Here is the first table during a trial fitting. 

Still needs the crossbar on the legs  paint and some welding.

The tabletops are ready for cleaning, sanding, and final assembly.

Here are some photos of the construction and assembly of a pair of patio tables.

The legs are of heavy rebar, the ends are thickened and they are twisted into an organic leg form. 

The tabletops will be finished with a clear lacquer for a nice contrast.

no, the real photos are at gladishfamily.blogspot.com

sorry....

H

Some new work from ElementFe

First of all, everyone has to see the first photo of our first grandchild!

Another day in the shop: As a new handrail is being laid out on an extension to the stake table and components forged and cut, I found time for a few little projects in between.
Below, Chainsaw chain becoming a billet for a kitchen knife.
Also, three new vases done as a warmup- still in the thirties, it's spring-Vember in NW Washington.
Social hour at ye Blacksmythe Shoppe, all pets welcome. Well, almost all.

I thought it would be fun to show some of the many steps to getting a lovely red chair out of a pile of steel rods and bars and stacks of steel sheet.
First, the components are cut to length: two front legs,  pieces for the back legs and backrest, pieces to be bent for the seat hoop and foot 
rail, and sheet metal marked out and cut to rough size for the seat.
Then, bending is done. Shown is the back/leg piece being bent in the vise, using a simple bending fork with an extended handle.
I only cut one tree when I built the shop, and my main vise is attached to the stump. Douglas fir stumps last pretty long- I've even seen stumps a foot across and larger completely healed over with scar tissue after being logged. Tremendous vitality.

The most time-consuming part is the seat.
First, a hoop is made from 1/4 x 1 1/4" hot rolled flat bar.
The hoop is trued up in a form and on a mandrel, by many many hammer blows.
Then, I tack weld it with my wire feed welder turned down low, to a sheet of 18 gauge.
With hoop attached, the shear is used to trim to size, then it's all ground precisely even.
All surfaces have to be very clean and shiny, because the next process, TIG welding, isn't so forgiving of contamination as some. It's important, too, to have a very nice weld where the thin sheet metal joins the rim. This weld is done without added filler metal, so that the rim of the seat is somewhat rounded. Photo at top of post...
(apologies for the photos being out of order- the learning curve, dontcha know)