BoardMoreThanUsual Posted March 26 Author Share Posted March 26 David, my brain hurt just looking at the sketch up. I dont think ill be doing that detail of drawing for hooks . But thanks for the example of what i should be aiming for. As far as the quality or lack there of on my projects, i went out there today to do something... anything. i have been coming up with excuses to not forge the past few days and didnt want to let another day slip by so i went out with out a plan or project in mind. I looked in my bucket and picked 3 old landscape nails and said lets see what i come up with. I feel like i rushed it i dont know why i feel so rushed when forging i just have to calm myself. After all the post/discusion today. I have come to the conclusion i need to stick to the basics for a while. I have enough small material to make 100s of hooks, leaves, BBQ tools. So be prepared to see all kinds of basics getting posted i appreciate all the feed back. Frosty, i always take your input to heart, the drive hook started out as a j hook mid way i tried to turn it into a drive hook so yes the perportions are off and will adjust in the future, the screw mount hook was an attempt for a hook for either grinding belts or angle grider disks again just didnt plan just hit. The stamp will have to wait till monday to find out if it works till she gets to her class , will let you know ill have her take a picture of the stamp in the clay if it works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goods Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 My intent wasn’t for you to sketch out simple hooks . I think it would be a way to take on a more complicated item, by breaking it into simple straightforward forging operations. Checking after each step to allow for any corrections. Think of each step as an accomplishment and when the last step it done, you’ll have quite an accomplishment. (I guess my “engineer” is showing and it may not seem very encouraging, but it meant to be ) Keep it fun, David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoardMoreThanUsual Posted March 26 Author Share Posted March 26 I gotcha, was more poking fun at myself about sticking to hooks n such for the time being. But yeah i understand your point and appreciate your input Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 I followed your sketches easily David, not what/how I would've drawn but I followed right along. Must be Dad teaching me to read blueprints before I was 8 and then taking something like 6-8 semesters of drafting. Draw a cow in a flat pasture? HAH! Draw dimensioned prints of a 2 story house on a daylight basement with wiring, plumbing, heating, well, septic, etc.? Took a little time but no problem, I spent more of the time looking up the right codes and symbols. I do virtually all my shop sketches on graph paper. A friend gave me a big white board that's divided like 3" graph paper. I was surprised how seldom I even think of it let alone use it. I guess for now BMTU take it slow and easy, speed will come AFTER you develop the hammer control and eye for the movement under the hammer. All trying to hurry is guaranteed to do is make your mistakes permanent more quickly. "Your patience WILL be rewarded." Alton Brown. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swedefiddle Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 Good Morning Bored, The wonderful world of Hooks is absolutely open to interpretation. Nobody sees the same way or procedure the same. What I teach is, when you draw out the tapered square for the part that is driven into the wood, I give them a half turn counter-clockwise (when hot). This makes a right hand thread. They will not fall out, regardless what you hang on them. Enjoy your Journey. Neil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyBones Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 Frosty, i had to once draw a cut away showing the interior of a passenger plane. So not only a plane in general but a section showing seats and luggage spaces, restrooms, etc. I took drafting for a while myself in high school. BMTU, i may suggest trying to also do those drive hooks with an upset corner for a bit of learning. I am by no means saying that what you did is wrong just suggesting something to try. When i do them i square out a piece of 3/8" round, so ~5/16" square i guess, bend over about 1" of it for my upset corner. Do the corner then using the side and face of my anvil draw out the spike. I had problems learning upset corners and doing drive hooks like that helped a lot. Anyway just a suggestion of something to try and maybe put one more tool in that box of tricks. Perhaps even motivate you to light that forge just to try it as well? From seeing what you have done, if you watched a couple videos on doing upset corners, even for a refresher, you would have them in no time i think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 I've never drawn a plane print, way out of my ballpark. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 Speaking of hooks, When I was practicing making all sorts of hooks this caught my attention. 366 Hooks | Flickr I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s. Semper Paratus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoardMoreThanUsual Posted March 27 Author Share Posted March 27 Thanks Iron, I bookmarked the page for future use. By the way, went out to forge today and just could not get into anything. I try not to force it. Maybe the 366 hooks will inspire me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 Thanks for the link Randy. My head's kind of spinning now. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyBones Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 I took 3 semesters of drafting. The plane was my choice as my final project for the class. When i was in high school i kind of fell through the cracks. I took not only drafting but 3 semesters of ceramics, drawing, industrial arts (photography, printing, etc.), wood shop, metals shop, foods (cooking) etc. When i dropped out of high school my final year i needed 18 credits to graduate, i had 19 or 19.5 but becuase i did not have enough credits in English, math, and science i would have spent 2 more years in high school to get them. I was 18, going into my second junior year, so i joined the Army. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 Dad insisted I take Drafting so I did it helped that I enjoyed it. I don't even remember what I drew as my final, other than it was silly complicated. HAH, I remembered trying to describe parts of it! I drew an Allison V 12 aircraft engine. I coasted through high school with a C average, no fails but . . . I was part of California's first year of "no fail" policy. Their funding was and is based on students completing semesters, so you automatically graduate anything you sign up for and they get the $. I gotta stop I have too many gripes about . . . it. I took a few trade school courses and got a job. I've almost never run a certified bead let alone welded on a reactor cooling system! I let my certs lapse decades ago. Did a lot of fabrication as part of a couple jobs and am set up in my shop but . . . Didn't take me too long to discover that if you're competent with the basics your employer will teach you THE job. I ended up operating equipment for the state, great retirement and bennies so I did a full pull, 30 years and out. Generally demanding work with plenty of variety and excellent security. Probably too secure. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyBones Posted March 28 Share Posted March 28 The funding here is done by daily attendance. There are 2 weeks out of the school year that head counts are taken and what ever the average number is determines how much the school gets. But yeah do not get me started on how our schools are run. Anyway that is flying pretty close to a taboo subject, politics, so that is all i will say about that. I could have chosen a much easier drawing like an office building with nice shrubbery ( with a few knights who say "ni" near by) but no, i chose the hardest of the bunch. I just ordered some drafting tools yesterday. Got a new architects ruler and a small French curve set, but i was amazed at how cheap things have gotten. Back in high school i mowed lawns and raked leaves to to raise $35 for the pencil i bought. That was the 80's, so what would that be now like $100? Today i can buy 10 pencils for that. I averaged about a B but like i said almost all art classes and if you fail art there is something really wrong with you. I did have a few credits in English, math, and science. I also took 2 semesters of Latin. Languages was also a required subject. French, Spanish, or Latin was our choices. Our English classes were broke down into sub classes. I took poetry and plays, mythology, novels and short stories. Best class i ever took was called practical math, it taught us how to do things like balance the check book, figure taxes, and stuff you use math for everyday. I forgot history, my world history teacher was a women who was about 90 years old, or seemed at the time, strict old lady too. She had been to more countries and traveled all the time so she not only taught the history but also gave us first hand experience of her time visiting places she was teaching about. I have went on enough about that but one more thing. My science teacher was also female. She was a senior my freshman year at my high school. My last year i was in school, the 5th year, she had gotten her degree and got hired at her old school. Well, we knew each other from being in school together so that was kind of awkward situation at first. If anyone would like i could tell the story of how my freshman year, to set my reputation in high in stone, i was arrested and escorted by the police out of the school in handcuffs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryFahnoe Posted March 28 Share Posted March 28 Billy, how on earth could one resist after reading such a comment? Yes, please do tell! You just hooked another one... --Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoardMoreThanUsual Posted March 28 Author Share Posted March 28 good morning all, 1st sorry i missed your post in my replies swedefiddle, i will keep the twist in mind for the next time i make drive hooks, thanks for the idea. been looking thru the 366 hooks pictures, who would have thought hooks could be so complex, simple, beautiful and different, in my minds eye i saw nothing but j hooks or s hooks when i thought about hooks. i guess this is one of the reasons i was getting frustrated with my making. this has me rethinking on what i want to make. i realize that many of those hooks are more than what they seem and i do not have any misconceptions that i will be able to duplicate them all anytime soon. but i am excited to get out there and start making hooks. i know you all have been saying there is more to hooks than just hooks but i guess i have not been able to comprehend what you have been saying. thanks for keeping with me and not getting to frustrated and giving up on me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 28 Share Posted March 28 I'm going to not talk about my experience in S. Cal. public school anymore, other than metal shop it isn't metal related so . . . What shocked me a couple years pre-covid ago were the number of young men who wanted to learn smithing but couldn't calculate the area of a square and one couldn't do arithmetic beyond addition and subtraction. High school grads all! And I thought school was only okay when I went. Back to iron and having our way with it. I've saved the 366 hooks link, it had my head spinning looking through it. Thanks again Randy. I've been busier on IFI than usual, Steve's been transferring the blue prints to a new section and I've been skimming along. Talk about spin your head! Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyBones Posted March 28 Share Posted March 28 Went out for a smoke, got caught. Searched and they found my small bag of shrubbery along with a wad of $1 bills and some change. Possession with intent to distribute. That 366 hook thing is pretty cool. i finally got a chance to take a gander. BMTU, a hook is just a shape. Scrolls are just basically hooks. It is up to you the artist to figure how and where you want to use the shapes you have at your disposal. When i was really into drawing i used to say that no matter what it is that you are trying to draw it is just a whole bunch of straight lines. It is the artist that determines size and placement of those lines. Even if you are drawing a circle it is still just a whole bunch of very small straight lines set at different angles. Aint giving up on you either cuase we, or at least me, do not want to see you give up on yourself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 28 Share Posted March 28 The evil devil weed was decriminalized during the pipeline here, mid 72-73 IIRC and when the feds tried pressuring the state gvt. about it the state filed suit to make the feds pay the bill for enforcement, arrest, trial, jail, etc. and they decided not to know about it. Even then you'd have to be caught selling or in possession of more than an ounce to get busted. A pound or more might get you jail time. Now there's a pot shop on almost every corner, even service stations out on the highways have quantities. Do NOT give up BMTU! Stick with the basics and one day soon things will start making sense between your imagination, eyes, hands and the steel. From then on you'll be picking up new tricks. Learn the tricks to learn the trade as they say. You'll get there and we'll be honored to help. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George N. M. Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 BMTU, also we like getting folk involved in what we enjoy doing. It gives us more folk with which we have something in common. Also, some of us are getting up there and know we won't be on this side of the Rainbow Bridge forever and feel a resonsibility to the craft to pass along some of what we know. Because we were all once beginners we understand the frustrations and difficulties you are going through because we have gone through them too and come out the other side. George Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoardMoreThanUsual Posted March 31 Author Share Posted March 31 Hi Folks, did something today. made a hook, i know shocker. well i started out trying to make a hook out of 2x2x3/8 angle....that didnt work i think i started with to big of a piece (2"), so i will re visit at a later time. then went to my old stand by scrap, old 3/8 landscape nail, got half way thru it and burnt it up in the forge, still getting used to the coal/coke forge. so i went to something a bit heavier a piece of 5/8 round i got from the jobsite. i dont know how long it was when i started but almost screwed that up too but it was long enough that i could cut off the burnt end and start over. i ended up with a pretty large and heavy leaf hook, my first successful leaf. as it is finished i do see where and what i would change but i am happy with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goods Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 Quite beefy, but well forged good job! Better than my first leaf by far.., keep it fun, David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoardMoreThanUsual Posted March 31 Author Share Posted March 31 Yeah its a bit big, but atleast its complete and not burnt. My goal is to have atleast something to show for my day forging. And this was by no means my first leaf, it was my first successful leaf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 Looks good from here. Beefy is good we always have heavy things to hang up. My one suggestion is to NOT forge the finial scroll so thin, so it can't be punched into a heavy coat, etc. Once one does get punched into say a fleece or old knit wool coat liner the scroll acts like a barb and it's a PITA getting them untangled. If you market hooks, I'd mark this one for use with leather weight coats, etc. It's a nice job, well done. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyBones Posted April 1 Share Posted April 1 I like that leaf. The way it is bent it reminds me of a fall leaf that is dried out on the branch. I am also kind of a minimalist so the few veins lines are appealing to me as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoardMoreThanUsual Posted April 1 Author Share Posted April 1 The hook doesnt have a purpose, probably just gonna be a display piece. I have a a few spots around the house i can hang things that i am pleased with. It will go there. I think i came up with a plan, im gonna go room to room in the house and try and replace every hook type thing made out of either plastic or stamped steel with a hand forged piece by me. Be it a towel hook or curtian hold back. The ones we like ill try and copy , the others ill try and make something i can be proud of. We are forcast for rain most of the week so ill use this time to try and plan out what i can do with the material i have on hand. I think that will keep me busy for a while atleast till i can forge more that one hook in a session. Wish me luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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