Let the Anvils Ring…..

I drove back here to Cheeseheadistan on Tuesday.  On Wednesday, I came into the shop to find out that a multi-day field trip to the Edgerton Forge had been planned for the rest of the week.  So we have been forging damascus the last two days till late in the day.  That is why I haven’t posted since I have been back.

Initially, Bill tried to get a coal fire going.  We spent the whole morning trying to get the coal to catch on fire, but it wouldn’t cooperate.  Eventually he decided to just turn the gas forge on.  He had talked about doing the hammering manually too, but at that point, he was frustrated enough to flip the power switch on the power hammer. The Mig welder has spent two days making us miserable.  The welding wire has a remarkable knack for kinking up inside the machine.

The larger knife is one that Steve (the owner of the forge) did at some point.  On that blade, you can see a nice random pattern in the pictures.  The long skinny billet with the star pattern was the demo billet that Bill forged on Wednesday.  Somehow it got REALLY skinny, so Bill is thinking about making some damascus jewelry out of it.

I simply continued on with the small billet I was working on a YEAR ago.  I now have a blade for a pocket knife that actually looks the part.  Bill said I will have to etch it quite a bit more to get the contrast in the layers to be more apparent.

My sister’s wedding was a success.  I got a lot of positive feedback about the rings.  I passed out a bunch of my cards too, so hopefully when people are thinking about custom metal work, they just might think of me in the same sentence.

Making a cylinder out of a rectangle….

On Friday, I stuck a piece of aluminum block on the lathe and began turning it down.  That is a rather time consuming process.  Bill said the next go around, I should use the band saw to cut off the corners to help speed up the process.

The How-To books I ordered arrived on Saturday.  That has me rather excited.  I am looking forward to the spiral lathe project.  These books are a wealth of information.  They contain the steps to build, from scratch, a foundry, a lathe, a drill press, a mill, a shaper, a dividing head, and a sheet metal brake.  I do believe they will be an ENORMOUS help to me both now and later.

I went ahead and registered my domain name and I have begun setting up a website.  I am not much on the programming part but I am doing the best I can with it.  Whatever I can’t figure out, I will contact my computer brain trust (i.e. Matt and Warwick).  Once I have a FUNCTIONING website, I will post a link to it.

Back in the Saddle

Yesterday was another car-lag day.  Today,  I spent some time working up a rather basic spreadsheet with the things I need to do this year.  I seem to be pointed in the right direction, I think.  Glenn and I also spent some time musing on the spiral cutter machine.  We laid out the gears and figured out the configuration that they need to be in.  We also looked at beds to mount the whole thing on.  This, essentially will be a specialized manual lathe.  We are considering the possibility of incorporating the indexing head into the design.  I also ordered a set of books on building machine tools.  They come highly recommended by Glenn.  The books cover: a charcoal foundry, a metal lathe, a dividing/index head, a metal shaper, a milling machine, a drill press and a sheet metal brake.  I am excited that this project is underway. 

I also got a lesson on pouring an ingot and then I got to pour one for myself.  I am going to post a video I shot of Glenn doing the first one.  My pour went just fine.  The next step will be rolling the ingot out into manageable pieces of copper sheet.  My friend Matt sent me a link to a sabersmith I hadn’t seen before who has a rather good approach and lots of good pictures.  Building a working saber on my own is high on my list of priorities.  I am also about to start learning gypsy setting.  Suffice it to say, I have my work cut out for me….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpPoZ_1-RuY&feature=youtube_gdata

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8jcWsLGCxQ&feature=youtube_gdata

The Necklace is Finished!!!….YAY!

I managed to get the chain soldered to the necklace without incident this morning.  I used the third hand to rig the chain up so I could effectively aim the heat exactly where I needed with heat sinks on either side of the break in the jump ring that I was trying to close.  I spent the rest of the day getting it all nice and shiny.  I used a soft brush in my flex shaft for a preliminary shine and then used the red rouge wheel on the buffing machine to get the final finish.  I also VERY CAREFULLY did the chain on the buffing machine too.  I was a little paranoid about that, but Missy stated emphatically that I should be MORE careful than I think that I need to be when buffing chain because there is a substantial risk of injury.  All is well, however….I managed to not hurt myself during THAT part.  When I was soldering the last jump rings, I did manage to grab the piece that I thought was merely warm and got a small burn on my thumb.  It’s barely worth mentioning….

