Victorinox

Tonight I was reading the December 2014 issue of Wired and paused to read the entire page of the Victorinox ad.  I think I was captured by the part of the sentence which included “his little forge on the Tolebach.”  Although I have been familiar with the Swiss army knife, seemingly forever, I never gave a moments thought to it’s origin.

Day to day I carry a different type of pocket knife but I always pack my Swiss army knife in my travel kit.

I’d like to know more about why Karl Elsener got the contract but I don’t have time to pursue that right now.  I found a few references to grease the wheel for someone who might want to follow up on the subject.

http://www.swissarmy.com/us/content/history_page

1884 Karl Elsener opens a cutlery workshop in Ibach-Schwyz, Switzerland with the support of his mother Victoria.

1891Karl Elsener and his coworkers deliver knives for soldiers in the Swiss Army for the first time.

1897 The name Swiss “Officer’s” and “Sport Knife” is legally protected on June 12. The model later became the Original Swiss Army Knife.

1909

Following the death of his mother, Karl Elsener introduces the brand name Victoria in her honor. The iconic Cross and Shield emblem is registered as a trademark

http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/swissknife.htm

http://gearjunkie.com/swiss-army-knife-history

http://www.wengerna.com/company-history

http://www.wired.com/2010/09/tracing-the-army-knifes-swiss-history/

Happy exploring.

A Pipe Fitting Template

I just came across this item in the Nov/Dec issue of he O&MM Fabricator magazine and it gives a nice tutorial for pipe fitting which might be useful.  The online software program “will calculate and draw a template that can be used to find the junction of two pipes.”  It can print a template which can be placed on the pipe sections and used as a cutting guide.

http://www.harderwoods.com/pipetemplate.php

I haven’t done this type of work since I got my forge plumbing set up but it would have come in handy then.

No Pipe!

Before I developed an interest in blacksmithing I frequently drove past a fabrication shop and occasionally noticed the sign which said “No pipe!”  In those days I didn’t understand the significance of the message.  Today I can imagine the conversations which prompted the posting.

When I started putting together my shop I made frequent trips to a local scrapyard where I was allowed to wander about and pick out pieces of metal.  Looking back, that was a lucky opportunity no longer available nearby.  I was able to stock my shop with most of what I would use for several years in round stock, sheet and plate, angle, channel and tool steel.  

I also brought home quite a bit of pipe in diameters up to about 3”.  Sometime later I learned the distinction between pipe and structural tube.  In the subsequent years the pipe has been used in shop building projects or otherwise has been disposed of.  It was really round tubing I needed not pipe.  I wrote about this once before.

http://persimmonforge.blogspot.com/2011/08/pipe-or-tube.html

The round tube is available in exact outside diameters in 1/8” increments from 3/8” through 2.5”.  That covers almost everything I use.  I recently came across the chart of round tubing sizes at this site

http://www.tottentubes.com/tubing-pipe-products/hss-round-tubing

I was surprised to see two sizes I hadn’t noticed before - 1-2/3” and 1-9/10”.  I know there must be a good reason for offering those dimensions but I have no idea what it is.  There is always more to learn.

Workmanship of Risk

As I recall it was at the Saltfork Craftsmen conference in 1999 when I heard Peter Ross suggest reading David Pye’s books on craftsmanship and design.  I took his advice and read them  both.

Recently I started thinking about those subjects again and decided to take another look at the books.

Pye was a skilled wood artist. He suggested that craftsmanship might mean “using any kind of technique or apparatus, in which the quality of the result is not predetermined, but depends on the judgement, dexterity and care which the maker exercises as he works.  The essential idea is that the quality of the result is continually at risk during the process of making;”

He designated the process of craftsmanship “the workmanship of risk.”  The contrasting idea is “workmanship of certainty.”  Quality machine manufacturing certainly has it’s place.  The wide availability of inexpensive standard machine screws and other hardware is an obvious example.  Hand-crafted can’t compete in that venue.

Pye goes on to discuss quality of workmanship and how finished work can vary from idealized designs and to discuss craftwork in terms of being free or regulated.  In all of this there is a lot of middle ground and the ends of the spectrum are essentially theoretical.

In my forging and other metalworking projects I am responsible for both the design and the forming - the craftsmanship.  I like working that way.  As I work through a project from design to finish work I think about the visual impression I’m targeting.  Every project involves modifying some parent metal stock using various tools.  It is often my intent to arrive at a finished piece in which it is not easy to determine what the parent stock was and what tools and techniques were used.  Some element of mystery seems to increase interest.

