Well since I decided to reactivate this blog I have begun to feel really guilty about not blogging daily. I think it best to keep this casual or else the pressure to blog will turn things sour for us all. Today’s post is to chat a little more about the direction the forge is going and to delve a little deeper into the journey that has got me to where I am.
When I left Finland for the UK I placed all my tools and belongings into storage. It was a dry and clean storage so I was not concerned about anything growing mold or rats or the like. A very good storage for 35 euros a month!! The reason I mention this storage will become evident a little later in this post. Anyway placing all my blacksmithing tools into the 1 x 3 metre storage room was sad to say the least but at least I knew they were safe and dry. The thing is, the old adage “ out of sight out of mind” really felt true for me. I suppose with the separation with the then wife and the distance from the kids on top of the new home and new job, my lonely tools were way down the lists of concerns. That said, it did not stop me drawing or keeping in touch with my artistic side.
In my previous post I mentioned my boss/house mate and good friend Ross. He really did help me through the shitty days and nights. He kept me busy. Coaching during the week days and weekends, Cricket training and playing at Bromley Commons gave me little time to sit and fester. But I wasn’t living my life. I really wasn’t anywhere near what, where nor how I envisioned I would be. I was still living in a foreign culture and desperate for something familiar. That’s where one of my best mates from Australia, Damian comes in. Damian and I met in the first year of High school in the early eighties and have been friends ever since. He moved to the UK a year after I moved to Finland. Being geographically close we kept in touch and over the years visited each other in our respective adopted countries. In the UK I was living in Kent and Damian in Essex although reasonably close it was still a mission to visit each other. Long weekends were the way to go! I would train it there, Damian would even pick me up and drive me on a Friday afternoon, I would stay the weekend with Damian and Emily. Absolute amazing hosts as well as a very caring couple. The hours spent playing Wii were numerous and a welcomed stress release. Quite a few times members of the household stirred for breakfast as we were finishing the 20th game of golf lol.. I will always remember my time spent with those two and I was so sorry leave them behind when I moved to Australia.
It was during one of these weekend visits that they took me to on old farm which has been converted into a handicraft haven. Candy shops, woolen goods, silversmith, glass blowing and yes even a blacksmith!! Tell me that didn’t reignite the old forge deep within! Luckily he was closed so I didn’t get the blacksmith bug too bad. Still, an absolutely ideal location to have a forge. With all the other handicrafts assisting with drawing the crowds how could a blacksmith business not thrive… unless like that lazy sod and not open for business each and every single time I visited that place!!! Even when Tush came out to visit me, a wonderful weekend spent at Damian and Emiliy’s.. except that bloody blacksmith was not open!!! I never did see any of his work lol I did learn something from him though.. he had great signage! I will see if I can upload a picture in this blog. Damian and Em became my sanity over there and not living the life of an artist blacksmith didn’t seem to preoccupy my mind so much. Thanks guys I miss you!
I promised to talk a little bit about the direction / progression of the forge. I am certain I will revisit some more old stories about my life and friends in the UK and Finland again.. but for now.. What I have managed to achieve this past week in the forge? Well if you visited www.etsy.com/shop/RedHavenStudio you will have seen what Tush and I have managed to do these past few weeks. Over the past 3 days I have decided to branch out of the jewellery side of things and make some more functional wrought iron products. On Monday I made a couple of dozen ‘s’ hooks of various sizes. Despite the amount of product made I found it slow as I was trying to remember technique. I mentioned in my previous blog that I hadn’t lifted a hammer for 2 years.. that was a gross miscalculation.. it is closer to 4 years!! It is amazing how all the simple techniques I took for granted 4 years ago I had to spend time and thought in making sure I was achieving the high quality I demand from myself. Hence I spent 30 minutes making a jig to assist with the ‘s’ hooks. Being on stand alone solar panels, when ever I need to arc weld something I need to set up and fire up the 7.7 kva petrol generator. I was juggling the idea that by the time I set things up for the amount of electricity needed I could have completed the job by hot punching holes, drifting and then fixing it with a mortise and tenon joint. It was a lot quicker, cleaner but most of all satisfying. Not needing modern technology to accomplish the desired result was very and I mean very satisfying. Wanting to try out my new bending jig I went a little crazy and whacked out another couple of dozen ‘s’ hooks. Having all of these hooks lying around seemed somehow unfulfilling. Hooks need to hang and I need to blacken these things anyway.. so I made some 120cm hooks that could suspend a rod from the roof of the forge. Once I started to sort out and group the hooks in long dangling chains I was inspired to hang all sorts of things from there. By the end of today, suspended in my gradually transforming shed, were dozens of hooks both blackened and raw, 4 x 20cm gate hooks, 3 x candle snuffers, 4 x hand made tools, 1 bottle opener and a variety of ‘o’ hooks to help suspend everything. My shed is starting to look like a forge :)
Now I have spent this last week testing various ways of blackening steel. The three different substances all have their own pro’s and cons.
