jeweler's saw frames

 

My class is making jeweler's saw frames. We've been using the plasma cutter at school to cut these out. The students are machining the handles and the hardware for these. We'll anodize the frames as well. I hope these turn out well.

velocipede jeweler's saw

I mentioned in a previous post that a few folks from the AppState DigFab group have been getting together each day this past week to work in the studio at school and make some work over the span of two weeks. We meet for breakfast and lunch and work in between. It's been fun to dedicate some time to making some work for an upcoming exhibition. I have a few things in the works this week, but the main big project has been my velocipede jewelers saw. I cast the parts for this in Milwaukee in July of 2010 and this piece has moved across the country with me in an unfinished state for the last sixteen years. You can read and see pictures of me casting it back then in the foundry with Chuck.

https://frankieflood.blogspot.com/2010/07/velocipede.html

https://frankieflood.blogspot.com/2010/07/velocipede-progress.html
https://frankieflood.blogspot.com/2010/07/fragmented-day.html

https://frankieflood.blogspot.com/2010/07/day-of-work.html

https://frankieflood.blogspot.com/2010/07/open-molds.html

https://frankieflood.blogspot.com/2010/07/hot-tear-weld.html

I also cast a bunch of bicycle seats in aluminum around the same time. 

https://frankieflood.blogspot.com/2010/07/aluminum-bicycle-seat.html

https://frankieflood.blogspot.com/2010/07/in-progress.html

https://frankieflood.blogspot.com/2010/07/seat-shells.html

https://frankieflood.blogspot.com/2010/07/broken-seat-shells.html

https://frankieflood.blogspot.com/2010/07/cut-seat-sprues.html

I had mocked up the piece a while ago in my studio next to Spice Bottom Creek and it was sitting there a few weeks ago when I was cleaning and organizing my studio and I figured it was time to drag it out and attempt to finish it. This past week, I brought it to campus and set up a workspace in the Sculpture studio. I 3D scanned the piece in it's current state and then I got to work making a few prototype wheel designs for it. I think I've come to a final design that will work for this. I have some mdf glued up that I'll use to make some foundry patterns for making a mold in resin bonded sand. I spent most of the week cleaning up the cast texture from all of the parts since I want this to be fairly sleek. I'm trying to accentuate the various curves and facets of the cast pieces and I'm pleased with how they are coming out. I'm not moving as fast as I would like on this, but I need to take my time and do things right. I hope I can CNC mill the wheel pattern first thing tomorrow. I still have a long list of things that need to be made and figured out. I also have a few smaller projects that I'm also currently working on.

The tool aspect of this piece is something that I'm enjoying. I had gotten away from making tools for a while and this feels right to me. It also hits a part of my soul since I cast this in Milwaukee and it gives me the midwest feels since the original Barnes velocipede was designed and made in Rockford, IL.  There is also something about this that hits the mark and reminds me of bare metal hotrods from Rodder's Journal and hand built cars and motorcycles and furniture. I can't yet put my finger on it yet, but it is starting to have some of the vibes that I was hoping for, but had not taken the time to get it far enough along to start feeling good about it. It's funny how you have to get past this certain point with a piece to feel like you can continue. I think I'm there now, just too bad it took sixteen years to get there.

Getting back into the blog this week is making me think about some things that I've been discussing with Jill. Eric's visit has me thinking about these things too. I took a break from social media last Spring. I got back on at the start of the summer and now I've had to leave it again a few weeks ago. I felt good the first time I left it and I feel even better this time. What is it about that stuff. On one hand I want to know what's going on with friends and people I know, but it's a curse at the same time. I'm realizing that I haven't done any real introspective thinking about what I'm doing or making since i stopped blogging. I don't write enough in my sketchbook or even sketch for that matter. 

Scrolling other people's content has a numbing effect and leaves me empty with no ability for self reflection. Maybe that's the point. Rewire our brains to look at others; compare and then render us unable to formulate a real sincere and unique thought of our own. Bombard us with content so we don't have to tackle the important quiet moments that we NEED to have with ourselves. Steal every quiet moment from us, and make us a part of a perpetual machine that accomplishes nothing but to brainwash us by segregating us into our own echo chambers. Make it so we don't really connect with people where we might hear other people's points of view and tackle hard conversations and topics. Steal the time we would normally have, loving the people that we live with, sharing our thoughts and feelings, and being creative.  

Well, I'm going to try and work on these things and myself and make an attempt to think about things I feel and see; and use this space to do it all again. We'll see how long it lasts.

 

josh's japanese carving tools

I am currently doing a stay at home residency at school. We are calling it "Staystack". There are several artists working in the studios at school and we meet up for breakfast and lunch and then just work all day. We'll do this for the next few weeks and hopefully end up with some new work at the end of the time.

