Completed First Lawnmower Blade Kinfe

Here is the knife I made from lawn mower blade finished, both the blade is polished and the handle is on, and finished to a smooth sheen.

The blade from 1/2 a lawn mower blade, shaped and polished. Then an edge put on. I also gave 2 edges to the top. Additionally I put a pointed hook on the hand guard on the bottom.

The handle is made from Bubinga wood.

See blacksmithing work at Bent Iron Forge

See Photography work at Visual Perceptions by Lombano

Memorial Weekend Sunset

Happy Memorial Day weekend.

Down at the beach every day we are treated to one of natures more spectacular sites. Every evening the beach swells with people who come to see the sun set. Enjoy.

See blacksmithing work at Bent Iron Forge

See Photography work at Visual Perceptions by Lombano

Brass Etching with People

Sorry I have not posted anything for a few days. But my computer overheated and I have been off line, just got it fixed today. and still wrestling with some of the programs to get them back working.

here is a brass plate. I have been experimenting with trying to do images of people. Converting a picture of someone and representing it in just two colors is not as easy as it would appear to be. Here I did some stippling of the shading, I am going to try cross hatching and just outline to see how they work.

See blacksmithing work at Bent Iron Forge

See Photography work at Visual Perceptions by Lombano

Inspirational Quotes on Brass

I am experimenting with perfecting getting lettering on the brass/copper plates. once I can get a few samples. I will update my Etsy page to allow people to purchase predone plaques, or I can make custom requests.

here is an example of a Walt Disney quote done in brass.

See blacksmithing work at Bent Iron Forge

See Photography work at Visual Perceptions by Lombano

Glass Embeded Leaf

Here is an experiment I did trying to fuse leave under piece of glass. It came out pretty good except a small air bubble was trapped under the glass. I will have to experiment more to try and prevent that.

See blacksmithing work at Bent Iron Forge

See Photography work at Visual Perceptions by Lombano

Copper / Brass Etching Tutorial

I was asked to do a tutorial for Copper / Brass etching on a blacksmithing website. I did it here is the plaque I used for the demonstration. the link to the Tutorial is http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/33266-copper-brass-etching-tutorial/ (you might have to sign in to see all the pictures).

See blacksmithing work at Bent Iron Forge

See Photography work at Visual Perceptions by Lombano

Mother's Day White Orchid

An orchid from the San Diego botanical garden.

Happy Mother's Day

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See Photography work at Visual Perceptions by Lombano

Miracle Ranch Plaque

A friend from work wife has a breeding farm for jumping horses. The name of their enterprise is Miracle Ranch. They have given me horseshoes in the past. So I thought I would make them a plaque for their barn.

the detail on the jumping horse came out great.


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See Photography work at Visual Perceptions by Lombano

Garden Art Glass Ladybug

here is a ladybug I made for some garden art. the idea is to put it on a rod in a planter. the red body is translucent which should look great in the sunlight. the red part is about 6 inches in diameter.

See blacksmithing work at Bent Iron Forge

See Photography work at Visual Perceptions by Lombano

Copper Bracelet

A friend has been having trouble with joint pain and wanted to try using copper bracelets to see if they would help her condition. I made this bracelet using form folding. I may make another either with form folding or with etching.

See blacksmithing work at Bent Iron Forge

See Photography work at Visual Perceptions by Lombano

What can you do with a Lawnmower Blade

My riding mower blade broke and I had to get it repaired. The repairman left me the old blade, not being one to let things go to waste, I thought I would turn the blade into a couple of knives. Here is progress so far.

Here is the raw mower blade which has been cut in half across where the diagonal cut is. I had at this point also put the piece in the forge brought it to a temperature to anneal the metal to make it easier to work with.

here I have started to shape the blade, using some files and some grinders.

here is the blade near its final shape. After this step the blade was returned to the forge heated til it was non magnetic, then quenched in oil. After that it was cleaned tempered and then polished.

Final picture of blade and with ruler to show size. All that is left is to make the handle.

See blacksmithing work at Bent Iron Forge

See Photography work at Visual Perceptions by Lombano

Beautiful Sunset with Blue and Orange sky

This sunset was taken at Wind n Sea beach in La Jolla CA. it has not just the beautiful sunset turning the sky blue and orange, but some interesting grass and trees in the foreground which nicely frame the picture. this is much more interesting than a sunset just showing the water.

See blacksmithing work at Bent Iron Forge

See Photography work at Visual Perceptions by Lombano

Angelfish Skeleton

This little fish was made from some left over blue pieces I used in a plate the the red was from another fish.

He kinda looks like an angelfish skeleton

See blacksmithing work at Bent Iron Forge

See Photography work at Visual Perceptions by Lombano