I was recently engaged in a conversation with some members of an art-craft co-op gallery regarding what types of work could be displayed.  I think one firm criteria was that skilled hand work would be obvious in the finished piece.  I think Pye would agree with that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Pye_(furniture)

http://www.amazon.com/The-Nature-Art-Workmanship-David/dp/0713689315

http://www.amazon.com/The-Nature-Aesthetics-Design-David/dp/0713652861/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y/192-5497689-0151811

A Palm Tree Sculpture

This has been a really busy summer.  I have had little time to think about writing.  When I haven’t been in the studio working on sculpture construction I have been working on design for other projects.  I just finished a couple of projects and felt I should get some notes written about them before the details slipped away.

I finished a coconut palm tree sculpture which was to fit in a space about seven feet tall and thirty inches wide.  The client sent me several images of the space in their gulf coast residence.  Living in Kansas, I don’t encounter coconut palms on any regular basis, so I had to do some research to see how I might interpret that botanical motif.

Since this was to be mounted on a wall and could not really project out into the room and obstruct traffic, I needed to work out a rather flat presentation.  Also, I decided, early on, that it would involve hollow forming to reduce weight.  I decided to make the trunk a half-round form so the back would be flat on the wall with a keyhole slot for hanging on a lag screw.   At the bottom would be another hidden screw hole so a long utility screw could be inserted to prevent the piece from rotating around the hanging point.

Another interesting challenge was my decision to make the piece a modular construction so it could be disassembled for shipment and reassembled by the client with little effort and no confusion.

The finish was to be “black iron” so I decided to work with the materials I use the most - 10 to14 gauge HRS and hot rolled bar stock.

I first made my drawings and worked out the proportions and dimensions for each part.  The next step involved deciding how the main components, trunk, fronds and coconuts would be rendered.  I try to design as much as I can to utilize the power hammer and hydraulic forging press as much as possible to avoid physical wear and tear on my body.  The hammer and anvil work is the most pleasurable but takes it’s toll.

I began by working on the trunk and calculated what width of flat 14 gauge sheet I needed to end up with a half-round form of proper width.  I found that width would be 4-6” depending on the section of the trunk.  I could comfortably work a length of sheet up to about 30”.  I wanted the trunk to have a slight taper and a slight undulation.  I ended up with three sections to work with; a short wide section for the base flare, the lower trunk and the upper trunk leading into the terminal bud where the fronds emerge and the coconuts form.

Each piece of sheet was vertically textured with coal fire heat and a bottom texture die in the power hammer.  To create the irregular transverse raised lines of the frond scars I made a set of dies for the press.  The third step was to produce the cupped volume.  I used one of my cupping dies in the power hammer for that.  Finally, I joined the three half-round trunk pieces by MIG welding.

I had the back face outline cut by water jet from 10 gauge HRS and added the keyhole slot by drilling torch cutting.  The touch marks were added at this stage on the back.

The, potentially, most difficult job is to get the cupped face welded to the flat back without adding twist to the back.  In retrospect I probably should have provided more internal bracing to the back plate.  I did end up with a little twist.

With the trunk completed I turned to the coconuts.  I made them using three different methods before choosing the easiest.  That involved forging one solid steel coconut and getting that form just as I wanted it.  From that master I made a coconut top-half die and a coconut bottom-half die for the forging press.  The dies have to be relieved to accommodate the thickness of stock which will be formed.  That stock turned out to be stamped pipe caps from a ranch store.  They are probably made from a deep draw steel and were easy to work.  

Each coconut was constructed by MIG welding together the top and bottom pressed pieces which had been torch trimmed to remove excess material at the cap rim.  Three coconut groups of 4-5 nuts were made each with a stem.

The frond ribs were formed by making long round tapers in round stock.  The fronds were water jet cut from a single pattern.  I would consider using straight, left-curved and right-curved frond patterns.  The round tapered ribs were sunk and plug welded.  The surface texture was added with the press and the edge slits were made with a throatless shear.

Each frond and coconut bunch was stamp numbered to index it to the modular assembly.  The final step was to group those pieces to the trunk.  Each piece fitted into a socket made from a short piece of 1/4” tube.  I built that step by step keeping in mind the idea of the terminal bud of the palm plant.

The palm frond ribs, intentionally left too long initially, were shortened and the male end forged to fit it’s socket as the final position for each was determined.

The finish was applied and the clients came and picked it up and got the instruction about disassembly/assembly and it left for a new home.  I’ll look forward to seeing a picture of it there.

Trunk texture test

Assembled coconut palm

Coconut bunch detail

A Spring Gate Latch

I’ve been clearing out old items from the shop to provide more working space.  I found this model I made for a gate project.  It never got real finish work or a protective coating so it is a bit rusty but the design should still be easy to see.

