Blacksmithing and forging

[VaughnT]

With sales in the crapper, at least there's dragon hunting to be done.

[VaughnT]

Nobody else is forging stuff?

Okay, well here's a Troll Cross in a Pear Tree. A little late for Christmas, but there ya go!



Started life as a j-hook I made some 30 years ago when I first started down this path. I found a box of those hooks, so I've been chopping them up whenever I needed a short bit of quarter-inch round. That's about all they're good for!

Forging this was a real chore. I don't have tongs that are good for holding it once the taper is formed, so it's an exercise in frustration trying to get the tight bend, everything even, and not bang up the curled ends.

Fun, but time-consuming and definitely not something I'll be making any profit on. Still, gotta make one just so you can say you've made one.

[whtbaron]

Not even close... started in the field on Sunday, broke down once and got rained out today so I was on a parts run to a small city 2 hrs away. Got the stripes for my new cabinets I ordered online 6 weeks ago, so I'll finally finish those maybe put up a pic in the shop section.

Dragon's teeth, troll crosses... you lean heavily on the mythical... I like it. Can't say I've even heard of troll crosses before, and that looks like a good one.

[VaughnT]

If you do an image search for these little things, you'll be amazed at the number of designs people are coming up with. I'm a long way from competing with the likes of Faram Forge, but what can a fella do!?!?

I'd like to lean more heavily on the huge gates and $20,000 doors, but those customers have proven harder to find than I had anticipated.

[whtbaron]

So he loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly... Hills that is.... swimmin pools.... movie stars....

[John Bartley]

So he loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly... Hills that is.... swimmin pools.... movie stars....

That there's the truth. If'n they ain't no customers where yer at, then ya'll gotta move where yer at to be where they is.....

Or find new customers.

Ok, that was partly in jest, but it really doesn't hurt to be where the money is, especially when it's that money you are trying get paid with.

[VaughnT]

...it really doesn't hurt to be where the money is, especially when it's that money you are trying get paid with.

That's one of those Catch-22 situations. Ain't got the moola to move because the customers are scarce, and the customers are scarce because you're not where the moola is.

On today's list of things to forge.... more blasted wall hooks. And I can either wash the truck or spend some time cleaning the shop. Not sure if I'll have the energy for doing much, but it's worth thinking about.

Still trying to talk myself out of buying that drill press table from Fireball Tool. The good news is that I designed a rather neat drill press tool for holding little parts. It's kind of like a vise, but different enough to not be a vise. And it'll give me an excuse to chop up some of that big channel I have gathering rust!

[Lis2323]

So he loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly... Hills that is.... swimmin pools.... movie stars....

Okay, Les. THAT is just TOO effin’ funny!

[psacustomcreations]

Vaughn,
Did you ever figure out what causes the bubbling or texturing on some of your bowls?
There is a guy on Facebook Blacksmith for Beginners that had that happen to his knife, pic attached.
A few people are commenting on what might have caused it, and I didn't know if this was applicable for your case.

[VaughnT]

Did you ever figure out what causes the bubbling or texturing on some of your bowls?

Nope, never have figured it out. The best I could come up with is some odd grain growth and grain shrinkage, possibly due how the metal was originally forged to shape at the mill. I'm not running things particularly hot, or with a particular flow of air, and it doesn't happen every single time in the same way, so it's something of a mystery.

[psacustomcreations]

Well, today was the first time back at the forge for quite a while and it was a bit of a failure as expected.

My Dad is a fan of sailing ships and nautical items. I asked what he wanted for Fathers Day and his birthday. He wants me to do the metal part of a whaling harpoon so he can have a wall hanger decoration that is 8 feet long.

I started with a piece of 3/4" square bar and was thinking I could use a similar technique as on a leaf. I wanted to make the tip, draw it out to length (3 feet) then make the cone end to wrap around the shaft....

I ended up with a leaf....






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[whtbaron]

I'd take it to the grinder until I had the shape I wanted... can't be any tougher than making a RR anvil. But hey.... I'm a grinder not a weldor...

[psacustomcreations]

I may do that. I think I needed more mass to start with to get it spread out. I was hoping I could have it be about 5 inches long and 4 inches wide.

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[VaughnT]

So far, so good, imo.

I don't know anything about harpoons, so trying to find the right bar to start from is going to be a little bit of an issue. If 3/4" square doesn't work, you might have to up your game.... or at least upset the one end a bit before you try flattening and spreading.

Also, looking at your pictures, I'm not seeing any mention of how thick the blade portion needs to be. I'd expect something like a quarter-inch at the center, but I could be wrong.

My idea --> Upset the end of your 3/4" bar until it's 1" or maybe even 1-1/4" --> Neck down 1-1/2" from the end to form a 1/2" cross-section --> Draw out the shaft to 1/2" thickness as uniformly as you can, and try to keep it square at this point.

This leaves you with a long stem that has a big block on the end.

With the block sitting there all pretty, use your slot punch to create a long, thin hole fairly towards the end of it. You should practice on this a few times before you've done all the work of drawing out the stem, by the way. Don't ruin your work until you see what you need to see on some scrap pieces.

Anyway, with your slot done, drift it open to 3/4" or more. Used a tapered drift if you have one. It doesn't matter if you blow out the end because you're going to blow out the end anyhow.