Initially I began using used sump oil.. it gives an amazing mat black finish and protects the metal from rust quite well. The cons though are the black lungs filled with what can only be described as the fumes of an old Volvo smell, to quench the steel successfully the steel need to be a cherry red which required time and fuel (oxy/Acc). Also if you were to twist the item the black coating actually chips off. Not good for functional items but suitable for jewellery.
I then decided to purchase some linseed oil. Now thinking that the smell can not be worse than the used sump oil was almost correct. I noticed that quenching the steel in linseed oil did not cause anywhere as much smoke as the used sump oils does but the odour was like opening a tin of smoked fish. Go figure?? I guess the company that makes this is cheating the system and is adding cheap ass fish oil into thee mix.. unpleasant to say the least. Now it coated the items in a rather nice gun metal grey colour and I am yet to find a piece that has chipped when twisted cold. It does however require the same amount of fuel as the other oil as the steel needs to be heated to the cherry red colour.
Now whilst in Finland I used to use tar to coat all out door metal items. It gives a great pitch black colour which is flexible and doesn’t chip when twisted cold. It smells nice and needs to be applied on much cooler steel. Trying to apply tar to a cherry red hot steel and the tar just rolls and burns off. A cool pale grey colour is all that is needed to coat an item successfully but wiping off excess is needed as any excess tar leaves a sticky feel. Not good. Needing a cooler application saves on fuel and time, and has a lovely smell to boot :) The only negative really is that the tar available here is what they call ‘Sockholm Tar’. Now one would think that it is the tar exactly what I had been using in Finland but no. This tar is used to paint on horse hooves for show and medical purposes. Despite it working like the tar in Finland the smell is unmistakably DETTOL with faint underlying hints of bitumen. Not the same type of tar at all!! Still there are more pros for the antiseptic smelling tar than the other oils.. so TAR it is!! The tar used in Finland is drawn from the birch tree and is absolutely delicious!!
Well that’s me for tonight.. I know I should but I am too tired to read through this for grammatical and spelling errors.. don’t be too harsh :)
Keep poping back to the etsy pages to see the new items. Hopefully tomorrow we will be able to upload them to the site. Oh and for those of you on the ball and have realised that I haven't addressed the storage issue.. keep posted and I talk about that in my next post :0)
See you next time.
Wombat
When I left Finland for the UK I placed all my tools and belongings into storage. It was a dry and clean storage so I was not concerned about anything growing mold or rats or the like. A very good storage for 35 euros a month!! The reason I mention this storage will become evident a little later in this post. Anyway placing all my blacksmithing tools into the 1 x 3 metre storage room was sad to say the least but at least I knew they were safe and dry. The thing is, the old adage “ out of sight out of mind” really felt true for me. I suppose with the separation with the then wife and the distance from the kids on top of the new home and new job, my lonely tools were way down the lists of concerns. That said, it did not stop me drawing or keeping in touch with my artistic side.
In my previous post I mentioned my boss/house mate and good friend Ross. He really did help me through the shitty days and nights. He kept me busy. Coaching during the week days and weekends, Cricket training and playing at Bromley Commons gave me little time to sit and fester. But I wasn’t living my life. I really wasn’t anywhere near what, where nor how I envisioned I would be. I was still living in a foreign culture and desperate for something familiar. That’s where one of my best mates from Australia, Damian comes in. Damian and I met in the first year of High school in the early eighties and have been friends ever since. He moved to the UK a year after I moved to Finland. Being geographically close we kept in touch and over the years visited each other in our respective adopted countries. In the UK I was living in Kent and Damian in Essex although reasonably close it was still a mission to visit each other. Long weekends were the way to go! I would train it there, Damian would even pick me up and drive me on a Friday afternoon, I would stay the weekend with Damian and Emily. Absolute amazing hosts as well as a very caring couple. The hours spent playing Wii were numerous and a welcomed stress release. Quite a few times members of the household stirred for breakfast as we were finishing the 20th game of golf lol.. I will always remember my time spent with those two and I was so sorry leave them behind when I moved to Australia.
It was during one of these weekend visits that they took me to on old farm which has been converted into a handicraft haven. Candy shops, woolen goods, silversmith, glass blowing and yes even a blacksmith!! Tell me that didn’t reignite the old forge deep within! Luckily he was closed so I didn’t get the blacksmith bug too bad. Still, an absolutely ideal location to have a forge. With all the other handicrafts assisting with drawing the crowds how could a blacksmith business not thrive… unless like that lazy sod and not open for business each and every single time I visited that place!!! Even when Tush came out to visit me, a wonderful weekend spent at Damian and Emiliy’s.. except that bloody blacksmith was not open!!! I never did see any of his work lol I did learn something from him though.. he had great signage! I will see if I can upload a picture in this blog. Damian and Em became my sanity over there and not living the life of an artist blacksmith didn’t seem to preoccupy my mind so much. Thanks guys I miss you!
