Work continues...

  Finished up post #3, started #4.

Steel run!!!

  Well I have to say that actually working on the clock has really increased my blacksmithing energy and interest.  For about 18 months now I have been learning the basics of blacksmithing.  What used to take an hour I can now do in minutes.  A simple tent stake would take 10-12 heatings(number of times put in the fire to reheat) but I can do them in 2 heatings now.  One heating for either end.
  The frame posts are coming to the point that I need to start making the other parts of the frame soon.  To do that, I need to pick up some more metal.  The posts are made from 2 1/2" x 1/2" stock.  I think the crossmembers will be either 1 1/2 x 1/2 or 1 x 1/2.  I am keeping pretty close to some period examples.  Some of the period examples are a much thinner stock but I chose heavier for 2 reasons.  First, I simply like the heavier look better.  Second, I expect to have to transport this clock on several occasions so the heavier stock should make it more durable.
  Unfortunately, I am teaching this week.  I will have to wait to pickup the steel until early next week.

Still continuing...

  I put a few hours in on post #3.  Its almost done with the hot work.  My coal supply is getting very low.  Down to about 30-40 pounds.  My regular supplier is currently out but a local blacksmith said that if worse comes to worse, I could have some of his.  I may be calling him soon.

Work continues...

  Started on post #3.  I was able to get about halfway through before it got too dark.  The more experience I get doing this, the faster it is getting.  I'm including a pic below that shows what the post looks like after cutting the excess material away.  This is from post #2 before the cleanup hammerwork has been done to straighten it back out.



  And now, I had a fan last time I was working, including his pic here...

Thinking can be dangerous...

  Allright, all this work on the clock has gotten me thinking about techniques for different parts of the clock.  One of the most critical areas, for obvious reasons, is the teeth on the gears.  The cutting of these teeth has to be pretty precise.  When I did the wooden clock, I cheated.  I wrote a simple computer program to automatically draw the gear for me.  I would then take that pattern, glue it to the wood and cut out.  I could produce one of the larger gears in an hour or two.

  For this clock, I want to be much more authentic so I'm not going to cheat by using a computer drawn pattern like that.  Much of the layout work will be done using a compass.  My greatest area of concern has been the actual cutting of the teeth.  Because I will be using a hacksaw and files to cut the teeth, I was worried that it would be easy to screw up by cutting at a bad angle or cutting too deep.  Then, I realized a technique on the posts would be perfect here.  I created a template for the posts then I clampled the template and the new post together.  I could then use the hacksaw through the template to get an exact copy on the new post of the cuts.  I can do the same thing for the gears.

  What I realized was that I can create one template that has two gear teeth and the cuts for the opening between the teeth.  Then, for each tooth on the gear, I can clamp the template onto the gear and perform the cuts.  This, in theory, should give me nearly identical teeth around the whole gear.

  The other bad part of thinking?  I realized that for some of the larger gears, I will essentially be cutting about 6-8 feet of 1/2 inch steel using the hacksaw just because of the number of teeth involved.

2 down, 2 to go...

  Well, somewhat.  I removed the excess material from the second post and created the thin post for the finial on the end.  I've decided against doing any more decorative work on any of the posts until most of the hot work is done.  That way, I don't accidentally screw up the decorative work.

  The second post went much quicker and much cleaner.  After I removed the excess material, the cleanup hammer work only took me about 20 minutes.  I think the very first post (which I've since rejected) took me about 2 hours of cleanup work. 

  I'm glad I decided to go ahead and start working on the clock.  Even though I have a lot to learn, I'm one of those types that learns much better if I'm working on a major project instead of a bunch of little ones.  I don't mind having to throw away and retry stuff over and over again.

Steady progress

  Not much to report except that I am working on the second post on removing the excess material.  I was making good progress until the evening rain hit.

