What myself, wvtools, and a bunch of other blacksmiths were doing Saturday!!!

[keykeeper]

Yesterday, myself and wvtools, along with a bunch of other members of our blacksmith association, converged on the home of one of our long-time members. He and his wife are getting along in years, so as a special recognition of all he has done for our organization and the furtherance of blacksmithing over the years, we built them a new handrail for their back entrance.

(I only had a small part in it, by making one of the pickets for it. It's the one on the top stair that forms the support at that area. Mine was the only one with hand-punched holes in it!)

Mine wasn't as intricate as some of the others, but they insisted I make one for it!

I believe wvtools also made one, I just can't remember which one.

Loads of fun, and the rain didn't mess us up too bad getting it all together.

Don't worry wvtools, I didn't post a photo of you cutting on that rail!!!

[anglesmith]

Very nice hand rail and a great guesture for the group to do.
Also I like your new? avatar! Only those who have worked in front of the public know how frustrating it is to hear time and again, little "johnny" told "look the blacksmith's making a horse shoe" when your making a poker 30 inches long!!
Graeme

[keykeeper]

Thanks Graeme!

Was fun just watching all the guys work on the handrail. We have a bunch of talented people!

The avatar was made from a picture I took at his shop. He had that sticker on his shop refrigerator!!

PM me your email and I'll send some photos of the others along for ya!!

[wvtools]

My picket is the one right next to the house.  I did a pretty simple one with top and bottom sets of twists with a slightly flattened center section which was then twisted in the opposite direction.  My claim to fame for the day was that I was one of the people who helped guilt/goad Aaron and Timmy into making a picket.

The host, Joe Harris, is a really great guy, and an old family friend.  I have known him and his sons from Boy Scouts since I first moved to the area in 1974.  It was great to see everyone chip in  together and make the railing in one day.  The main designer/instigator and his helpers/welders worked their butt off to get it done in one day.  Those of us who just made pickets sat around and BSed most of the day.

I have some pictures that I took, but my camera battery died.  I did not get any of the finished railing.  Aaron, can you email those to me at john@wvtools.com?; thanks!!

I will try to add some photos tomorrow and start a thread about trying to cut some railroad rail.

EDIT:  I tried for an hour to add links to pictures on my website.  I have not done it in awhile.  Is it different on the new board?  Perhaps PawPaw can give me a refresher on how to do it?  Thanks,  John

EDIT AGAIN:  Note to self:  do not post pics when you are tired.  I had a mix of forward and backward slashes and a mix of periods and commas in my URLs.  I should be able to post them now.  Papaw,  does the 4 picture limit apply to linking to a website URL like I am doing or just to the cut and paste kind?

Here is the outdoor forging area:



Here is the iron-in-the-hat and the people working on the rail in the background:



Here are some pickets in the staging area:






Here is the stoop where they will install the railing:





This is my spread of tools for sale:




Here is the ever important coffe and donuts table with the picket polishing station in the background:

[oldtools]

Nice unique Handrail, all 19 pickets are different, were 19 Blacksmiths doing 1 Picket each?

[keykeeper]

John-I'll send what I have along to you in the way of pictures. I have a couple of the rail cutting in progress!

Oldtools-that was the idea, having different pickets to show every person's unique style of work

I thought it turned out rather well, also.

[wvtools]

I think there were 15 or 16, maybe 17 blacksmith's involved.  The guy orchestrating the whole thing brought pickets with him that he and blacksmith's who could not be there made prior to the meet.  One of them was a double picket (the figure 8 looking one).  Joe's son Jeff made 2, but I do not think anyone else did.

[Branson]

What a great gesture.   And a good looking hand rail.  Hat's off to you guys!

[oldtools]

Now that's Talent!! amazing work, how did they do the 3 flute spiral?

[keykeeper]

Oldtools: Which one are you calling a 3 flute spiral? If it is the one I'm thinking, it is called a basket twist. To make one, a smith forge welds a bundle of smaller stock at each end, then twists the whole thing. Then, they untwist it slightly to open up the "basket" formed between each of the smaller pieces. This one would have been made, then welded into the rest of the length of picket.

-or-

to do it without welding, the smith would split the bar along the length on two sides, making four separate pieces. Then the twist and untwist would achieve the basket design.

I didn't look close enough to it to see how it was done, or ask anyone about it.

[oldtools]

Thank you for the explanations of the Basket twist..  Very interesting, always like to work with metals, but didn't have the opportunity yet.

[wvtools]

That basket picket was one of the ones that Jay brought with him.  It was done by him or one of the other two guys who could not make it.

[oldtools]

Looking through Stats of some old popular post.  WOW! Read 17292 times...

[gibsontool]

Great work guys that looks awesome.