Pictures around the Forge

Lazy day around the forge last few days on

the latest piece of work. Couple of pictures

here around the place i took between fiddling

with an idea.

 

While i was tinkering around, Andrew was outside

doing a little work on his pride and joy. A classic

car that for the life of me i cant remeber the name of.

 

 

Summer Update

I thought i would update here what i have

been doing over the summer.

I was working on a set of gates for Gateford Hill

Care Center, this work went on for about 3 weeks mostly

fabricating rather than forging. But my welding

is coming along.

I went to see them last week to check them out

after installation and painting something they requested

to do themselves.

 The gates were built as a real team effort,

at Ridgeway and im quite happy with how they look.

In other news with me i am currently gearing up to

move into a new house which is gonna be fun.

I will try and get another one of these up before i

return to hereford.

Up Date

Well guys been a few weeks i said i would try and keep people up to date with what i am doing. Mostly working with Andrew at the forge doing a few of my own pieces but mostly working on some oak leaves arch ways.

In other news i have just found out one of my old tutor has just got his own website. http://paulhodgesart.co.uk/ Check it out some really good Fine Art pieces.

I will try and get some pictures of my work at the forge up. 

New Toy

Picked up a lovely little blow torch, i

thought it would be nice to pick one up 

so i could start doing the finish

on metal at my own little workshop.

I think i will be doing the beeswax

finish on my latest piece with this bad boy.

Working Wednesday

Been full on working in the forge

at the moment, thought i would put

up a few pictures of how things are

progressing along.

This is how my own piece is

progressing along. Enjoying it just getting

tired of doing tiny tweaks to try and get

it straight.

 Student of the anvil here has been putting

people to shame with his work effort the last

few weeks trying to get this massive piece

together. Out of all the pieces

going on at the moment this must be the

one i have the largest intrest in, 

it is one of those pieces that is either

gonna look the shit or

just shit.

More pictures when its finished.

 And this is what Big Joe has been upto,

tool making non stop. This is his first

hammer made aswell as pair of bolt tongs he made

today. For a guy that couldnt swing a hammer when

he started he really is something else when

it comes down to tool making.

A real Dave Fields Junior

Welded Dinosaur

On friday, i walked in with will and straight

away graham ran up to us and gave us a small

project for him.

A bit of JunkYard Art.

This is our little creation,

quite happy with how it came together.

I would have took a few nicer

photos but my camera was playing up something

fierce that day.

Hoping to get another post about finish

up sometime later this week.

Hammer Making

Well the boys got it into there

heads to make some hammers and they

went the full way with this one.

here a few short videos of the 

loving couple forging up the hammers.

Finishing time

 

Getting to the end of this making project and i

really wanted to get a nice finish on it so i went out

today and got me some products to try.

I have some beeswas, boiled linseed oil and a 

glossy magazine to wrap it in.

Sampling all these tommorow on some thin sheet, 

i will post the results tommorow 

Student of the Anvil hard at work

Student of the anvil has been really

hard at work recently forging out his new piece.

I was helping him briefly today to get a 

few of the less important pieces together.

Learning by mistakes

While forging up my latest piece i ran into

a bit of trouble, to my own mistake 

i drilled a hole through the bar where i was 

going to dimple it in over the top.

This is the result. 

I have since learned with drilling, you 

always do it last to the section your changing

so it does not ruin the hole. 

I punched it back out in the end and

it is back the way i wanted it.

Learning by ones mistakes i guess.

New Hammer

Well i said i would try and get something up,

me and Ozzy put an order recently to

a great tool maker in Taiwan.

I know the blacksmithing norm is to make 

your own tools but well they were cheap

and god i hate making tools.

Ozzy on the other hand, loves tool

making he just wanted a new hammer.

The lovley 2lb japense blade

smithing hammer. I dont know about using it

myself but it does feel good in the hand. I have no

idea the materail of the shaft but it

is competley weightless.

The craftsmanship is really something to

be marveled.

Il put up a video soon of him using it.

 

Updates

Hiya team, i am really struggling at the

moment to get stuff to put up here.

We arent having many theory sessions

just alot of doing my own work so il put 

some of that up.

 This is the sample tree as it is coming along, i just

keep adding more and more to it.

Probably going to do something with this when im done

could be a gift to a relative.

In other news, on Friday

i did make myself up a sweet

bolster plate in fabrication.

Quite liking how it came together, just 

a little drilling for a handy tool.

Another joint venture from me and the 

Captain.

I will try and get some more stuff up by

the end of the week.

 

Hammer Make Over

This is something that 

rather exicted me lately, i gave my hammer to

Glynn to polish it back up and he really

did do a stand up job

it came back like a new hammer.

 

Really Happy my baby is so shiny =]

Tool Box Day

Well me and Alex got on with tool boxes

in our fabrication session.

I built a little box into the side of mine, 

so i could keep chisels and punches

out of the way so i can grab them quick.

And this is what Captain did, made the 'Fun Box'

even better than it was. Got new shelves, got a 

sliding draw bottom.

Owe the 'Fun Box' is the bomb 

Quick catch up

Thought i would check on here, havent learned

much techinque at the moment but i have been

doing alot of groovey samples.

Well this is me sharing =]

Quite proud of these samples, alot of 

decent of candle holders working on

here.

I will try and put more stuff up guys.