Scratchbuild - Blacksmith's workshop

I'm going to make an old-fashioned blacksmith's workshop completely from scratch.

It will need some tree stumps and logs so I raided the woodpile and cut them to size. Cut the branch right where it starts to fork and then flip it over.

First thing I made was some hammers using my mini lathe.
https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t44-mini-lathe




The anvil is made from pieces of wood glued together and then sanded to shape using a dremel.

Very nice start.

Nice start! I wish I had thought to use cut trees for something...Where do you get these ideas?

Mr. Razz wrote:Where do you get these ideas?

I saw a miniature tree stump made from resin for $20 and wondered why I couldn't get the same thing for free from my back yard. Turns out I could

shazzdan wrote:

Mr. Razz wrote:Where do you get these ideas?

I saw miniature tree stump made from resin for $20 and wondered why I couldn't get the same thing for free in my back yard.

Right after I post about a tree that I cut apart and made an "altar"?...ROFL

Just a quick point for realism all the anvils i've ever seen are fixed to the wooden stump with big staples diagonally over the 4 lug toes. apart from that it looks great , oh they usually have a square hardie hole in the square end at the back.


i took a course in metal working at school as my dad got me interested, he was an aircraft engineer guess that's why i'm a model maker too


Are you going to make the building forge and bellows too? that would be amazing

This one will not only suit a blacksmiths, but a variety of historical workshops. It is a miniature grinding wheel. The stone came from one of these knife sharpeners.



The rest is made of hardwood, bamboo, and a few pieces of steel wire. I applied a stain to darken the wood but only lightly sanded it; leaving the wood distressed gives it the appearance of being knocked around in the workshop.





Turn the handle and it will (slowly) grind a steel blade.



It has a wooden locking bar that slides aside to allow the stone to be removed. I think I should be able to design a mini foot pedal that will work with it too. Simply remove the wooden handle and slide on the pedal mechanism.

Very nice work on the grinding wheel! Can't wait to see how this progresses!

that is absolutely brilliant

looking great so far, can't wait to see the finished project. thanks for the documented progress, some nice techniques that'll be handy further down the road.
cheers
tjolnir

Mr. Razz wrote:

shazzdan wrote:

Mr. Razz wrote:Where do you get these ideas?

I saw miniature tree stump made from resin for $20 and wondered why I couldn't get the same thing for free in my back yard.

Right after I post about a tree that I cut apart and made an "altar"?...ROFL

Not really. I've been using the one in the very first photo in various dios for about a year. I've also been using them in miniature gardens for a while now.

nice conversions into 1/6 scale props not usually seen (or mass produced for that matter)

Very neat. Looking forward to the finished project. Not sure how I managed to miss this cool project before. Really great use of natural/found materials.

Every workshop needs a workbench. I cut up some branches from a Eucalypt tree and turned the sticks very roughly on my lathe to straighten them a little and to give them all a similar diameter. Then I glued them together into a bench and sanded the top surface to flatten it before applying a stain.






I have a vise which would be appropriate for some themes but not others. Bench vises never appeared until the 18th century and this style wasn't developed until the early 20th century.

Great table. The vice is pretty cool, too.

The smithy needs some charcoal. I was going to pyrolise these wooden offcuts into proper charcoal but realised that they would smear everything they touched with black crap so I opted for matt black paint instead.





Can't remember where I got the basket from. It is woven from bamboo so I applied a stain to darken it.

The basket of charcoal looks excellent.

Dude, everything in this build looks amazing!!! That grinding wheel is my favorite, but damn, everything is looking so slick! I'm trying to be responsible as we move into the Christmas shopping season, but SERIOUSLY considering grabbing that off your etsy store.

Been experimenting with bits of wire - bending them to shape and smacking them with a hammer. They need some weathering but they are made of mild steel so there is no need to paint on some artificial rust. I'll just leave them outside for a few days.

The big thing that is missing at the moment is the forge. I've drawn a sketch of the furnace and planned how to build it, but I'm not sure about the bellows. I'm going to try modifying a set of commercial bellows first. If that doesn't work, I'll have to make some from scratch.

Man, this is outstanding work. I really like it a lot.

I gotta admit, I'm liking what you did with the wire...with a bit of weathering, as you mentioned, they'll look great...

Found this flower pot. It is about the right size for a half barrel in 1:6. Should look good as a storage bin in the smithy.

Could even work for a dowsing tub. Nice find.