Today was the day for Arts In The Park, and my first public display of blacksmithing went pretty well. The Mrs. stopped by with her camera and took these pics.
Making a scrolled end for an S hook
Curling the scroll
Making a point!
Twisting
Making a nail
Handwrought Nails
4 Comments
September 20, 2008 at 6:08 pm
sure the metal looks hot, but where’s the fire, where’s the sweat?
Great nails. those would look good in a simple wooden bowl on top of a mantel.
September 20, 2008 at 6:29 pm
You can see the fired forge inside the crook of my arm in the ‘curling the scroll’ pic.
The sweat level was low today. We had nice cool weather and I was working right next to an open garage door. Most days I have to wear a headband or bandana and come home with sopping wet clothes. Today was exceptional.
The nails are going to a newly restored antique house in Asheville somewhere. Not sure of the details, the Master Smith came in and said “I need 25 nails” and we made ‘em.
September 22, 2008 at 8:06 pm
About 8 years ago I was involved with a project known as the “Liberty Tree Guitar.” I inspected, purchased and processed the wood from the last standing “Liberty Tree” that was left over from the Revolutionary period.
One of the pitfalls with this project were 200 year old nails that we found that looked much like your modern day creations. we killed multiple saw blades in the process, but made excellent guitars.
September 22, 2008 at 11:31 pm
[...] was reading over at sidemeat about some blacksmithing that JB was doing. He posted some pics of some hand made nails, and it got me thinking. A few days [...]