A few more curtain elements completed: a horseshoe hold back for the closet curtain, and a cafe curtain rod/finial, and the finial for a closet rod.  None have finish applied yet. 

Started work on some curtain rods for closets at a local ranch.  Pretty simple, but got a bit tricky when the customer wanted smaller curtain rings.  Had planned on forge welding the end brackets onto the rod, but ended up drilling/tapping screw holes in the rod.  A bit of a hassle but it looks much better than making the end brackets smaller. This one still needs some patina applied.  Hot wax maybe?  

Been a long 5 months out of the forge while the doctors got things figured out. Back in the forge today and pushed myself to spend the entire day beating up my muscles. Gonna sleep good tonight.  Started with something relatively easy: a couple of froes that will be donated to the Creede Arts Council for a fund raiser.  

Usually I make these from high carbon steel (leaf springs from a car) because the material is cheap and the froe really holds an edge. However, a bit of wandering through the scrap yards in the San Louis Valley revealed nary a loose leaf. Finally ended up going to the metal store and picking up some mild steel strap.  Hopefully these will hold up.