Finally back to the clock...

  Spent today demoing at an SCA event.  I had set up the forge last night and tinkered around a bit.  I made a spring fuller out 1/2" round stock.  This fuller was for making arrow heads.  I made a few bodkin arrow heads over the course of the weekend.

  I also finished up a chisel that makes a 3/4" slit.  This chisel was used in the making of the horizontal end pieces of the clock.  Well, things went well and now the clock is a nice square frame.  I will post pictures later...

Finally...

  Got back to the forge after the last bit of work today.  Quickly forged a chisel that is 3/4" wide.  This will be used to make the holes for the horizontal bars on the short side of the clock.  I then did a test of making the end bars.  I will have pictures to help with this description soon.

  End of bar is rounded on the corners.

  A thin slit that is 1/2" from the end and 3/4" long is made on each end of bar.

  That hole is then drifted to a round 1/2" hole.

  I then compress the hole to make it an oval.

  Finally, the hole is drifted with a drift that is 3/4" x 3/8" (same drift that was used on other pieces of frame)

  The first test attempt went pretty well.  I want to practice one or two more before I try to make the pieces for the clock.

Forge still cold but not for long.

  So, while at work doing end of the year stats I had a rather nice surprise.  I still have a fair amount of vacation left.  As a matter of fact, other than meeting with my boss tomorrow, I will be off the rest of the year.

  I hope to use the time to get back to working on the clock seriously.

Hopefully back to the forge soon.

  I don't usually post personal stuff here but due a business trip out of town and the death of my maternal grandfather, the forge has been cold for too long.  I hope to spend some relaxing time at the forge this weekend.  More to come...

Visited the Old City Park in Dallas yesterday.  It was fun hanging out and watching someone else work.  I did get to see the early stages of a bowie knife being made.  Nothing new, just interesting to watch.

I may have to try and make a few quick knives or daggers for the SCA.  I would use traditional techniques as opposed to the usual SCA practice of grinding knives to shape.  Somewhere down the road, I would not mind getting into making traditional weaponry.  Doing pattern welded swords could be fun (mistakenly called Damascus by many people).

Finally feels like it's happening...

  Today, in just a few hours, I was able to make the horizontal bars for the long axis of the clocks.  This involved cutting the bars and making the tenons on the bars.  Although the shoulders on the tenons are not as clean as I wanted, they still work.  It was fun to temporarily place the bars in the corner posts.  I suddenly had something that resembles the frame of the original clock.  Here are some pictures of the frame as it looks now.  The piece of wood was to keep the frame upright while snapping the photos.





If the frame looks slightly off square its from having to angle things to get it to stand upright.  The tenons will be trimmed down later.  Eventually the ends of the tenons will be peined over to hold the frame together.  This will not be done until the clock is almost complete.  As a note, I didn't notice until after I took the pictures but it was upside down.  Not that it matters at this stage.

Really feels like this is going to happen.  I may still have another year or so to complete but it is moving forward now.

Continued working...

  I managed to get out after the rain stop.  The mortises on the top of the corner posts were cut in very short order.  There will be some final fine tuning on the mortises but that needs to wait for other parts to be completed.  This is a pic of them.



This is a picture of the vise protectors that I came up with pretty quickly earlier.



Finally, I played around with making the finials.  A few weeks ago, I made a round spring fuller.  I tried it out tonight and had some success.  I think it may work but I need to try it some more.  I will post some pictures if it works.

Rain delay...

  Taking this week off to play on the forge.  I started today by splitting the cutting saddle I made for my Russian anvil in half.  I am using the two pieces as jaw protectors for my new vise.  The vise has serrated teeth and when clamped on metal will leave a mark.  The pieces from the saddle cover the teeth and make it so the vise does not leave a mark.
  What was interesting about splitting the piece of metal was that I did it cold by clamping it in the vise and performing a shearing cut.  I use a chisel and cut as close as I can to the vise.  This acts like a beverly shear and cuts the metal pretty nicely.  You can't do it with thicker stock but on thin stock it works great.
  I then went back to work on the clock posts.  I finished up the mortises on the bottom of the corner posts.  Then I moved up to the top mortises.  I got the spots marked out but a heavy rain band chased me in before I started any real work.  Hope to get back out for at least a few hours later.

Unpacked the rest of the truck today.  While putting stuff away, I quickly fired up the forge and made some crucifixion nails for a friend.  No, not to use on her just for an SCA pilgrimage themed event.  They are just a bit over nine inches long.

Cleanup stuff today...

  While unloading the truck, I finally took care of something I've been meaning to do.  For the past few years, I've stored my steel stock on my back porch.  Keep in mind, this is probably about 1/2 ton worth of steel.  Well, I was sick of it being out there and moved it to a location on the side of the house.  Had to make quite a few trips to get it all out there.  Still, it was useful because I found that I had some sizes of steel that I didn't realize I had...

This is a picture of the tool that makes it easier to work with larger pieces.  It goes into the holes on anvil.



This is a picture of my setup.  I'm hoping over the next year to make it look more authentic.

Forgotten item...

  I will probably toss a few items out here that I forgot that I worked on but one of the items was an extension arm for the anvil.  This is to allow me to place a larger item across the anvil and not need to hold onto it.  I know I took a picture and will post it later.

Good weekend.

  I went to an SCA event this weekend and things went very well.  I got on site later than I had planned but the coleman lanterns give me more than enough light to work by.  It was also the first time (and probably last time) that I brought my wooden clock out for display since the time I entered it in a competition.  I fired up the forge for a light night smithing session and it was fun to see a crowd gather around and get social.  A friend even took the opportunity to forge a prize for a tourney.

  Started smithing the next day at sunrise and had a lot of really nice people come around and talk with me throughout the day.  It slows me down a bit while working but it is really fun to talk about the craft.  I don't mind the interruptions at all.

  I finished the cutting of the final post of the strip of metal down the side.  This is for purely decorative reasons.  Next, I started working on the punch I need for the posts.  The posts need a mortise (a hole for those non-construction types out there) that is 3/8" x 3/4" rectangle.  I used a piece of large coil spring to make the punch.  I accidentally burned the tip a bit on the first one so I discarded it.  This is because it puts some imperfections in the surface that could develop into cracks.  The second punch came out very nice.

  I then cleaned up two of the posts a bit.  Chiseling is an effective way to split the metal but it leaves a bit of a ragged edge.  I file most of it down while still hot but I still needed a bit of cleanup.  I then decided to move on to punching the holes for the bottom of the posts.  This line drawing shows what the final post will look like.



