started last week. If course I realized AFTER I had glued and painted that I forgot to hammer the edges smooth first. Guess these are the dangerous variety of bats, lol

No fire for this. Just cut up aluminum cans, glued to a bent wire, and painted. 

I have a friend who loves Halloween the way some people love Christmas so it was going to be a gift to him. Next batch, lol

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

actually I’ve never seen Forged in fire either, the only things I know about it is stuff I’ve heard y’all talk about on here

[Rojo Pedro]

We call it ‘Forged in Drama’

[alexandr]

New "old" work. The first such swing was made almost 20 years ago. During this time, nothing has changed in the design.

[Shainarue]

I wouldn't mind lazing the day away in that, Alexandr

[Daswulf]

1 hour ago, Shainarue said:

Just cut up aluminum cans,

Great use of some used cans. Nice forge work too. 

Been seeing a lot of nice work here. 

[jlpservicesinc]

Twisted Willow, it's a timed competition and the description is the ideal.

With " ideal " as long as it meets the parameters of the judge its included in the competition and judging.

If it does not meet parameters or "did not finish" then its excluded from judging.

There is only one judge for this competition and she was extremely fair. 

 

Like anything we all have an idea of what we do, what we want others to do, and then what is done. 

The ABS or IFI is easy for the most part as it's the same expectations. sharp, durable.

This forging competition on the other hand has been different each of the 3 years I've done it.  

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

Jennifer,

thanks for explaining that to me,

I guess those competitions are way outta  my pay grade, 

im happy if I can forge a somewhat functional copy of something I see on here IFI or YT or in a book, lol

sounds like I’d get chewed up an spit out if I ever tried to compete in one of those! 

Now if they had a competition for findin an fixin rusty junky ol blowers id give ‘em a run for their money!!! 

 

[jlpservicesinc]

50 minutes ago, TWISTEDWILLOW said:

I guess those competitions are way outta  my pay grade, 

Your welcome..

Not at all.. You would fit right in. The Competition is really designed to promote blacksmithing and having fun.. it really is fun.. 

There are 3 groups.. Beginner, intermediate and Professional..  

One of the guys there had exactly 5 total hrs of smithing before the competition and he won his first and 2nd challenge in the beginners class.   Also another newer smith who is another 5hr person won one of the spots..  Male and female. 

For each class there are 3 places and 3 items..   Going from easier to hardest.   So the possible combination of 9 placements or winning with 1st, 2nd and 3rd for each of them  based on how close they come to what the judge picked for projects. 

Besides it's free to enter.. You get a coupon for a baked potato and a free Tshirt..  This year the people who pull this all together gave out welding gloves..  I ended up with about 6 pairs of full length gloves. 

Was easy in the pro group as there were only 3 professionals..   Which meant as long as a person completed the item they scored up on the leader board.. 

Great thing is. Each placement on the leader board carries a cash prize..  For the pros each 1st position is 150.00, 2nd is 100 and 3rd is 75.00 I think..   With each position there is also a points total for  (Champion ) and this is awarded an extra 300.00 plus a jacket.  

So the potential for having fun and forging for the day can be 750.00 if the pro takes all 1st's and champion. 

The other 2 smiths in the pro categories are pro's..   One teaches smithing and the other works at OSV..  I'm the only part timer but because of my back ground and skill set I have to compete as a pro..   It's an ongoing joke about me being thrust into the pro category though I don't forge but maybe 8X a year and make no money from smithing.. 

I wasn't able to sleep last night because of all the joint pain..   I have a bad shoulder and elbows and wrists from farrier work as well as some other health issues..  So with a day of output like this it takes a toll.  I have to forge daily for about 3 weeks to gain stamina.. 

Every year I tell myself I'm going to get out and spend more time at the forge so I'll be in forging shape for the competition yet, every year by the 3rd Item I'm smoked..    this year was even worse..   I really felt like about all I could put out was about 60% all day.. Body just felt gummy..   Age is a fickle beast.. 

[Goods]

I got the first of 3 or 4 hawks wire wheeled tonight. Forged and anealed(sp?) yesterday. 

I’m going to have to leave a little more material for the eye. I thought I measured it out as 4” and checked before wrapping, but still had to draw out the eye walls quite a bit and popped a little bit of the weld.
Should have added 1/4” in length to get to a centerline measurement, but it seemed like more than that. Maybe I’ll try 4-1/4” next time. I’d rather bet short than long.

Keep it fun,

David

[Wandering_R0gue]

On 10/1/2022 at 9:04 PM, Shainarue said:

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

Thanks for the comment and the compliment! I quite like how the candle holder turned out. 

The pin is for a friend of mine who is big Into outdoor activities/survival/and outdoor Ed.  

[JHCC]

Made a prototype for a tong idea I’ve been thinking about, for holding bowls with the rim pointed *away* from the smith. 

[Wandering_R0gue]

That is quite the feat of engineering..... I am pretty sure designing something like that would.make my brain bleed. Good job!

