31st of January

Well its all done people, i finished the piece and just putting the final finish on it tommorow and it is set for assessment.

One thing i have always fallen down on is my assembling skills, i can forge up a piece a hundred times but when it comes to putting two rivets together i fall to pieces. Like i said to Adrian you just dont know how much someone looks over your shoulder and helps till there not there in moments like that, if i was with Andrew he would have took over and put it together easily but he wasnt and i wasnt about to start quitting so i solider through it.

This is a picture of the working progress, it was a long time bent over a table riveting.

I am going to get a better picture of the piece up soon aswell as a post on the finish because it did change yesterday while i was talking to Adrian, i am doing some samples as we speak to how im doing it.

In other news i got my discourse result back, a 67% in discourse so thats a result also got myself a topic picked out for cultural studies essay which i will talk about later.

Also made myself yet another set of tongs, a nice set of rivet tongs.

 

29th of January

Thought i would sneak a post in before the day is done, well just an update on yesterday.

They are all drilled and ready to be fitted tommorow, they took longer than i would have hoped but i did it. One lesson learned here when it comes to design work on the small things as much as the overall picture, i didnt put alot of time into this aspect just thought owe i drill it Monday and have done with it and it really was a ball ache getting them all right. So lesson learned.

Tommorow i will be riveting them all together aswell as got my boiled linseed packed for a finish on it maybe tommorow maybe friday, i decided to go with linseed because not only is it an easy finish i know i can do with the small time slot but its an organic finish for something that is meant to be organic which i thought was a nice touch.

I also started on these little buetys, a pair of large rivet tongs for holding tools and power hammer work. Really getting into tong making after my 3DSP, slowly filling up my tool box mind.

27th of January

Thought i would put a post up this weekend about how things are slowly coming along, i have had a few break throughs in DD i want to talk about but first.

3DSP is all handed in and laid out, got to go in tommorow and sign it off then 3DSP is done.

One new edition you can see above.

This is a pair of power hammer tongs i made up, all hand made. I am so proud of these tongs, i got some bar and made them up in one day, just lke my scrolling plyers they work great. Moments like that make me think i can be a blacksmith.

As for DD i finished all my leaves and got them all center dot up ready for drilling tommorow, then putting them on Wednesday finishing Friday.

One breakthrough i did make is once i made up the leaves and saw the full and finished piece i decided agansit two critical things i spoke about before, one is texturing the side of the bar its just something about seeing them all together makes me want to keep them like this, with a smooth edge quality. I think it will look more like what i am trying to portray with a smooth edge than a rough one, something tells me a straight outline jut will look better. The other was about changing them dreastically from the others, there was something while making them that made me think maybe this simitrie with a slight change is what i really need to look at so i went back to the research and found this picture.

As you can see there isnt much differance in the leaves, but there is subtle changes thats what i want to portray so i made them all in the same change, when i put them on i am going to bend them differently t display the movement so i hope it comes off looking less rigid and samey.

DD is at the fore front of my mind and now i can see it coming together i am beginning to worry if i have made the right descions on the path to here, guess i will have to make it and be angry at myself for doing it wrong after.

24th of January

Slow day today people, i had a pretty rough night so didnt wake up in time to get to discourse lucky Will caught me up on what went on so i didnt get behind.

Also missed Gravity which is starting miff me off, i have missed a few ones now and it just catchs me off guard. Need to get to the next one.

I did get my evaluation done for 3DSP and took alot of my stuff into HE center, i keep wondering whether i should have written up some of pieces i made with steve in the tech journal but it was nothing new to me. Ive made alot of tongs, i always forge weld the reins so it wasnt anything new, i have made 4 bolster plates in the past so that wasnt alot new to me. The chisel i made last year with adrian so that isnt new, i dont know whether i will get marked down because my tech journal hasnt grown much but ive been in my comfort zone a bit. I would like to say new tech journal post coming up soon when i finish these power hammer tongs.

In other news i really need to speak to Del now i know ive got a date im going back aswell as wondering whats happening about the invoice to this steel.

23rd of January

Haven't posted here in awhile, i have been doing alot of 3DSP stuff so didnt need too i suppose, its the mad thng about having alot of blogs i always feel like im neglecting the other ones when i dont post on it.

