Southern-Steel Fabrication

Monday, April 24, 2006

The Longest Day



The title of this post represents some of the photo's you see here. I put in my longest strait day at Southern Steel. I started off the morning at 0700 and finished up at 0030. That's 19.5 hours. Now mind you I stopped for lunch and supper, but worked right on till the midnight hour. My wife prepared me a wonderful supper thought that sustained me thru the waning hours. Why did I do this? I had obligations and these projects to finish. I'm not complaining mind you, but next time things stack up on me, I'll make sure I leave some padding.

Not pictured is the 21 foot cabin cruiser boat I welded on for 2.5 hours in the blowing wind. I enjoyed what got accomplished and thank God that He gave me the stamina to keep my word. The item at the top of the page is kind of obscured in the shadows....well that is a background for my daughters wax museum school project. Across the top it says "Cleopatra" and just barely visible are the pyramids that are 3 dimensional. The letters are for a sign project and are 10 gauge steel with standoff's welded to the back. Each letter is 12" tall and I'm pleased with how they turned out. The rose is #9 in the series, and I powder coated it a patina green for the stem and the leaves, with a deep rich glossy red powder for the blossom. I'll find out tommorow if my customer is pleased! Also in the big pictue is some shelves for the baby's room. I haven't got them powder coated yet, but very soon.

I was blog-absent for much of last week because I was working hard to get a project done at my regular job....I got off pretty easy though, because I only had to work 55 hours then I got to come home and be with the ones I love and then do the work in my shop that I love! Till next time!

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

RONALD McDONALD HOUSE FIREPLACE

You may not be able to see all the details of this project ...but trust me it has loads of detail. Exactly what is it? Well on either side of this fire place it is encased in hand worked steel. All the way around on the sides and the top it is encased in random hammer textured 10 gauge steel panels. Every edge has one of 2 treatments. They are either peined or where they meet each other they are bevelled. This project also was the first time I used Birchwood Casey's Cold Blackening Finish. I worked out very good. I was pleased, the Architect was pleased, the house Manager was pleased....What else could you ask for? Just one thing....More projects Like This!

Sunday, April 09, 2006

This Weekend's Progress




This weekend I completed a couple of projects I've been working on for the last week or so...I know it's not much ornamental panache, but it's good honest work that helps pay the bills. The stack of steel you see contains the following: a file tray storage bin, some shelving dividers, and some CNC cut brackets. I did get to crank up my propane forge for a little while though and that's why you see that huge smile on my face. I started rough forging the "fingers" for one of my upcoming projects....

Now that spring has sprung, I'm already feeling the pressure of all the projects I meant to do over the winter, but never completed. On Saturday it started to rain moments after my wife snapped these pictures and I was reminded of how nice it is to have the doors open and be able to look outside and see the mountains and not worry about stoking the fire. I mean I've got an awesome window (when I can open my 16 foot garage door).On top of that there's something about the smell of rain combining with all the odors of a metalsmith's shop... I think the only thing that would have made it more enjoyable is if I had only fired the coal forge!

Monday, April 03, 2006

C is for Chloe

Finally I completed one of those honey-do projects. My wife came up with this idea for the new baby's room. She painted the tree on the wall, came up with the design for the apples, which I then cut out and powder coated. Katelyn and Caleb assisted some with painting the tree, and the walls.

The powder coat is a custom mix that I could proably never replicate again. Sure hope the doctor's right...that we're having a girl, if not I'll have to redo these, in a color other than pink, that or I'll have a big sale on this item! The apples are out of 14 gauge cold rolled steel, and took about 3 hours best I recollect to draw, cut, sand blast, and powder coat.