Not a lot to report this week. I made a 1/8" round punch to make the holes in my towel rack.  It turned out pretty well, and I managed to get one hole punched, when my propane ran out.  I have a backup tank, but it turned out that it was empty, too.  So I'll have to go out this week and get them both refilled before I can finish it up and hang it.

Positives: The punch really did turn out pretty well - nice and smooth, good taper, good temper.  And the one hole is nice enough (if a little bit off-side).

To work on: I think that I might have lost the temper on the punch when I made the first hole; it got stuck and stayed in the hot metal too long. I'm going to re-temper it when I get more propane.  Also, I need a system to keep track of which tanks are empty; maybe a magnet that indicates it needs to be filled. Finally, the other stuff I had planned to do from last week that I couldn't do this.

This past weekend, I made a towel rack.  I started with 28" of 3/8" square stock.  The ends are simple leaves, using the method described in Mastering the Fundamentals Of Blacksmithing by Mark Aspery.  I've taken a class with him, which I'll talk about in another post.

I rounded 3" on each end of the bar, made stubby square tapers on the ends, and forged in about 1-1/2" to make the stem.

Then I flattened the taper and drew out the edges.

 

I put two 90 degree bends on either side to form the part that will attach to the wall and extend the bar out about 3".

I added two twists in the middle of the bar, each about 3" from its end.

That's it for now. I still need to punch or drill holes for the mounting screws, clean it up a little, and put on a finish.

I'll post another picture when its mounted on the wall.

Positives: It was really nice to get out to the forge and make something. It's made me enthusiastic about getting out there and doing more.  The towel rack is square and should hang nicely, and it's fairly attractive.

To work on: I want to improve my shaping leaves. The insides of the bends could be better; there is a little bit of puckering right in the middle. I plan to do some practice on these next time.  Also, I need to improve my hammer control; that will just take time and practice.

I started taking blacksmithing classes in 2007 at Prospect Hill Forge in Waltham, MA.  I can recommend them very highly. Carl West is an excellent teacher, very patient and clear.  The very first class I took there was A Taste of Blacksmithing, where you get to try a little bit of everything making an S-hook.

My first creation

After that, I was hooked and took as many classes from them as I could.

Barbecue fork, tongs, and me

Candlestick, scroll and collaring practice

Forge-welded chain, piece forged to a blueprint

This next one is a trivet, which was the very first thing that I made on my own, without being directed in a class.

Hi. My name is Bob Gaimari. I've been working on learning blacksmithing for several years, but I haven't really progressed very much. I've taken classes, and I do pretty well during them, but generally I don't keep up and practice what I've learned enough to make it stick.

My plan for this blog is to write something at least once a week and post some pictures and discussions about what I've worked on that week and what I plan to work on.  In addition, I'll post some pictures of previous stuff I've done (since I think some of it is pretty good), and talk about things I've learned in classes.  I hope that by sticking to a schedule of reporting my work, it will help me stick to a schedule of working in the forge.