How to make a steel black waxed heart.
Start the fire
Use 25mm x 6mm x 495mm steel bar.
Find the half way point which is the centre point between the 2 curves.
Centre Punch Dot
Make a centre punch dot by hammering a centre punch on the cold bar at the centre point at the top which can be seen when the bar is hot.
Heat it up in the middle and use the scroll wrench combined with the anvil horns to bend it into a V shape.
Use the hollow bit tongs to hold the end.
Heat up again and hammer the V shape flat with no space between the bars.
Fire welding
Heat up off centre quite deep on both sides until the surface is wet and molten – exploding sparks shows it’s at melting point but be quick so it doesn’t burn – then hammer to fuse the atoms together.
Join the metal an inch up.
The bar is now fused by an inch up to the crack.
Creating the curve
Heat up the welded end and put it in the vice.
Bend the two ends out.
Cool the end in water.
Hammer both ends into points.
Don’t creep over the edge when hammering.
Once both ends are pointed warm up the whole bar.
Get two smaller gap square scroll wrenches for more detailed work and bend the bar into a curve.
Lie it flat and draw around the heart to make it symmetrical.
Bend the other side into shape using the anvil horns and the scroll wrenches.
Descale it using the electric wire brush.
Black wax the heart.
