After talking with my good friend, Mistress Lorelei Greenleafe, I decided that I needed to do a simple A&S project with simple documentation. Not for a contest, not for any glory , just for the simple act of creating a usable, document-able object. This object was inspired by a conversation I had With Mistress Lorelei and what see needed to help her with her outdoor cooking. A cooking trivet seemed to be just what she needed.
If you want to skip the rest of this post, here is a link to the documentation written up for the Trivet:
For those of you who just want to scroll through the process pictures, here you go:
To start the trivet i began with a 1/8 x 3/4 piece of bar stuck. This was then worked into a circle on the flat. Once the circle was formed to the correct size this was cut off of the bar stock.
After the excess was trimmed from the ring it was worked into a circle with about a one inch overlap at the joint. This was then riveted together to keep it in place. After this it was heated to forge welding temperature and worked down top original thickness. The edges of the joint were then cleaned up to make an even transition.
the next step was to work on the legs/ blade units. these were made from 10 in long 3/8 in. square stock. They were marked at 1 in in from one side for the feet and 3 inches in from the other side for the rest. The 3 inch section was then drawn out to a with of 3/4 of an inch with a thickness of 1/8 inch. This was done to mimic the measurements of the ring. this was then bent to hold the ring at the proper angle. The next step was to heat the center section and put the twist in that. The final step for each leg was to flatten, spread and bend the foot. While the feet were still hot, each was given my touchmark because I am a vain person.
The next step was to mark the ring in 3 places exactly 120 degrees apard and center a rivet hole on that mark. Holes were also drilled in the blades of each leg. Nails were then cut to the proper rivet length and used to rivet the legs to the ring. The trivet was then adjusted until each foot rested squarely on the ground and it was a level surface for the cooking vessel.
The final step was to apply a finish to keep the tool from rustin. The entire trivet was coated in vegetable oil and placed in a 450 degree oven for an hour and a half. This resulted in a finish very sinilar to that found on a cast iron piece of cookware.
This was then allowed to cool and tested to insure that it remained level. The trivet was then boxed up and shipped to Mistress Lorelei for field testing. I will let you all know how it worked.
