Copper Coffee Scoop

This may come as a bit of a surprise but, I really like coffee. I was surfing through youtube a couple of weeks ago and I saw a video of a blacksmith making a copper coffee scoop. I watched it and immediately fell in love with the look of it. I also decided I wanted to try to make one. I searched for any other videos of these scoops being made, watched their techniques, picked up some important info on the properties of copper and how to work with it. I then set about figuring out where to get the copper material. I ended up going to the almighty Amazon to get my copper disks and rivets. Next was figuring out tooling. Aside from some very beginner looking steel spoons, this is the first bit of forge work that requires shaping a cup. Ideally I would use a swage block but I haven't been able to afford one. I did some looking and I found one I want to get in the future when more surplus funds are available but for now I will have to rely on my own creative DIY work-around. I found a couple of old ball hitches and a used pintle hook ring I have in my scrap surplus to use as a cupping jig and decided to give them a try. While I was working on the cup and kinda chasing my tail, a good buddy of mine stopped by. He scored me a couple brake drums off a semi trailer I had asked him for in order to make a couple things (teaser!!) for the shop and for a friend. We were chatting about what I was making and he wondered about the use of a wood mallet. I hadn’t seen anyone use a mallet in the videos so it didn't occur to me. I dug mine out and decided it probably wouldn’t work for this project. After he left I got to looking at the mallet and discovered that it fit into the inner diameter of my ring jig. I gave the copper a good annealing, placed it on the ring jig, centered the mallet and hammered it through. It worked really well. A wonderfully shaped cup. I cleaned up the rim of the cup, polished off the forge scale, hammered out a quick handle and then riveted it together. I’m pretty happy with the results as a prototype. I’m ultimately going to change the shape and process of making the cup because the rim of the prototype is a bit too flimsy and I want to experiment with different handles that are a little more flat rather than twisted square. But as a “proof-of-concept” I’m pretty happy with it. I will be making more with a goal to make them available for sale. I look forward to seeing these evolve.

Shop Saw Update

Several months ago I stumbled on a Craigslist ad for a small metal cutting band saw. I had been kinda looking for one but they were always well out of my price range. This one caught my eye because it was listed for $50. I brief look at the pictures revealed that not only was it the kind of saw I was looking for, but it was also a Grizzly brand which is a brand I quite respect. I called to see if someone scooped it up and found it was still there so away I went. 

I showed up to a small fabrication shop and they walked me back to where it was. I was a little rougher in person than the pictures showed and it was missing a blade, some guards and a manual. Still, they plugged it in and it turned on so we I loaded it up. 

I did some searching on Google and came up with a PDF of the manual and discovered Grizzly still sold blades for it. Woohoo! 

I ordered the blades and set them aside with the manual for when I would have a chance to tinker with it. 

That was last year...

Well, tonight I dragged it out and started fiddling with it. I figured out how to install the blade, rigged up a larger table face so I could use it as an upright saw, hunted around for some srock i wanted to cut for split crosses amd started cutting. I experimented with different blade speeds. I discovered a loose lock bolt for the blade tension wheel after the blade came zinging off during a cut. 

All in all, it worked really good.  I'm super happy with that $50 chance. I look forward to being more productive in the future.