The First Commission

Build Showcase

A surprise Maker Monday post for you all, with a special announcement at the end.

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Well, it had to happen sooner or later. Someone asked me to put my dubious blacksmithing skills to use for their benefit. She wanted a showpiece-worthy, hand-made something for a person whose day she wanted to make.

Startling, I know. Apparently I’ve learned a few things over the last year since I built my forge building (or the last three years since I first started making things with hammers and fire).

The direction was simple:

The commissioner’s mother has long hair that never sticks well in an up-do, especially not with any of the prettier hair clips the woman owns. The commissioner is an artist, and drew a sketch for me of what she wanted:

A hair clip with two wavy tines and a pretty thumb pad. Could I do it with a smooth, fine finish rather than the rough forge finish I usually leave on my hooks?

The Build

Everything starts with the metal. This time, I had several pieces of rebar already cut up for a mess of hooks I was making, so I grabbed one of the extras and started work.

After twenty minutes of careful work, I had it beaten into the basic shape.

Here it is, next to a piece of 1/2” rebar the same size as I started with.

A bit of time on the grinder, and some file work to give the thumb pad some interest, and I was ready to take it back in the forge to bend it into shape.

The file work isn’t exactly symmetrical, so I made sure to check with the commissioning party before continuing. If she didn’t like it, I’d forged a backup blank, so I could re-do the thumb pad design on the backup unit without too much trouble.

Fortunately, she liked it, and even liked the asymmetry—it added a hand-made feel that she thought her mother would appreciate.

Now it was time to stick it into the forge and bend the tines into shape, and for this operation, symmetry really matters. And that presented a problem:

No matter how symmetrical the straight piece was, it is hand-forged (by a relative newbie) rather than machined. This, by necessity, means that even though the two tines measured dead on in length, thickness, and taper when compared to one another, there were still slight irregularities in their roundness which caused them to behave differently when bending.

This is the kind of thing I expect will get a lot easier with practice, but to make this first piece work?

I shaped.

I bent.

I trimmed.

I re-tapered.

I re-shaped.

I tweaked.

And then I did it all again. Several times.

Getting the sides of this piece symmetrical took the better part of an hour.

Once I did, I hardened it and then tempered it up to purple, per the commissioner’s request. After finishing it with some buffing and wax, I presented it to the client.

And she was thrilled.

Now Accepting Commissions

So, apparently I am now open for business where blacksmithing and maker commissions are concerned. I have the most experience with hair pins…

And coat hooks…

As well as odds and ends like drawer hardware, truck tie points, table tops (which, I grant you, is woodworking and not blacksmithing), etc.

So if you’d like something—a tree ornament, an artist’s sharpening knife, a hook, a hook rack, a door knocker, a trivet, a hair pin, anything else like that, hit me up in the comments here or by email at dan at jdsawyer dot net. I mostly work in steel (with a variety of finishes), but can also do copper, and am willing to try other materials if I can get my hands on them.

Hit me up soon to get stuff in time for Christmas presents!

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