I very pleased with how the necklace turned out.  Bill also showed me a simpler way of making a hallmark (although not soon enough to actually use on the necklace….).  I imagine I will do an official version of that for myself after Thanksgiving.  He took a die stamp with a non-reversed D and stamped that into a nail modified into a rough stamp.  That way the hall mark stamp will appear reversed when you look at it directly, and in the metal it will be back the way it should be.  So I think what I will do is order a triangle stamp that is the size I want, a stamp with the number 5 on it and use those to make my hallmark stamp.  This method is A LOT easier than trying to carve out a miniscule stamp and probably cheaper than having it custom made (I hope…..).  Since I didn’t have a stamp, I carved .925 and a crude version of my hallmark with a graver……not the most best-est thing ever, but I think given the overall situation, it’s OK….

Tomorrow I will most likely get back on those channel set rings.  Missy is anxious for me to go ahead and get all of those passed, so I can move on to the gypsy setting.  Bill said that my necklace is a pass too, so that makes me happy!!!!

A visit from the Eurotool Rep

I spent a little while this morning continuing the casting clean up.  Despite my best efforts there are a couple of rings that are going to need solder attention before  I work on setting them.  I really thought that they were pretty close to perfection when I invested the waxes but clearly something was not right.

Our Eurotool rep came by today.  He had some neat gadgets to show us.  I ended up ordering a set of jump-ring pliers and a pair of wire-twistng pliers to add to my growing cache of Tool Junky-ness.  I had a hard time trying to cut jump-rings by hand and this set of pliers simplifies things immensly. 

I spent the afternoon learning about different wire twisting techniques.  There are a lot of neat things you can do in that genre of creativity.  I am thinking about taking a set of twisted wire strands and doing a uber-twist cage with them.  I am going to order some copper wire and nickel silver wire for that purpose.  You can also do rings and bracelets and necklaces that way too.  Bill is going to show me how to make chain mail at some point (this week,  I think….).  I am kind of excited about that…..

Bill and I also went over my file today.  I have been here about 8 months now and as it turns out, I am pretty much on track.  I have completed about two-thirds of the course work.  Bill said he is pleased with my progress thus far.  I am very happy to hear that.  He said that the mokume and damascus and inlay stuff that are high on my priority list are coming up very soon…..

We also had a visitor stop by who was driving a rather remarkable piece of “art”.  I will let the pictures speak for themselves on that one……

Wax Work Wonderland……

Yesterday Missy cut out the sea shell mold that I made.  She had Sherry and Serah watch while she did it.  It’s one of those things that you need to see demonstrated as often as possible.  I spent some time yesterday looking online at different sorts of indexing heads.  Glenn still thinks it is a better idea to try and build as much of it ourselves as we can.  Finding the time in his schedule and mine to do it, that is perhaps as difficult as any thing else.  Right now he is helping Richard rebuild a fly-press which is a major undertaking.  I am looking forward to the experience of helping build a custom machine tool, virtually from scratch.  One of the pictures shows an indexing head that was built in 1870.  Glenn bought it and restored it to perfect operating condition.  The set-up that I am aiming for will enable me to bolt the whole assembly to a lathe, a mill or a drill press and maybe even a shaper and an horizontal mill.  Richard got to try out Glenn’s brand new set of change gears for the Atlas lathe.  Hopefully I will get to take a shot at the spiral cuts pretty soon…..