Well yesterday I stopped by to see what Josh Winkler was working on. He showed me his woodblock and prints. Josh is a super talented individual and super cool to chat with. He showed me these sweet Japanese carving tools that he got when he was in Japan. I love the swivel action and little bamboo rivet that holds his carving tool. The simplicity of the little brass tube ferrule closer is so sweet. He said these are super cheap to buy in Japan, but super expensive if you try to buy them in the States. Such a cool tool design though. Inspiring!

It has me thinking about tools and tool design. I need to get back to making tools as a part of my creative work. I think I may dig up my file handle project again and see if I can get a few of those cast this week. That would be fun to respond to Josh's tools. Now I'm starting to understand the benefit of not just working in my own studio alone. A good reason to continue doing our Staystack residency.

 

things that I sometimes thing about...

 

This video is pretty incredible. Watching the iron cupola and molding process was pretty impressive. I can't help but think that once people have discovered new ways of making things they are unwilling to do things that involve this much work or older (more crude) methods are not seen as valid. Again, I'm not commenting on this from a cultural standpoint. I think I'm saying the more you know, the more likely you are to not return to methods of making that are labor intensive.

Do you ever wonder if education gets in the way of getting things done? For example, if I told you had to make a bandsaw like this, you might  spend more time looking for ways to avoid this much labor and you might claim that there was a better method for making. In addition, you might want to claim that the methods you would utilize would allow for more accuracy or precision. This might be true, but in the meantime this crew has gotten the job done, and they've got a bandsaw that gets the job done, regardless of imperfections in the casting, a lot of filler material, funky paint job, etc. 

I just sometimes look at things I built or restored at the start of my life might have been a little lacking in their sophistication, but it got me to a certain point where I had the tool in hand and I was able to use it, instead of spending so much time trying to decide which method I might use to make the thing. Less options turned out to be a bit of a blessing. Farm engineering vs. finite element method engineering. One happens out in the field and the other in the virtual world. 

For some reason this all makes me think of the motorcycle breaking down far from home and then deciding to choose a solution that might not be elegant but it gets you to your driveway before it gets dark. You know... like pliers in place of a  clutch lever. I guess that more of a temporary fix, but still it makes me wonder how ego gets in the way of progress.

Things that I sometimes thing about...

rolling mill stand

Sam Hatchett came over on Monday and I made a stand for her new Durston rolling mill. I used a bunch of scrap that I had lying around. She's going to throw a coat of hammer-tone silver paint on it and it should be good to go.

 

for eric

garrett wade

I was over on Shop Teacher Bob's blog the other day trying to catch up from a few weeks of not looking at blogs and came across Garrett Wade. I really enjoyed this blog post and this blog post. Both are good reads that remind me of my childhood and relate to some of my thoughts on teachers I've had in college who influenced my career.

case hardening

making files

peter ross demo

I came across this great video where Peter Ross conducts a blacksmithing demo. I saw Peter make a key for a lock at a Blacksmithing conference at SIU-C in 2005. The key looked liked it had been turned on a lathe as it was so precise, when in fact he had just used a hammer and anvil to forge and shape the entire piece. Hang in to the end on this video; you'll be glad you did. I love the part about using an imprecise object (hammer) to make a precise object (compass). I'm really interested in the idea of precision and the idea as is applies to pre-industrial revolution objects. I think some of this is going to feed back into my ideas on the role of technology as it applies to craft practices. The older I get the more I realize that I don't know nearly as much as I wish I had the time to learn, and that the thoughts and opinions I have now are less concrete than they were when I was younger (I guess that's just youth and arrogance). As I get older I feel that I need seek to understand what came before me with more clarity and understand "making" with more depth so I can better understand where we as humans currently are headed. I begin to think that early civilization had more things figured out before the motivation of "making" became more focussed on mass production and standardization. 

Anyway, food for thought...

ural shop bike: tool hauler

The old Ural has been earning it's keep lately as a tool hauler.

andrew hayes

Andrew Hayes apparently introduced himself to my Dad and they struck up a conversation which turned to me being able to introduce myself. I was super excited to hear that Andrew works with UWM alumni, Jay Fox. Andrew told us a bit about his job at Penland and we discussed how he got started into metalwork. Again, I was totally wishing I had made it into town the night before so i could have heard more. Anyway, I was super stoked to meet Andrew as I really love his book inspired sculptural work. I am going to have to see about saving up for one of his pieces as I would love to own one of his pieces. Andrew mentioned that I should go to Penland in the future, so I'm adding that to my "to-do list". Jay had mentioned that I should come down, so after meeting Andrew it has been further reinforced. I loved Andrews idea of the dustpan demo and I hope he doesn't mind if I use this as a future student project; it's just too good. A big thanks to Andrew for taking the time to talk and for sharing his knowledge.