Finally, some progress...

  I had to get in some forge time so I decided to spend part of the day on the forge.  I decided to start work on the arbor.  The arbor for most of its length is 1" diameter circle.  On the end I am working on, it goes to 3/4" square then to 1/2" round.  I started with a piece of 1" round stock.  Then I forged the 3/4" square on the end.  The 1/2" round will wait until I get some other work done.

  After completing that portion of the arbor, I next made a washer.  The washer fits against the gear and from my experience with the wooden clock, the washer helps to keep the gear from wobbling.  The washer is really a piece of 1/2" stock, 2" x 2" with rounded corners.  I then punched a 3/4" square in the center of the washer so that it would fit on the arbor.

  Next, I took the spokes I made a few weeks back.  I did a little more straightening on the spokes.  I then punched a 3/4" square in this as well.  These pictures show where things are at at the moment.  The circle part of the gear is just resting on the spokes to give an idea of what it will look like.





  The previous photo shows the washer.  There will be another washer on the other side of the gear then a small wedge to hold them in place.  Finally, the end of the arbor will be rounded to connect to the frame.

  Finally, here are some new toys.  Three monkey tools and a top swage.  The monkey tools are used to square up shoulders when making round ends.  The top swage will be used to help me make the rounded end of the arbor.



BTW: the small hole about halfway down the monkey tool is a vent hole to keep air from getting trapped inside.  Also, I got a little tip for making monkey tools cheaply.  Pick up a 2# sledge from Harbor Frieght.  Remove the handle and anneal the hammer.  Drill one end with the size of hole you need for the monkey tool.  Drill this hole to the eye of the ex-hammer.

About forge time...

  Well, the eye has healed up nicely and my vision is back to normal.  However, the passing of a good friend had kept me from having the spirit to work for the past week.  She lost her battle to cancer and I just was not in the mood to do any work.

  Things are settling back down and I'm looking to get back to the forge.  In the meantime, I did receive several new blacksmithing books from Amazon and I just placed an order for some tools from www.blacksmithdepot.com.  I am ready to get back to the forge but it must wait on the finishing the thrones for the SCA.  I did get a fair amount of work done on them tonight.  If things go well, I might get some time in this week.

One more delay

Well, while doing woodworking yesterday, I suffered a fairly bad eye injury.  I had removed my safety glasses and was wiping sweat from my face and suffered a fairly bad cornea abrasion.  I either had a wood chip on my shirt or it was somewhere on my face and it contacted my eye when I was wiping sweat.  Nothing permenant but it will take a few days to heal.  Anyway, don't expect any updates for at least a few days.

New toy but can't play with it yet.

  I just received one of my Christmas presents a little late.  It is a belt grinder from Grizzly.  http://www.grizzly.com/products/G1015  Although most own them for knives and swords, mine will be more for tool making and touchups.  I may try swords after the clock and it will prove useful then.  In case you do not know how big these are, the unit is almost 3 foot tall and wide.

  Anyway, I hope to get back to the clock after this weekend.