[TheForge] Christmas Gifts

[xlch58 at swbell.net]

Just completed a simple flower with my son.   The flower was made from 
an intake valve from a Lycoming engine out of a Mooney airplane.  The 
"vase"  is a bucket lifter from the same engine.  We made it for my 
sister in law, whose father - a retired aviation mechanic -  died at the 
age of ninety four this year.   He was a fiiend and a fellow metal freak 
and at one time had an ornamental iron business.   He was still 
rebuilding heads for local businesses shortly before he died.  The valve 
was tough but not impossible to forge,  though an exhaust valve would 
have been a lot tougher due to the metal used and the fact lycoming used 
sodium filled exhaust valves.  I found after trashing three lifters that 
they can't be worked cold or hot.   Anyway, was happy with the way it 
turned out and thought I would share....

Charles