Calmed down now...

  Well, after some serious consideration, I think I may redo the entire lock mechanism.  There are a lot of "little" things that I'm not happy with.  Any one of them on their own would not be a big issue.  However, when combined together it is enough that I wouldn't mind redoing things.  Its part of learning...  A short list of the problems include...

  * Key has to me remade because of me removing too much metal.
  * Wards(the little cross pieces) were filed slightly off square from their shaft.  I didn't notice this until I put them into the slide part of the lock.  It caused the crosses to be slightly twisted.
  * One ward not seated properly in plate.  I think I could fix this one but with everything else...
  * Wards not as true to being a cross as i would like.
  * Wards not as centered as I would have liked in slide.
  * Ward plate little too smashed.
  * Ward plate rivets not rounded over very well.

  I don't want to sound like a perfectionist but there are just too many little things that are off.  Now, for the good news...

  I don't think it will take too long to redo the stuff.  I have a much better idea how to proceed.  I think I can make up most of the time over the weekend.  I don't have any commitments and can spend both Saturday and Sunday smithing all day.  If I am lucky and I work hard, hopefully will back on track soon...

Good stuff, bad stuff...

  I took a few days off of work to relax after being on the road so much.  So today I went back to working on the forge.  I was able to get the cross wards on the lock plate.  They are riveted in place and other than one or two small problems, came out pretty well.  Then, I discovered a problem with the key.  In my rush to try out the key for the first time a few weeks back, I had cut away too much metal.  I MAY have been able to get the current key to work but the problem is that I would only know after about 3-6 hours of filing.  So, I decided to stop where I was and make a new key.  There will definitely be complications having to redo the key at this point but its part of the learning experience.  I figure that this will be a lose of 8-16 hours.

"The spirit is willing, but the flesh is spongy, and bruised."
 - Zapp Brannigan

  Got back into town late Friday and woke up early Saturday to pack up the truck for another demo at an SCA event.  I was setup by 11 and spent all day working on the forge.
  I started with a gate hinge.  Using a pattern I found on a Texas blacksmithing site, I put a fleur on the end of the hinge.  This was (I think) the second time I tried to do a fleur.  It actually came out pretty nice.  With a minimal amount of practice, I could do a fleur in probably about 30 minutes.  However, I was busy explaining some blacksmithing techniques to someone and burned part of the hinge.  It probably could have been salvaged but I wasn't worried about it.  I went ahead and waxed the piece but really don't plan to do anything with it.
  The next item I did was a pair of scissors.  I've never made scissors before and I was able to make these in under an hour.  Once again, I didn't worry about actually finishing the scissors, I was just playing around.  Although the scissors did end up looking like a pair of child safety scissors.
  I briefly toyed with making a tool I need, but I didn't have the right size tongs so I put that aside.  My final project for the day was a ladle.  I want my setup to look more medieval and my current water can is little more than an old tin can with a handle.  So, I do want to make one.  The ladle didn't come out like I wanted so I stoped that as well.
  I've really come to the conclusion that at events I don't like to work on personal projects.  It is much more fun for me to experiment at events.
  Something else that is happening more and more is that I am getting people asking me to do commision work.  I very rarely do any kind of commision work.  The main reason for this is that I don't like production work.  I really want to learn how to do more advanced items and its easy to get stuck in the rut of making what sells.  Somewhere down the road, I may do commisions but not yet.  I'm not in the blacksmithing for the money, I do it for the joy of learning.
  I received 3 serious commision offers and probably about 10 casually requests for stuff yesterday.  I do feel bad turning people down but until I finish certain projects, I don't want to get sidetracked.
  I did accept one commision though.  One of the groups in SCA is getting elevated in its status to barony.  He asked it I could do some combination pole holder/list poles for them.  Since this is for a group and not an individual or household, I decided to take it on.  Also, I have a long time to get the items together.  I'm not charging for my time, just materials.  Its part of the way I can use my skills to give back to the SCA.  Another group that I used to be part of wants something similar.  However, I would like to be a little more decorative with those items and I have to figure out what I want to do.
  And finally, there were some reporters in the campground yesterday for the Palm Beach Post and they ended up talking to me for at least half an hour.  I know a lot of photos were taken.  I'm going to have Swapna's skin tone in the photos if they use them.  It was a windy day and by the end of the day my face was very sooty.
  Today I am just going to relax.  I am beat, tired and sore but feeling good...  If I get a chance, will post some pics after I unload the truck.

Might have to scam the company...

  Well, not really scam the company but will have to try to get them to schedule some trips to my benefit.  There is a major blacksmithing conference in Dallas in early June.  I never did get into the blacksmithing shop here in town but I did pick up a flyer for a class that they do.  I might take it if I get the chance.

Try again today...

  In Dallas this week (yuck) but I did find out about a blacksmith shop only a few miles from my office.  Drove there yesterday but nobody was in.  I'm going to try today at lunchtime to see if anyone is in...  I'm hoping that its not a weekend only type of place.

Whoops...

  Just noticed that I accidentally overlayed some of my old pictures.  Will try to restore them when I get home tonight.

Woohoo!!

  So, today I spent working on the key and the lock.  This was by far the most complicated thing that I have had to do to date.  It requires a high level of precision, work on very small items, lotsa filing, etc...  And the good news is that I was able to do exactly what I wanted to do.

  My first goal was to get the ward plate on the slide.  The ward plate is actually part of what "locks".  A spring pushes up against the ward plate to keep the slide from moving.  I was able to get that done.  My next goal was to punch two holes.  These two holes(which are very small) are in the slide and the key passes thru these holes to push the spring above the ward plate.  This unlocks the lock.  I was able to get this done.  Next major goal was to cut the key to preliminary size.  The key must lock into the slide(using a small hole) and the rotate with two small pins going into the small holes mentioned above.  This sounds simple but it involves a lot of filing.  The goal is a very snug fit.  If you make the holes too big then the lock is easy to pick.  This part was the most time intensive work today.  The pictures below show the key in the slide.

  This picture shows the key in the slide.  In the sequence of unlocking, this would be the key just being pushed into the lock.

This picture is of the key rotated and the pins going into the holes.



The final picture is the backside of the slide (in reality, this is the top of the slide).  The pins are pushing up.  The goal is that they must be at least as high as the ward plate.  The ward plate is the small piece of metal riveted on the slide.



I really did a lot today.  I am very happy with the results.  The last difficult thing that I need to do is to incorporate the 3 cross shaped wards into the lock.  The will be riveted to the slide.  This will block the key from working.  In order for the key to work, I will have to put 3 cross shaped holes in the key.  This prevents someone elses key being able to open your lock.  Exactly the same concept of different keys today.

  If things go well, I hope to have the chest done by the end of February.  It would be sooner but I have to travel several times for work over the next few weeks.