Making more steps...

My enthusiasm for getting back to working on the clock keeps building.  I'm really thinking that when I get going this time, its not stopping until its done.

Spent last weekend at the annual convention for the Florida Artists Blacksmithing.  Got to see a lot of cool things and left from the event with 600 pounds of coal and a new pair of shears for cutting stock down to a more manageable size.  The only thing I plan to use it on for the clock is when I have a piece of 10 foot steel to get it down to something that I can move around.

The piece of great news that I have is that I have signed up for a class in January at the John C. Campbell Folk School.  The class is on how to build early padlocks from the 10th - 19th century.  I am really looking forward to this.  Not only will I get to make a cool item but I will should learn some techniques that will be very helpful with making the clock.  It will be a week long and includes things like forge brazing which I've actually done but would like to know the right way to do it.  :)

This weekend I have 3 things that I want to accomplish.  The first is simple.  I want add more light to my shop so I am picking up two new fluorescent lights for the middle part of the shop.  I already have the wiring, electrical boxes, etc... that I need.   I hope to get those up tonight.

The next project is a cart for my forge and blower.  As part of my effort to make it very easy to setup to do smithing (and cut down on my excuses for not doing it) I will be building a cart that I can easily move in and out of the garage without pulling out my back.  The cart needs to be nice and sturdy but easy to move.

The final thing I would like to get to is do actually do some blacksmithing.  Haven't done any in months and I'm sure I'm out of shape for it.  This may not happen because I will be at the Buccaneers game on Sunday.  Since I have to show up at 9:30 to prepare for the pre-game show, that pretty much takes away my whole Sunday.

Bit of a pleasant surprise

Yeah I know, sick of hearing about cleaning shop...

Anyway, I made hopefully the last run to the dump for a while.  Also visited the scrap yard and got a decent amount of cash for the steel.  I was surprised to find that they deal a lot in copper and brass scrap.  I asked and they do sell it.  The reason this is important to me is that one of the last things I would like to do for the clock is to cast my own bell for it.  So I now have a local supplier of other raw material if I need it.  This was a surprise because the location used to deal with just autos and steel but it has switched over to being a true metal scrap yard.  Woot!

Its kindda sad the things blacksmiths get excited about. 

Like an archaelogical dig...

Dug out more of the garage today.  Its getting there.  I hope by the end of this weekend, it will be clean.  Then I can start on making some new workbenches and getting the post vise mounted.

Shop work continues

Nothing major except that I was able to clean more of the garage.  The truck is ready for a trip to the dump and I will probably do that early Monday before work.  Not terribly exciting but I'm posting on it just to keep myself going and honest.

After I am done cleaning, I will begin building the work tables and shelving I want.  I also had an idea about putting my forge and blower on wheels to make it easier to move them into position.  As a reminder, whenever I blacksmith, the anvil, forge and blower must all be taken into the driveway.  If I put the forge and blower on a cart it will make setup time so much easier.

I also set aside a spare anvil, post vise, blower and air compressor to take to the Florida Blacksmithing conference.  Hope someone can find a use for them.

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is spongy, and bruised

So in my effort to get back to serious work on the clock, I worked on cleaning up the blacksmithing area of my garage.  This involved a lot of heavy lifting, cleaning and painting.  By far the worst area was my scrap heap.

By the nature of the work, all blacksmiths develop some sort of scrap area.  This is where the foot or two of left over metal or a failed piece get tossed.  Well I have not cleaned that area in about 6 years and it was a shambles.

I am guessing that the amount of metal was at least 750 pounds.  After sorting it, I am guessing about 250 pounds of it is going to the scrap yard to be sold while the remaining amount has been sorted and stacked a little more neatly.  I also put a lot of old stuff out for the garbage man.  Bigger pieces of trash are in the back of the truck for a trip to the dump.  I will also be taking some excess blacksmithing supplies to the annual Florida Blacksmithing. conference to auction it off.  The money goes back into the organization.  This will include 2 anvils and a post vise.

While everything was out, I took the opportunity to clean and paint the walls.  I went for a pure white which has really brightened up the garage.  Next time I will add some lights.

I still have many weekends to go to get the garage back in shape but its getting there. 

The Augean Stables, Florida edition...

Unfortunately, I cannot divert any nearby rivers to clean out my garage so I'm gonna have to do it the hard way.

Today's main goal was to get all my blacksmithing hand tools out of the old wooden chests that I used when I did demos.  So I picked up a new tool cabinet and emptied out the old boxes.  It was a good chance for me to go through all the tools and throw out a few.  Since most of th tools are hand made, I can remake most of the ones I threw out.  The one exception is the files.  Unfortunately, the files fared the worst for the years of traveling around.  They are rusty but hopefully can be salvaged.  So as I organized the tools, everything got a good spray of WD40.  After its had a chance to work a bit, I will recoat them with oil.

The files were a bit of a disappointment.  Since I tend to buy quality files, it does represent some significant cash.  But it looks like most of them did okay.  The new tool cabinet will be nice as I can easily roll it in and out of garage to do work.

So the tools are out of the old boxes and hopefully will be better protected from the Florida weather.  I wanted to do a bit more but the afternoon storm moved in.  My next major goal in cleaning up the blacksmithing area is the scrap pile.

Pictures will follow as things begin to improve.

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.