Ryan Methven Senior Project

Ryan Methven Corby Leith Senior Project May 21, 2019 The  Forge Looking back to the beginning of this project and its planning stage, I would’ve never thought I could do what I’ve done. My original plan was to create one sword, one shield, and one spear. I have tripled that. I have gained more skills and knowledge than I thought I could with the time I had left, and I also managed to have more fun than expected as well. When I was still taking classes in the spring and I was planning out my senior project, my first choice was to go out west and work for a company called Outward Bound. This company mainly does studies on permaculture and wildlife. When I was on Mountain Classroom last spring, we did some work with them for a week, and I got really engaged with the work, as I was really intrigued about what they were doing. So when the senior project came around, I emailed the head of the company whom we met last spring, and I asked if I could come out and work for him again

Daily Blog #19 Monday, May 21, 2019 Today I spent my time spray painting my shields with a protective coating. And then I used Tape and color spray paint to finish my shield work. I am very pleased with my work so far but tomorrow will be a very hard day. I have to put handles on six of my swords. I believe that I’ll be in there for at least eight hours. Even though it is hard to manage the time and work I feel like I’m gaining a lot of skills. It is very fun to see my work come to an end.

Daily blog #18 Saturday, May 18, 2019 Today was interesting, I tried to but all different kinds of materials on my spears to cover up my screws. I tried copper and aluminim wire and different types of rope. I eventually got all the spears heads done so all I have to do is get the bottoms fitted with metal spikes. That will be for next week as will be finishing mt sword handles and shields. I did a lot of work with my shields and only have to put handles and decoration on two and then I can spray paint them with colors. I will be very busy trying to finish everything I've made but I am up for the challenge.

Weekly Blog #3 Saturday, May, 18 This week was definitely the busiest week of the three so far. Every time I got a new idea I wanted to bring it to life and make it. Started off with spears. I put all the spearheads on the shaft and put screws in them so they would be stable. I Shields I finished putting the handles, decorations and the protective spray paint on all but two of my shields. I now have only two shields left to finish. I Made my last two today using the same technique as I used on my first one. I used a piece of wood that has been hollowed out in the middle so it creates a dip for the flat metal to sit on and when the hammer hits it and creates a divot in the metal and has a nice texture to it. I still need to put the handles and decoration on both of my shields and when I’m finished with that I will spray paint them with the protective coating. Once I have all my shields at the same stage I will spray paint them with color and that would be the end of my work on th

Daily Blog #16 Friday, May, 16, 2019. I spent 6 hours in the forge today. Today I did a lot with my shields and spears. In the morning I finished putting on all my polisher on my spears. I took a paper towel and rubbed two cotes of  this special oil on the wood, this keeps it from getting banged up and rotten. I finnished my third shield today, I got both hands on and the detective piece on the front. Tomorrow I will be starting my forth shield and also start to construct handles for my swords. It feels like I'm in a bit of a hurry but I'm confident that I can meet the deadline.     

Daily Blog #15 Thursday, May 16, 2019 I spent 6 hours in the gorge today. Today I did a lot. I cut out my second shield and put my handles on it. That took all morning and some of the afternoon. Once I finished my handle I started to polish off my spears and put the spears hands on the shafts. I finished polishing all but one of them which I will do tomorrow right before I put the decoration on my shield. I will also start to put handls on my swords and make them comfortable to handle. I think I made very good progress today and am in a very good position with my work.

Daily Blog #14 Wednesday, May 14, 2019 I spent 4 hours in the forge today. Today I mainly worked on my spears and swords. I have all the wooden shafts that I want and all the spearheads I want. My first tast today was to cut a seem in each of the shafts that would allow each spearhead to fit in and to be able to have two screws be drilled into them. I haven't done the screws yet, that is for tomorrow. But before I put the spearheads in I need to spray them with protective spraypaint. That is all for tomorrow, I will also be cutting my other shield and welding my handle and artwork onto it.  

Weekly blog #2 Tuesday, May 14, 2019 This Week I started to work on my shields and I also start to plan out some other projects like spears and swords. The week started off with me trying to come up with a system that would form my shield in a way that would be comfortable to carry and also strong. Eventually got a piece of wood and hollowed out the center of it, and then took a ball playing hammer and word from outside to inside of the shield. This gave the texture I wanted and I also created a nice dome shape which I was trying to get. My other Spears came together quite well I went up to the woodshop to cut out pieces that I didn’t need and also to send away parts of the wood that got in the way. While I was doing this I got some ideas for additional speakers and I made sure to write them down before moving on. Looking back on today and this week I think I made very good progress but I realize that if I want to do more I’m gonna have to pick up the pace. I’m gonna need more ti

Daily Blog #13 Monday, May 13, 2019 I spent one-hour researching and 7 hours in the forge When I got into the forge I decided to changes some plans and start something else. Instead of starting a new shield I wanted to get my handles done so I don't need to use up any more time trying to heat up the metal. I finished two other swords and my knife. I will start on my other shields tomorrow. I have some new ideas for spears but I'll do those after my shields are done. Looking back on today I think I made really good progress, I am finished making swords and will focus on spears and shields. Tomorrow will be all spears and shields unless some else come up that is more important.        