I promised to talk a little bit about the direction / progression of the forge. I am certain I will revisit some more old stories about my life and friends in the UK and Finland again.. but for now.. What I have managed to achieve this past week in the forge? Well if you visited www.etsy.com/shop/RedHavenStudio you will have seen what Tush and I have managed to do these past few weeks. Over the past 3 days I have decided to branch out of the jewellery side of things and make some more functional wrought iron products. On Monday I made a couple of dozen ‘s’ hooks of various sizes. Despite the amount of product made I found it slow as I was trying to remember technique. I mentioned in my previous blog that I hadn’t lifted a hammer for 2 years.. that was a gross miscalculation.. it is closer to 4 years!! It is amazing how all the simple techniques I took for granted 4 years ago I had to spend time and thought in making sure I was achieving the high quality I demand from myself. Hence I spent 30 minutes making a jig to assist with the ‘s’ hooks. Being on stand alone solar panels, when ever I need to arc weld something I need to set up and fire up the 7.7 kva petrol generator. I was juggling the idea that by the time I set things up for the amount of electricity needed I could have completed the job by hot punching holes, drifting and then fixing it with a mortise and tenon joint. It was a lot quicker, cleaner but most of all satisfying. Not needing modern technology to accomplish the desired result was very and I mean very satisfying. Wanting to try out my new bending jig I went a little crazy and whacked out another couple of dozen ‘s’ hooks. Having all of these hooks lying around seemed somehow unfulfilling. Hooks need to hang and I need to blacken these things anyway.. so I made some 120cm hooks that could suspend a rod from the roof of the forge. Once I started to sort out and group the hooks in long dangling chains I was inspired to hang all sorts of things from there. By the end of today, suspended in my gradually transforming shed, were dozens of hooks both blackened and raw, 4 x 20cm gate hooks, 3 x candle snuffers, 4 x hand made tools, 1 bottle opener and a variety of ‘o’ hooks to help suspend everything. My shed is starting to look like a forge :)
Now I have spent this last week testing various ways of blackening steel. The three different substances all have their own pro’s and cons.
Initially I began using used sump oil.. it gives an amazing mat black finish and protects the metal from rust quite well. The cons though are the black lungs filled with what can only be described as the fumes of an old Volvo smell, to quench the steel successfully the steel need to be a cherry red which required time and fuel (oxy/Acc). Also if you were to twist the item the black coating actually chips off. Not good for functional items but suitable for jewellery.
I then decided to purchase some linseed oil. Now thinking that the smell can not be worse than the used sump oil was almost correct. I noticed that quenching the steel in linseed oil did not cause anywhere as much smoke as the used sump oils does but the odour was like opening a tin of smoked fish. Go figure?? I guess the company that makes this is cheating the system and is adding cheap ass fish oil into thee mix.. unpleasant to say the least. Now it coated the items in a rather nice gun metal grey colour and I am yet to find a piece that has chipped when twisted cold. It does however require the same amount of fuel as the other oil as the steel needs to be heated to the cherry red colour.
Now whilst in Finland I used to use tar to coat all out door metal items. It gives a great pitch black colour which is flexible and doesn’t chip when twisted cold. It smells nice and needs to be applied on much cooler steel. Trying to apply tar to a cherry red hot steel and the tar just rolls and burns off. A cool pale grey colour is all that is needed to coat an item successfully but wiping off excess is needed as any excess tar leaves a sticky feel. Not good. Needing a cooler application saves on fuel and time, and has a lovely smell to boot :) The only negative really is that the tar available here is what they call ‘Sockholm Tar’. Now one would think that it is the tar exactly what I had been using in Finland but no. This tar is used to paint on horse hooves for show and medical purposes. Despite it working like the tar in Finland the smell is unmistakably DETTOL with faint underlying hints of bitumen. Not the same type of tar at all!! Still there are more pros for the antiseptic smelling tar than the other oils.. so TAR it is!! The tar used in Finland is drawn from the birch tree and is absolutely delicious!!
Well that’s me for tonight.. I know I should but I am too tired to read through this for grammatical and spelling errors.. don’t be too harsh :)
Keep poping back to the etsy pages to see the new items. Hopefully tomorrow we will be able to upload them to the site. Oh and for those of you on the ball and have realised that I haven't addressed the storage issue.. keep posted and I talk about that in my next post :0)
See you next time.
Wombat