It might be handy to flatten the block to 1/2" before you do the slit and drift. Might not. I really couldn't say since I've never made a harpoon and all of this is just me flying by the seat of my pants. Who knew my pants could fly?!?! :O

Once you have the hole drifted open, cut down from the end and spread out the "legs" you've just created. This gives you a "T' of sorts, with a nicely rounded transition into the section at the shaft. No cold shuts, hopefully.

With your bolster in the vise, you can work each leg of the T out into the blades of your harpoon, and draw out the point portion as you form the bevels you'll need.

Honestly, now would be a very good time to practice your forge welding since that'd be sooooo much easier to get all this done!

Also, what about using Silver Solder or Braze to hold the head on the shaft? Surely those were available options back in the day?!?

[psacustomcreations]

Thanks for the advice. I have plenty of material available to work with. I have some sticks of 1", 1-1/2" and 2" square bar as well as 1-1/2" and 2" round bar.
Splitting and spreading the top section is a good idea. I was thinking the base/center of the head would be 1/4-3/8" thick tapering to about 1/16" with no real sharpened edges since it is a wall hanger or decoration.

I was trying to draw out the 3/4" square bar down to 1/2" or so round the whole length and that was a bit of a chore. Since I don't have a power hammer, my elbow will not allow me draw out a piece of 1-1/2". I would not be able to use it for several days. I was trying to pay attention to the way I held and swung the hammer so I am OK today. The weather is crappy today so I may give it a go this weekend.

[VaughnT]

Here's a good video that shows the isolation and spreading of the harpoon blade points.... though he calls it a hammer pendant.



At the 2:40 mark, you can see him drawing the points out in the vise, but the point's only going to be good enough for very small whales.

I think that if you did similar, but started with larger stock, you could draw out the ends into quite a nice harpoon point like in your first picture. I have some 1/4"x1" in the shop that I tinkered with earlier and will try to get some photos of it. Thinking back on it, I'm not sure it'd be enough mass to draw out into a big harpoon head, but I really don't have a sense of what a proper harpoon head is supposed to be shaped like.

[whtbaron]

LOL... his pet mouse escaped at 5;30....

[VaughnT]

Got to spend some quality time in the shop this evening, but it's still a drop in the bucket.



The good news is that I finally found a piece of pipe with a 3" OD. Turns out I've had that circle jig for ages and just forgot about it. Made it from a section of 1950's car driveshaft, used it a couple times and then put it in the bin with the other bits of round stuff I can bend around.

I've been hunting for ages, but everything I come up with is a hair under 3" or a hair over 3", so imagine my surprise when this piece of driveshaft turned out to be 3" on the nose and already welded to a stub for grabbing with the vise!

I'm going to weld it to some 1/8" plate so I can also attach some kind of stop to prevent me bending around too far. That'll help make the hooks more consistent.

Now I just need to find the blasted piece of pipe I spent all that time turning down to something a bit over 1" OD. I know it's around here somewhere because I turned it just last week. Think I can find it now that I'm wanting to weld it onto something? Ugh!

[psacustomcreations]

Nice. Have you been able to use the Kerlin bender or make jigs for it?

[VaughnT]

Honestly, I haven't used that Kerlin for anything much at all. I've played around with it to see where it's limits are, but I've quickly found that it's a lot more cumbersome to use than I was planning on. That, and anything over 1"x1/4" either needs to be bent hot or the bender needs to be fastened to the ground somehow.

The problem with doing hot work in the bender is that the thing is so big you really have to finagle to get your part in, everything clamped in place, and the bending done. Sounds easy, but because the thing is so frickin' huge, you're walking all over the place just to reach the various screws that close everything up. :O

Horrible problems, to have, I know!

I have plans to do some simple L-bracket type mantle corbels in the near future and that'll be a good use for the things. That and shelf brackets if I can ever decide on a design.

A lady just asked me about 30 shelf brackets, and that would me a great workout for the Kerlin.

[VaughnT]

Got another dish forged and in the mail. Love how the MAPP gas allows for spot heating, but I think I might try some patina sprays just for different effects. Jason over at Fireball Tools just did a video on the patinas he uses and it was pretty impressive.



Also managed to snag an unmarked Eagle oil can for my drilling/cutting/tapping lube. The only markings on it are "Patent Applied For" on the bottom. No idea if it's a knockoff or an early Eagle, but it works wonderfully and is a sure sight better than the ugly plastic jobbie I had been using.

[psacustomcreations]

The bowl looks great and the oil can is a good score.

I also watched Jason's video and researched the spray patinas he used. They look promising but I wonder ho well they work when applied with a cloth. It seems a spray bottle can lead to a lot of waster.

[ronsii]

That bowl is cool!!!! can't tell you how much I like the colorings

I have some knockoff oil cans like that I use with the lathe and mill... very hand and have never broke then when I slip and drop em'

[VaughnT]

...I wonder ho well they work when applied with a cloth. It seems a spray bottle can lead to a lot of waste.

I was wondering the same thing. He had a lot of streaking, too.

I've applied Cold Blue with a brush and q-tip, and not had any problems with streaking or the like, so I think that patina stuff should be relatively okay to apply similarly. Of course, I've never done any large pieces like he did and wonder if there might be an issue with lines appearing wherever you overlap. Gonna have to give it a try, I guess.

[Lis2323]

That bowl is cool!!!! can't tell you how much I like the colorings

I have some knockoff oil cans like that I use with the lathe and mill... very hand and have never broke then when I slip and drop em'

I love old style oil cans! I even have a couple of minis