  The post is about 26" tall.  The mortises are at the top and bottom.  I used the new punch to punch the bottoms of two of the posts.  I wanted to do more but I had to get cleaned up for evening activities.  I was very happy with how the mortises came out.  They are exactly matched up with each other.  One of the areas I've been working on this year is trying to become more precise in my work.

  I also received an award.  It was the Order of the Silver Trident.  For those not in the SCA or not in Trimaris, it is a fairly high level award given for accomplishments in the arts.  Had a lot of people congratulate me.  Its nice to know that people are getting enjoyment out of something I love to do.

  I will post pictures from this weekends work when I unpack the camera from the weekend.

Few new simple toys...

  I had to wait for some stuff to finish processing at work so took a long lunch on a quest for a leather apron.  I have been smithing for 3 years now and still did not own a decent apron.  As a result, I have a lot of T-shirts dotted with burn holes.  I decided to first try out Harbor Freight.
  For those not familiar with HF, they are a hardware store that mainly carries cheap Chinese tools.  I firmly believe that if you are buying a tool, you should buy high quality.  However, if you are only going to use a tool once or twice or its a tool you don't mind if its sucks, HF is the place to go.
  Well, HF did not have any appropriate aprons.  Also, they apparently have dropped most of the anvils that they were selling (not sure if any coyotes were nearby to have anvils dropped on them.)  The only anvil they are selling is the cheap 55# Indian anvil I started with.  It is being sold under the Centaur Forge name.  Too bad...
  I did pick up an oil can (think the oil can in Wizard of Oz.)  The oil can is for lubricating my crank blower.  Also pickup up whats called something like a map measurer?  Got this tip from another blacksmith.  Its a little tool that you can use to trace curving shapes.  The tool gives you an accurate measurement.  Very useful if you have a curved design and you want to know how much metal it will take.
  Final stop was at a welding supply store.  Picked up a decent apron.  No more holy T-shirts.

Just realized I've been keeping this blog for 2 years now.  It is nice to look back and see how much I have learned.  Still have a lot to learn...

For starters, some promised pictures...

This is of the spring fuller.  First photo shows one end of the round rod forge welded onto the flat stock.  The center of the flat stock is flattened out to make the spring.  The hook on the end of the round stock goes into the hardie hole to keep it on the anvil. 



This is the fuller completed.  Little hard to make out but the two round bars are on the left.  The spring part on the right.  A piece of metal is placed between the round bars and the bars are hammered together.




Today I made a stand for my new vise.  Nothing exciting but I wanted to make it easier to move around then my last one.  So, the ability for it to break down was a big consideration.  These pictures show the vise stand.  The last picture shows what it looks like when broken down.  I might add a pin to hold the upright post in place.



For sense of size, the vise top sits at 4 feet.  Notice the hinges inside the "wings" of the stand.



The stand broken down.

Work from Friday,

  I spent most of the day working on some methods to make the finials on the top of the corner posts.  This is a close up of the finials from the British Museum website.  On the left and right the finials can be seen.



This is a quick sketch I put into TurboCad showing the finials in a line drawing.

  Anyway, I've decided on how the top part of the finial is probably made.  I'm going to start with 1" square stock.  I made a spring fuller (I will post pictures of it later) out of 1 inch round stock.  The fuller is designed to press the metal from both sides.  The idea is that the round stock will make a circular indent in the metal.  I will do this on all four sides making a half circle indent on the metal on all sides.  Then that piece is cut in half producing the rounded pyramid top shown above.

  What I'm having trouble figuring out is how to make the socket without deforming the top.  I'm thinking of making a die to put the finial in that will support the shape of the finial.  I know this is a bit complicated so I will try to post pictures if it works.

Post #3 done.

  I decided to show the stages in cutting the post.

This shows the cut area marked up.  The white is for the photos.  The line I actually used is a thin scratch mark.  Look for it next to the white.  You probably cannot make it out but trust me its there.  Clicking on the photo will show a larger version where it is a little more visible.




This shows the chisel I use to do most of the cutting.  Notice how it is flat on one side so that the cut is nice and clean.




First cut.  Using a smaller chisel to start.  Notice the cutting saddle on the anvil.  Keeps from dulling the chisels when I cut through.



After some progress



Halfway mark.




One more heat to go.



Post after straightening.

Another post done...

  Got out to the forge and got another post cut.  Not terribly exciting but their was a moment when I put the two posts next to each other and got a real idea of the size of the clock.  Sounds lame but really feel like I'm finally started on a project I've been thinking about for close to 10 years.

Good day and a fresh start...

  Started today by going to the local meeting of FABA (Florida Artists Blacksmithing Assoc.).  It was held at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa at a historical museum called Cracker Country.  I must say that I was pleasantly surprised.  It was a very high quality museum.  The primary focus of the meeting was a demo of joinery.  It was a good class and although most of the information I've heard before, it was a nice reinforcement.

  When I got home, I finally got restarted on the clock.  I made an attempt a little over a year ago that I mentioned in previous postings.  The first order of business was to harden the chisels I made last week.  After that, I cut the corner posts to length from 3/8" by 1 1/2" stock.  Their overall length was 26".  This is the cut out pieces alongside one of last year's posts.



This photo gives a bit of the idea that I've cut about a foot off the overall length and a 1/2" from the width.  The square in the photo is 24x16".  There is a decorative element on the piece from last year that can be seen just a bit near the top.  The stem from the top is for a decorative finial.  The new posts will eventually have those elements as well.

After cutting the posts to length, I next moved to chiseling out a 1/2" length down one side of the posts.  This is a picture of one post prior to cutting.



The white markings are from a paint pen.  Highly recommend them for marking a piece to help with layout.  For actually cut marks, I use a piece of sharpened metal to score the stock.  This is better than soapstone or markers as its more precise and can be seen after being in the fire.  The "B" at the bottom marks the bottom of the post.  The markings show where the strip will be cut out.  This is the stock after chiseling out the length.



  I forgot to take a picture of what it looks like while chiseling out the piece.  Still have 3 posts to go so will take some to show in progress.

  This final picture shows how the post gets stretched during the forging process.  The two pieces started out the same length.  Part of blacksmithing is taking into account that the metal will stretch.



  Overall, found it much easier than last year when I made my initial effort.  Much happier...

