A lot of sawdust...

  The worst part of living in Florida is what it does to my tools.  For this project, I wanted to focus on the blacksmithing.  For the woodworking, I'm using my table saw, band saw, etc...  Although I do also use a fair amount of hand tools such as chisels, coping saw, draw knife and more.  Even though I use a rust protecting clear coat on the tools, the humidity in the garage is always high so the first thing I had to do was clean for about an hour all of the surfaces that would contact the wood.  Still, was nice to do some woodworking.  I haven't done much in a while so the smell of sawdust was a nice change of pace.

  Anyway, I picked up lumber this morning.  Unfortunately, I had difficulty locating white oak for the project so I am using red oak.  Pretty much the same properties of the white oak just has a bit of a red tinge(imaging that...)  Also, I wasn't able to find lumber thick enough for the lid so I had to buy enough lumber to glue two pieces together for the lid.  I did that first to let the glue setup.

  The first real cutting was for the ends of the chest.  The Mastermyr chest's unique shape makes the woodworking a little challenging.  The chest's sides all slant inward so there are some funky angles.  I cut the ends of the chest and the front and back.  At that point, I couldn't resist it, I went ahead and cut the hole for the lock plate.  It was the first time the lock plate was actually on a piece of wood.  It gave me a good idea of how the chest will look and I must saw that I like the look.  I left some excess wood on the front of the chest.  Its a lot easier to cut away wood then add it back in.

  After cutting the basic shapes of the pieces, I needed to do some chisel work for the ends of the chest.  I was cutting a mortise in the ends that will support the bottom of the chest.  This is the first time I've done mortise work in wood since I started blacksmithing.  The years of learning blacksmithing benefited me.  I was able to do the mortise very quickly with just a chisel and mallet.  My hand/eye coordination is much better and I was able to go for several hours with no problems.

  So, at the end of the day the ends and front and back of the chest are nearly complete.  The only bit left on them is a small amount of cleanup.  The bottom has been planed down to the proper thickness and I should be able to do that in about an hour tomorrow.  My only concern is the lid.  When I was cleaning up shop, I noticed the two pieces I used for the lid did not glue together properly.  I may have to go get more lumber to try the lid again.  Still, I should be done with the woodworking tomorrow.

Quick work...

  I was able to do more work on the front hinges tonight.  Since I wasn't able to get started until 6:30, I was only able to work 2 hours.  Still, was able to get a fair amount done.  I should be able to get done with the blacksmithing tomorrow.

Productive few hours...

  Because of the time change and the lenghtening days, I was able to get on the forge after work for a few hours.  I was able to get the front hinges on the chest off to a good start.  These are really the last major thing I need for the lock.  Although I still need the spring, that shouldn't be too tough.  I did discover a minor mistake that is related to the placement of one of the nails and the hinge.  I can work around it.  Not a real big deal...

Work interferes...

  I've been on the road a lot recently which has impacted my ability and energy to get to the forge.  However, I did manage to spend some of this evening drafting out the clock for the woodworking.  Imagine my surprise when I finally realized how small the chest will be.  The actual chest will be about 12 inches tall, 34 inches wide.  I've always kind of known this but since the original docs give the size in centimeters, it was easy to forget.  Anyway, I pretty much have a working blueprint for the woodworking.  I still expect that part to take one or two days.  It will be one day if I start early and stick to it.

Time to think about the woodworking...

  I am almost at the point of having all of the metal working done on the chest.  Now, I actually need to make the wood part of the chest.  This would be nice and easy except for the fact that there are some gentle angles on the chest.  So tonight I am going to look at my different sources to do the plan for the woodworking.  I am going to work off of the original as well as some other reproductions.  I expect that it will take about 2 days to do the bulk of the woodworking.

  Its funny that when I looked on the internet for some other reproductions.  The number of really, really bad reproductions is amazing.  I'm not trying to insult others.  Most of these bad reproductions are merchants selling them.  In all fairness, there are some merchants with good versions as well.  But you can't take a pine box, slap a couple of rustoleum painted barn hinges on it and call it a reproduction.  Yes, I am starting to get kind of snobish about it.  I would not have a problem if they said "inspired by" rather than calling it a reproduction.

Fun day...

  I went to Colonial Williamsburg today and spent most of the day in the blacksmith shop.  I was lucky because the smith who does a lot of their recreation locks was working today.  He and I spent quite a bit of time talking in the back of the shop which was very cool.  He pulled out some authentic colonial locks and let me examine them.  I know it sounds odd but it feels funny whenever I get to hold the artifacts in my own hands.  Its probably from too many museums where you are never allowed to touch the artifacts.

  I also had a chance to ask him about the Sorber Collection auction I mentioned in a previous post.  He said that many museums would love to have the entire collection but they can't afford it.  Its not the cost of buying the collection but the cost of the preservation on all of the items.  Plus the fact that the collection is so diverse that most museums are not interested in the entire collection, just parts of it.

