It has been well nigh a year since I made a fireplace screen. The last one I made was the big 3 foot x 4 foot screen for a client in Louisville, last May. I sold the sample screen that I carry around to craft fairs, so I need another one for this year's season. I stick with a small standard size for craft fairs. The price has to be kept down and the size needs to be standard to increase the chance of selling it outright at a show. The screen I am working on now is 2 feet tall at the center, and three feet wide. Here are the pictures that show yesterday's progress.
The design!
Texturing the frame!
Bending the top arch!
Checking the arch against my drawing.
Upsetting or bulging the ends of the top a lower bars.
Finishing the upset!
The upset!
Welding the finished frame pieces.
Grinding the welds smooth!
Filing the tight corners.
Resting while the metal heats.
Using heat and hammer to hide the weld joints and make the frame look like one piece.
The finished joints!
The result of yesterday's efforts.
Today I'll be working on handles and feet.
2 comments:
If you had a second post vice you could cut the leg short and use it to do the upseting with a sledge hammer. Screen looks good though.
I do have a second post vice and the leg on my main vice is cut short. However, when dealing with smaller stock like the 1"x1/4" there is no reason to kill yourself with a big hammer. With these upsets, you need control not power. With two one pound hammers I upset 1/2" with one heat.
It's the same in general forgework. You CAN taper 3/8" with an eight pound sledge fast, but I can use technique and a smaller hammer, use less energy, and come out with a more controlled a fine taper.
Also you can fix a missplaced hammer blow when the hammer was only three pounds. You put an eight pound sledge hammer in the wrong place though, and it's a mite harder to clean back up! LOL
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