Getting there...

Saturday I went to the local hammer in for FABA (Florida blacksmiths) and spent a few hours BSx2 (That's blacksmithing and bullshitting)  Anyway, had a chance to use a power hammre for the first time.  It was a fairly small hammer but still fun.  Also, showed off my Mastermyr chest (the original with the lock) and the guys seemed to be very impressed.

Today I spent just a few hours on the forge at home but I was able to get a lot done in that time.  The bulk of my time was spent attempting to figure out how to make the finial.  I made a line drawing of the finial shown below.



The first attempt I made was to start with 3/4" stock.  The diagram above shows 1" but I decided that might be too big so went for the 3/4".  On the first attempt I started with the socket end.  I began by putting a pyramid shape on the end of the stock but with a flat top.  Next, I took a 3/8" square punch to begin form the socket.  This actually worked better than I expected.  I then took a piece of 3/8" stock and upset it just a bit on the end.  This bit of upset end was to give the finial something to grab onto.  Finally, I used to punch to widen the socket slightly.  With all of this done, I heated up the part that was going to be the finial and put the square stock into it.  Then I lightly hammered the finial to close it on that stock.  As it turned out, I did not upset the end of the square stock enough and the finial did not have enough to grab onto.

On the next attempt, I started the same way but used a 1/2" punch instead of a 3/8" punch.  This would allow me to upset the metal more on the 3/8" stock that would go into the finial.  Well, this time the finial was able to lock onto the 3/8" stock much better.  As a matter of fact, there was absolutely no give.  The next step was to make the top part of the finial.  I have a 1" round fuller that I made specifically for the finials. 




The fuller is really nothing more than two round 1" bars that the piece is placed between and the fuller is hammered.  Well, when I went to do this, the shaft was knocked loose.  Even though both of these attempts failed, I learned from them.  Fading light and a sore back made me stop.  I think the next sequence that I am going to attempt is this...

1) Form socket.
2) Form top of finial and seperate from stock.  While doing this, ensure that socket is not deformed.
3) Upset and insert the shaft.
4) Heat and close the finial on the shaft.

Hopefully this will work.  I decided that I wanted to go ahead and do the finials before I go any further on the frame.

Some other things I did was to reform the broken chisel from a previous post.  After reforming it, I stuck it in the wood ash to anneal it and surprise, surprise, I found a rectagular punch that I completely forgot about.  Always a pleasant surprise.  Judging by the size, I'm guessing that I meant this for the end pieces I mentioned in my last post.  I forgot all about it but saves me some work...  :)

I will post pictures of the finials once I get a working process.