Assagai finnished!

Well here is the final product, the handle is varnished and the blade is engraved with the clients name. I wrapped the join with some leather to soften the tansition a bit and all in all it was a great success. Ill be meeting the client in two weeks to give it to him as it is for his fathers birthday.

Thanks for following this one guys hope you liked it.

Almost finished the assagai

Well here are some more pics of the assagai, all I have to do now is to engrave the clients name, varnish the handle and the blade and then do some leather wrap on the butt and the join and Ill be all done.

Burning the tang into the shaft of the spear

You can see the black line coming from the shaft onto the blade, thats where a little mini flame thrower happened every time I pressed the tang into the blade.

 The final almost finished piece.

Thank you for reading my blog guys keep it up. If you want to place a comment feel free to do so, or just send me a msg on facebook.

Well the forge was fired up early this morning and I managed to complete what I planned to do which was the assagai spear blade for my new order and the Lily I started a while back but hadn't finished.

This is the rough blank before grinding and shaping.

Initial cleanup of the blade.

 Final cleanup, look how shiny it got lol.

The final piece.

All I need to do now is attach it to the shaft and varnish it and I'll be done.

This is the lily I made, what I would do differently though is make the stamen shorter next time.

Thanks for supporting my blog and reading it, without you guys I wouldn't do it.

Long time, but busy!

Wow, just returned from a awesome two weeks in Mozambique with the family!

To be greeted with an awesome opportunity!!! There is a Medieval market (https://www.facebook.com/events/280394055434011/) happening on the 26th of October and I am frantically making bracelets and pendants for then. My goal is at least 150 bracelets and I've already made 25! Im going to run out of rings Im sure. Here are my wares.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/106410897860917927001/albums/5919304961236316897?authkey=CNDVjebVisThnQE

The forge has also been busy and I made my second order just before I left to Moz, it was a set of 10 cheesboard handles with a leaf flourish (still need pics of the finished product) as well as a set of 12 hand rail supports for my Grandfathers handrail project And it looks fantastic.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/106410897860917927001/albums/5919308675174270193?authkey=CMnH6teaiN-zhwE

This weekend Ill be making a lily for a friend, a knife blade or two and a zulu asagai.

Happy forging and thank you all so much for reading.

Planned projects

Well this weekend I have a few plans for some projects that I have been wanting to do for a while.

 One of them will be to make a knife or two, the other is a bike stand for 6 bikes and a chandelier, the last two items are easy welding projects, the knife I will be forging from a piece of hilux spring steel. The sword project is also starting up again and I am working to rectify the error made with the steel purchase. It was the perfect size but it was a second hand spring so had a hole in the center, I have come across a new contact with much better quality steel sans hole.

 I am on the prowl for a belt grinder and a suitable container for a gas forge, my humble forge is growing and becoming more useful.  My next building step is to build a roof over the main forging area. This should not prove to difficult as all it involves are a few support poles and some bracing and over the top a layer of zink roofing. Nothing fancy just enough to keep the rain out, after that I will build a wall around the two open sides and close in the shop.

Studies are going well and I am healing well from the surgery I went in for on friday, I have no fears that it will impact my work on the weekend.

Busy weekend and goal achieved

Well on Friday I said to myself that I will finish the two pairs of tongs I started and voila! I have done it. The first pair are as ugly as sin but are surprisingly very useful. The second pair are by far much better and look great as well. Here are some pics of them as well as some of my other tools I have amassed.

On a different note I have been commissioned to make yet another weapon lol. Pictures also included.

These are all my forge tools I have so far. From right: 1kg machinists hammer, 1 water scoop, 1 punch, 1 cutter, 1 First pair of tongs, top - Second pair of tongs, Bottom - Fire poker.

Detail of the scroll work on the end of the poker.

The water scoop.

My first pair of tongs made from 10mm steel bar, head and neck forged, handles drawn out  near head and widening to the back, this balances them very well. The two parts were riveted together by myself.

Detail of the head. As you can see the one lip is longer than the other, this makes it an excelent tool to use when doing rivet work as the longer head can be placed over the rivet and is used to hold it in place while you shape the other side of the rivet.I have not included a picture but the lips have a groove down the center so as to be able to grip onto the piece being worked on.

My pride and joy at this moment. The second pair of tongs I have made. The heads were forged from 16mm bar and then the neck was drawn out to only 1cm, I then cut them off of the original stock riveted them together and then welded the handles on afterwards.

Size comparison.

This one also has the groove in the center so as to be able to grip better.

Detail of the head. Here you can also see the top lip is slightly longer, this is so that I can scoop the piece I am trying to grab rather than chase it around the fire pot. You can see the welds that I made as well.

This is the Staff I have been commissioned to make.

As you can see it is not so difficult, the grooves are 2mm deep and there are a total of 20, 10 a side, the patrons name will be in the center and their initials on the ends. It will be 2m long and 2cm wide.

Thank you all for reading my posts I appreciate it very much. Fell free to drop any comments I look forward to them.

Work Work Work

Wow long time and much done. The combination of the new year, a new approach to studying and many new ideas flooding into my brain have all kept me from posting much these days and I apologize dear readers for being such an appalling host. Here are a few items I have made and where no pictures exsist you can be sure of them in the near future.

I have made a Dwarvish maille belt using an adaptation of a triangular tube as you can see below.

I have also made much progress on the shirt I am making, this is the comparison between now and the last shot I showed you all.

I have estimated that I will need another 7000 rings before I am finished  That will take me a total of 28 more sessions to finish in each session I do at least 250 rings. It now weighs in at 9 kgs (20 lbs)

I am also going to make a chainmaille bikini top as shown below.

This is a bag I made using a plain 4-1 English maille weave. The leather was hand stitched by myself.

Quit a bit done in a short time period. I will be getting back to the hot worked metal soon as I have a few free weekends coming up soon. I will be finishing off two pairs of tongs then so keep watch for those.