What did you do in your shop today?

[Zeb Camper 780]

Forged some tongs for holding half inch square today. The tongs are functional, but I forged the boss so that the jaw and the reigns were in line with each other (where they are supposed to be on separate tangents from the rivet).  Its been a while since I had made tongs and It didnt cross my mind till I put the 2 halves together. Oh well! Works just as well I suppose. I ought to make more tongs while its fresh on my mind. 

[AndrewB 151]

I got a membership to the NWBA hopefully that was worth it.  Seeing that the weather is starting to turn and I'm out of solid fuel, I got the piece that I wanted to test etch to see if it welded sanded down so I can see if it did or not.  We shall see when the ferric chloride arrives at the end of the week.  I also put in an order for some 15n20 today as well.  I also have another shipment of 1075/1080 coming in.  If this hand forge weld was successful.  I'm going to give a run at trying to forge some 15n20 and 1075/1080 together.  The pattern probably wont be pretty looking but it will be a first attempt to try out damascus which will be pretty cool.  The first of the month I'll be placing an order for a pallet of coal so I should be set for that for a while.  

[Gerald Boggs 209]

44 minutes ago, AndrewB said:

I got a membership to the NWBA hopefully that was worth it

If you participate in the association, you'll get a lot out of it.

[AndrewB 151]

1 minute ago, Gerald Boggs said:

If you participate in the association, you'll get a lot out of it.

Well having PTSD and all I try to do my best but I don't always like being around a ton of people on a regular basis.  So that may become an issue.  Also it depends on if they have a deal going on in the direct vicinity of my location as well.  I try to not travel as much anymore.   I'm pretty local lol.  So traveling distances for me doesn't even happen any longer.  We shall see how it works out though.

[AndrewB 151]

Just got the test piece ready for its test etch on friday.  So it's polished up somewhat and ready to go for the first etch.

[Jeremy Blohm 511]

Any weird looking lines through it or does it look pretty uniform? 

Edited January 22, 2019 by Jeremy Blohm

[AndrewB 151]

7 minutes ago, Jeremy Blohm said:

Any weird looking lines through it or does it look pretty uniform? 

I haven't noticed any weird lines in it yet, I haven't gotten my ferric chloride as of yet lol.  I took the grinder to it with the carbide disc then I hit it with a flap disc.  So it's not polished polished.  But the piece is uneven and not perfectly flat because I used uneven and not perfectly flat pieces of steel when I started the forge welding.  But now that it's cleaned up it seems like it's one solid piece of steel rather than the 4 or 5  that I started out with.

[Conner Michaux 271]

Found a decent website that translates English runes to letters, not sure how accurate it is. 

 

Here is is what I’ve done so far. 

Please excuse my awful writing.

Edited January 24, 2019 by Conner Michaux

[AndrewB 151]

6 minutes ago, Conner Michaux said:

Found a decent website that translates English runes to letters, not sure how accurate it is. 

 

Here is is what I’ve done so far. 

Please excuse my awful writing.

Memorize those and then learn the next 200 runes lol.

[Zeb Camper 780]

That's a different rune set than the one I know...

[Conner Michaux 271]

I will send you a link to the website I got them off of, if you want.

[AndrewB 151]

38 minutes ago, Zeb Camper said:

That's a different rune set than the one I know...

The ones @Conner Michaux is using if I'm not mistaken are the old English runes.  Great Britain area.  Correct me if I'm wrong but that's what they look like.

[AndrewB 151]

Called my coal supplier looks like they will have Bituminous coal on Monday or Tuesday.  Apparently it will be 40 bucks for a 50 pound bag of it.  I do want to try it so that's what I will have to pay for it.  I still plan on ordering a pallet of anthracite nut coal at a cheaper cost.  How ever.  I want to try the other stuff out just to see if I like it.  The one thing I'm wondering though is if it lights the same way as I have to light the anthracite or does it light easier?  I still think they are kind of price gouging on the coal market but they've got to make some what of a profit.

[Alan Longmire 2,713]

It lights much easier.  I use a couple sheets of wadded-up newspaper.

[AndrewB 151]

34 minutes ago, Alan Longmire said:

It lights much easier.  I use a couple sheets of wadded-up newspaper.

Well the way I would light the anthracite, I'd take the lump wood charcoal.  Id douse that in lighter fluid and let that cook for a minute, then dump the anthracite on top of the light lump charcoal.  About 5 minutes later I'd have a forge fire hot and ready to heat metal.  Although it would be green coal.  I wont be able to get a bag of this other stuff until Monday or Tuesday at the earliest.  But I'm willing to give it a try.  The bituminous I can re light after a day of use right?  Don't think I have any news paper laying around lol.

Edited January 25, 2019 by AndrewB

[Joël Mercier 525]

Built a stamp holder prototype. Will complete it, it works well! I get too nervous with the hammer, the shop press does the job flawlessly.

Edit: in case you wonder, LAM stands for "Lames Artisanales Mercier" or Mercier Custom Blades. 

