WOW! Its been 3 weeks since I wrote about my activities. I kept meaning to get around to it, but I kept finding reasons to put it off. No excuses, just the way life has been. So here’s whats up:
Carved a mold and began casting ranking medallions for Atlantia’s Royal Rounds. These have been produced by several people over the years that I have been playing, and I felt it was my turn to add some to the coffers.
They are now just waiting for drilling and painting.
2. Did some work on wrapping the rest of the hardware for the archers bathroom. They are now just waiting on a few coats of varnish and to be mounted.
Finally got back into the workshop (garage) and was able to do some work on Grimmsfield’s outdoor kitchen. At first this did not involve using the forge, which made me sad. But I spent a few days cutting the lumber and roughing up the tool chest for the kitchen.
This was put together and the hardware attached with drywall screws to see how it would all go together. These will be removed one at a time and replaced with hand forged nails. As a nail maker, I SUCK!!!!!!! Not happy with most that I have produced, and those that are usable, I would not give them bore then a C- grade. Once enough nails are made I plan to take the box back apart, stain and varnish it, and then put it back together with the nails.
Last week I finally found some time to blacksmith. The next tool I planned on making was a cinder rake that was requested by the cooks of Grimmsfield. This was to be a tool to remove the old coals and ashes from the sand in order to build a new cooking fire. I had been racking my brains for several weeks trying to figure out how to make a rake head. Cutting a sheet into the proper shape, forging a piece with multiple prongs, or cutting an old cement rake for the tines. All of these went through my mind, but in the end it was luck (and my wife ) who found a metal children’s rake that I then took apart for the rake head.
The rake came in 3 pieces, the wooden shaft, the socket and the rake head. Nocking out the rake head was easy. the socket was held on to the head with 2 bent tabs. when these were ground off, the head came right off leaving me with 2 holes perfect for riveting.
The next step was to burn off the paint and create a handle for the tool. This was done on a similar way to the water scoop I made earlier, except with a smaller front blade. This was then drilled to match the 2 holes in the rake head. Once the 2 were connected, I was not pleased with how the angles of the tool were, but I had run out of time. Last Monday, before archery, i found myself with enough time to work on something, but not enough time to fire up the forge.
I decided to try forging using an oxy / acetylene torch. I had seen several videos of blacksmith using this as a quick heat source, and I decided to give it a try. And it works. used a lot of fuel, but I was able to isolate the bends behind the rake head and get them to the shape I wanted. Two tools now in the chest, plus the chest! Now to figure out what to work on next. I know I have some arrows in my future, but there is nothing exciting there. Nothing exciting, but time consuming. Hopefully, it will not take me as long to do enough to post again.