As of today in the forge, i had planned to get the leaves all made up on the jig.

As you can see from the picture i have finished them on the jig, i will cut them to size and finish the end friday and monday.

The jig really did start to show the stress of all the work done on it, i had to weld a peg back into place a few times. I started to make a bond with the jig, as i worked on it and it warped i felt bad for the thing. That being said it is just a tool used for a purpose.

I did get upto a few other things including starting myself a pair of power hammer tongs.

Need to resize the reins but other than that there looking great, looking really forward to seeing how they come together and using them.

On a side note we did also witht he snow make a blacksmith snow man, me and joe called it bob.

 

17th of January

Well intrested couple of days people, wednesday was a real shit day that ended on a high, it started off not being able to use the torch so i messed around with my 3DSP getting near to finishing three stes of tongs but il talk about that in my other blog im here for DD. After lunch when i finally got on the torch, the massive head was heating up the entire thing and warping it so we had to go ask for the welding bay bottle set which almost caused a bust up between the staff about whether i could have it or not.

I got it brought it through, first bend the fucking jig breaks on a pin. At that point i had enough so went and mig welded it everywhere making it unbreakable, even slapped some bar on the back to make it even harder to break. Then and only then it started to work, i was bending away got one full leaf done thats when i went to the steel rack and owe fuck we are out of 10mm section so i ahd order some from Underwoods which i picked up today ready for wednesday, so you can see wednesday forging was a line of stuff going wrong. But looking up, the jig works, got my steel hoping to go in Wednesday get the smashed out fixed on to the piece Friday, a week behind schedule but i can still make it in time.

Pictures of the finished leaves coming up tommorow

15th of January

Hey guys, intresting few days. Not alot done today as far as work been more sorting the life out and emailing a few clients but yesterday was a rocking day.

I needed to get 6 fire welds done and start shaping some of my reins aswell as having a chat with Mr Fields about tong materails.

It really built my confidence in forging yesterday because people were coming to me for help or advice and inbetween that every weld was going so just one of those days where i thought maybe im not half bad at this. Betting wednesday when my jig skills are put to the test i will be regretting those words but thats inleast 12 hours away so i can talk big.

I will put a post up tommorow on my progress witht he jig, getting a little nervous about it but i dont know why, ive still got 3 weeks to make it sure it isnt top of my list like 3DSP but even with a fuck up at this stage its still do able. Got to just relax and do the forging as it comes.

10th of January

Hey there team been an eventful couple of days, tuesday was filled with going from folly to he and back again to hand in my discourse work and then a nice tutorail with Ambrose and Del talking over my work, put simply DD is in the final stages of making and being done but 3DSP needs hitting hard so thats what im doing.

Wednesday i was in the forge, i went in with the attention to make up my leaves free hand and see how it goes until Adrian gave us a talk about tooling up and then took me to the side and spoke about making a jig up so i could make my leaves fast and to spec.

So i spent the entire day cutting, bending and welding a pretty simple jig its just my in experince in the field did mean that i spent alot more time on it than i needed too. I will be putting a post after this one in my tech journal about jigs and there advantages.

Spending today mostly on the blogs, got alot to write up so i figure il get on with it.

7th of January

Happy new blog, well i havent posted in over three weeks so why dont i recall those then get onto my first day back. Over the hoildays i did alot of working at Ridgeway doing bits and bobs which isnt really important here but one thing i did do is finish off the center stem.

 

 There it is sat in the corner waiting to be took into the forge and start having it leaves clipped on, also a small look into how untidy my room is right now but that is another story entirely.

As of today, was intresting sort of day. I started on a bit of a low couple of bits and bobs keeping me down then i had a great text from a satisfied customer i made something over christmas and the promise of some more work, then Del turned up gave me a hug and got the ball really rolling. I worked mostly on 3DSP stuff, its where i am lacking and its where im putting most of my efforts from now on. I have got a tutorail tommorow and im really going to get down to what needs to be done is it shit? can it worked and how good will it be?

I will post results tommorow, till then goodnight blog.  

Off to post on the 3DSP blog now =]