Bolt Jaw Tongs Demo (Plus a 1/2" Square or Round Challenge)

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

Everyone’s stuff looks really awesome! 

Well i got to big for my boots an tried to make a fancy 3 legged lamp using 1/2” square stock….

Half way through it started looking like something out of a b-rate Sci fi film so I admitted defeat lol,

And….. I just went back to something simple lol,

so here’s my silly contribution a small split cross from 1/2” square
 

[Frosty]

39 minutes ago, TWISTEDWILLOW said:

Half way through it started looking like something out of a b-rate Sci fi film so I admitted defeat lol,

Instead of seizing the opportunity to make something out of a b-rated Sci Fi movie?!

How many times do I have to quote Bob Ross at you? <SHEESH!>

Nice cross.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Scott NC]

11 hours ago, TWISTEDWILLOW said:

Well i got to big for my boots

  That's when fun and interesting things happen... 

[Frazer]

TW, your crosses have improved a lot since last I saw them! Very nice. Now you have me curious about this lamp... Can we see? If not the creation itself, perhaps a concept doodle?

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

It’s gonna be an hour before I can get out to the shop to get a picture, 

Essentially I was trying to make some splits on one end of the bar for the feet but I couldn’t get them to work with me there all different sizes and when I tried working them they just kept turning on me,

the top end I was gonna taper down long an slim then wrap it around an old power pole insulator, one of the pretty blue ones 

then I was either gonna put a solar t-light or a regular battery powered t-light in it,

it looked awesome in my head but I just couldn’t work the feet out so I didn’t get very far with it before I got aggravated lol,

im gonna try again later sometime after practicing on other stuff, 

Ive got a lot of those old insulators and I’ve been trying to think of ways to incorporate them into my blacksmithing, 

another idea I have is to make solar stake lights for my side walk 

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

Here’s a doodle and some pictures of the insulators and the piece I started working on, 

[Frazer]

Ahh, I see. I have one of those insulators as well, but I don't know how I would cut a hole in it to turn it into a lamp...

While I probably wouldn't use 1/2" stock I would probably take 3 or four separate pieces, collar them together in a couple of places (maybe with a tack weld underneath) and forge weld the end to be wrapped around the insulator... Though, now that I think about, I would be afraid that wrapping hot steel around glass might shatter it..

If you wanted a wired light rather than solar it would be cool if you could surround a piece of pipe with multiple strands and collar the bundle together. That way you would have a place to run wires. I'm not sure how you would connect the insulator to the stand... maybe leave the strands long and curl them out, thread the end of the pipe and use a nut from inside the insulator.... I don't know, there are lots of challenges there. I'm just thinking out loud.

[ThomasPowers]

Looks like the feet need to be turned down as stakes to stick in the ground to hold the pole steady.

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

I intend to wrap around the grove,

I’ve done it before a couple times just playing around, 

as far as the light part goes I was gonna use those self contained t-lights and just hot glue it in there to hold it in place, 

Thomas I meant this one to be a table top lamp, 

here’s a picture of a random garden decoration I made, but for the lamps it would be turned upside down with the light in it, 

[ThomasPowers]

TW, if you point the stakes they will nail into a table top and be real stable!

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

 lol, 

I didn’t say I wanted to make it a permanent table top lamp! 

maybe I just need to go ahead and follow through with my idea so y’all can see what I’m talking about, 

even if it turns out bad, y’all will at least have an idea of what I’m trying to do, lol

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

I find that when making feet like that to stand on a hard surface, I will put penny scrolls pointing down so there are small contact points that are easy to adjust and decorative.

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

That’s a good idea Irondragon! I might give that a go! 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Even regular scrolls will do the same. I just happen to like the penny scroll after one of our club members showed me how to make them years ago.

[Daswulf]

I like the insulator idea.

Nothing silly about the cross. Nice work. 

Now I'm imagining how to make and attach tentacles for the insulators to make them into jellyfish and add a little led light in them. Maybe a few of them as a table lamp or something. 

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

Thanks Daswulf, 

Once I get this down I have the idea to make a chandelier using them, 

Ive got a couple buckets of these in clear and blue, but  I’d like to find some of the purple ones to mess with, 

[ThomasPowers]

Perhaps a variation on the ones I did for LED tealights?

   

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

Those are nice Thomas! I wouldn’t mind trying my hand at that one day,

alright y’all, I went ahead and drawed this out, 

and of course the more I mess with it the uglier it gets lol,

I didn’t want the light out to the side I wanted it in line and above the main shaft,

also I didn’t get the point drawn out enough to make a tight wrap around the insulator, so it wobbles, 

but hopefully y’all get the idea of what I was wanting before I botched it 

[ThomasPowers]

I built a tool for the hardy hole.  A piece of pipe with a stem on it that fit the hardy hole and a slot across the top that the "wire" fit in.  So I could bend the base flat across and then make the bends for the wire to go up the outside of the LED "candle".  Then I could bend it around the pipe to get the helix.

[Daswulf]

I get it TW. The more you mess with it it seems the closer you get to your goal imo.

Little bendy bend and it would be there. Patience. I'd bet we all have projects we stopped on because we got frustrated it didn't go to plan, but some we can come back to later and finish better. Then you know what to do better next time. 

[Frazer]

I have several sitting on my bench right now. My feeling on those is there is a fine line between keep fiddling away until it's "good enough" and taking what you learned from the first (or second, etc) attempt and starting over. The more complicated the project, the harder it is to take the latter course.

I like what you have there! I also like the handle on your forge rake and love your line of blowers in the background. One might say you have a few vises. *grin*

What's that piece of ~1.5" x ~0.75" going to be?

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

9 hours ago, Daswulf said:

Then you know what to do better next time. 

For sure! I realized after messing with it that I should have started with longer stock to get what I wanted,

Frazer, thanks!

I have a vise vice, and a problem with dragging home more rusty projects then I have time for lol, I’ve got rusty blacksmith junk piling up everywhere! 

thanks on the fire rake it was one of my better looking ones I’ve made, 

The piece of steel settin next to it is a nail header ive started working on,

it’s my first one so I’m just experimenting with a 1/2” piece of mild steel, I upset it on the treadle hammer to make it thicker, 

I haven’t made a punch yet so I thought a nail header would give me a reason to learn how to make a punch lol,

 

[ThomasPowers]

TW; take your pile of rusty blacksmithing "junk" to Quad-State and become a wealthy friend to old white bearded curmudgeons!

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

Get rid of my rusty blacksmithing junk!!!!

but it’s mine! My own! My…. Precious  lol

Actually after I get two or three permanent forging stations built and a couple of portable setups built, 

I’ll probably thin out a couple of things I’m not ever gonna fix up or use,

[ThomasPowers]

Use it to fund the glorious expansion of your shop?  I kept very little of "the hoard"; but the entire deal was paid for by selling the rest off; so I have to say that my 25# LG, my cone mandrel and another 6.5" postvise were "free".