Forge progress

Both doors are attached, and the tool rest. Now for the burner pipes

Forge progress

As you can see, I am so close! The biggest part is almost done , then I can start on constructing the blowers and the gas lines. There after I will be looking for the refractory materials.

It's coming along

I managed to weld a hinge on the door and the chamber of my forge. I paused for a while and thought about a few things. I enacted the direction to which the door should open, trying to run the ergonomics of and practical aspects that would help me make the decisions on how to put it all together. All the stop- think moments are what is taking up the most time, I think better whilst I'm busy

And that's when all the issues appear.

Wear your heart on your..... Finger

This is one of two heart rings I made last week at work, it was a fun exercise in measurement and a beating on the wrists to file. 

DEKS

The Durban knife show this year I felt was excellent, I did notice an improvement from previous exhibitors. Over all atmosphere was very friendly and out going. As said before is a great inspiration for my own work, after showing some of my own work to a Mr. Mitchell it was suggested that I take part and display next and maybe share a table. And I bought myself some exciting goodies

He's Here!

I have a nephew! He was born yesterday! Timothy Stefanus Moodley. I am very excited to watch this boy grow, lots of boy stuff to do!

Forge is coming along

As you can see there will be a "master door" that will be as big as the main chamber. I have made a decision to cut in a smaller secondary door as well. For now  I'm just working on getting the master door atached to the main chamber with an hinge.

Platinum clean up

Today all I did was clean up platinum castings, a nice change from the everyday. This is a men's wedding band weighs in at 21.4g

Amazing discovery!

When testing my newly flared burner pipes I noticed that the bigger flare (compared to my present burner)on the end of the  burner pipe, makes it easier for the air to get vacuumed into the burner pipe. Meaning that less pressure is needed to produce a blue hot flame compared to my present forge, making it cost effective. We'll see how the cost efficiency of the forge will turn out having two burners.

Knife Shows!

The Durban Eastwr Knife Show is here! I am so excited, last year being the first I've ever attended. This year I am really looking forward to once again seeing the incredible crafts ship of the different knife makes/smiths. It serves as a real inspiration and motivation for my own level of quality, in both jewellery and knife smithing. 

All flared up

Now that I have flared both my burner pipes, I can now start to plan with everything in my hands. I know I will find it easier to place everything together  and work out a rough assembly.

My Observation

From my observation of last terms work through a reflective report. I discovered that instead of exploring and using black smithing skills and techniques to manufacture jewellery out precious metals. I am more drawn to manufacturing of steel and iron jewellery through exploring black smithing. I realized this when I was busy forging a steel seal ring. The actual process of hot working the metal into a piece of jewellery fascinated me, more than the cold working of precious metal using blacksmithing skill and techniques

First burner tube!

Apologies for the fuzzy picture, This is the first burner pipe that has been flared. The flare causes what is known as the venturi effect. Basically the gas being forced through the funnel like side of the burner pipe, causes a vacuum, which sucks air(oxygen) into the pipe making the flame on the other side hotter than if it was just gas alone. This is part of the burner I will be making for my forge. It's coming along very nicely, I simply ran the torch through it and the flame out the other side was jet like. LOTS OF HAPPINESS!

The forge awaits!

This is what I have gathered so far in order to make my new forge, a length of steel pipe and some angle iron for the legs. It's going to be beautiful, I will get busy with first straightening the edge where it was cut with a cutting torch.

Pretorius knives

I just finished sharpening both knives, these are the first "Chef" knives I've made so far. I know the secondary bevel could be smaller and I could of forged them thinner. Over all I think they turned out ok.
Sent via my BlackBerry