A new post about new posts

  I was able to get some time in.  The past few days have been too rainy to do any work.  I was able to start the 3rd and the 4th posts after the rain finally stopped today.  This included cutting them to length and cutting the hacksaw lines shown in previous pics.  It will be nice having these posts cut because I can work on the filing and cutting of the decorative portions of the posts if it is too rainy to start up the forge.  I hope to have all four posts done (mostly done) by the end of the month.  My goal is to have the frame complete by the end of August.  As a work comparison, the wooden frame only took me one or two days.

Filing working well...

  I put the decorative work on one end of the corner post.  Not looking too bad.  Also, I noticed today that the hammer work had stretched the post by about one inch.  That's why I made the template piece.  If I do the initial cuts for each piece in the same spots, then the followup hammerwork should result in the pieces all being close to the same size.  The other end of the post I am not going to do the decorative work yet.  If the pieces don't quite stretch the same, there is enough spare material on the end of the post to compensate for that.

Much better...

  Did the cleanup hammerwork on the post.  At this point, the hammerwork is done.  Next, I will be putting the decorative work on the post.  That involves hacksaw and files.  After that, I will be punching holes in the top and bottom to attach it to the frame.  The final working step will be to add the finial to the top.  After all the shaping is done, I am planning on triple coating it with oil to rust protect it.

  As a note here, I have now used about 1000 pounds of coal over the past year and half.  I'm just keeping a running total for my own records.

Going good...

  Today, I resumed work on the corner posts.  I'm including a pic of partway through the progress.  On the left is the first post I made a few weeks back.  I stopped partway through this post when I realized there where a few things I could do better.  On the right is the newer post.  At the time the photo was taken, I was about a third of the way through splitting off the excess material that will give the middle part of the post a thinner look.  Also in the photo is my hot set(or hot chisel) that is used to actually split the metal off.  The chisel is not used like a hammer.  It is placed on the hot metal and struck with a hammer.  It is not swung.


  If you look carefully, you will see the newer post(the one on the right) has a slight curve to the left.  That will be cleaned up once the excess material is chiseled away.

  The next pic is the other end of the posts.  You will see the older one on the left shows where I did some test filing and cutting to see if I could put the patter in the steel.  The long skinny piece on the end will be curved and capped with a finial.  I did not go all the way, just enough to make sure it would work.  The decorative pattern is based on a common motif on clocks from the 15th century.  The newer post on the right shows some prep cuts that makes it easier to chisel pieces out.



  I was able to completely remove the excess material today.  Tomorrow, I should be able to start the cleanup and maybe have enough time to start the decorative work.  I hope to have the post done by this weekend.  That includes the decorative work and quenching the steel in oil to rust protect it.  I will not be putting the finial on the post or punching holes in the post for the cross members until later.  I want to be done with all four posts before I do that.

  Finally, if you are still with me, something for the cute factor.  I have a new kitty in the house and he is already getting along with the resident cat.  Spectre the male(the kitten) and Phantom is the 5 year old female.

Lousy weather...

  Yesterday, I went to a blacksmithing meeting in Barberville (north of Orlando) with two fellow blacksmiths from the Tampa area.  Saw some good stuff including a class by Dan Tull from Georgia.  We pretty much closed down the meeting, spending most of the day at the meeting.
  Today I restarted the posts.  I started two of them.  I wanted one of them as a template and the other one as the one to actual work on and try out some variations of work.  I cut slits in the metal using a hacksaw then I began to use the hot set to cut between the two slits.  Then, the weather stopped me again.
  Well, I didn't get as far as I wanted but I will say that things are looking much better that the first one. 

Nice work...

  Spent a fair amount of my time in Philadelphia this week looking at gates, fences, decorative iron work, etc...  Its really amazing to see some of the work.  I wish I would have brought my camera.  Makes me want to get back to my own forge.

Weather washed me out again today.  I was about to start when weather began to roll in.  So, I quickly made a bird feeder holder then shut down the forge.  My last real chance to work is tomorrow.  I head out to Philadelphia on Monday.

Grrr...

  I have not been able to do anything meaniful at the forge for the past several days due to weather.  I'm hoping to do some work tomorrow.