Rain chased me in.

  Today I used the big coil spring I received a few weeks ago to make two new chisels.  These are heavier duty chisels that I need to make the clock.  Both chisels are annealing in wood ash as I type.

  I have to say that the new anvil really makes a difference.  What the Peddinghaus anvil is known for is its rebound.  To a blacksmith, that means the anvil does more work for you.  It acts as a hammer from under the metal.  I had to draw out the chisels a bit and it was much easier than it ever was with the Russian anvil.  Very happy...  :)

Steel run...

Felt like a bit of a step forward today.  Over the past few weeks I've been playing around with getting the clock frame designed in TurboCad.  Today, I picked up the steel for the frame.  The frame is going to be made primarily out of 3/8" x 1" and 3/8" x 1 1/2" stock.  This is the closest match that I could get to the original frame.

I also just realized that its rather appropriate that I picked up the steel today.  Last year I made an effort at the frame which was aborted due to hurricanes.  Although Wilma should not hit me, I will probably get rain most of the weekend from it.  I learned from last year's experience but it was good that I didn't try to keep going.

So, I hope this weekend to get started on the frame if the rain doesn't cause problems.

  Finished up the new anvil stand.  I might add a few reinforcement pieces but its usable.  Hey are some pics for the new stand.  This first one is the sand mold I created for the lead base.  The second one is the lead after pouring.

    

Here is the anvil on the stand.  Notice the lead base underneath.



This final one shows the Russian anvil on the new anvil.  Kind of shows the size difference.



  So, Finally got to use the anvil a bit.  Very happy with it.

 

I started work on the stand for my new anvil today.  First, I wanted a thin lead base under the anvil to help deaden the ring.  So I went to the hardward store and picked up some playground sand.  After soaking the sand some, I put the anvil in and pulled it back out.  This left a nice impression of the base.  I then melted down the lead and poured it into the form.  Came out decent enough and will post pics later.

I started on the wooded parts of the stand.  Got the legs and base done, just need to connect them.  I will then reinforce them some with cross pieces.  Overall, should be a very sturdy stand.  I had to double check myself quite a few times.  Because the new anvil is so big, the stand is much shorter.

A picture of the new toys.  (aka crack for blacksmiths.)



Its hard to justice to the scale of the new items.  They are all considerable heavy, sturdier, etc... than my previous equivalent items.  The anvil has such a nice ring...  :)  Will have to deaden that some to keep my neighbors happy.

Very fun day, new toys...

  Went to the Florida Artists Blacksmith Associaton conference today.  A few merchants were setup but I homed in on the one that had my anvil and vise.  I also went ahead and bought a new hardie (tool used to cut metal) for the anvil.  I want to make all the anvil tools but the hardie is needed to get started.
  I also picked up a blower.  My current one is a bit small and unsteady.  The one I just got is very nice.  I will post pics when I get back home.
  They had a gallery going with members displaying pieces so I put my Viking chest on display and got a lot of good comments.  Also won a big hunk of real wrought iron.  I've never had wrought iron to play around with so it will be fun to give it a try.
  The hightlight of the day (other than the new tools) was Tal Harris.  He does very nice ornamental work and I picked up a few methods of work that I can apply to the clock.  Going to note them here so I don't forget.

* absolute precision.
* Using a rig to gauge length of axles.
* aboslute precision.
* S1 for punches.
* absolute precision.

Getting one more toy...

  I stopped over at the smith's house who helped me get started in blacksmithing.  I am shopping around for a new vise.  The current one is okay but it has seen better days.  Also, the jaws are only 4" wide.  This causes problems when trying to do certain kinds of work.  The jaws just don't grab enough.  Well, I looked at the ones he had and none were a drastic improvement.
  I decided to go ahead and call the folks who are bringing me my new anvil.  I added an 8" wide vise to the order.  Once again, a bit pricey but I look at it as a very long term investment.  With proper care, it will out last me.  The vise weighs in at 120#.  That makes it actually heavier then the anvil I've been using for the past few years.



  While I was over at the other smith's house (for the time being, we will call him Hank) I did spy two large coil springs from a railroad car.  He was kind enough to go ahead and let me have them.  They will find new lives as tools.

Another learning experience...

  Spending time on TurboCad getting the clock design in to it.  I'm recalling how to do a lot of it from when I used version 6.0.  The version I have now is 11.0.  I mainly just want to have a very good idea for of the sizing for the frame.  My new anvil arrives this weekend and I want to start working on the clock shortly after that.

  Tomorrow, I want to make a stop at Home Depot or Lowes and pick up lumber for all the new stands that I want to make.

Maybe next time...

  This always happens.  Found out about something called the Saugus Iron Works when its too late to go see it.  It was the first colonial setup to process iron ore into bars ready for a blacksmith.  I didn't find out about it till last night.  I won't have a chance to see it this trip.  Oh well.

http://www.nps.gov/sair/

Designing the clock...

  I finally started to carefully design the clock from the original.  My past wooden clocks were made pretty much from memory.  The very first clock I intentionally made oversized so that my poor woodworking skill would have less of an impact on its function.  Larger clock meant that I could be less precise.  That clock was about 5 feet wide.

  I had more confidence with the second clock.  I trimmed off from the height, width and depth.  That clock is right around 3 wide, 3 foot tall and 2 foot deep.

  Well, I'm now working on the design for the metal version of the clock.  I want to stay true to original and I'm a bit surprised by the size.  I guess it has been almost 8 years since I last saw the clock in person but I don't remember it being this small.  The size is going to be 21.5" wide, 23" tall (not counting decorative finials and escapement) and about 17" deep.  Much smaller...

  I've started the design in Turbocad.  Not exactly medieval but for the first clock I don't want to "wing" the size of parts like I did in the woodworking or my previous attempt at the frame.

I see so much of myself,

  Last night I was participating in a blacksmithing chat group on the www.anvilfire.com website.  Because of a techinal glitch that held up new members, there are suddenly a lot of new people all at once.  I found myself in a familiar scene, except I was on the advice end.

  The new guys were asking about anvils, hammer sizes, etc...  I suddenly realized they were asking the same questions I was asking about 3 years ago.  I found myself dispensing advice, answering questions, give cautionary warnings.  I was the most experience guy online at that moment.  There are pleanty of more experienced smiths on anvilfire but I was the most experienced that was online at that moment.