I remember this type of gate latch from my childhood.  It seems so familiar and I can fee the satisfying positive locking of the mechanism.

I remember them as all being factory made but back then I wouldn’t have recognized forge work.

The short latch spring bar in my model is made from a piece of 1/2” mild steel square bar 19.5” long.  I sawed a split about 2” at one end and opened the split so flat tapers could be forged.  Scroll tongs were used to create the grip finial shape.  The section just below the finial was left 1/2” square to show the parent stock.  The 4.5” below that was chamfered to roughly octagonal shape.  The rest of the bar was flattened and drawn out to create the spring section which is about 11.5” in length and angled to create the offset needed for the spring to function.  Two holes for the mounting lag screws were made near the bottom end.

The keeper-catch and the guide hoop were formed from 3/16” x 3/4” flat bar.  The hoop needs no forging only bending to shape.  The keeper has a center portion forged the-hard-way.  A kerf is cut out and filed there to catch the spring bar as seen in image 06.

In an actual installation I’d check the performance and if I felt the spring needed to be a bit stiffer I’d heat the flat spring section and quench it.

The rusty model.

2" split.

Partially forged spring bar.

Finials finished.

Long and short spring bars with offsets bent.

Rough forging of the keeper-catches before notching.

Guide, spring bar and keeper-catch in locked position.

Spring bar mounting.

Grip finial detail.

Here is a commercial example.

http://www.hooverfence.com/woodfence/8326.htm

Peter Parkinson’s DVD’s

I recently watched a pair of DVD’s titled Artist Blacksmithing, Techniques in Action.  I really enjoyed his presentation.  Of course it is always a pleasure to see a master at work.

I thought the instruction, which covers all the basics, was very efficient and the filming is quite good.  It is especial good when he is showing fine details of work such as two ways to temper tool steel working tips.  Occasionally the audio volume was a bit soft but always understandable.

In addition to carefully explaining each process, he also gives some nice tips on design.  These will probably be more noticeable to the advanced smith who recognizes that after the techniques are mastered it will be design which sells the work.

In my opinion these would be great aids for beginners to view quite a few times.  Peter makes the work look very easy and the beginner won’t find it so easy to accomplish.  Remember the old adage, “Everything is easy when you know how.”  The master knows how and the beginner doesn’t know how yet.

I picked up a few new ideas.  I marvel at the inventiveness of individual smiths in figuring out how to accomplish tasks.  Using some electrical cord the same size as the round bar to calculate a decorative wrap join is clever.  The hanger he attached to the gas torch welding tip to use with his gas saver was new to me.

He gave quite a few tips about heating metal in the forge fire but there wasn’t much about fire management itself.  The reason it is not an issue seems to be the constant perfect coke fire in his vertical draft forge.  I wish I had such a fire.

http://www.bookdepository.com/Artist-Blacksmithing-Peter-Parkinson/9781861269775

Business Cards

Things change, including opinions.  When I started my blacksmithing I started thinking about marketing strategies.  One of the first things I did was design a business card on my computer and print a few to carry in my wallet.  I thought this gave me just one step up in credibility above the smiths who didn't have a business card.

A bit later I decided to get some professionally printed cards on better paper to give me just a step up in credibility above the smiths who printed their business cards on their computers.

Over the next 18 years I handed out a couple of thousand cards and I'm not sure if any one of them ever brought me any business.

A couple of years ago we decided to drop our landline phone and all advertising.  I went through the remaining supply of business cards and lined out all his old phone numbers and handprinted the new cell phone number.  That took me a while and as I work on the project I pondered how I once thought that the practice seemed somewhat tacky.  

However I was now operating on the basis of actual experience and I was not interested in spending any more money on business cards that didn't actually yield business.  My opinion now is that the hand-edited card sets me one step above the smith who just jots down a phone number or scrap of paper.  Eventually I may work my way back around again to using that method.

If I were going to get new cards printed, this would be the design.  It has the correct cell phone number.

The Replacement Forge Flue

The current coal forge flue and accelerator sections have been used since January 1999 - over 14 years.  It is deteriorating and may fail soon. From time to time sheets of rust fall off the inside surfaces onto the ash pile in the smoke collector.

I made the original flue from 18 or 20 gauge sheet and MIG welded all the seams.  I don’t have the time to do that again so I’m asking Kan FAB to cut and bend 16 gauge panels which will bolt together to form the flue.

