Question about swage blocks

[mizgeorge]

Now I can imagine what it is you're trying to do, it may be that some anticlastic forming tools (even pliers) might be more useful?

[Goldsmith]

Lily,
If I was making seed pods I would shape them from soft sheet using a shaped hammer and a lead block. I have posted this tutorial before but I cannot find a link to it, it shows me shaping a copper leaf using a lead block, hammers and a punch. You may find it useful.



James

[Lily]

Thanks George, yes that may be the way to go - it's certainly helping me to rethink the process.
I had to google anticlastic

[Lily]

That is extremely useful James. Thank you so much!

[Goldsmith]

That is extremely useful James. Thank you so much!

You may find these photos useful, one shows some of my home shaped cheap hammers and the other shows my lead block and it's mold, when the block gets marked all over I just remelt it in the ingot mold using my Sievert blowtorch and when it cools I have a new block.




James

[Lily]

You may find these photos useful, one shows some of my home shaped cheap hammers and the other shows my lead block and it's mold, when the block gets marked all over I just remelt it in the ingot mold using my Sievert blowtorch and when it cools I have a new block.




James

I like both of these ideas and would not have thought about either. We do have a grinder and some old hammers so could try reshaping some of them - thank you again James

[Goldsmith]

Lily, if you don't have a lead block or are worried about using one then you can also use wooden block shapes or even bits of steel rod with a groove filed in, like I did when making these flower petals.



James

[Lily]

[QUOTE=Goldsmith;89636]Lily, if you don't have a lead block or are worried about using one then you can also use wooden block shapes or even bits of steel rod with a groove filed in, like I did when making these flower petals.


I especially like the wooden block! I just showed it to DH who has a lathe - this opens up a whole new world of possibilities - thank you very much for sharing all of this information James.

[joella]

Hi Lily,
I hope you don't mind me joining your thread - but I think we are both trying to do a similar thing and I had a few questions too. I recently had a bit of long thin rectangular sheet as scrap (I had been going to make a flat bangle textured with a rolling mill paper, but made the rollers too tight and ruined it). Rather than just putting it straight in the scrap pot, I decided to experiment with it. As you can see from the photo's I didn't get it quite right. I turned a little anvil upside down and hammered it on that to get it to curl up at the sides, then just used my fingers to get it into a bangle shape (I don't have a bangle mandrel). I managed to get the curve as high as possible by carefully using parallel pliers to close the gap between the edges quite a bit, then went round with some round nose pliers inside the gap between the edges and pushing/pulling it out at intervals to make the wavy edge. As you can see, there are a couple of dints in it (almost corners) as I wasn't able to get it properly rounded by hand (or maybe I needed to put some wire in it as Dennis had mentioned, to stop it collapsing). Also, I'd like to know how to get the ends finished nicely, rather than cobbled together, as mine are. I quite like the effect, but didn't really know how I should have tackled it. Any comments as to how I should have done this would be most welcome.

[joella]

Oh, now I come to think of it, I bashed it round an old rolling pin, to get the shape - as I wasn't able to do it by hand!