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

The trade item for our BOA meeting next week is a trivet. I have been pretty busy lately and kept putting it off to make one. Anyway I got to looking through the resource piles and found a ring from a corn husker (I think) and it struck me it would make a good looking trivet. Not forged but fabricated with three 3/4 in ball bearings welded on for feet. The finish is canola oil wiped on then baked in the oven at 400 degrees for an hour. Makes a hard finish like seasoning a cast iron pan.

[JW513]

JPL

21 hours ago, jlpservicesinc said:

 I have a very hard time  shifting gears now and and getting into someone else's mind thoughts and patterns especially when I dont agree.  

I can feel myself getting older and having less mental flexibility.

 

Don't be so hard on youself... you did great. I tried to walk around and watch everyone.... I believe Carl came in first.  I've never seen a judge go into such detail before each session began, but Beth is a very good smith. Going on Saturday makes me really want to get into smithing again, had to take a break due to some health and family issues.

I think the best part is watching the kids from the HS forge, they all seem like very good kids who having a great time. I hope they stick with it. 

Edited October 3, 2022 by Mod30
Trim quote.

[jlpservicesinc]

JW513.. it's hard knowing where someone was compared to where someone is..  I'm conflicted because of this.. I know where I was vs where I am..  

And yes Carl did take again.. Mighty fine smith..  I think this is his 7th or 9th grand champion.. 

I have high standards and producing sub par work is not something I relish. Even if it's the work produced at the time. 

Those kids were having a blast and killing it..  I loved the fact they had a few people who had like no practice and took a spot on the board. 

Next year I'll do better..  

David really nice hawks..  

[jlpservicesinc]

JHCC those are mighty neat looking tongs.. 

They will have someone guessing 50 years from now..   Job well done. 

 

[JHCC]

Thank you. They're acceptable as a prototype, but I messed up forging the inside jaw (lots of cold shuts). I think I'll make another pair now that I have the basic idea down, especially once I've given them a try and see how they behave in use.

Interesting detail: these were forged out of some long triangular scrap from an early iteration of my welding-tank cone mandrel project. Since welding cylinders are generally made from 4130 and since I've got a lot of this particular scrap, I think I'll be making some more tongs from it; they've got a lot of strength for their weight.

[anvil]

Awesome tongs! Thats all I can say.  It's amazing taking what the minds eye sees to a physical reality.  Lol, I'm not going to ask how you got yer mind to that point.  

As far as blacksmith competitions, I've never been into them. Just my opinion. In the past, Farrier conferences were always competition oriented and blacksmith conferences were always demo orientated. I know this changed a long while ago, but I watched it, from a distance, emerge. 

Jen, I meant no critique, just a general comment on procedure and being able to forge as much as possible on a straight bar and other uses for right angle bends.  good job and hope you had fun.

[ThomasPowers]

I think I can guess how the idea was hatched.  Doing a number of bowls, pots, and other dished forms I have noticed that they all seem to make a *great* parabolic IR emitter that for some reason tends to have a focal point where the hand is gripping the tongs holding it.  John thought to turn the Martian Heat Ray around....

I adjusted a pair of tongs I picked up at Q-S, (hot); added 5 more sacks of coal to the pile in my shop and dumped the water bucket as we are expecting a good 1/4" rain today and a couple of hundredths most days the rest of the week.  (Yes out here it's normal to get "expected accumulations" of rain in the .03 or .04 ranges; you see one over 1 inch and there's  rush on gopher wood and bitumen!)

[JHCC]

On 10/3/2022 at 11:19 AM, anvil said:

Lol, I'm not going to ask how you got yer mind to that point.  

Well, I'm going to tell you anyway!

The starting point for this was thinking about hot-raising sheet steel. A lot of the tutorials I've seen online for bowl raising on a stake have the rim pointed away from the smith, who works the metal from the bottom of the vessel towards the rim, hammering away from themselves. These have mostly been cold-raising nonferrous metals, though, where it's easy to hold and position the workpiece with a bare hand. If you're hot-raising steel, on the other hand, you have to hold the piece with either tongs or some kind of heavy glove. Gloves are bulky, clumsy, and not particularly effective. Standard tongs require you to have the rim and the reins pointed in the same direction. Towards you is comfortable to hold, but means that you're hammering towards yourself, and you're not able to use most standard stakes (other than ball stakes). Away from you is easier to hammer, but means that you have to reach over and past the workpiece in order to hold the reins. 

As I pondered this, I realized that part of the problem is that the jaws and the reins of most tongs point in opposite directions. Therefore, a possible solution would be to get them both pointed in the same direction. With that idea in place, it was simply a matter of thinking through how I could make tongs with the jaws pointed back at the smith.

My first thought was simply to make some tongs with a 180° bend at the boss. I then realized that there was no need for both halves to go through the full arc, as one of the gripping points could be on the handle side of one half and the rivet at the end, rather like a nutcracker. 

The next challenge was to consider the gripping surfaces. Here, I realized that the most secure option would be to have three contact points on one side of the workpiece and another centered between them on the other side. That way, regardless of the curve of the bowl, the tongs would still grip it securely without any wobbling within the jaws.

Many sketches later, I got a working drawing that I was comfortable with, and set to work. Forging presented some unexpected challenges, which I hope to address on the next pair.