  It was an odd feeling but a good one.  Sometimes I don't feel like I'm making that much progress with my smithing but then I look back and see how far I've come.

Taking a break...

  I am going to use the next few weeks, months to prepare for my next effort at the clock.  I still have some works in progress that I will finish first but as I look at my equipment, there are just some general things I need to do.  I'm listing them here more for my own benefit rather than my one or two visitors...  :)

* Make new stand for new Fisher anvil

* Make stand for new Peddinghaus anvil.

* Make "child size" anvil stand for Russian anvil.  This will allow younger kids to try things out.

* Pick up kid sized gloves and safety equipment.

* Make stand for swage block.

* Fix legs for my blower.  The current legs are somewhat flimsy and light.  I've never liked the base I had for the blower but just never got around to doing anything about it.  I'm going to use lead to add weight to the base.

* Make new stand for my post vise.  (A post vise has a "leg" which goes from the vise to the ground)

* Make new storage containers for a more "period" look when demoing at events.

* Make new bellows (low priority but still there)

* Pick up some lighter hammers for kids.

* Polish hammers (remove dings from faces)

 

Well, I think that is enough for now...

 

Long but fun weekend,

  I set up to demo this weekend on Friday night.  All day Saturday and Sunday I was demoing blacksmithing.  I had at least 4 or 5 people give blacksmithing a try.  Its always rewarding to help others learn.  But this weekend there was an additional reward.  As a kind of thank you for all the demoing work I've done over the past few years, a lady that I know gave me a #100 Fisher anvil.  This particular model anvil is famous for its "dead" ring.  It is a very quiet anvil and my neighbors will thank her.

Some items that I worked on this weekend...

* Nice roast fork (large fork for picking up big pieces of meat)

* Pilum, a Roman style spear.

* Started another Quatrefoil.  I still want to make a quatrefoil for an SCA Art-Sci.  This time when I did the quatrefoil, I put decorative fleurs on the inside.  Came out a bit better than I expected.

In addition to that, I helped others make a knife, do some welding, and several S hooks.

Organizing things...

  I have a big demo weekend coming up so decided to use the chance to clean up some things around the shop.  I consolidated a lot of my tools into a large(very large) tool box that I forgot I owned.  It was nice because I was able to get rid of a lot of old garbage and organize things.  I also took my borax powder (used in forge welding) and put it into a new container.  The container prevously held cashews so I gave it a quickie paint job to make it look nicer at demos.  I had to stop at the point as a final rain band from Katrina passed overhead.

  Hopefully, the planters cashew container won't repeat an incident that happened a while back...

Got the fire going,

  First time I fired up the forge in a while and it was a good experience.  Someday I may stop being surprised when things go right but I do like the feeling.  In this case, I was making a tool and I decided to make it using multiple cuts, bends and welds.  God damn, it actually came out like I wanted.  I was even more shocked when I realized that it had only taken me maybe 45 minutes.

  The tool I am making is a header to make the rivets for the brazier.  It is going to be a fairly hefty header.

  Also, made a cutting saddle for my Russian anvil.  Its designed to keep from damaging chisels when cutting.  Its really just a thin piece of metal shaped to the top of the anvil.

Misc stuff.

  Today I visited a place called Gator Tools.  I had received a flyer for them a week ago and decided to pay a visit.  This is a tool place for those that find Harbor Freight just too high of a quality.  Don't get me wrong, there was plenty there I wouldn't mind getting but most of the stuff is Chinese knockoff products.  It means they tend to break/not work if you look at them wrong.  However, I decided to go ahead pick up to roller stands.  These are used to hold long pieces of metal on the anvil to free up my hands.

  I stopped at TSC on the way home and found a good canopy for doing demos.  It is 10x20 but can be expanded to 24x20 if the walls are swung out to form a roof.  I also got a small metal trash can.  This I am going to use to anneal tools.  In the past when I've annealed tools they were placed in wood ash which was held in an old kitty litter container.  The problem was that the tools occasionally got too close to the sides and melted the container.

I also picked up a piece of metal to make a cutting saddle for my anvils.  The cutting saddle is used to protect chisels from cutting through a piece and hitting the anvil.  I also picked up a 10# sledge.  I've had some volunteers recently to do striker duty for me...

Thinking more about the clock,

  About a year ago, I made an attempt at starting the frame for the clock.  While I had some success and proved some concepts, I still had a lot to learn.  I didn't have a lot of experience with drifting or worrying about very precise precision so it would have ultimately failed or at the very least a lot of cleanup work.  The hurricanes last year disrupted my work which was probably for the best.  It is time make another attempt at the clock.

  In a few weeks, I will be in Boston for two weeks.  This will give me the time to carefully design and think about the frame.  I own TurboCad and will use that to plot out the design.  My old attitude on a lot of projects was to just get in there and do it and fix any mistakes later.  This time, there will be too much energy, time, resources, etc... involved to worry about redoing work.  I need to take the time and do it right.

  I am sure I will have to redo many parts as I still have a lot to learn.  What I am going to try avoid doing is what I had happen with the chest where I remade almost every part 2 or 3 times(sometimes more).

  I think I will also go for a slightly thinner stock for the frame.  Last year I was using 1/2" stock.  This would result in a very heavy clock.  My rough estimate would be somewhere in the 300 pound range.  I think I will use 3/8" stock for the frame, 1/4" would be too thin for the support elements of the clock.

  I am also going to order some clock making books from www.artisanideas.com.  The books are geared (no pun intended) to 18th-19th century clocks but I think I could pick up some valuable information from them.  I will probably order them today so I can have them before Boston.

  I need to finish the brazier before I move onto the clock.  I was expecting to be done with it by now but work has kept me busy.

  Its time to get this clock going...  (that is a pun which I may explain later.)

 

Finally got back to the forge,

  Today was the first day in two weeks that I got on the forge.  I finished the last large upright.  I set up a few of the pieces to get a better idea of the size.  It is going to be a very large brazier.  I am going to have to make spacer pieces between the uprights to hold the wood in the brazier.  I think the next thing I am going to make is the metal ring to hold the uprights together.  I want to make sure things will go together okay before I invest more time with the additional pieces.

  On another note, I have found myself thinking a lot about the clock.  I think once the new anvil arrives, I am going to make a real effort to get back to it.

  My luck with books continues.  At a Border's on Saturday, I found a somewhat decent smithing book that I didn't own. 

Busy, busy...