Edited January 25, 2019 by Joël Mercier

[AndrewB 151]

21 minutes ago, Joël Mercier said:

Built a stamp holder prototype. Will complete it, it works well! I get too nervous with the hammer, the shop press does the job flawlessly.

Edit: in case you wonder, LAM stands for "Lames Artisanales Mercier" or Mercier Custom Blades. 

Nice did you make that to use under a power hammer?  Or did you make that to use with a hand held hammer to get a more accurate and straight hit striking in a stamp to the work piece?

[Joël Mercier 525]

@AndrewB it works with a hand hammer or a shop press. I prefer the press.

[AndrewB 151]

1 minute ago, Joël Mercier said:

@AndrewB it works with a hand hammer or a shop press. I prefer the press.

Nice.  I haven't gotten myself a stamp set or anything as of yet but I may have to try something like that.

[Zeb Camper 780]

Pretty slick Joël! 

Today I worked on my commissioned stuff to get it out of the way so I can work on my big project. 

I forged some scrolls for the gusetty thingies that hold shelves up. 3 different sizes. The bottom hook will be used to hang towels on while the shelf will have folded towels, and all that good stuff. We'll see how they work! 

Also forged the smallest knife I've ever made. 

[JASON VOLKERT 70]

1 hour ago, Zeb Camper said:

I forged some scrolls for the gusetty thingies that hold shelves up. 3 different sizes. The bottom hook will be used to hang towels on while the shelf will have folded towels, and all that good stuff. We'll see how they work!

Wow Zeb!! Nice scroll work. I like it!

4 hours ago, Joël Mercier said:

Built a stamp holder prototype. Will complete it, it works well! I get too nervous with the hammer, the shop press does the job flawlessly

Nice! I actually have 1 in the works as I write this.

[Joshua States 1,710]

A couple of things here. First off, I'd like to say that when you quote a post that has photos in it, please do not leave the photos in your post. Just delete them. There are two reasons for this:

1. Nobody needs to see them again and 2. They take up double the online server space for no reason and that costs someone money. (so do what you can to limit the expense of running this forum.

@Joël Mercier nice way to go with the stamp holder.

@Zeb Camper I dig the scrolls, but I do not see how you are going to use them to hold up a shelf. Where do the screws go?

@Andrew B Not a bad price for the coal from what I have seen.

@Conner Michaux You are trying to translate by substituting a Rune for a letter. That's not exactly how it's done. Think of the runes as more of a symbol of a sound, rather than a strict letter. So for instance, in "knife", the K and "e" are silent. So you would not substitute a Rune for the K or the E. Same goes for your name "Conner" the second "n" is silent so do not double the N rune. Same for the "e" in Axe. There's no need for a Rune.

[AndrewB 151]

3 minutes ago, Joshua States said:

A couple of things here. First off, I'd like to say that when you quote a post that has photos in it, please do not leave the photos in your post. Just delete them. There are two reasons for this:

1. Nobody needs to see them again and 2. They take up double the online server space for no reason and that costs someone money. (so do what you can to limit the expense of running this forum.

@Joël Mercier nice way to go with the stamp holder.

@Zeb Camper I dig the scrolls, but I do not see how you are going to use them to hold up a shelf. Where do the screws go?

@Andrew B Not a bad price for the coal from what I have seen.

@Conner Michaux You are trying to translate by substituting a Rune for a letter. That's not exactly how it's done. Think of the runes as more of a symbol of a sound, rather than a strict letter. So for instance, in "knife", the K and "e" are silent. So you would not substitute a Rune for the K or the E. Same goes for your name "Conner" the second "n" is silent so do not double the N rune. Same for the "e" in Axe. There's no need for a Rune.

Maybe not a bad price for one bag, but if I go through tractor supply to get anthracite which is probably what I’ll do next.  I can get anthracite nut coal at 6.25 per bag I’d have to special order a pallet though with 50 bags basically a ton of coal for a little over 300 bucks so I’m more than likely going to take that route after I try out the bitimonus coal out depending on how long that stuff lasts e as well.

[Joël Mercier 525]

2 hours ago, Zeb Camper said:

Also forged the smallest knife I've ever made. 

I was gonna write that! How does it feel? 

Good job on the scrolls and all buddy!

[Zeb Camper 780]

Thanks guys! 

16 minutes ago, Joshua States said:

 I dig the scrolls, but I do not see how you are going to use them to hold up a shelf. Where do the screws go?

Thanks! They're not done yet, but I was done. Had other fish to fry. They will either be mounted to a classic 90° bent flat bar frame or perhaps iron bands made to go around two mounting points or something like that. I think I prefer the latter. Just winging it really. I don't want to use a modern welder on them though. You lose cool points for that. Any ideas you might have, feel free to share em! 

14 minutes ago, Joël Mercier said:

How does it feel? 

It felt like I was wasting my time with iron that was cold as soon as it got hot. I quite like longer blades because they hold more heat. I thought of how far I could've gotten on a sword blade!