I spent all day today working on wax related stuff.  I had to do some trouble shooting with the sea shell  mold and eventually I cut some air channels in it to assist in filling properly.  I finally started shooting waxes that look great.  I am delighted that we managed to accomplish the non-destructive mold.  The original shells are fine.  I haven’t drilled out the temporary wax that filled part of the cavity in each one yet.  I also spent some more time building up the sides of the channel rings.  Missy wants me to start on prong setting next in a couple of weeks, so I went ahead shot some prong-set waxes that I will cast at the same time as the shells and the channel rings.  It is going to be a rather intense casting session, consisting of 4 flasks with a total silver weight of 8 and a half ounces. 

Deep fall has definitely arrived in Stoughton.  It has been down right cold today (in the mid-40′s), and rainy.  I also talked to Missy today about scheduling a block of  instruction on Mokume construction.  I very much want to have some “home-grown” mokume pieces to show off when I go home for Christmas. 

It looks like Richard will actually be finishing up here around Christmas time.  That means I am running out of time to get his help on the light and sound issues that basically are a little out of my league right now…..

Missy also took some time today to clip Idgy’s claws.  That was an experience to behold.  Idgy was NOT appreciative.  Missy wrapped her in a towel to separate her teeth from her paws.  Idgy made quite a ruckus and was squirming this way and that, but Missy was not to be defeated in her quest.  The claws had started to circle around and had actually begun making intimate contact with her paws.  We think that is why she has been so whiny and talky lately…..but it’s all better now.  

What happens when a squirrel messes with a 440 transformer on the top of an electrical pole…….

I spent the whole morning trying to coax a 4 mm square of tool steel to do what I want.  It didn’t go that well.  I finally managed to to get the triangle raised off the background.  I initially tried to bright cut the background.  In copper or some other non-ferrous metal, that wouldn’t have been such a problem.  4140 is considerably more stubborn.  Richard suggested I use a small round burr to get the “larger” parts to where I wanted.  That worked reasonably well.  I then started using a cone diamond burr to get more precise around the triangle.  I managed to snap the burr completely off its shaft.  Luckily there are “jury-rigged” tools I can use that broken shaft for.  But still….it made me unhappy, to say the least.  I spent some time trying to carve around the reverse 5 inside the triangle.  THAT was an un-mitigated disaster.  You can see in the pictures that the area inside the triangle doesn’t look ANYTHING like a reverse 5.  I decided to put that project aside till monday.  I feel like I don’t have the proper set up to do this right.  I may just break down and pay Rio Grande whatever it takes for them to fashion a makers mark stamp for me.  I already have a day’s work in this one and it looks terrible as of right now.  I spent the rest of the afternoon working on cleaning up the silver items that I cast.  That is coming along OK.  I am about to order some 2 mm and 3 mm polishing pins that can be shaped into needles, essentially.  That will help in cleaning up pieces with lots of tiny nooks and crannies. 

I am giving some thought to a quick change hand piece for my flex shaft, given how much time I spend switching between different bits and burrs and the like.  I can’t afford one right this second, but maybe later on. 

Bob came in and was complaining about the electricity being messed up back in the forge.  Bill went back there and after a little investigating, he discovered that a squirrel had been monkeying around on the pole that feeds 3 phase power (44o) to the building and the squirrel electrocuted itself.  I included a couple of pics of that.  I have to wonder if it was the same squirrel that wondered into the shop last night……

If it was EASY, everyone would do it…..

I spent the morning cutting off sprues from castings that I did.  The ring in flask 3 (the one that DIDN’T cooperate) that I thought was salvagable broke in half on me.  I am going to practice my soldering skills on it though.  I now have over 2 oz’s of silver scrap ready to be used in another casting (or whatever presents itself….).  I decide it was high time that I make a stamp with my maker’s mark on it. 

That, as it turns out, has proved to be a giant PIMA.  I got through the blacksmithing part OK.  You can see in the pictures how I had to hammer a crook in the straight shaft in order to let it fit around a ring.  I had wanted to get Glenn to video me doing that and he suggested a trial run.  I decided after the “trial” run was finished that I was going to use that as the real thing.  Engraving a triangle and a backwards number 5 THAT small into tool steel is proving to be quite difficult.  I am sure I will get better with practice……I almost always do…..

