Just for Harry: a bick iron I made

[george wilson]

This is a bick iron I made from very old Swedish tool steel. It is hardened and polished. Polished because I use it mostly for our jewelry work.

I got a bunch of real old Swedish tool steel many years ago from an old machinist and tool seller I knew starting in the 60's. It is mystery metal,but hardens fine in oil,and gets hard and tough as blazes. I drew it to a dark brown color after hardening. As for the old tool steel,most of it is rolled about 1 1/4" X 5/16" flat bar with ROUND edges. You'll never see it that way now. One piece is a square bar about 1 1/2" square,about 6' long. Must be at least 100 years old from the way it was rolled so crudely.

This is not smithed out. I bandsawed it out of solid tool steel,and welded the shank on. As I've said,I'm not really a blacksmith,nor am I real well equipped to be one like Harry is. I do things the way I'm used to doing them,and how I'm equipped to do them.

It fits right into the hardy hole of my anvil. If my black smith area,such as it is,wasn't so piled up with stuff,I'd picture the anvil,which I polished up nicely for hammering silver.

The fact is,I have a great deal of organization in my shop,with 400 feet of shelving. But,I just have TOO MUCH STUFF. This is because I work in several media,and want to be able to do anything that I am interested in,from precision surface grinding of tool steel,to making guitars,furniture,etc.,etc.,etc. Plus the fact that I am a TOOL PIG!!!

Harry,this must be another of those tools I didn't make. You remember,the punk said I didn't make these tools. Whoever made them,I wish he'd come get them. They are really cluttering up my shop.

[Tony Shea]

Another fine example of your incredible skill set. Your abilities just don't end, all areas of which I find great interest in and dream that one day I'll have the space, time, and skills to carry out some projects. Just amazing George.

You remember,the punk said I didn't make these tools. Whoever made them,I wish he'd come get them. They are really cluttering up my shop.

I mean I'll be by as soon as possible to pick up all these tools "I made", sorry to clutter up your shop.

[george wilson]

Well,get off your duff! I'm out of room!!

[harry strasil]

Very Nice work George. I too am cluttered, my Smith Shop is still full and so is my basement woodshop, plus I have a 42ft and 20 ft rental ship containers that are full.

This is my main forging anvil, the majority of the hand tools I made for me.



I am no Hephaustos of Greek Mythology, who made several metal helpers and had a one eyed Cyclops for a striker, but I guess I qualify as a sort of Cyclops as I have only one eye. But I did make a Dragon Family to watch over my Smithing Tools in my absence. LOL

[David Weaver]

Well,get off your duff! I'm out of room!!

Think of all of the room you'd have if you sent those two groves copies to me!

[george wilson]

Harry,I've seen really beautiful forged snakes made by some well known blacksmith I can't recall. He made them out of round files with coarse teeth,or round rasps. He used the teeth for scales on the snakes. they wanted a lot for 1,so I didn't buy one. I think he's dead now. I could make one from a similar file. They aren't that difficult,being a snake. He made them curve in very artistic ways. Really had an eye for design. Maybe sometime I'll fire up the gas forge and make one. I haven't a good way to exhaust the fumes yet. I do have a shuttered wall fan that moves over 5000 cu.ft. of air a minute,but no hood yet,and the space is very tight.

[James Taglienti]

harry is the middle dragon wearing a diaper?

[george wilson]

He's the baby,I think!!

[David Weaver]

Either that, or he's an aspiring jealous astronaut.

[harry strasil]

Yes, its a diaper, intended to raise the question you just asked James.

You know what babies do, and have you ever smelled Baby Dragon Poo? Its not shop broken yet!

[Rob Young]

Asbestos diaper then?

[harry strasil]

Oops, wrong end Rob, its a diaper not a muzzle. :[

[harry strasil]

George, most smiths I know use large flat horseshoe foot rasps to make snakes of, the head is just a matter of fullering instead of drawing out. Thin wall pipes make good snakes also, you use a bottom swage a little larger diameter than the pipe is and flatten the belly some with your hammer so it looks like the body of a real snake and you can swage down the tail end and fuller the neck and flatten the head a bit to look like a real snake head.

Uncle Komodo is made out of 1inch black pipe with 3/8" hot rolled round legs. holes are drilled at the sides and one in the bottom center, each individual leg is formed then inserted in the appropriate hole and the ends are plug welded to the body via the bottom center hole.

The dragon family is made of various sizes of hot rolled square and 16 ga sheet for the wings.

Years ago I did an online demo called "Illusion" where you study the characteristics of the particular animal your are going to make, and you can give the Illusion of movement by the way the body and feet are formed, (look at Papa Dragon on the left and Uncle Komodo on the right). And also change the mood of the creation by the way its eyes, ears and mouth are formed. Happy, Sad, Scared, Mean, and none of the previous. If you have a pet dog or cat, watch their eyes, ears and mouth to see what I mean.

Respectfully
Jr.

[Rob Young]

Oops, wrong end Rob, its a diaper not a muzzle. :[

I've never been good with children...

[harry strasil]

It was kind of funny, My Dr. a lady, built a new house and I did some ironwork for the interior and she happened to see the dragon family one day, and asked if she could use them for center pieces at her Open House. She put Uncle Komodo along the wall near the front entrance, and most women who saw it jumped away from it with a screech or howl, but 2 older ladies reacted differently. One tried to stomp him to death and another grabbed a broom and started in on it, attempting to scare or chase it out the front door. Talk about 40 of 50 people in hysterical laughter and tears all over the new hardwood floor. I guess that is the best critique one could ever hope for, that a piece of iron artwork was mistaken for a real animal, err critter.