[TheForge] chiseled & chased

[George Dixon]

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I often hear the term "chased" used in different ways, (myself included).
Are you referring to areas that are compressed or stamped from the front
with chasing tools?  Can you talk about which areas are chased?  Is this the
chasing work that you do with a treadle hammer?
>

Sorry for the delay in responding.  The metal immediately adjacent to the tweetybird was chased, compressed, down about 1/16th of an inch.  The chasing was done after the outline of the pattern was cut in with small side-sets (butchers).  The faces of the chasing tools range from slightly rounded to dead flat. Most have radiused edges (slightly) while a few have very sharp edges.  These latter are for getting close to the edge of a pattern to make the delineation crisper.  Once the chasing was done, the piece was taken to an orange heat, placed face down onto an oak board and the image in the center (tweety) was pushed forward slightly.  This action brings the chased area up level with the surrounding metal, making the bird look applied.

To the degree that there was some 'pushing from behind', the tweety is chiseled (to outline), chased (to compress the metal around the bird as well as to compress the metal to delineate 'knees' and tail from the body) and repousse' (since it was bumped-up)

this is a picture of a chased bending wrench.
http://www.artist-blacksmith.org/graphics/wrench1.jpg
http://www.artist-blacksmith.org/graphics/wrench2.jpg
it was chased both hot and cold.  It will be at the "Gitchner Event" this weekend as a donation to their fund raising.  Steve Kayne will have it with him.


this is a series of pictures of a pair of two 1/8" plates, 10" dia.
http://www.artist-blacksmith.org/graphics/plate1.jpg
http://www.artist-blacksmith.org/graphics/plate2.jpg
http://www.artist-blacksmith.org/graphics/plate3.jpg
http://www.artist-blacksmith.org/graphics/plate4.jpg
the plates will be riveted together, back to back, to form a pullet wheel for a
spit.  One side will be for 'meat eaters', the other for vegetarians (with a  subliminal sausage ;)
They are chiseled and chased from the front, cold.   Once the front images are done, the plates are heated orange, placed face down onto oak and the images are pushed forward from behind.   The goal, visually, is a flat plate with raised images.


this is a series of the "gremlin feet", which are hot incised (as opposed to  chased) with straight and curved chisels as well as chased  (in some cases) with an 'eye punch' or a ball tool.  The stock is 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" pure iron.
http://www.artist-blacksmith.org/graphics/leg1.jpg
http://www.artist-blacksmith.org/graphics/leg2.jpg
The 10 'feet' become a fire tool stand (3), two cup-dogs (4) and a torchere (3)


this is a series of pictures of a light.  It is 6" tall by 13" in diameter.
It will be  backed with mica once done.
http://www.artist-blacksmith.org/graphics/light1.jpg
http://www.artist-blacksmith.org/graphics/light2.jpg
http://www.artist-blacksmith.org/graphics/light3.jpg
http://www.artist-blacksmith.org/graphics/light4.jpg
http://www.artist-blacksmith.org/graphics/light5.jpg
The 7 images are chiseled and chased from the front, then the 18g sheet metal is annealed and the images are pushed forward, from the back, into lead.  The sheet metal strip is then annealed again, and the now-raised images are chased with chisels from the front to sharpen the effects.  It is then annealed one last time and rolled  into a ring.  The flower in 'light5' is 18g bronze and will be riveted between each repousse' panel.  All cutting is done with chisels and a treadle hammer.
All forming is and chasing is done with a treadle hammer.  The repousse' panels of the light were chased without any backing material, cold.
All the tools are S1 or H13 and range from 3/16" diameter to 1/2' diameter.  They are all about 4 1/2" long.


Chisels and chasing tools contrast each other, chisels being sharp and leaving a fine line while chasing tools are usually blunt and leave a broader indent.



G Dixon
Metalsmith