  Anyway, he was very interested in getting some pics from me of the Mastermyr chest.  He had the same problem that I did in that the book on the mastermyr find is not very clear on the lock's mechanism.  I may end up doing some later period locks in the future as his enthusiam was quite contagious...  :)

  I also had a chance to joke around with another of the smiths today as he was forging nails.  I know I posted the numbers before but I had a chance to reask the question and get more specifics.  The shop produces about 20,000 - 30,000 nails a year and there are 5 smiths working in the shop.  The one smith told me that on a good day, he can produce a nail about once a minute.  My nails take longer because of both my skill level and the fact that I don't have the right size stock so I can't make the nail in one heat.  It was a fun day but time for bed...

Update:
  I forgot to mention this...  One of the most enocouraging things to come out of my visit to Williamsburg was getting a sense of my own skills.  I'm not nearly up to the level of the Williamsburg smiths but it was nice to closely examine some of their items and notice they sometimes make the same mistakes that I do.  Simple things like items not quite tight fitting, mishaped rivet heads, etc...

Major progress...

  I started today with the lock plate only having the nail holes and the keyhole.  I started the day by cutting two vertical slots for parts of straps the will drop from the top of the chest into the lock.  These straps are what the lock actually engages with to lock the chest.  After cutting those slots, I was able to size the slide properly.  The slide part of the lock (its the piece with the cross wards) took me quite a bit of effort and headache to make so I was very careful.  Anyway, when I made the slide, I had left excess on either end to allow me a safe amount of metal to work with.

  I proceeded to shape either end of the slide to properly engage with the straps.  I won't be able to do a final shaping of these until I have the straps done.  After shaping the slide, I next punched the holes for the retainers that will actually hold the slide to the plate.  I then made the retainers but will not attach them until one of the last steps.  I also made a small "L" shaped piece of metal that prevents the slide from twisting within the lock.  I also added a small piece of metal to the top of the slide that will hook against a spring.  The spring is what the key needs to push out of the way to get the lock to work.

  Things are finally going together.  I only have a few parts left to make all of which should be fairly easy.  I still need to make the spring and that will be the last part of the lock itself.  I also need to make the straps that go into the lock.  Those should be easy as well.  Anyway, here are two pictures of how the lock looks from the back right now.  The first picture is the lock when it is in the locked position.  The second shows the slide shifted to the left in the unlock position.  Notice either end of the slide (one end is straight, the other has a "C" curve.)  When in the locked position, they will pass through small loops of metal that have pushed through from the front locking the chest.





The different shades of the metal are caused by residual moisture left over from cooling the lock.  None of the parts are permanently attached but it gives a good idea of how it works.

Never a wasted moment...  Well, sort of...

  Yesterday after a visit to the dentist (or as I call him, the toothsmith) I finished cutting the keyhole.  I don't have a pic of it but will upload one later this week.  The keyhole looks like an upside down "L".  The keyhole serves a double purpose.  In modern locks, the keyhole is the same shape as the key.  In the case of this lock, the keyhole allows for the insertion of the key as well but once the key is inserted is actually moved around, not just rotated in place.  The key is actually moved sideways to complete the unlocking process.  Hopefully this will be obvious once I get to that point and can upload some pics.

  Next, I had to size the key to fit the keyhole.  The problem is not with the end of the key where I had to do some much filing but with the shaft of the key.  I forged it square knowing that I would have to later resize and reshape it to round but I wanted to have excess material.  The key originially looked like what is shown below...



  While I was over at the friend's place, I started filing the shaft down into a round shape and doing some general cleanup on the key.  Which was apparently fairly erotic to watch but I will not go into that here.  I made good progress on the key and when I'm done with this cleanup, I will put another coat of oil to give it the nice black color again.

  Also, just had an article sent to me which shows a technique for cleating nails.  Cleating nails is the process of bending a nail on the backside of a material to help the nail hold.  The article http://www.geocities.com/svenskildbiter/Craft/howtocleatnails.html should prove useful. 

Very good day...

  Today was very productive with about 6 hours of forge time.  I started the day with a few nails.  I've found that starting the day by doing a few nails is a good way to start.  When I first fire up the forge, it takes it about 20 minutes to get up to a full, even heat.  During that heat up time, I can make a few nails to take advantage of that otherwise wasted time.  Also, since I hate repetitive work, its a good way to make nails without getting bored.

  After I got the forge up to a full heat, I went back to working on the lock plate.  It took me a little over an hour to finish flattening the plate.  I followed up with some cleanup work.  After taking a break, I next needed to punch the holes for the nails.  Now that I actually have nails, I knew that I had to make the plate holes a little bit bigger to hold the nails.  In just a little over an hour, I was able to punch all 20 holes.  I am happy with how those came out and it was a much faster process than the previous plate.

  As a reminder, the reason for the remaking of the plate was to give a little more room for the lock.  So, I added about 1/2" to 3/4" to the height.  The new plate is pictured below.  It is the top piece in the pic.  Notice the holes are bigger than the old plate.  Also in the pic are some of the nails that I've made.



