New toy...

  Well, I feel confident enough about the nails that I decided not to work on the forge today.  I opted to take care of some much needed yard work before a business trip.  I picked up a new chainsaw and my trees are trembling in fear...

Halfway there...

  I got about 15 nails done today.  Not as many as I wanted but between the windy conditions and me being tired, it was all I could get done.  Still, its nice to now be able to make the nails fairly reliably.  It really is one of those things that just takes patience and techique.  Still, I find repetive work like this very boring.

Temptation...

  So there are I am, pumping out nails in the incredibly high humidity(thanks Florida) when a box of Duncan Donuts appears...  Damn, foiled again.  The donuts were good but time to go back out to the forge.

Nailed it...

  Finally, I was able to make nails somewhat reliably but not all that quick.  I made 8 nails over the course of about an hour.  Tomorrow, I am going to try to do the nails I need for the project.  The nails today, I did not worry too much about the size of the nails but for tomorrow they will be the size I need.  I hope to make all the nails that I need tomorrow.  That will be about 30 nails plus a few extras to be safe.

  Also, worked a little more on the remake for the plate.  That involves a lot of heavy hammering.  I was making good progress until the rain chased me inside.

"It's not my fault!!!"  - Han Solo, et. al...

  So, I decided to take a step back today to work on the nails properly.  In order to make nails, you need a nail header(used to make, duh, the nail's head).  I've made a few but they were quickies just to test things out.  So, I decided to make a nice nail header.  Well, since I am doing a reproduction of the Mastermyr chest, I decided I should make the header that was found in the chest.  A drawing of the original is show below.  It is about 9" long.



Well, I had a piece of tool steel that was a good size for making this.  The tool steel was a little short but it was thick so I would be able to stretch it out.  The only problem was that I didn't have a pair of tongs that would work, so I decided to make them.

The tongs took me less than 90 minutes.  This is really amazing.  Before, it would have taken me a full day, if not longer, to make a set of tongs that would not have been as good.  So, I have a new pair of tongs.

I started work on the tool steel.  The steel was just a little under 5" and I needed to stretch it to 9".  The thickness is a little over 1 1/2".  When you strecth steel that thick, it is a lot of work, especially without having someone to swing a sledge hammer for you.  It is part of the reason that I will not do any sword making until I can afford a power hammer.  Anyway, I started to work the metal.

I got the steel from under 5" to well over 6".  At this point, it becomes thin enough that it is easier and easier to move the metal.  I was well on my way when I noticed the problem.  I had noticed a thin line on the metal when I started.  I thought this line was from where I had cut the steel from a larger piece well over a year ago.  However, after one heating the metal displayed a large stress fracture.  The piece is pictured below.



The fracture runs from the upper right to the lower left of the pic.  It is hard to see in the photo but the fracture runs the entire length.  Probably one or two more heatings and it should completely seperate.

There are various reasons that this can happen.  The fracture may have existed when I got the metal.  What is more likely since this is a piece of stock I've had around for a while is that when I cut it before, I cut it too cold.  If you work tool steel below an orange heat or let it cool rapidly, it can crack.  I don't think I did it today.  As I mentioned, I noticed the faint line when I first started but didn't think to look at it closer.  This is the first time I've had a fracture like this.  I know what to watch for in the future.

So, I will probably take this piece and finish the split.  The two halves are good sizes for punches or small chisels.  I need to make a steel run to pick up some tool steel and will look for a few pieces that will be a good size for a header.  Not sure when this will happen but will probably end up using a normal header to make the nails until then.

I really, really hate nails...  What should be one of the simpler aspects of this project is giving me the biggest trouble.  Will try again on Tuesday.

The Return of the Noodle Arm

  Started remaking the lock plate tonight.  This involves a lot of hammer work.  Nothing fine, just good 'ole hammer swinging.  Anyway, got about a quarter of it done.  Arm got too weak and tired.  It was dark anyway and difficult to see so I stopped for the night.  Hopefully I can do some work tomorrow.  Usually the day after I get back to hammering, my arm handles it better.

It wouldn't be part of the chest if I didn't have to remake it at least once...

  Well, the key and slide are working fine.  However, because I made the key and slide a little large, I have to remake the lock plate.  Now the plate is relatively easy to remake just a lot of hammering.  It is currently about 3 1/4" tall.  I'm estimating it should be around 4" tall.  So, hopefully over the weekend I can get that remade.  Here is a pic of the current one.

http://www.historicgames.com/dumbquest/ultimate.html

I particularly like the duct tape comment.

We have a key...

  Today marked a major milestone.  I was able to finish the key.  I started by removing a fair amount of excess metal from the key.  Not wanting to repeat previous mistakes, I had intentionally left a lot of extra metal.  After sawing some of the metal away, I used a file to do the cleanup.  It was a kind of funny because I had gotten so used to the small files that the real sized files almost removed metal too fast.  If I hadn't been paying very close attention, I could have easily removed too much.