  I have been very busy with work both during the day and evening so I haven't had much smithing time.  I hope this weekend to fire things up.

  update...  I just checked my bank account balance and the money has cleared for the anvil.  I get to pick it up in early October.

Its official...

  The new anvil has been ordered.  I decided to go ahead and order it before I talked myself out of it.  It is pricey enough that I could have done that easily.  I just hope its worth it...  :)

Got this medieval poem from one of my new books...

Black smutted smiths, besmirched with smoke,

Drive me to death with the din of their strokes;

You never did hear such noises at night,

How the lads shout, what a clatter their knocks!

Those crooked dwarfs, they shout Coal!  Coal!

And blow their bellows till all their brains burst.

Huf! Puf! says one, Haf! Paf! says the other.

They spit and they sprawl and spin many a tale,

They grate and they grind and they grumble together,

Kept all hot with their hard hammering,

Their leather aprons are hides of the bull,

Their legs are wrapped against fiery sparks.

Heavy hammers they have, and hole them tight,

Strong strokes they strike on an anvil of steel,

Lus! bus! las! das! they snort in turn—

Let the devil get rid of so doleful a tune!

The master lengthens a little, lashes on a less,

Twists both together and tacks on a third.

Tik! tak! hic! hac! tiket! taket! tyk! tyk!

Lus! bus! lus! das! This is the life

Of these clot-heads all.  Christ make them suffer!

Can a man have no sleep for the hiss of the quenching?

 

A. R. Myers, ed., English Historical Documents 1327-1485 (London 1969) p. 1055

 

My deuce coup...

  I scored two major book finds for my clock this evening.  I was bored in the hotel so decided to head out to a bookstore.  The first book I found of interest was a book called "Coal: A Human History."  I had actually seen this book before but I had never really looked at it.  Well, I finally sat down in the bookstore to take a look at it.  The most important aspect of the book for me was the first part.  It went into the history of the coal industry in medieval England.

  Like many SCA smiths, I had assumed that the primary fuel used in England was charcoal.  However, the book clearly documents that by the 13th-14th century, the primary fuel in use in the cities by blacksmiths was coal.  So, I don't need to justify the use of coal when I finally start my version of the clock.

  The second book, which was the real shocker, which I almost missed is called "God's Clockmaker: Richard of Wallingford and the Invention of Time.".  I almost dropped a load right on the spot.  The book was just published this year and is a biography of one of the earliest medieval clockmakers.  This was such a stroke of pure luck.  I always look for books that might be helpful to the clock but this was a real find.

My Precious......



  I will be ordering you tomorrow...  Oh yes, you will be mine...  Just for an idea of size, this anvil weighs about 220#, is close to 2 1/2' tall and 2 1/2' long.  Now, how to move it once I get it?

I see quatrefoils.  I see them all the time.

  My blacksmithing geekdom has reached a new high.  I am on a business trip this week and stuck in a hotel room.  ABC is showing Sixth Sense and I just have it on in the background.  Well, the scene happens when Cole gets locked into the attic by the two boys.  Cole is busy screaming, his mother pounding on the door and what do I see?  That's right, I'm looking at the iron door behind the mother.  Looking at the quatrefoils on the door thinking to myself that I could make those...  Not only that, I'm thinking that it may have come from the workshop of Samuel Yellin in Philadelphia, perhaps American's finest blacksmith who lived in the early 20th century.  Oh yeah, movie, plot, dialog...  stop looking at the iron work.

Yesterday was spent at an SCA event.  I was there to demoing/teaching.  The heat kept the crowds to a smaller amount around the forge which was fine with me.  It let me take a few more breaks from the heat.

I started off by making a requested item for a friend.  He needed a way to hold gas bottles for teaching a glass bead making class.  In about half an hour, I manged to make an iron "cup holder" for him.  He really appreciated it and kept telling me I should have a mark to mark my items.  I really should make a punch to mark my items.

I then made another one of the uprights for the brazier.  I need to make just one more upright.  I was going to start on the eigth upright but the afternoon rainstorms began to threaten so I went ahead and packed up.

Bored at work...

  I am very close to buying a new anvil.  I am currently looking at the Peddinghaus 220# anvil.  It is very pricey but Peddinghaus has an unmatched reputation for anvils.  I can justify the cost in the sense that I am planning on doing blacksmithing for the rest of my life and a good anvil will last longer than me.  I learned a painful lesson in woodworking.  You get what you pay for.  If you buy cheap tools, you will always be struggling with them.  While its very true that a good blacksmith can work with less than quality tools, why struggle with them if you don't have to?

  Why this is important is that recently I have been remaking a lot of my tools.  I've been focusing mainly on punches, chisels and drifts.  However, I need to make some anvil tools such as hardies(used for cutting thicker stock), fullers(stretching metal in one direction), bending forks(gives precise control where a bend occurs), etc...  All of these tools fit in a square hole on the anvil called the hardie hole.

  My current Russian anvil has a hardie hole of 1 1/4".  This is not a standard size.  Most anvils sold in the US have a hardie hole of either 1" or 7/8" for smaller anvils.  I need/want to make the anvil tools but they are fairly time and labor intensive.  I was sitting here thinking if I am going to get the anvil soon (I'm hoping to pick it up at a convention in October) then it doesn't make sense to make a bunch of tools that fit the wrong size hole.

  Oh well, just thinking out loud.

No 6 out of 8 is done.

Finished another upright.  That's 5 out of 8.  They are actually taking me about 2 hours a piece with time for breaks.  If it hadn't been for my back I should have been done with them by now but oh well...

It has occurred to me while making the brazier that I am gaining valuable experience for the clock.  Not only will the brazier give me some practice with joinery but the holes for the rivets are very similar to what I will need for the axles of the clock.  After the brazier I may try to restart the frame for the clock.  Its been about a year since my initial effort at the frame.

Completed another upright...  50% done on the uprights.

Some thoughts on design of the brazier,

  When I first came up with this particular design, I knew of a potential problem.  With eight uprights converging near the base, they will be very close at the base.  This will not really allow for additional upright pieces.  However, at the outer part of the brazier, they will be close to a foot apart.  Since this would be holding a campfire, that is not necessarily a good thing.

  I knew this would be a possibility so in addition to the 8 upright pieces, there will be 8 additional shorter pieces that will be about the same shape as the upright pieces except that they will taper off as the approach the center.  So the upper part of the brazier will have 16 pieces while at the center and legs, there will only be 8.

