Gate in place.

Well today I finally got that gate installed which didn't go to badly. I think if I was allowed to make the mini fence and the latch lock as well it wouldn't look abit off on one side. Apart from that it doesn't look to bad I must say.

Another busy couple of days

I've been finally lucky enough to get hold of a swage block at last. It's been very differcult to get hold of on of these very handy tools. Ebay those have it uses as I managed to pick up a beautiful one for £120 which I think was well worth it. I had to pick it up in a little village not far from Ross on Wye, It felt very weird travelling along the Wye valley down roads I knew all to well from spending three years in Hereford. I've only really had this two days and have already put this to good use. This really is a must have tool.

As next week I'm planing to put this gate in place I decided to put the finish coat on. I've painted the bar in a matt black and the plates in a sliver so that they both stand out. I'll admit I didn't know if the sliver would work but it came out alot better than I imaged. So hopefully next week I'll be posting photos of this gate in place at it's new home.

Photos of candle stand

As I said there would be more photos of the Tea light stand when the iron paste finish was dry. So what do you think?

A Very Busy Couple Of Weeks

Wow there's so much to talk about from the power hammer to products to jigs, but where to start?
Well first I got a commission for a tea light candle stand which I was very happy to design as its very different from what I'd normally make. I had to design it with three height levels for the tea lights to sit on. I would normally shape the bars like all my other work but on this occasion I kept the bars square.  

It came out really well I feel, the only thing I'd change is using 10mm square instead of 12mm because I think it looks a little to chunky but apart from that I think it looks very well forged. I've only just applied the iron paste finish so hopefully tonight or tomorrow there'll be finished photos of it.   

As I can't afford to get a gas torch to do the sharp bends in the designs and doing the bends in the leg vice can leave unwanted marks on the metal so I've been testing a bending jig which I made not to long ago, which seem to work okay. I still need to make two bending tools so I can make the smaller bends of the this jig as well.

Not long after making the tea light candle stand I was playing around with a design for a single candle stand on an even smaller scale than the tea light stand. I still had 500mm of left over 12mm square from forging the last stand so I took it down to 10mm and forged this small three legged stand. With a square candle on it as well I think it looks great not bad for a hour and a half's work. It's a very simple design and easy to make which means I can sell it for a cheap price to bring in a little extra cash in to the business.

I think this was the crowning achievement of the month so far was the moment we finally got the power hammer working!! It's been months in the waiting constant phone calls and texts but it's finally here. Now that the hammer is working this should really speed up all my forging. I have to thank alot of my friends for giving me a hand putting it together, sorting out the motor and helping me get the hammer working. So this is proof that all the hard work came through in the end.