  The final delicate work that I had to do really had me being anxious.  I was very worried about screwing it up.  One little mistake and 15+ hours of work would have been in the trash...  I had to form two teeth on the end of the key (I think they somewhat look like the fangs on a snake).  This involved removing the metal on either side of the teeth, between the teeth and then putting a curve in the teeth so that they could pass through the slide easily.  After some careful filing and even more careful heating, I was able to get the teeth into position.  My greatest fear was that I would try to bend the teeth when the key was too cold.  It would have been very easy to snap the teeth off.  But, everything came out okay.

  Next I did some cleanup filing on the body of the key.  This was fairly straightforward.  A lot of filing and a little hammer work but nothing too stressful.  Finally, put a few coats of oil on the key and burnt the key to give it a nice black finish.  The pics below show the key in action.  Notice the color of the key from the cooked oil...  Makes you wonder where the term blacksmithing comes from...  :)



Next, the key is rotated into the unlock position.  The teeth go through the holes in the lock, while the wards(the cross shaped pieces of metal) on the plate go into the key.  If you notice some spots on the wards, these are paint marks I put on them to make it easier to eyeball the filing of the key.  The wards are just under 3/16" wide.



Final pic is the backside of the slide showing the teeth coming through.  They will push a spring out of the way to unlock the chest.

Fingers sore but happy...

  Finished the fine filing of the key just a bit ago.  I will try to get some pics up tomorrow.  What I was filing was some cross shaped holes in the key.  Once again, because of the size of the files, they remove material very slowly.  It probably comes out to about 3 hours per hole.  The key now fully rotates to where it should be.  I still have a bit to go but hopefully the rest will be easier and quicker.  I need to remove some excess material but that should be pretty simple.  Next, I need to form two little teeth that actually unlock the chest by pushing a spring out of the way.  That has the potential of me screwing up but I'm going to try to be very, very careful.  I do not want to start this over again.  Finally, I need to clean up filing on the key.  This filing is simple to make it look nicer.  I will be able to use larger, quicker files for this.

  Also, I realized a minor mistake that I've made.  This is a mistake that can be attributed to this being the first lock I've made.  The slide is a little too wide.  This means that when I put the lock into the wood, the lock will project a little into the chest.  Its not a big deal and I'm going to put in a piece of protective wood to keep the lock from being damaged.  If I ever do one of these chests again with a lock (doubtful) I will make the slide smaller.  If I do make this style of chest again, it will probably be without a lock.  I may put the lock plate on it for looks but not for functionality.

Eyes going wacky...

  Got back into town and after a nap got back to work on the key.  I'm really getting sick of the fine detail filing.  The worst part is that the files are so fine, they barely remove metal.  It takes hours to remove a very small amount of metal.  The key is going okay, just slow.  Hopefully I won't have to start this over again.  Getting late, time for bed.

Blacksmiths are good people...

  I get out to Dallas quite a bit.  Not by choice but by occupation.  Anyway, I was recently chatting with one of the guys in Dallas on a blacksmithing website and he told me of something he had done.  He mentioned me to a local master blacksmith.  I now have an open invitation to go over to his shop when I'm in town.  Unfortunately, he is in Ireland this week.  (Is everyone except me in Ireland???)  But still, might make the trips to big D a little more interesting.

Practice makes a reasonable better product...

  I started the day with some yard work and after filling the pickup with yard waste, I almost didn't do any forge work.  I forced my butt out to the forge to restart the key.  I'm really glad that I did.

  I was able to remake the key (this is key #3) in a very short period of time.  It only took me about 2 hours.  I still need to do the fine work on the key but I'm happy with how it came out.  One major improvement over the previous keys is that this one is much thinner.  Although this might sacrifice a bit of strength, it makes it so much easier to file the key to shape as there is much less material to file away.

  My camera is on vacation in Ireland otherwise I would post some pics.  When I get back from a business trip, I will see about getting some pics online.

Blast from the past...

  While doing a much needed cleanup of computer stuff (I just threw out about 75-100 obsolete CDs) I came across a CD with some old stuff on it.  Surprise, surprise, I found a pic of my very first clock.  This clock no longer exists.  It was too big and too poorly made to keep around.  It was demolished just prior to making my second wooden clock.  A few pieces of wood were saved from the original and made into new parts on the 2nd clock.  Anyway, here is the only pic I have of my first clock.  If you look carefully, you can even see a strip of wood that wasn't stained.  I was staining the wood just moments before loading it to take it to a competition.  If I remember correctly, this was made in 1999.

I wish my life would stop getting in the way...

  Over the past week, work and some personal stuff(both good and bad) have kept me from the forge.  I hope to get back to the forge this weekend.  In the meantime, I finally got some pics of a chair I made about 4 years ago.  It was the first (and only) piece of real furniture I've ever made.  It is solid oak and the legs are about 2" thick.  It was a design from the book Constructing Medieval Furniture: Plans and Instructions With Historical Notes   The project, like so many I take on, was much more difficult then I had anticipated.  The worst was carving into seasoned oak for my first carving project.  Grrr....  Anyway, here are a few of the pics.