An Introduction.......and Some Project Pics

19 years ago

Hello everyone, I wanted to introduce myself and show off a few pics of projects that either I or my wife have completed. My wife, Regina, and I live in Charlotte, NC. I've done woodworking for a long time and when I met my wife she introduced me to metal working and it's been great. I frequent the Tractors forum and some of you may have seen the hitch setup and implements I've made for my tractor.

My wife and I want to try our hand at blacksmithing so our current project is building a propane fired forge.......I just got a nice section of 12" steel pipe that will be the main body. We'll keep you posted on the progress. We're also searching for a good anvil if anyone has one laying around, let us know!

Here's some pics of some past projects:

A repousee piece my wife did. Note, this is all done cold with small hammers and lots of time and patience. She attended Penland School of Crafts to learn this art.

Next up is a small wall mounted shelf....cherry top and hand forged brackets. I did the wood, my wife the metal. We made a couple and gave them away as gifts.

This is a machine I made for twisting steel stock.......open on both ends so you can run your stock out to twist in the middle......bed is 48" long to accomodate most pickets. It provides a lot of control, and the reverse twists are great!

Sorry for so many pics, but I tried to keep them small so it doesn't take too long to load. I'm excited about this forum, and my wife will be too when she finds out. Is this going to be a first: a husband/wife combo frequenting the same site? We'll see how it works out.

David

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Comments (7)

blacksmithman
19 years ago
Very nice job on the metal work. Does the metal twisting jig do square stock. I'm also starting to build a propane forge for my smaller work. I use coal now but I bend thicker metal for my benches and arbors and coal works great for that since some pieces are long with large bends.
Do you have a blacksmith's vice. I looked for about 5 years for a used anvil and bought a very good one 225# for $5 yes $5.
davidwczerr
Original Author
19 years ago
blacksmithman:

Yes, it will do square stock. It will hold up to 1.5" square, but bending stock that thick is another matter. I've used it to twist 3/4" square, and it was tough but doable. What I've done is make inserts for common size stock, like 1/2". That way you can just put the inserts in and slide your stock through and twist away. For uncommon sizes I just tighten the hex bolts down to get a grip.

I'm looking forward to the propane forge, it will be awesome to have that capability. The body will be 12" ID pipe (5/16" wall) about 24" long. It will be lined with Kasto-Lite refractory cement, about 2" thick giving us an 8" diameter working area. It will be heated with a two burner set up with a small blower. I'm gather materials right now, so if you're farther along and can post any pics we'd appreciate it.

225# for $5! Wow! I doubt we find a deal that good. The problem I'm having is when you call about an anvil and the guy says it's huge.......and after more questions you figure out it is about 50#, and that's when you can find one that's not cast iron. So we're still searching. EBay has quite a few, but there ususally in the Northeast or Midwest which is real haul for us to pick up, and shipping gets expensive quick.

BS vise, yes, my folks have an antique shop and we got a good one, about 5" jaw, spring intact, threads good. I see those on eBay as well.

David
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Wish that I could find a good anvil too, and thinking about making a coal forge kinda in the back of my mind. Meanwhile I am mickey mouseing it with a bit chunck of half inch thick I beam that I have adapted, got a # 4 tip for my cutting torch and all that I have tried so far is 5/8ths rod. I made a hole in the I beam, put some three quarter inch O.D. pipe below it with a pin thru it to act as a depth guage to get uniform depth. The guy at the welding supply place said just be sure and not hit the oxy lever when you have the rod cherry red, it will "go away in a hurry with that tip on there (made to cut 4" metal) ! So far that has worked out pretty good. I can make the first bend by hand with gloves on, then slip a short piece of pipe on it for a cheater and curl it back over for the second bend. I have since welded some funny looking vice grips to the retainer to hold the bar in place for the second bend which helps clip it down and hold it steady "while the iron is hot". I was thinking today about how to twist a piece of strap 3/8ths thick 90*. Thought about putting it in a vice, heat it and taking a big crescent wrench to it, but another idea occured and I did not need the twisted part. Here is what I have I think that it weighs about 80 pounds and have not needed to bolt it down yet.
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JoeJ
19 years ago
David,

Very nice work, by you both.
But that twister and the piece in it are really great!!!

Joe
davidwczerr
Original Author
19 years ago
Thanks for the kind words everybody! We use the twister mainly for pickets in gates and railings, though what shown in the picture is 1/4"x1" bar stock that was used as part of another project.

David
horseman1
19 years ago
Thanks for sharing these - Very cool. I really like the twister. I would like to make one sometime, if I time and talent would permit.

Kurt
Ratherbgardening
19 years ago
That's great that the 2 of you can work together on your projects and create such nice pieces.

An Introduction.......and Some Project Pics

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blacksmithman

davidwczerr
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gonefishin

JoeJ

davidwczerr
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horseman1

Ratherbgardening

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An Introduction.......and Some Project Pics

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blacksmithman

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gonefishin

JoeJ

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horseman1

Ratherbgardening

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