This will be an experimental design. The smoke chamber was replaced several years ago with bolt-together 10 gauge panels and angle. That design has worked very well. http://persimmonforge.blogspot.com/2012/05/my-side-draft-forge.html

I designed the new flue panels so they can be assembled from the bottom, where they attach to the smoke collector, upward to terminate in a Vacu-Stack chimney topper. There will be five sections; the smoke accelerator, three rectangular duct sections and the adaptor section to mount the Vacu-Stack topper.  Angle tabs will be welded to provide linkage between the sections.  I plan to seal any gaps with silicone caulk

I haven’t decided whether to make the flue sections with four separate sides or with two-side units which would require just half the seam sealing but double the weight of the panels.  Another alternative  would be to form the back and sides as one piece and just bolt on the front.

Also, I haven't made a final decision about incorporating a damper.  With the ability to remove individual panels that could be added later.

The way this year is working out I will not get this job done until it is cooler and drier in the fall.  I plan to borrow a scaffold  from a chimney sweep friend and set it up outside the shop.

10 gauge and angle smoke collector.

Five-section replacement flue.

Vertical flange and angle-tap joinery.

Smoke accelerator

Vacu-Stack mounting section

The Filing Vise

There is a drawing of a filing vise in the Blacksmith’s Journal on page 822, Volume 06, Feb 1996.  It is a contribution from Francis Whitaker.  I took a picture of it when I was at his shop in 1999.  I had recently acquired one for my shop.  I have never used the tool for an aid in filing.  I use it mostly for clamping things when I’m doing torch work.

I never really thought about it being an unusual tool until I did a web search and couldn’t find an image of another like it.  There are many images of other types especially for holding saw blades.

The hinge pin broke recently so I replaced it with another I made from a 60d nail.

Whitaker shop filing vise.

My filing vise with new hinge pin.

A Serbian Blacksmith

In March of this year I received an email from Nebojsa Ilijevic.  He is a blacksmith in Belgrade, Serbia and he was seeking some technical information about my tumbler.  He had seen it on the web and was thinking about building one for his shop.

I answered his questions and thought that I would inquire later to see how his project turned out.  However, I got busy and forgot about that until just a few days ago.  I wrote to him and he kindly replied with some images of the machine he built.

His tumbler is longer than mine and uses an interesting triple belt system to drive the rotation.  I looks like it will take some time to remove the rust from the interior.  Nebojsa was quick to point out how much loud noise the operation produces.

Check out his website - the wrought iron button leads to a nice gallery of work.

http://www.nit-art.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=16&Itemid=126&lang=en

Worked Slick

I’ve been busy with work on some client projects in addition to home and yard work so there has not been time to write.  The phrase, “I’ve been worked slick” came to mind.  I heard it years ago and assumed it alluded to how a well-used wood handle tool like a rake gets polished slick from hand rubbing.  I always assumed it was in common use but I couldn’t remember a single instance of hearing it since that original experience.  I searched for it on the web and didn’t come up with anything.

As I pondered other references about work which I had tucked away in my memory a few came back to me.  From childhood there was “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.”  About twenty years ago I first heard “Woah there, a man can easily over do.”  A friend used this as a joke whenever he heard some type of work proposed.

Another favorite was used by my paternal grandfather.  As a teenager I was eager to get things done and when I got impatient with the pace of our work I occasionally did something which evoked “Slow down there.  We’re not at a rat killing.”

Today I’ll be working again on finishing an unusual railing project.  I am making what I call a twining vine motif rail.  The rail is inspired by the concept of a vine such as bittersweet twining around the trunk or vine of another plant and seeming to sink into it as the encircled plant grows in diameter.  I have been told that some cane makers will coppice a sassafras  grove so that there are a lot of young sprouts which will quickly grow to cane-size.  Some of these will be encircled by twining vines and the resulting deformation makes especially sought after cane stock.

My clients home is in a rural setting so the work I am doing will reflect some of the native flora such as river grape vine.  The rail is mounted with grape leaf - fruit cluster - tendril brackets.  I’ll start posting some information about how the project was done as soon as I can get the time.

Scroll down to the twining vine image:

http://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/tree-shrub/american-bittersweet

More quotes about work:

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_work.html

Moles and Ground Vibration

I’m told the Eastern mole is the only variety found in Kansas.  Moles like loose loamy soils containing lots of insects which nicely describes my location in the Neosho River flood plain.  The are classified as insectivores and consume lots of earthworms, cutworms, beetle grubs and millipedes and more.  Apparently in captivity they are more omnivorous.

Before I built my studio the lawn would be heaved up from time to time with mole hills and feeding runs.  It wasn’t a big deal here but when I was a kid in Missouri our yard was regularly and plentifully marked by mole hills and feeding runs which were unsightly and made mowing difficult.