  Also, in the center of the brazier will be about an 8" wide circular gap.  This would let a lot of the burning material fall to the ground.  I will be placing a few support pieces in the center of the brazier to prevent this.  They will be simple "L" shapes and just help make the center area a little more solid.

  Overall, I will be making 40 rivets from 1/2" stock.  Not looking forward to that but not a big deal.  Just a bit on the repetitive side.

  My final challenge will be to figure out how to best peen the rivets that will be in the narrow part of the brazier.  I will probably need help with all of the rivets simply because it will be difficult to hold the brazier and peen the rivets at the same time due to the size of the brazier.

Yet another entry in the world's most boring blog...

  I took a vacation day from work to do blacksmithing.  Unfortunately, a pulled back limited my work.  I was only able to do one more upright for the brazier. 3 down, 5 to go.

Trying to be safer...

  Time for a dirty little secret.  I haven't been a very good blacksmith.  I'm referring to my basic safety standards.  I don't wear safety glasses or hearing protection.  Its not that I don't understand the danger its just that with the heat in Florida, safety goggles are not an option.  They fog up too easily.  The safety glasses available from Home Depot just don't fit too good.
  I picked up a pair of new glasses(don't fit too well but not too bad) and disposable ear plugs.  I could get used to the ear plugs.  They did make a big difference.  The glasses aren't great but will work until I can find a better source.  Anyway, onto the blacksmithing...

  I continued work on the brazier.  I managed to cut all the remaining upright pieces.  They have all been measured and marked.  I managed to put the holes, scrolls and bends into one of the uprights.  Each upright is going to take me about 1 1/2 hours.  I want to try and finish them all by this weekend.
  Below is a picture of the two legs showing the approximate shape of the brazier.

Started brazier,

  A good day of blacksmithing.  I tempered some tools I had made during a previous session at the forge.  After that, I decided I wanted to go ahead and start the brazier that I have been wanting to make.  To start, I needed to make a drift.  A drift is meant to open up a hole in metal so that it is a particular shape and size.  I needed the drift to match the rivets that will be used to hold the brazier together.

  The brazier will essentially be 8 upright pieces and 3 rings to hold them together.  I wanted to make one template piece to make sure everything will come out okay.  The template piece is shown below.  The right side of the pic is the bottom of the brazier and the left side is the top.  The holes are for the rings to bind the brazier to together.  Because of the use of the drift, the metal bulges around the hole.



I was originally going to put fleurs on the top but that was vetoed...  :)

Very happy

  On Saturday, between feeder bands from hurricane Dennis, I managed to get outside and work for about 2 hours.  In that time, I was able to complete the fleur, a chisel and a hand held fuller.  The fuller is nothing more than a chisel with a rounded end instead of a sharp end.  When cutting metal, there tends to be a gagged or sharp crevice where at the end of the cut if the cut is not through the full length of the metal.  There is a small aesthetics issue with that but also metal tends to crack wherever there is a sharp crease.  Just ask the British about the Comet passenger jet.  There is a reason why airplane windows tend to be rounded.  The fuller is designed to round out the bottom of cuts like that.

  The fluer came out pretty good.  I will try to most some pics of it later.  I am particularly happy with the leaves.  The flower part needs some work.

Added pic...  The fleur is about 2" wide.  Not a super great job but could get much better with just a bit of practice.

So, to break up the monotony of making punches and chisels, I thought I would do a fleur.  The fleur will be part of the design of the brazier that I want to make.  Although my lady is not particular fond of the fleur, it is a very common blacksmithing motif.  The pattern I'm using is shown below and is from the blacksmith Chris Marks.



  Well, I had just gotten started on it when one of the feeder bands from hurricane Dennis hit.  So, I had to stop for the now.  The weather doesn't look like it will cooperate until the hurricane is mostly passed.  Luckily, its not a direct hit for me.

Two more punches.  Really getting quick at making them since I was only on the forge for just over an hour.

Another new punch and the new chisel is working just fine.

Working quick....

  So after repairing the mower and doing some yard work, I had a few hours before sunset so I decided to do some smithing.  Using my new tongs I decided to make a new chisel.  The one I have is just not very well made.  I think I made it about 2 years ago.  So, after shaping the chisel I needed to anneal it.  This involves heating it to a critical temp and putting it in wood ash to cool it very slowly.  Well, when I went to put the chisel in the ash I was suprised to find a nicely made punch.

  I made the punch a while back and when I put in the ash to anneal it, I forgot about it.  So, I took the punch out, cleaned it up then I hardened and tempered it.  In a period of less than two hours, I have a new chisel and a new punch.  I am going to be making some more punches and chisels over the next few weeks so it was a good start.

Good day...

  Made another pair of tongs.  They are a set of "vee" tongs for holding both square and round stock 1/2".

A personal oath...

  I hearby promise that I shall, under no circumstances, ever use gasoline to start the forge again.  'nuff said.

 

Who's Your Daddy Now?!?!

  After a rough day yesterday, today was a much better day on the forge.  I guess my muscles had a chance to "wake" back up because I was able to go for well over 4 hours today.  I had started a pair of tongs yesterday.  I wanted to incorporate a few tidbits of info that I had gotten from the DVDs.

  The biggest thing that I did new was what is called a drop tong weld.  In the past, when I have made tongs, the reins(handles) of the tongs were simple the same square stock that I had made the jaws of the tongs from.  The problem with that is that square handles don't feel good in the hands.  So, I always had to round them up.  When that is between 12" - 18" worth of material, that ends up being a lot of work.

  Another way to do the tongs is to form the jaws of the tongs and weld them to round stock.  This is a somewhat difficult weld.  Both pieces are brought up to a welding heat and taken to the anvil.  Now, since most humans have only two hands, it is necessary to release one of the two pieces.  The jaws are held with another pair of tongs.  The new rein for the jaws are used to hold the jaw piece in place.  The tongs that were holding the jaw piece is dropped and a hammer is quickly picked up to make the weld.  Hence the name of "drop tong weld."

  This process can only take 3-5 seconds.  After that, the metal cools too much to weld properly.  After the first few hammer blows, the two pieces are hopefully held together enough to return to the fire.  They are brought to a welding heat a few more times to close up the weld.

  I was very happy with the result.  I ended up only making one minor mistake that was easily corrected.  My ability to weld at the forge is a good skill to have.  It is amazing how many long term smiths can't do simple welding.  Many will just pull out the arc or oxy/act welder rather than do a forge weld.