I tried engraving with the microscope but that just doesn’t work for me.  It sits up to high and I don’t have anything to rest my arms on.  I don’t see how anyone does it that way.  I eventually just set the engraving ball back up like I would for any other engraving project at my bench.

Missy brought a video that she shot at her birthday party.  I am uploading that to my youtube and I will include a link to it.  It is quite hilarious.  They took a washer that was basically dead anyway and rigged a motor on top that actually ran it faster than normal and hardwired an electrical connection to it.  Then they put a bowling ball and gasoline soaked rags inside and switched it on…….

Missy also let us watch her do a gold resizing job on a ring that really wasn’t worth a whole lot of trouble.  She held the ring in her fingers while she put the torch on it.  This allowed her to perceive when the ring was getting too hot.  That was particularly important in this case because there was an opal involved and opals DO NOT LIKE drastic changes in temperature. 

I am going to order some fine point polishing burrs for the detail work that I need to be able to do effectively.  Hopefully I will get those order tomorrow….

Death of a Whirlpool video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKBL7kXUN3w

Downsizing, Missy style: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ownjsViJNOs

I included a couple of pics of silver scrap that Pete brought in.  He had a bit more than me: 6 troy pounds worth.  He also had a couple of pounds of gold-filled stuff which is mostly worthless.  The actual gold content is about .05.  I imagine the yield from the refiner will be a couple of ounces at most (I’m not sure exactly how much of that stuff he had…..). 

Today has been a REALLY good day…..

I spent most of the day machining a live center tube adapter from a cylinder of brass.  In order to do knurls and really anything else on the lathe with the aluminum stock that I have, I had to make a special piece to fit.  It turned out very well and it was a very edu-taining experience.  Glenn is a hoot to work around AND he is supremely knowledgeable in the machine shop millieu.  I got the adapter done around 3:00 or so and Glenn rustled up a knurler of the “fine” variety.  He showed me how to work it and I made several passes which you can see in the pictures.  I am really excited about actually starting to make hilts.  I am gonna spend tomorrow practicing various ideas that I have.  If I have time, I will take a crack at carving/engraving and stone setting on a practice section……

I am also coming up on the upload limit on wordpress for pictures.  I am not sure what to do about that since I am only halfway through the course.  I think there is an upgrade available.  I will have to look into that. 

The Start of Something New….

I began cutting up the tubes of Aluminum that I purchased on Friday today.  I am cutting off 8 inch lengths for the main housing.  That is going to leave me with 34 main bodies and 4 four inch sections to do some practice on.  Glenn said we are going to have to fabricate an endpiece for the lathe that will fit the tubing before I can start turning designs.  He is going to help me with that and he is going to teach me about knurling.  I have several designs that involve knurling to one extent or another.  We don’t have a band saw or any comparable machine saw so I have been using a hacksaw all day long.  For some reason the saw always cut to the right so I managed to get NO straight cuts.  I put the first set of tubes on the lathe (one at a time of course) and true’ed up the ends.  Some of them ended up being less than 8 inches but I am going to do as best as I can with what I have.  Glenn also said that he knows where I can get some aluminum blocks to make pommels out of and possibly blade emitters as well. 

I spent a little time on the saber forums today as well trying to get info on what all I need, electronically speaking and where I can get it.  It’s a giant maze but I think I have everything but sound pretty well figured out.  It looks like 100 bucks can get every thing but the sound board. 

That is the tough part.  Good sound boards are wicked-expensive and VERY difficult to co me by.  I may buy a few Hasbro kid sabers and rob the cheap’O soundcards from them.  That seems to be the best way to start for beginners.  That’s only 15 to 20 dollars out of pocket for each one.  A Crystal Focus board (the current state of the art board) runs 500 to 700 for the saber smith.  Not to mention how hard it is to get the opportunity to even buy one.  I would like to have my craft down pat well before I spend money like that……

Tomorrow, I hope to get everything set up and start actually doing something tangible besides just hacking away with the hack-saw……