pheer my geekdom, 4 it be hardcore and mighty...
as many may know, hotspurre was elevated to the order of the laurel recently. due to my usual cluelessness, i was unaware that this was to happen and so was not present.
one of the results of his elevation is that he can no longer properly wear his spiffy green/apprentice's belt, and so requires a new one. as i was not present for the elevation, i decided that i would present him with the present of new hardware (buckle, belt-end) for his new belt. norse clip-art was perused, designs were chosen and i began working.
now to the real geekery.
as part of the process, one often rubber/contact-cements the paper design onto the metal sheet/plate and transfers it with punches and/or chasing tools (think little chisels meant to mark/score more than cut). so, printed out designs, cut out, glued down buckle, sawed out, started transferring and filing design (it's kinda 3-d). glued down belt-end, started chasing/chiseling design.
then, i got an idea.
i realized that one of my chasing tools really wasn't all that 'dull'/obtusely-angled. most are made of ~1/4" square tool-steel bar stock, about 4" long. this one, instead of being hammered or filed from opposite sides to form a centered edge, was ground smooth on one side, the opposite/'top' side tapered in slightly, the sides tapered in toward the top, and the tip filed so that it formed a 45 deg. angle with the back.
"this is an actual _chisel_," i thinks to meself.
and knowing, as i do that a jeweler's saw is a new-fangled, modern thing, and back to egyptian and earlier times all the way up to pre-industrial, metal shapes were chiseled out of sheet or plate (the difference is thickness for any wondering, plate is thicker), i decided (for sh!ts and giggles, and just because i could if nothing else) to be uber-period, and uber-geeky, and chisel the belt-end out of it's blank. nope! no modern, pansy-assed 'saws' for us, we're going primal and _chisel_ that f#cker out of there!
ok, time to run it down:
1/16th" brass plate, check.
8 oz. brass mallet, check.
2 lb. anvil, 2"x4" flat surface, check.
one 4"x1/4"x1/4" 45 deg. cold chisel, check.
warped sense of humor and stubborn irish bull-headedness, check and check.
the result -
the belt end with one of the chiseled-off scraps (which is actually going to become the tongue of the buckle), the brass mallet and the 'wee mighty chisel of brass-cutting doom,' all resting upon aforementioned anvil.
a more completed/chased (but still in progress) belt-end and the in-progress buckle.
my geekdom, it do be hardcore and mighty.
[ ; ^ {D>