I have heard they don’t like ground vibration but most of the articles I read recently say that ground vibration devices are not effective or perhaps only effective over a very short distance.  I recall seeing mole activity around the shop until I installed a fifty pound Little Giant power hammer.  When it went into regular use there were no more visible mole runs near the shop.  I still see some runs near the creek which is a couple of hundred feet away.

So, I may be going out on a limb here, but, if you have moles and want to run them off, try installing a power hammer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_mole

http://kufs.ku.edu/libres/mammals_of_kansas/mole.html

http://www.gopherandmolecontrolhq.com/mole-trapping-101-how-to-get-rid-of-moles-step-by-step/

Home Chores Trump Forging

It is a lot of trouble for me to adjust from Winter to Spring.  I have to bring up the hoses from the basement - didn’t I just drain and coil them a couple of weeks ago?  The we did some lawn fertilizing, worked on the mower, fixed some screens, sharpened pruning tools and did pruning.  On and on it goes and the shop isn’t seeing much activity.

Betty did some planting in the garden.  Mostly our neighbors use that space and give us part of the crop but we have to do some watering and we built a pea trellis.  She has been busy picking asparagus and putting house plants out for the summer and planting summer annuals which we brought home from several local nurseries.

I sprayed the poison ivy and greenbriar and keep the grape jelly feeder filled for the orioles.   Now I’m going to have to spend some time battling wood bees which are tunneling in the wood trim around the house.  That has been and ongoing battle for twenty years.  I’m going to leave the black carpenter ant colony in the silver maple tree alone.  I have been told that they just eat out the center rotting dead wood and the living tube around that is still strong.

Even though there is a lot of work to do there is the pleasure of being out of doors and observing what nature is showing off.  I sometimes remember to carry my pocket camera and take a few images.  I don’t really go out of my way and miss documenting most of the flower bloom and wildlife activity.  We live in a riparian forest habitat so there is a lot of it.  Each night I sit outside until I see the bats and record the time they begin to fly.

Trellis rose west of the shop.

1" long pawpaw.

Serviceberries west of shop.

Wild strawberry patch north of shop.

I wrote about how I modified the sprinklers so they wouldn’t tip over last October - http://persimmonforge.blogspot.com/2013/10/sprinkler-spike-base.html Now, I’ve made another sprinkler modification.  I mounted a impulse sprinkler on a 48” pipe and welded a spike on the bottom with a foot plate so I could push it into the ground.  This puts the sprinkler at a handy working height so I can easily adjust the spray arc restrictors.  

Tall sprinkler rainbow at SW corner of shop.

I’m about caught up now so I think I can get in a good lick of work in the shop next week.

New Forging Gloves

I recently bought a dozen pair of welding gloves because I have been discarding several gloves which have deteriorated a lot.  I was really pleased to find how well they were made and how comfortable they were.  I felt I got a pretty good deal for the price and decided to pass on the tip.  I got the Uline variety for $7 a pair.

http://www.uline.com/BL_987/Welders-Heat-Resistant-Gloves

Hinged Fold-Down Trellis

Six years ago I decided to put up a trellis to break up a large expanse of wall and make it a bit more interesting.  I made a sort of art nouveau wireframe trellis.  It wasn’t my greatest design but I was considering this an experiment and wasn’t greatly concerned about that.  I didn’t want to invest a lot of time and work as I believed it would be changed later.  One thing I particularly wanted to try was a fold-down mechanism to accommodate periodic house painting without destroying the trellis vine.  

I fabricated a tube and rod hinge for the bottom.  Each rod end is attached to the house siding at about the level of the sill plate.  The trellis frame is attached to the tube so it can rotate from horizontal to vertical.  In actual use it won’t need to fold gown more than about 45º.  When the trellis is folded into the upright position there needs to be a keeper mechanism at the top.  A couple of eye screws and some wire will work.

I installed the trellis and decided right away that I didn’t get the visual scale large enough but that could be remedied later.  I planted a honeysuckle vine and it quickly grew up onto the structure.  While the plant was still relatively small the trellis could be folded away and the vine was not damaged. 

At that point I felt like I had demonstrated the feasibility of using the fold-down design.  However, there was more to be learned here.  First, the vine growth will soon totally obscure the structure of the trellis so no fancy design is worth making.  In the future I would plan to just make the frame simple and light in weight.

Also, I didn’t envision the vine jumping to the siding and using it as a climbing aid.  Now that the vine is doing that I’ll have to deal with it.  One thing I’d consider in the design is making the standoff from the house a greater distance - perhaps a foot or more.

The experiment didn’t turn out to have nice visual result I had in mind but it gave me the experience to develop a few opinions about trellis design and some birds seem to like it just as it is.