Allright, time for a tough decision.

Okay,

  For my few faithful followers, I haven't gotten much (almost nothing) done on the clock over the past 2 years.  A lot of reasons for this but one of them is the state of my work area.  I have not done a major cleaning/reorganizing of my shop in years and the result is that it is almost impossible for me to work.  To do smithing requires me to spend a good 45 minutes just moving things around and another 45 minutes when I'm done to do cleanup.  Hence, its hard to get motivated when you have to deal with that kind of clutter.

  One of the contributing factors to that is that I frequently do black smithing for demos, scouts, etc...  While it is fun, it is a major time commitment on my part to pack up, drive, unpack, setup, tear down, repack, drive home and unpack.  Add to that that my truck is not as reliable as I would like it to be.  The last thing I want is to be in the middle of nowhere Florida with several thousand dollars worth of tools just laying in my truck.

  So, my project over the coming months is a complete rebuild, cleanup of the shop.  This will include building cabinets, work tables, storage and the like.  But one of the more important factors will be setting up a permenant area dedicated to smithing with my tools setup and easy to get to rather than packed in a bunch of boxes.  It will mean that I permenantly mount my leg vise and make the forge and anvil easier to move into position when I want to work.  Hell, I may even put in a pull out shade for when I'm working.

  I know I haven't done a lot over the past few years and it has frustrated me.  I think cleaning and organizing the garage will help a lot.  I took down the measurements today and started putting them into my CAD program.  I anticipate this will be a winter long project (no way I'm doing this in the summer time).

  As an added bonus, I will also be getting a video camera soon.  When I resume the project, I hope to include videos in this blog.

Maybe I should start my own railroad

In preperation to getting back to smithing on a more regular basis, I noticed that my stock of steel was getting low.  I keep a pile of it my back yard.  What I had was pretty jumbled mess as well.  So I decided that before I got back to work on the clock, I really needed to restock.

I visited the steel yard about a week ago and picked up a large amount of steel.  This sat in front of the garage until yesterday when I decided I wanted to do a full inventory and reorganization of the steel.  This involved moving the old steel pile to a new location as well as hauling the new stuff to the pile.  I also did a full inventory of the steel as well as marked it with paint so it would be easier to look at the pile and get what I need.

The grand total was over 1400 feet...  In other words, about 1/4 mile of steel.  :)  A full steel pile makes me happy.  It will also let me finish a camping gear project in addition to working on the clock.

A quick update...

I've been very delinquent about keeping things up to date.  I do have some photos to share which I will try to get to this week.  Some of the update highlights.

I did make an attempt to remake the one part I mentioned in previous post.  However due to the forging process a stress crack was introduced to the tenon.  It occasionally happens but it also happened on the previous piece so I obviously need to change the process.  I decided to scrap the piece and make another attempt.  I had to also address another issue though.

A frequent techinique in blacksmithing is to have one smith hold a tool on a piece while the other smith holds the piece and hammers the tool.  In other words, a two man job.  In any real blacksmith shop of the middle ages you would have had multiple people to call on for just such a thing.  For me, that is not an option.

I decided to go ahead an make an investment and purchase a tool known as either a Smithing Magician or Guillotine depending on who you talk to.  It essentially acts a second hand to hold a tool in place.  I ordered it last week and it arrived on Wednesday.  I wasted no time and got to work with it to attempt to make the part once again.  Things went much smoother and faster using the tool.  It was a worthwhile purchase.

Anyway, I changed how I was making the piece to avoid getting another stress fracture.  I still got one though but I think I understand the issue.

What it really comes down to is if I am doing heavy forge work on a piece, there cannot be a thinner piece that is holding the weight of the piece.  Its hard to describe and will have to wait on me to upload a few photos.

Trying to keep things moving....

 

Working on clock again

 After a very long hiatus, I am finally back to working on the clock.  I've actually had several sessions just not posted here about it.  With trying to get back to the clock, I wanted to make sure I had some good momentum before I put anything here.

What I worked on yesterday and today is the armature that holds the verge and foliot.  I completed this about 2 years ago now but with going back to the clock, I am looking at what need to make better and it is an ideal candidate.  Everything about this clock stems from this part.  If this part is not correct, everything else fails.

I did not take a picture of what I'm working on tonight, but this is the part I made two years ago.



It is the part the is on top of the clock that the string is hanging off of.  So what's wrong with it?  It leans slightly to one side, the rivet on the bottom portion of it is off center (not very clean) and the long upright piece is a bit loose.  In all honesty, it could work.  However, I've discovered in the past on other projects and this project as well that the mistakes don't just add up, they multiply.  The more incorrect one piece is, the less margin for error on the next piece.  I don't want to get way to far along and discover that it won't work or that I spend hours and hours to get it to barely work.

So, I am starting over on the going train (time keeping side of the clock.).  Although this means a lot more hours, each time I do these parts it goes faster and faster so I'm not too worried.

Here's hoping I can keep it moving.

More progress on camping gear

Worked some more on the commission piece for camping gear.  Taking a little more time because of me being out of shape for extended smithing and because of the thickness of the pieces.  Since this camp set will be capable of cooking for large numbers, I had to use 3/4" stock for the legs.  The legs are now shaped except for the feet.  For the feet I am reproducing the medieval version with split spikes designed to go into the ground.

Next time I get out to forge, I will try to get some photos to post.

Quick blacksmithing update

Trying to keep things going.

  Did some more work with blacksmithing today.  It was mostly a day to fix a few tools and equipment.  Not very exciting but it needed to get done.  My weekends are pretty free for the next few months so hope to use that to build up momentum to getting back to the clock.

Too long away from forge

Today marked a bit of a milestone.  I finally dragged the forge out at home.  I've been doing demos and such but not at home.  With my job change I unfortunately got out of the habit of doing smithing.  So today I finally fired up the forge at home for the first time in a very long time.

Since I know that I am out of practice, I decided to help me get back in the groove I would focus on making some needed tools.  So I started with a pair of tongs to hold round bar vertically.  I was able in just a little over an hour get the basic shape done and get the handles welded on.  I had to stop due to the sun setting but I don't have that much left to do.

So if I can get myself back into the habit, I'd like to spend the next few weekends geting back into the habit and working on tools.  Then I need to finish up a camp set and a few other minor projects.  I would like to get back to the clock around April when it stays light long enough that I can work after I get home from work.