I get a songs stuck in my head constantly.

Edited November 30, 20223 yr by Scott NC
Change a thing

9 minutes ago, BillyBones said:

Pretty cool little place but you have to dig to find stuff or just look around. 

Sounds like my kind of fun. I have to dig through my own junk to find stuff. Cant tell you how many times I get side tracked finding other cool pieces then get into thinking about a completely different thing to make. Need those blinders they put on horses lol.  Have to stop myself and get back to the task at hand.

Made this little guy today from about 9 inches of 2" x 2" x 1/4" angle iron, some copper ribbon from a shielded cable I scrapped a while back, 3/16 diameter brass rivets, and I also brass brushed the star portion.

Admittedly, there is a minimum of forging here. I cold-chiseled the texture; the only true smithing I did was to heat up the stem and give it a couple whacks to make the tree lean back just a couple degrees to adjust the center of gravity.

Brilliant Mothman! 

Sir,

Your tree is beautiful and highly creative.

Just My opinion,

(and it counts!),

SLAG.

Thanks guys, but I do feel the need to say that this was inspired by another smith's work; I just added to an existing concept.

No problem. You made it in your style and it looks great. 

I like that Mothman, especially the brightness of the copper and brass elements. I've started on a tree today as well. Mine will be a bit Tim Burton-esq though. Now I'm thinking I should find some brass rivets instead of just brass brushing the boughs. 

 That's a cool idea Mothman, thanks for sharing.

I don't know for sure if its your brain trying to figure out what the lyrics are of a song, and that's why it keeps getting repeated in your head. But I was told that looking up the lyrics helps.

Very nice mothman, it's clean and attractive. Swapping ideas, tips and techniques is why most of us are here. There's nothing wrong with adapting someone else's ideas into your own. 

Frosty The Lucky.

More of an interior decoration, but this one grew out of a request for a horseshoe... Might have gotten carried away

Love the joinery in the middle Frazer. Well done! 

Thank you. One thing I learned pretty quickly (admittedly not quickly enough) is order of operations is key.

It most certainly is Frazer, I teach it in addition to basic smithing skills. I too love the joinery in the center section, very well done.

Well worth adopting the idea and tweaking to taste. My first thought was to straighten the center of post so it didn't have the pointy flare. The curve is perfect for the ends. My second tweak would be to rope twist some small stock I have, 5/16" rnd. so it'd be elected and use it to band the arms and bottom of the post to represent the bindings.

Dang, I keep having thoughts. My head is full of thoughts, they won't go away!

Beautiful piece, thanks for the look.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

The horseshoe cross isn't my idea, but I did come up with the central joinery and mounting scheme... Well, insofar as anyone really comes up with anything.. The horizontal pierce through the shoes came from a book (Decorative Ironwork: Some Aspects of Design and Technique).

One thing that's maybe not immediately apparent is that it's not 5 horseshoes that are identical in size. The one that gets split is longer and has a slightly different curve to it. I had done 5 that were all exactly the same, but when placing it all together for a dry fit up it didn't look proportionate.

I really like the copper windings to break up the colors. For that I did 3 wraps, twisted it tight in the back, snipped off the excess, brazed the twist and filed flat in the back.

There are many variations one could do on this idea. I wanted the center to be visually interesting, but not so complicated that it distracts from the overall cross... I could probably write a short essay on tips and things to avoid while making this, but that might rob folks of the fun of experimenting

For the record making a decent horseshoe is harder than I thought it would be!

WHAT?!?! This isn't your idea, take all the fun out of stealing a buddy's idea why don't you? <sniff>

Frosty The Lucky.

got my entry('s) done... 1/8mild with 3/16 brass and 1/4 copper round stock riveted in. Inlays (??is that the right term for this) brought level to the steel, then wire brushed and given a temper for looks just need to finish them I'm thinking a clear coat.

 

keep the work rolling in,

M.J.Lampert

Great idea with the brass and copper ornaments. This was my idea as well, and why I needed to make some riveting tools. Because I wanted them to look as nice as possible. How did you bring them level with the steel? 

On 12/9/2022 at 3:10 PM, Shainarue said:

How did you bring them level with the steel?

flappy disk

Made this little guy yesterday. Wish my hands would stay steadier and the paint job would look much better. A piece of 1" tubing i necked down into a cone. Thought my wrist was going to fall off by the time i got done. Almost entirely done on the edge of the anvil. Stripped down a piece of wire for the hanger. 

 

That's really classy MJ, it'd look great hanging anywhere.

I love it Billy now all you need is half a dozen more with the top of the cap curled into the hook and painted green for Santa's elf helpers. 

Frosty The Lucky.

Got the details worked out today. All it needs is a clear coat. 

First time working with brass (intended to use brass as tiny rivets to look like ornaments). I did some research and saw I needed to bring it to red heat and then quench and then work cold. I did not see nor realize that it work hardens like copper. It was a very frustrating evening in the smithy yesterday, lol

But I learned stuff! 

My best friend wanted a winter decoration that she could sit on her TV stand. And she's not putting up a tree this year. So those are the two reasons this one got picked out of my sketched up options. 

Wow I like it Shaina! What stock did you use?

looks nice

Some flat bar out of one of my buckets. No idea, lol

The base wasn't forged too much, so maybe something along the lines of 3/4 x 1/4?