I had a few projects in mind to complete today. The first was a dishing stump for hammering copper sheets and thin gauge steel. I grabbed an oak round from my brothers and some dry apple limbs from my dads. I notched the apple limbs and worked out flat spots in three places on the round. After a lot of fitting, I bolted the legs in place. I will end up wrapping a metal band at some point around the whole stump. I used an angle grinder with a circlet cutter to make a few shallow depressions. Over time, they will smooth out. The second project was taking a rusty Lakeside square chisel and fitting a handle to it. It is not particularly old, but I liked the length of it. I used a small apple limb and used my draw knife to pare it down to shape and fit in the socket. I left the worm holes for some character. Next, I forged a iron band and wrapped it around the striking end. When the band was close to being fitted, I made the nail holes in the band offset. When I set the nail, the band tightened a little more. I put four coats of shellac on the handle to darken it up a bit. I used the chisel to peel the bark off the stump.
A little. I was requested to put some pieces in an art shop for the holiday shopping season. All of my work is in 3 other shops right now. I have to get busy to make a few more.
