Forged hummingbird

Will Jones - Thursday, March 25, 2010 - 3:01pm

Hey everyone, You may remember I'm putting a critter on each of these fence panels I'm slogging my way through.....one that the customer particularly asked for was a very un-indigenous hummingbird.

Before anyone gets too anatomical on my ass(!?)please appreciate that the only model available in these climes was a tacky plastic garden ornament, that neither the client nor I can afford to make each critter too much of a work of art, and that galvanizing may blur fine details anyway.

Hummer 1hummer 2hummer 3hummer 4Disclaimer over, I'm rather pleased with him. he's not yet attached...and I'm a bit unsure how to fix him, and indeed whether I trust the galvanizers with him, but post galv fixing would be even more of a challenge. He's forged out of the same tube the flowers are made from: wings welded on...I'll include a coupla process pictures as well as the finished article.

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Looking Great Will. I hope

R L Sidebottom - Thursday, March 25, 2010 - 8:16pm

Looking Great Will. I hope you get mounting figured out

Rick Sidebottom
Aspiring Metal Artist

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Delicate

Frank Castiglione - Thursday, March 25, 2010 - 10:00pm

Hi Will,
I find it fascinating how you can forge such a delicate creature.I'm surprised you don't have humming birds where you reside. We have them here in Upper Michigan, in the summer of course. By the way, they are terribly vicious to each other and fight constantly.
Frank

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Hey, Frank, Who knows - it

Will Jones - Friday, March 26, 2010 - 4:44am

Hey, Frank,
Who knows - it may only be a matter of time before it's warm enough here...although I guess it's more a question of such little birds making the journey. ( I don't Imagine Michigan being particularly tropical! Seem to remember quite a few of your pieces in beautiful snowy settings)

Superficial beauty concealing a vicious streak....been there before!

Will Jones

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Very nice looking hummer,

Rich Waugh - Thursday, March 25, 2010 - 10:29pm

Very nice looking hummer, Will. What exactly do you mean by "fix" him? Do you mean mount him, or finish him, or something else entirely? I'd just weld his little pointy beak into the flower and let him get galvanized along with the rest of the kit.

Rich

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Hi Rich..yes it's the

Will Jones - Friday, March 26, 2010 - 4:49am

Hi Rich..yes it's the mounting that concerns me a little. I can get tacks on three points, but they will only be tacks...... strong enough I would hope for all but the most determined vandal, or careless galvanizer/forklift driver.
As Dowpat says, the other issue may be a tricky post galvanizing clean up - but I can probably cope with that as long as he comes back in one piece.
Will Jones

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Humming bird

dowpat - Thursday, March 25, 2010 - 11:41pm

Great looking Humming bird.
I understand your concerns about the galvanizing. Where I work we only have a few items galvanized and it seems to take a lot of work to clean up the drips, globes etc. not to mention how it covers up all the hammer textures.
If I needed to put that delicate of item on I would weld a screw on its beak and a nut in the flower (if it would not show). Have the bird galvanized separately and with extra attention on it. (You may want to put a screw in the nut and a nut on the screw before going to the galvanizers, to make you life easer when you get the items back.)

Pat

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Thanks Pat, Sometimes I get

Will Jones - Friday, March 26, 2010 - 4:58am

Thanks Pat,
Sometimes I get stuff back from the galvanizers and it's just beautiful - a really smooth consistent coating. Other times you just feel like they've ruined it. I send most of my outside work for galvanising as it's a pretty economical and reliable rust stopper, but if I could find a local hot zinc sprayer that might be better for forged work where the texture's part of the look of the thing.(but then have to factor in shot blasting as well) The other weird thing is that the galvanising makes arc or mig welds that I've ground down and blended in beautifully pop right back up in my face. A fabricator pal of mine's told me the silicone in the wire/rods makes the zinc form thicker on the welds ?
Will Jones

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Hummmmmmm

warren - Friday, March 26, 2010 - 12:52pm

Will, really great little humming bird, I like the way you did the wings and it is just great.

www Metalrecipes -- heat and beat to the desired shape, repeat as necessary.
warren

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hummers...

Stephen Fitz-Gerald - Monday, March 29, 2010 - 2:34pm

Stephen Fitz-Gerald
Great job on the mounting too Will.
I have several feeders here and keep them full all winter long.
The Anna's Hummingbird is my favorite.They are quite comfortable with humans and I've gotten them to land on my shoulder several times.They've actually expanded their territory all the way from San Diego to the Canadian border in the last 20 years all because of humans ornamental gardens...

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