  The other thing I did that was new was to use powered wire brush to clean up the tongs.  I was really surprised how much better the tongs look from this simple cleaning.

Kick my ass and call me Sally,

  First time on forge in many weeks and it kicked my ass.  I started by beginning to make some new tools.  I cut of a piece of spring steel to make into a chisel.  Next, I moved onto a new pair of tongs.  I'm taking my time on the tongs to see how nice I can make them.  Also, after observing other smiths recently, I've come to the conclusion that I'm usually using the wrong tongs.  So, going to try and remake all of my tongs over the next few sessions.

Rainy week,

  Because of being out of town for a week and a half and all of the rain this weekend, I had to spend some time taking care of things around the house.  I hope to get back to the forge soon.

  The DVDs have made me rethink some of the ways that I do things.  Nothing major, just a lot of little tips that I've missed since I am mostly self taught.  I am thinking that I may spend the next few months simply remaking a lot of my tools.  Aside from a few of my recent tongs, most of my tools definitely could be improved.  So, aside from the project for an SCA group, I may try to stick to just tools here for the near future.

More on the DVDs that I bought.

  I have been watching the DVDs for the Blacksmith Primer book.  I am about a half hour into the final DVD.  Most of the material is just letting me know I've picked up the correct way to do things or its giving me a little bit different perspective.  However, I am getting into either stuff that is new to me or that I haven't tried yet.  If you are new to blacksmithing and have stumbled across my blog, I cannot recommend enough that you go to www.teachingtapes.net and order the Blacksmith Primer DVDs.  In my opinion, they would be as valuable an investment as your first forge and anvil.  For $100, you get a lot of good information.

  I haven't gotten to the other DVDs yet but will post comments if justified.

Ironfest continued...

  I just got back from Ironfest.  They had several demo areas going.  Unfortunately, most of the areas were the artsy-fartsy stuff.  :)  I need to learn some more about the artistic side of blacksmithing but some of the demos were modern art which I'm really not into.  I guess I am getting a little more experienced because the beginner classes they had going were too basic for me.  So, I didn't get too much out of the demos.  Not the fault of Ironfest, just not what I was looking for.
  However, I did get to chat a while with two gentlemen who are also in the SCA.  One of them is the part owner of TeachingTapes.net.  He gave me a pretty good deal on some DVDs that I was thinking of buying anyway.  I probably shouldn't have bought as much as I did but it was a good deal.  The other guy I met awhile back at Old City Park in Dallas.  Between the two of them, turned the day into a pretty nice day.
  I did get to see some tools and such that I haven't had to see in person.  Some of the vendors will be at a conference in Florida.  I might pick up some stuff there.  Unfortunately, its a little difficult for me to buy an anvil and check in on the plane.  Something about its weight.

Now, for an artistic picture I took at the event.

Ironfest day 1...

  Just got back from the first day of Ironfest.  Not much going on except setup.  Although they were running some basics of forging this evening.  Hopefully, they will be getting a bit more advanced over the weekend.  Still, had fun.

Anxious to get back on the forge...

  Just got back from seeing Kingdom of Heaven.  I was pleasantly surprised.  Although the history was played with a bit, I kept finding myself looking at the blacksmithing work.  In particular, I kept looking at the braziers.  I've been wanting to make one for some time.  I saw some of the ones in the movie had a fairly simple pattern.  I think I am going to try to make one of the ones with a square design.  To challenge myself a bit, I may try to do it in one day or a weekend.  Just to see if I can.

  Oh, an open note to Orlando Bloom.  If you are going to keep playing a blacksmith(this movie, Pirates of the Caribbean), could you learn to swing a hammer?  Thank you...  :)

Some pics of the final chest...

Here is a pic of the quatrefoil I did this weekend.



Here are some medieval examples from the Philadelphia museum of art.  The focus problems on the pics are from not being able to use a flash.  I like the design of the first one.

Not too often blacksmiths get in the news...

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/05/30/army.farrier/index.html

First decent blacksmithing in a few weeks...

  Over the holiday weekend I was able to set up the forge for the first time in several weeks.  This was at an SCA event and I spent most of the first day just doing minor stuff and teaching a little.  The big thing that I wanted was to try a quatrefoil.  I tried one on Saturday but because I was teaching and working with others at the same time, it didn't turn out so good.

  On Sunday I tried the quatrefoil again and it came out pretty good.  I wasn't worried about the decorative elements of the quatrefoil, just the structure.  It involves multiple welds including a somewhat difficult final weld.  I am thinking about doing a spanish style window covering as a project.  I wouldn't have to learn too much new to do it but it would allow me to focus on the artistic side of the blacksmithing.

  Below is one page of an article I found on http://www.newenglandblacksmiths.org/tipsandtricks.htm.  This is part of the article that I used to make the quatrefoil.  The quatrefoil is the clover shaped item in the frame.



  Also, the gentleman who helped me get started in blacksmithing was nice enough to give me a large bag of charcoal.  I've never smithed with charcoal before so it should be an interesting experience.

 

Loading up the truck...

  The back has finally recovered.  I was able to do yard work today without a problem.  Tomorrow, loading up the smithing stuff for an SCA event.  I have several things I would like to play around with this weekend but haven't decided which ones to do yet.  List of projects include...

Portable holes for an SCA group...  I have to get started on these soon, may do some of them this weekend.
New punches and chisels.  When I was doing the chest, I was constantly reshaping my punch for what I needed.  This took some time.  It would be better to have a variety of punches and chisels so I wouldn't have to do that.
Brazier.  I was originally going to make a larger one.  I think I will start with a small one to see how it comes out.
Hardie tools (cutters that fit anvil).  I would like to make one but I don't think I have the right tool stock for that right now.
Draw knife.  I want to start making my own tool handles in a period way so I would like to make a draw knife to do that.

anyway, other projects bouncing around in my head but its bed time.

Nothing to blog about...

  Just a quick update.  Still some residual back pain so haven't been out on the forge.  That's okay because work has suddenly become very busy.  In a little over a week, I get to go to a large blacksmithing convention in Grapevine, TX (near Dallas.)  Hopefully, this bachache will be gone soon.

Interesting...

