I really like those hammered bowls!!! I'm seriously considering bringing a few round blanks up to the cabin in the woods and loading the fire pit with lump charcoal and try banging out a few of these.
There's nothing hillbilly about using a depression in a stump. Wood blocks are a standard item in any metal shop, from blacksmiths to jewelers. The metal puck works better than a wood stump, in my experience, because it doesn't burn and put out a lot of smoke when you're hammering hot steel into it -- and you don't ever have to worry about wearing it out or having it check and crack on you. I have considered making a permanent base for the steel puck by mounting it into a stump that's the right hight for hammering while I'm sitting down, but that's a project of the future. If you have a stump that's handy, by all means give it a big of depression and get to hammering. Making bowls if mighty fun and you might find yourself a little addicted. If that happens, I'll give you a cut-rate price on a nice Puck all your own!
Yep, same thing. Most of my bowl work is done while the steel is cold, relying the peening to add both texture and curvature. Copper works the same way, but requires a much kinder/smoother surface so you don't scratch up the face. Or be ready to do a lot of sanding and polishing to remove the scuffs. I've got one of the pucks up to a 600-grit finish and am curious to see how it works on copper, but I don't really have any copper sheet handy. I'm thinking anything less than a mirror polish will leave marks on non-ferrous metals..... which is the big reason I choose to not work with that stuff.
I used to cold dish steel using a 15" steel truck rim - the hole in the middle where the axle hub sticks through worked great for dishing. I also had a dishing form made from an old oxy tank - and used a shot put with a handle welded on as my hammer.
I hadn't thought about a truck rim - good idea! I had been hunting for an old oxy tank, but wasn't having much luck. The Steel Puck of Gloriousness is doing a mighty fine job, so no more hunting needed! Today's work... had two fellas ask me about the square dishes, and one wanted some carving to celebrate his anniversary. I do what I can.... And since I was there and happened to have an odd-shaped piece of scrap laying around....
@VaughnT -- I always pay attention to the tools in photographs. I like your wooden folding ruler. My grandpa was a cabinetmaker and I have just very few of his tools. My uncle chickenshit sold all his stuff for the money after he died. But my dad salvaged his folding ruler and now it belongs to me. It was a user. I have to laugh at the "oil joints label". This thing is so loose it almost falls open. The numbers are gone from the rub of his hand. I cherish this tool.
I know how you feel, JAD. My grandfather gave me all his tools on his deathbed... and my scum of an aunt had the house cleared and was halfway across the country before I got out of my funeral suit. He even had a sawed-off pistol grip 12ga from the Prohibition days that he always swore he was going to put a new handle on (the grip was long gone). No idea where that ended up, but you can be sure I'll cuss my aunt until my dying day. This is my center punch. I forged it from a coil spring and have used it to mark thousands of holes. Not too long ago it seems, I ground the struck end back because it was mushrooming a bit. Now it needs dressing again. The look and feel are as familiar to me as the back of my hand, but the memories make me stop and contemplate. All around the world, my work is in homes and this center punch helped make that possible. Old tools, for me, are part of the fun of being in the shop. I always wonder where they've been, what they've seen and what they helped to build. When I die, this little bit of steel will find it's way into a yard sale, hopefully, and some young fellow will pick it up and start wondering who made it, where it had been and what it helped build.
Bought a forged by hand adjustable wrench from a flea market a year back or so that I felt had history and deserved a place to rest that was more fitting. Funny how a tool will speak to us and cause an emotional response.
I've had this reaction quite a few times as I search the flea markets and yard sales for more stuff. I honestly believe it's because men have evolved to be toolmakers. Even as far back as the australopithecines, we were making tools, and that's a very long time. With so much history between men and stuff that cuts and crushes, is it any wonder the desire for tools is hardwired into our genetic makeup?
I would agree I find that when first looking at a spread of tools this includes knives to me I'm not drawn to the fanciest or flashiest one, that somthing in the back of our mind says yes that looks like the perfect shape and design for its task then I gets picked up and manipulated, doing this seems to reinforce your initial though or you put it back down slightly unsatisfied. Then I look at the flashy shiny ones
Annealing copper with the weed torch Tap tap tapping Bottom flattened. Still need to smooth the edges with a grinder and then polish it.
That is righteous! I love the coloring of it with the copper just peaking through in places. Now you've got me wanting some big copper sheet!
Prepare for wallet drain. That bowl is 7" diameter. Cut from 7.5"x7.5"x1/16" sheet........$25 (cdn) You need to anneal after the first pass of the peening hammer. Heat it up until it glows gold brassy and turn eggplant when the torch is moved away. I'm probably going to go to steel stock after this batch of copper is used up. Too expensive.
Step one: cut to length and mark everything you can think of...... Step two: hammer, hammer, hammer... If you set the divides first, you can hammer the petals to partially collapse into them and give the piece a more organic look. I really like the three-dimensional aspect of them. You know these weren't bought in some big box store!
Done, done and done! Can't very well use plain bolts when you've got decorative washers, so I had to dress them up as well. The backplates will have weld-on knuckles added because they have grease fittings. Seemed like a good idea at the time, but I'm not the best welder in the world! And since I was there.... I made another flint striker!
The weld-on knuckles have zerk fittings so they can be lubed. I've never used this type of hinge before, but I liked the idea they could be regularly greased and have that bronze bearing. Maybe that will make them squeak less as the weather gets to them. At least, that's my hope.
