[TheForge] Re: tooting my own horn

[Mike Spencer]

Kirsten> I finished some 24 x 30 inch copper chased & repousséd horse
Kirsten> heads for a commission.

Very nice indeed.

I've done just one piece of that kind but quite a bit smaller, a
macquette for a job never completed.  It wasn't easy, it took a lot of
time in the planning stages (just as you say) and it became clear early
on that doing the full-sized panels (which would have been about 16"
square) would be more difficult yet.

On your web page, you say,

    I started off by working them over sandbags, from the back side,
    with a variety of hammers.

I should take note of that.  I did most of the shaping over stakes --
numerous shapes and several hammers -- and holding the piece in the
right place and orientation was a bit difficult, would have been
moreso with a bigger sheet.  The sandbag method might avoid some of
the hand cramps and misplaced, scarring blows.  I was pondering some
kind of spring suspension to hold the weight of the sheet while my
hand just positioned it but the final job never worked out so that's a
project yet to explore.


    For you metalsmiths, yes I do love the 3M Scotchbrite and unitized
    wheel products for finishing.  I buy them from industrial
    suppliers.

Yeah, so do I, although I have a hard time getting anything that's in
the 3M industrial line.  They seem not to make any effort to push the
abrasive line.  The industrial suppliers don't stock much and aren't
very knowledgeable about the product line.  So mostly I get by with 3M
products in their automotive line.


BTW, did you have an oven for the annealing or did you just use a big
torch out in the open?  I  found annealing pieces of copper sheet with
a propane torch an annoyance for the one panel as well as for some
cookware in heavier gauge.


Nice pieces!
- Mike
-- 
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~. 
                                                           /V\ 
mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^