No 6 out of 8 is done.

Finished another upright.  That's 5 out of 8.  They are actually taking me about 2 hours a piece with time for breaks.  If it hadn't been for my back I should have been done with them by now but oh well...

It has occurred to me while making the brazier that I am gaining valuable experience for the clock.  Not only will the brazier give me some practice with joinery but the holes for the rivets are very similar to what I will need for the axles of the clock.  After the brazier I may try to restart the frame for the clock.  Its been about a year since my initial effort at the frame.

Completed another upright...  50% done on the uprights.

Some thoughts on design of the brazier,

  When I first came up with this particular design, I knew of a potential problem.  With eight uprights converging near the base, they will be very close at the base.  This will not really allow for additional upright pieces.  However, at the outer part of the brazier, they will be close to a foot apart.  Since this would be holding a campfire, that is not necessarily a good thing.

  I knew this would be a possibility so in addition to the 8 upright pieces, there will be 8 additional shorter pieces that will be about the same shape as the upright pieces except that they will taper off as the approach the center.  So the upper part of the brazier will have 16 pieces while at the center and legs, there will only be 8.

  Also, in the center of the brazier will be about an 8" wide circular gap.  This would let a lot of the burning material fall to the ground.  I will be placing a few support pieces in the center of the brazier to prevent this.  They will be simple "L" shapes and just help make the center area a little more solid.

  Overall, I will be making 40 rivets from 1/2" stock.  Not looking forward to that but not a big deal.  Just a bit on the repetitive side.

  My final challenge will be to figure out how to best peen the rivets that will be in the narrow part of the brazier.  I will probably need help with all of the rivets simply because it will be difficult to hold the brazier and peen the rivets at the same time due to the size of the brazier.

Yet another entry in the world's most boring blog...

  I took a vacation day from work to do blacksmithing.  Unfortunately, a pulled back limited my work.  I was only able to do one more upright for the brazier. 3 down, 5 to go.

Trying to be safer...

  Time for a dirty little secret.  I haven't been a very good blacksmith.  I'm referring to my basic safety standards.  I don't wear safety glasses or hearing protection.  Its not that I don't understand the danger its just that with the heat in Florida, safety goggles are not an option.  They fog up too easily.  The safety glasses available from Home Depot just don't fit too good.
  I picked up a pair of new glasses(don't fit too well but not too bad) and disposable ear plugs.  I could get used to the ear plugs.  They did make a big difference.  The glasses aren't great but will work until I can find a better source.  Anyway, onto the blacksmithing...

  I continued work on the brazier.  I managed to cut all the remaining upright pieces.  They have all been measured and marked.  I managed to put the holes, scrolls and bends into one of the uprights.  Each upright is going to take me about 1 1/2 hours.  I want to try and finish them all by this weekend.
  Below is a picture of the two legs showing the approximate shape of the brazier.

Started brazier,

  A good day of blacksmithing.  I tempered some tools I had made during a previous session at the forge.  After that, I decided I wanted to go ahead and start the brazier that I have been wanting to make.  To start, I needed to make a drift.  A drift is meant to open up a hole in metal so that it is a particular shape and size.  I needed the drift to match the rivets that will be used to hold the brazier together.

  The brazier will essentially be 8 upright pieces and 3 rings to hold them together.  I wanted to make one template piece to make sure everything will come out okay.  The template piece is shown below.  The right side of the pic is the bottom of the brazier and the left side is the top.  The holes are for the rings to bind the brazier to together.  Because of the use of the drift, the metal bulges around the hole.



I was originally going to put fleurs on the top but that was vetoed...  :)