The Learning never stops...

  I was in the forge all weekend and on and off this past week. I have been chipping away at a project from my mentor - a pair of large and small calipers. They help me to manufacture a consistant project over and over again. Hopefully I can learn from my mistakes and move on to new items. The caliper are three pieces riveted together and have to meet up with each other just so. I am half way through one pair and will have photos on the site soon.

  My favorite item is by far the Frederick cross. Not only do I twist it in the diamond shape pattern, but I hand hammer them out and embed salt into the bar. After coating them with bees wax/ linseed oil, I polish with gold leaf and then spray on a clear polymer to preserve the finish. I have made 47 of them so far and give them to folks in need all around the country. If you are reading about this and are interested just send me your name and address. It is very labor intensive, more than you thing so I have to figure out a way to speed up the fabrication of the 1/2" square bar stock.

   After much research, it came to me I don't need a fancy $1500 vertical band saw just a good old fashion Milwaukee porta band for $300 at Home Depot. This weekend, Gary and I spent part of Saturday fabricating a stand that cradles the saw vertically onto a metal table. This has reduced my production time from 9 mins per piece down to 3 minutes. Check out the basement shop that I am working in for the time being until my extension of the forge is completed this summer. I have dug up the 8'x12'x1' area for the footer and am ready for the crushed stone this week. Keep you posted...