Power hammer tooling and texture samples

I made some texturing tools for my home-brewed hammer this week, and used them to help provide some samples to an architect for a potential upcoming job.

The first tool was made from a dome-headed bolt used to hold sections of railroad track together. I found it mostly buried in the dirt near the tracks that run by my shop, heavily corroded and pitted by rust. I cut the head off, welded it to the end of a length of thin mild steel strap, bent the strap to make a spring, and had my tool:



It fits into the auxilliary tool holder on my hammer's quick-change die holder. The bottom die is just a scrap piece of 1" plate, which rests even with the top of my die holder. I need to make an actual completely flat bottom, but mostly just to make it fit in the holder better since this scrap is a bit smaller than the holder. Works really well for using tools, upsetting, etc.

Then I used the tool to make another tool. I took a couple of scrap pieces of 1"x3" mild steel bar, welded on rebar handles, got them hot, and passed them under the bolt head tool, and now had the texture transferred to the flat bar.





After rounding the edges off, I welded these two onto a piece of wide, thin strap, bent it into a U, welded on a shank to fit the auxilliary tool holder, and had a spring texturing swage. When I have my main flat dies completed, which have tool-holding holes drilled in them (don't know if there is a name for that system of holding tooling on), I'll cut them off of the spring and turn them into die-cap tools. As is, it does a very nice job on 1" round.





I love this texture!

I also used the bolt head tool to texture some 1/4" plate before cutting out topographic shapes and plug welding them together. The plate began to cup upwards under the hammer, so I flattened it back out with my press after texturing.





I see the bolt already starting to flatten out some, so I think my next step will be to use it to make a die out of some truck axle that I can harden and use to make new texturing dies as needed.

The samples as delivered to the architect yesterday:



All of the samples not made on the new texture dies were made using my combination dies torched out of a section of railroad track. The octagonal one reminds me of rock formations like Devil's Tower and the Giant's Causeway, so I didn't try to make the faces all even, just smooth. The look for the ironwork is supposed to be raw and primal anyway. The two with the "Dark Tower of Barad-dur" textures are only slightly different from each other. They were the ones the architect liked best.

Today I forged out a quick sample of half a door pull from 1 5/8" round. The amount of offset, the shape of the flattened portion, and the exact texture aren't necessarily what the final would look like, but they give an idea of what can be done. Most of the forging was done on my hammer, and the rest with the press.






Having a power hammer is sure a game changer! Even if it looks a bit rough.

Tobin Hill Art Fair

For those of you in the San Antonio area, I will have my first booth at an art fair this Saturday. It is the First Annual Tobin Hill Art Fair, located at the Josephine Theatre at 339 W Josephine Street from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. I'll have roses, candle holders, blades, sculpture, and some nifty gardening and barbecuing gear as well. Hope to see y'all there!

Bouquet of Steel Roses

This was a commission that fell in my lap right at the last minute, Saturday afternoon prior to Valentine's Day on Monday. A man who was touring the Hausmann Millworks where my shop is located saw some of my steel roses and ordered a dozen of them, to be finished on Valentine's Day. It took about all I could do and a bit of help from a friend, but I managed to get them completed on time.






Altogether the bouquet weighs around twelve pounds. The customer reported that his wife loved them. I didn't have time to take any pictures before they left my shop, so he kindly took these pictures of them in his home for me.

Test run of an unsharpened custom machete

This short machete/large camp knife got called into service before it had gotten to see a whet rock. I think it did really well. I had a Cold Steel Latin machete and a Norlund Hudson Bay pattern ax (that's a good ax!) that could use its edge touched up and the handle better fit. My machete did better than either and consequently, I used it almost exclusively.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lxq1q5LfSnE

Now for a scabbard and sharpening! More footage after that.

Neo-Tribal blade for a KITH

This is a little blade I banged out as a demonstration peice for a buddy of mine. I'd show him the steps on my knife, then he'd follow with his. I then used it to demonstrate filing and heat treatment for a student. I decided it would make a good entry for a Knife in the Hat exchange on the Hoodlums forum, so I threw my name in the hat.

The steel is differentially heat treated 5160 triple hardened in veggie oil. The handle is hemp cord for the main wrap, cotton cord for the Turk's head knot, and amber shellac to seal it. It's shaving sharp and ready to ship. :)

I took pics of it in a local park (second oldest public park in the U.S.) and tried three different backgrounds. Which makes for the best photo?

Winter Count inventory- Neo-Tribal blades

Knife grinder Luke Swenson offered to take any knives I might have ready out to Winter Count primitive skills gathering in Arizona when he went. This is what I got ready to send with him.




The small knives (except for the top one, which is an old commissioned piece whose customer disappeared) are all forged from brand new 5160 drop from a spring shop (actually sold as 5160 alloy, not just guessing that it might be). They're differentially heat treated, triple hardened in veggie oil, and their handles are wrapped with shellac-sealed hemp with cotton Turk's head knots.

The big knives are forged from salvaged pickup and heavy truck spring, differentially heat treated, triple quenched in veggie oil. They all have integral socket handles, but the Walkabout Bowie has hemp and cotton while the other two are straight cotton. Shellac seals it all in.

Luke sent me a message this morning saying that one of the little guys had already sold. Woohoo! Thanks, Luke!

Neo-Tribal Hunting Sword update

Just a quick-and-dirty update. The sword isn't quite finished (needs sharpened and a few more layers of shellac on the handle), but it's on display at the On and Off Fredericksburg Road art show here in San Antonio.



Cotton cord wrap and Turk's head knots, pecan wood plug at the end of the socket handle, red ink on the main wrap, black shellac on the Turk's heads and the pecan, then clear shellac over all the handle. Its stand is the left-over piece of Texas ebony from the Walkabout Bowie.