Bird Feeder Post

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Im currently trying to make a Bird Feeder post for my grandmother's birthday so i guess my question is this; What exactly step by step do u have to do to make this round stock bend like this picture? Trying to make ornamental piece Attached ImagesEquipment:Miller Syncrowave 250dxMillermatic 252Lincoln Ranger 250 propaneLN-25
Reply:I'm guessing you are talking about making the basket that is under the arms. To do this you really either need a very large rosebud or a forge. The simple way to do it is to just simply buy premade baskets. King Metals among others, sells them as well as the finial on top of the pictured feeder. They sell the baskets by themselves and also already welded to stock of various sorts.http://www.kingmetals.com/productSea...riteria=basketThe trick with making baskets by hand is getting them evenly heated. No big deal if you have a gas forge, but much harder doing other methods. You simply weld the 4 pieces all together as a bundle on each end. Then heat them and twist them in a vise. Then reheat and untwist them slightly and you get a basket... Well in theory anyways. Expect to screw up a few before you get a semi decent one. You can take a pair of tongs and tweak them slightly to get them even, but some are just too far gone often to mess with much.The curved hangers are a bit easier. Those can be done cold simply by bending them in a vise a small bit at a time to make the curve. or wrapping them around a large pipe.  Hot you would bend them with a bending fork or on the horn of the anvil. The ends can be heated with a torch and then pounded flat and then either rolled with a hammer on a heavy steel block like what would be done on an anvil, or you can heat them up and roll them with a big pair of needle nose pliers or tongs.Edit: also looking at the pict again, it looks like they twisted the ends of the arms a bit as well. These could be heated with a torch and then held in a vise while twisting them with a wrench.Last edited by DSW; 08-13-2012 at 07:16 AM..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:The basket looks like a prefab which is an option. Most guys make these from square bar bundle like DSW described. Here's a video that shows one method using a single square bar.[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X62dDh_9on0[/ame]This is the method DSW described.[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kqeuLGjoOk[/ame]The upper arms are likely twisted and then drawn out and rolled on the ends and finally curved over the horn.