Thread: What are you working on?

It's a good idea. I will see if I can start something or not. Black Friday you say? A good reason for others to pick up a little lathe. LOL.

I gave up trying to sell anything Aaron. I've come to the conclusion that no matter what you do, you can't break even on the material. Not to mention the time invested. It's a lot of fun and great for gifts. Maybe someday I could sell at a "Craft Fair" but only for the fun of it. I'm just not good enough or have the time to deal with all those places on the web that you can sell stuff.

Originally Posted by Gasman

It's a good idea. I will see if I can start something or not. Black Friday you say? A good reason for others to pick up a little lathe. LOL.

I gave up trying to sell anything Aaron. I've come to the conclusion that no matter what you do, you can't break even on the material. Not to mention the time invested. It's a lot of fun and great for gifts. Maybe someday I could sell at a "Craft Fair" but only for the fun of it. I'm just not good enough or have the time to deal with all those places on the web that you can sell stuff.

I agree 100%. I've sold some really fine re-scaled razors on e-bay, spent many hours, the finest materials and blades, my best work, etc., etc. And while I've gotten some great feedback from buyers, I didn't get nearly what I wanted, and then e-bay takes their fee, PayPal takes their fee, and you probably lost money into the bargain. I've thought about putting together some shaving sets, a few brushes and pens, etc., and opening an Etsy store, but again I suspect it would be a LOT of work for very little money. And it seems most of the old guard here on SRP all have extensive collections that they're selling off, which of course drives prices down. Maybe there will be another James Bond movie with a straight-shaving scene.

I haven't totaled it all up, but after last summer's trip to Japan to see our eldest son got covid-cancelled and we got a few thousand back in refunded plane tickets and AirBnb fees, I'm guessing I've spent 4 or 5k in my shop this year alone getting geared up for turning, and I've "made" maybe a few hundred off sales to friends locally, but I don't care, really. Ever since my 1st clunky razor rescale about 10 years ago, I've always been in it just for the simple joy of making something beautiful and useful. Just recently I've started giving some of my best pens to a few of my closest long-time friends and grade-level leaders in my department to show my appreciation; their heart-felt thank-you's are all the payment I need.

Having been the beneficiary of the generosity of a number of the senior members of this board including you, I suspect you feel the same.

Originally Posted by tintin

those are neat Jerry, do you make the hole after they are turned?

Jerry already answered your question but here's a video of it being done.

I talked to the "Higher Ups" and it looks like there will not be a sub-forum added. So I will start a new thread to post turning of any and all types. If you have a lathe and use it then post up. Explain and such.

Aaron I'm with ya bro.

Roy, that is exactly what I'm doing. I did one more today between all the other things I had going on. I will start the new thread with it.

In preparation of the winter months where opportunities to forge may be sparse, I'm building up damascus stock. This is just a part of what i did today.

Bottom is 45 layers of 15N20 and O2.
The top is 15 layers of different thicknesses of O1, O2, 52100 and 15N20.

I also made a damascus kitchen knife of which the damascus was made in 7 different billets, and 2 razors in some complex twisting pattern.

For those wondering: When you make damascus, you always lose the ends of the bar and some of the outside. So it doesn't make sense to make just enough for 1 razor. Because you lose way too much steel, working in little bits. Especialy if you need to cut and restack, or twist.

I try to work billets of 3 to 4 pounds. That way I can also stockpile damascus, and when I forge a billets specifically for making a razor, the billet is made large enough for 2 or 3, and those 1 or 2 extra blanks go in my stock as well. In the long run, working like this with large billets is much more efficient and economical from a time / material perspective.

Plus that way, when a customer contacts me, I don't have to tell them that I need a month to make the billet before I can even think about their razor.

I suspect that's one of the many advantages of having a press or power hammer: making work on larger billets a reasonable proposition. I hate to think what shape I'd be in if I tried to get even a medium layer count on a 4 pound billet!

It really is an eye-opener to weigh your stack of steel before the first weld and then again once the billet is complete.

I am working on a kitchen knife that has gone through 7 iterations of forge welding and manipulation (folding some pieces, twisting others, crushing and then combining, ...). I started with 1.3 kilos of steel, and right now the forged blank is less than 500 g. Now this was a special one off so I decided to make billets for just this knife. Yet I knew I had to start big.

The biggest I've done by hand is 2 pounds. I did that a couple of times in Texas. Feed me enough bacon and I'll keep swinging a hammer 2 pounds is perfectly doable if you have 1 person holding the tongs, and another with a sledge hammer. I've done that with Scott Goodman and Andy Lewis. And Scott and I have also worked in tandem with hammers. Even so, it's still a lot of work.

I recently helped my oldest daughter grind, season and stuff fresh elk and then a 50/50 mix of fresh elk and pork shoulder into two kinds of fresh sausage; Italian and a Breakfast. All were stuffed into plastic tubes to be sealed and frozen.

I've always used a stuffer for things like stuffing casings OR filling the plastic bags however they use the grinder and it worked ok however I think the performance could be improved.

Their grinder is a monster. It's a Cabelas 1 and 3/4 HP Carnivore and the grinding plates are a bit over 5 1/16" in diameter. To use the grinder as a stuffer you remove the knife and plate and install this (it came with the grinder)--It's steel and just a bit over 1/16" thick.



It's my understanding that all the thing does is keep the auger from flopping around. I have what's referred to as a 'Kidney Plate' for my #22 1 HP Carnivore so I bought my daughter and her husband one for their grinder.

Here's a seller's pic:



And a close up of the finish:



They don't really show it but the inside of the 'kidneys' was pretty rough and the edge was quite sharp. I figured that I could smooth things up and that would allow the ground meat to pass through easier. I mounted a 5/16" Dia carbide tool in my drill press then put the plate down and raised the table so the cutter would be able to touch all of the surfaces. Here's the tool:



It took quite awhile to get the inside fairly smoothed out as the tool was considered 'worn out' when I acquired it years ago. Then I used a cheap HF cordless Dremel tool and some sanding tubes to finish smoothing the insides and to put a slight bevel to smooth things up.

Then a bit of sanding with a palm sander on the flat surfaces and then to the buffer. Here's the finished result. All I need to do is get it wrapped and ready for Christmas:

Treats a heck of a big throat on that grinder. It looks way more food friendly all polished up.