This past Saturday at Dana's...

[Phillip Jones]

Spent the day Saturday at Dana's shop hammering out some goodies with Dana and Boo. You guys missed out on some fun.
It was about the hottest day of the summer so far and we decided to do some cold work rather than keep the forge going all day.

Here is a pic representing what we worked on. It is a copper bracelet hammered out using anticlastic raising techniques.
It is an open seam form that started out as a flat sheet.
The texture was done with a rock.
http://members17.clubphoto.com/phill...ner-38a1.phtml

[Lawrence Kemp]

That's cool Philip! I'll bet ya'll had a ball! I'm still admiring the copper and silver badge you made me in the swap!

[Raymond Richard]

Hey Phil, Those are looking good. I had asked you the last time about your bowl's if you were using say a swag or something else to get the shape and never got an answer..... Ray

[Darren Ellis]

That's very nice!, but hey, I'm with Raymond, fill us in on those copper bowls!!! Details, details, details!

-Darren


no fancy graphical signature line here...just plain old boring text...

[Dana Acker]

For the copper bracelets, we used a swage Phillip had made from a long block of micarta. Worked great. Very cool idea. Which it needed to be, because as Phillip said, IT WAS HOT!!!!! But my, oh my, it was fun.

Hats off to Phillip for sharing that with us. He's doing some neat stuff.

You ought to have seen the copper tsuba (guard) he made for his katana--which is one awesome piece of work.

[Dana Acker]

I hope Bobby "Boo" posts a photo of his latest knife, too. Man, it's a good'un. Lil' Bro. Bobby has come a long way in his knifesmithing since our first Blue Ridge Full Moon Party.


(I'm older, so I can call him Little Brother)

Keep up the good work, Bro.

[Phillip Jones]

Thanks for the compliments, guys!

Raymond,
The swage block I use when sinking the copper bowls is just a small section of 2x4. I place the wood endgrain up in my vise and hammer a small depression into it with a ballpein hammer. It's cheap, it's easy and it doesn't scar the copper up like a metal swage does. Final planishing was done on a polished dome stake I made from a recycled drive shaft. Lots of hammer blows on that little bowl...LOTS.

I will try and post some scans of the homemade wooden hammers that I use for shaping the bracelets.

Dana is correct about Bobby's knives. He is doing some FANTASTIC work. The camp knife and walking cane/hawk he showed us were very well done indeed.

[Raymond Richard]

Thanks Phil and Dana for the information.

Another question on the copper I have is did you do any annealing of it? Also on the bowls is there a thickness that works better?

You know I finally got my head focusing on knives for a change and its starting to change again. I think what it is is I've always wanted a large pair of copper bowls......

[Phillip Jones]

Hey Ray,

I do several annealings on both the bowls and bracelets during the shaping process. I think the copper can take more hammering with fewer annealings but it sure is easier to move when it is soft.

The bowls are left hard after the planishing stage though. Makes them tougher.
The bracelets are left softer because you have to twist the ends to the side to get them on/off the wrist.

I make both the bowls and bracelets from recycled copper pipe. The thickness of the pipe does vary with the diameter. A 2in diameter pipe comes out about 20 gauge and that is fine for doing the bowls. I thin the piece out a little for the bracelets (don't want them TOO heavy).

[Raymond Richard]

thanks, Phil....

[BDK]

hey yall i had a great time also like allways. danas is one of my favorite places to go. wish i could make it up more often.

yep im all fired up about copper also. it is the perfect thing to forge on these hot days. phillip really got my mind working last saturday ,the only problem is now i have a thousand more things i want to do. the bowl he made is just awsome he did a great job.

so when is the next one dana ? how about getting together and going up to phillips? lets plan it and do boo

[Phillip Jones]

You guys are welcome anytime.

[Phillip Jones]

Here are some scans I did of the wooden hammers and the micarta stake that I made for forming the open seam hollow formed bracelets.
The hammers are made out of Lignum Vitae wood.
http://members17.clubphoto.com/phill...ner-38a1.phtml