  I decided to plunge ahead and start putting in the hole for the key(some might even call it a keyhole...)  This went pretty well.  I started by punching holes on either end of the slot for the key.  Then I used a chisel to remove the metal between those holes.  I was making good progress until I realized that I needed a certain sized file that I don't have.  So, I packed up the shop.  I will pick up the file tomorrow on my way home from work.  The pic of the plate with the start of the keyhole is shown below.

  The trapezoidal shape of the plate is from camera angle.  The plate is rectangular.

More progress,

  Took a break today because of all the hammerwork yesterday.  Went to a renn faire(big mistake but it did remind me why I don't like them) and to a botanical show.  Well, after getting home I decided to do a bit of forge work  Made a few more nails and worked more on the lock plate.  The lock plate is almost done with only about 30 minutes of work left but my arm gave out.  Shouldn't take that much time to finish shaping the lock plate.  So, my plan for tomorrow is to finish shaping the plate and punch the holes for the nails.  As a reminder, this is what the previous lock plate looked like.  This one should me about the same, just about 1/2" - 3/4" taller to compensate for me making the lock larger than the original.

I love nails...  :)

  What a difference nail making is for me.  Fired up the forge for several hours today.  I've gotten proficient enough with the nails that I can now make about 1 every 4 minutes.  Quite a change from a few weeks ago.  In reality, I'm actually making 2 nails about every 8 minutes.  I say it that way because I make 2 nails at the same time.  I theoretically have enough nails but I will probably pump out a few more to have some spares.  Especially since it is pretty easy for me now.

  I also did some more hammering on the lock plate.  One more session, and the new lock plate should be done.

Trip to Williamsburg...

  Talk about being torn.  I haven't been to Colonial Williamsburg in about 2 years.  Well, I finally have a business trip that will let me head over to Williamsburg.  Problem is that I am attending a geek fest(all weekend computer gaming) just prior to that.  So, I'm going to end up gaming all weekend, hoping on a plane.  Catching a few hours of sleep at the hotel, then heading down to Williamsburg(3 hour drive).  Still, I love going there.  It reminds me what real blacksmiths can do...  :)

A bit disheartening...

  There is a well know collection in the blacksmithing community known as the Sorber Collection  This collection ranks as one of the best collections of Colonial American blacksmithing.  It inspired me on some projects (bootscrapers I made as gifts) in addition to having an example of a clock jack spit.  The spit used to mechanically rotate food has some similarities to the clock that I want to make.  I remember when I spent some time in the break room of the blacksmith shop in Williamsburg talking with the smiths when one of them showed me the Sorber Collection book.  Well, I just found out that as of May 25th, the collection will be auctioned off as individual pieces.

  I am very disappointed that the collection is not being kept together.  The National Museum of Metal is trying to raise money to keep the collection together.  Their donation page for the Sorber collection is http://www.metalmuseum.org/donations.htm  They are going to try to grab the more important pieces but that will not be the same as having all of it together.

Update from yesterday...

  Yesterday when I was at the museum, I happened to take a peek at a 14th century door held together by iron straps and nails.  I was pleased to notice that the nails looked almost identical in shape and size to the ones I've made the past few times on the forge.

  Also, realized this morning that time change is a good thing.  It will allow me to work later into the evening.  Making it easier for me to get forge time during the week.  Still, I'm thinking of burning one or two vacation days when I get back from Philly.  Being on the road for 2 weeks in a row is a bit tiring and it would let me finish up the blacksmithing part of the chest.  The rest of what I have to do on the chest SHOULD be faily easy.

Thank Dali....

  Just got into Philadelphia this morning.  I decided to head to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  I've been there before but not since I really got into the blacksmithing.  Well, when I got there it was pretty crowded at the entrance.  They are having a major exhibit of Dali's work.  It is popular enough that most of the people were getting in the VERY long line to go through that.  As a result, the rest of the museum was sparsely populated.

  The first room that I ducked into was filled to the brim with donations from Samuel Yellin.  There was a lot of goodness but I'm not going to go into that at the moment.  Between my early flight and time change, I only got about 3 1/2 hours of sleep so I'm off to take a nap.

Update after nap...............

  Not much extra to add except that I need to stop being so critical of myself.  Seeing some of the medieval artifacts up close emphasizes that it most cases, a medieval blacksmith was not as worried about minor mistakes as I am.  Not to say that I am better than them, they just are more willing to use a piece that isn't quit right.  I took quite a few pics and may post some of them later.

Better progress than I expected...

  Well, I am back in town for 1 day.  I just got back from Dallas, heading back to Philadelphia tomorrow.  I did some yard work before I went to the forge so I didn't get started until about 5pm.  I didn't expect to get much done but I did manage to do 9 nails and a fair amount on the lock plate.  Hopefully when I get back I will be able to get the lock plate done quickly.  I still have a fair amount to do but it should be fairly simple from here on out.