  Watching the show "Worst Jobs in History" hosted by Tony Robinson (Baldric of Black Adder).  One of the jobs they just showed was something that I was interested in trying sometime.  They were showing the historical method of creating charcoal.  Charcoal, to give a more precise definition, is wood that has had moisture cooked out of it without actually burning the wood.  Charcoal burns much hotter and cleaner than wood.  Charcoal was the primary fuel for blacksmiths until fairly recent history.
  For economic reasons, most smiths today use either coal (which converts to coke in the forge) or propane.  I would like to try charcoal someday just to say that I have tried it.  A pet project somewhere down the road would actually be to make some charcoal.
  The process is fairly simple but it takes about 100 hours of constant attention.  Wood is stacked on end in a circle.  The circle is about 10-20 feet in diameter and about 5 feet high.  This pile of wood is covered with sod.  The center of the pile is lit on fire and allowed to slowly burn.  Very high degree of care must be taken to not allow the fire through the sod.  When a hole breaks through on the sod, it is immediately covered to keep the fire from getting enough air.  At the end of the process, there is a big pile of charcoal in the center.
  Another job on the show was guys that looked for bog iron.  Bog iron is a source of iron ore that can be smelted to extract the iron.  The way it is found is that you wade through a bog.  You take a thin, long stick and poke into the bog.  When you hit something, you dig and pull out a grapefruit sized lump of the bog iron.

Glad it didn't happen last week...

  I fired up the forge for the first time since finishing the chest(other than a quick demo I did on Saturday.)  Work has kept me busy and I expect to have very little free time next week.  Anyway, I was just messing around on the forge and threw out my back.  I have a spot which routinely has some problems but its a little worse than normal.  I actually had difficulty cleaning up because my back was so bad.

  I think I will take somewhat of a break to give my back a chance to rest.  Besides, like I said, I expect to be very busy because of work this week.  I think the next thing that I want to do is make a stand for my swage block.  The swage block (pronounced swedge) is a big hunk of metal with different shapes in it.  It is used to shape metal into things like spoons...  I've had to use the swage on the ground.  My bad back today reminded me that its not a good way to work.

RIP Paw Paw Wilson...  I didn't really know you but you were always helpful.

Tic, tic, tic...

  So, I've been mulling over in my head what project to do next.  I have a few small projects that I need to take care of.  I need to make 20 to 30 portable holes.  Fairly simple other than the number required.  I also need to make a brazier (an iron container for campfires.)

  Well, I think I may push for the clock again.  I know that I still have a lot to learn but the chest taught me that if I try something enough times, I can get it.  I may have to end up making parts 3, 4 or more times but I figure its one of the best ways that I learn.  I am not real good about trying simple stuff over and over.  I prefer to just jump into the fire and learn.

  So this weekend I am going to look at the few frame pieces I made last year.  If they are acceptable, I may keep them.  I'm expecting that after the experience with the chest that my expectations of quality have been elevated.

Chest pic...

  I will have to take a few more pics but this gives a frontal view of the mastermyr chest.

Tired, sore but happy...

  I completed the chest at about 8pm on Friday and spent the rest of the evening finishing my documentation on the chest.  I'm pretty happy with the results but will probably remake the wooden part of the chest down the road.  There are several reasons for this.  The first, primary reason is that during the attachment of some of the hardware, I accidentally opened up some of the joinery and this caused some parts to end up a little off.  The next reason is that the part of the chest I am least happy with is the nails.  I made two primary mistakes with them.  The heads are not as nicely domed as I would like.  Also, I should have softened the nails a bit before putting them in the wood.  Because of not softening the nails, I was not able to cleat them properly.  Finally, I found a technique for the pegs that should make the chest significantly stronger.

  Overall, the chest was pretty well received and it was nice seeing the reactions of the people who knew of the original chest.  It actually did amaze me how many people knew of the Mastermyr chest and recognized my reproduction of it.

  I will post a final picture of my reproduction when I get home.  Since I'm at work, I don't have access to any of my pictures.

  Now, whatever shall I do for my next project???

Getting damn close...

  I started out the day attaching all of the pieces of the lock together.  Up till now, everything has just been sitting in place but not attached.  This took me much longer than expected due to a problem I had getting one of the parts properly secured.  By the time I got all of the parts on the lock, it had started to rain.  So, I decided to go ahead and oil some of the parts as that is pretty easy to do.

  When the rain finally let up, I started to fit the lock to the front of the chest.  This involved cutting out some wood where it would interfere with the lock.  So, after cutting the wood I drilled the holes for the nails.  If I had attempted to just drive the nails, the oak would have split.  Oak is very prone to splitting anyway and these nails are fairly thick.  So, I was able to get the lock into the front panel.  The nails are cleated (bent over).



  I decided to go ahead and do the glue up of the chest.  This is done using woodworker's glue, mortise and tenon, and wooden pegs.  I was thinking of using hide glue but because of my lack of experience with it, I didn't want to learn to use it on this project.  Here is a pic of the chest as it looks now.  Tomorrow, I will clean it up, get the lid to sit smooth, attach the hinges and the front clasps, oil and be done...

Finally,

  Tonight, the lock is pretty much done.  It took 3 attempts at the spring to get it right.  The main thing that I was doing wrong was simply not making the spring long enough and thin enough.  Until I made it longer, there was not enough flexibility.  Tomorrow, I will clean up the lock, mainly removing some minor surface rust, put it together and oil it to rust protect it.  This is a view of the lock with the spring held in place by vice grips.



The spring is at the top.  Towards the right side, the spring comes in contact with a piece of metal on top of the slide.  When the key is inserted and rotated, it pushes the spring out of the way allowing the slide to move.  This is a view from the bottom of the slide showing the holes where the key pushes through.  The spring is visible as the shiny metal through the holes.



So, a complete rundown of what's left...

Parts permanently attached to lock plate.  About 1 1/2 hours.
Fitting lock to chest, 1 hour. (this involves fine tuning of the hole cut for the lock on front of chest)
Glue up of chest, 1 hour.
Completion of clasps on front of chest, another 1 1/2 hours.
Placing hinges and clasps on chest, 1 hour. (not actually attached.)
Multiple coats of oil to chest, 1 hour.
Cooking oil onto all hardware, 1 1/2 hours.
Attaching of all hardware. 2 hours.
Touch up of chest finish.  1/2 hour.

I may have to make some more nails but I can do those pretty quickly now.

So, tomorrow is the hard push for completion.  I do not want to plan on going to Friday.  I want Friday as an "in case" day.  The chest should be ready for judging on Saturday.