Daily Blog #12 Saturday, May 11, 2019 I spent 3 hours in the forge today. Today I started to pound out my shields. To get the texture I wanted I used a ballpen hammer and a piece of wood that was sanded out and had a indentation in the middle. This was when I hit the metal, it conformed to the shape of the wood. Now I will have to put a handle on it but I will start on my other two shields as well. I have plans for my next two shields, hopefully, they will take less time than the last one. Looking back on today I think I made great progress and now have a better sense of how to form the next shield. On Monday I will be in the forge for at least 7 hours and will get another shield done.  

Daily Blog #11 Friday, May 10, 2019 I spent  5 hours in the forge today and 1 doing research on how to put a handle on my shield.    Today was all about learning how to braze my shield and planning out how I was gonna form the oval shape. I will be working on the shaping of the shield or tomorrow using a piece of wood burned a hole. The hole will allow me to hammer out the metal in the way that I want. Looking back on the brazing I don’t think I’m going to do that for my actual shield, it was too difficult to control the melting metal and a kept burning through. Instead, I will take two pieces of a separate metal and then weld them on to the shield separately. I think I will keep looking for a different way to shape my shield. A big teal would be good but anything two feet in diameter would work.

Daily Blog #10 Thursday, May 9, 2019          While finishing up my sword today I was trying to find material to put on my speaker. I tried pieces of leather, metal wire, and strips of a towel cloth. The only one that really worked was the metal wire but it still wasn’t clean enough. I think I will have to find a place of stretchy and sticky material that I can tire on the wood and then put something on top of that to make it look good. Friday and I will work on my shield decoration, and start my next sword. Once I know how to braze my shield I will forge a realistic size of it and decorate it with a mountain symbol. I’m trying to make as much as possible so I can get the most out of this experience.

Daily Blog #9 Wednesday, May 8, 2019. 4:40 I spent 2 hours in the forge in the morning and 3 hours in the forge in the afternoon. Today I finished grinding and polishing all my swords, and started to look for material to put on my spear for a handgrip. Today I did the most grinding is done on the project period, I had to replace the stone with a new one because it was getting too dull and worn. I have finished the last of my swords and now I will focus on getting handles on them and I will work on my shield and spears. My smile will have a single decorative mountain peace on the front. It is a replica of the spartan soldier shield. The mountain peace will be brass and I will braze it on, with mean I will use a tool to melt the brass onto the shield. That is the plan for Friday and Tomorrow I will start my other spear and get handles for my swords.                    

Daily Blog #8 Tuesday, May 7, 2019. 5:00 Today I started off with finishing my sword and planning new ones. All the swords that I have completed in the Forge I have polished and sharpened are ready to have handles put on them. The handle could either be leather or wood. I started to forge my last two swords, they are very thick pieces of steel and are hard to shape. If I spend enough time in the forage to get the steel thin, it will be easy to grind and put a edge on the blade. My mento Corby called his friend to ask if I could borrow one of his tools so I can make my shield. The tool is a 36 inch wide, steel bowl, and I can use it to pound and thinker piece of metal into the shield shape I want.     

Daily Blog #7 Monday, May 6, 2019. 11:00 Today was the day I made the most progress with my project. I grided both the spearhead and sword. I got them having the look to match the rest of my work. To do that, I polished both of them so they will be protected from rust and they now have a glossy shine to them. I also finished watching my spearhead the spear. This was very difficult because I had to drill a through the wood and the metal and have them line up. Tomorrow I will wrap my sword handle and then and find a wooden hale for my sword.   

Daily blog #6 Saturday, May 4, 2019. 2:00 Today for me was all about finishing up the first sword and spearhead. My first sword I finished all my grinding and shaping, now I have to put a handle on it. I finished my second spearhead by using the grinder. Now I will have to cut a incision in the wood to fit the spearhead and then I will wrap it in wire to make it tight. I will try a different tactic when making my shield next time. I need to get a more of a dome-like shape instead of a curved taco shell. After I do that I will begin my next sword.     

Weekly blog #1 Friday, May 3, 2019. This week I started the senior project, and I have already added additional tasks on top of my original plan. This week I worked with a lot of very dense and thick pieces of steel, I learned how long it can really take to stretch out a piece of steel and how much time and effort it takes to create a shape out of a single piece of material. I really liked what I was doing because I was working with my hands a lot and I was making significant progress. I’d like to see myself gain ground because it helps my confidence and I like to see my hard work pay off. There were two surprising events this week, one was making a new sword and the other one was making the shield. The sword I was making has a curved blade, and when I was making the blade bent and I couldn’t get it back to where I wanted it to so I had to start over. This unit was also difficult to deal with because I’ve never worked with an English wheel before, so it took me a few tries to un

Daily Blog #4 Friday, May 3, 2019. 4:20 I spent 4 hours in the for and 2 doing my workout Today I started to work on my shield. I finished up my other spearhead and did more work on my other sword. Once I did that was moved on the English well and form my shields. I had two thicknesses of steel the thicker one was smaller and easier to work with and the thinner and bigger one was bending and not forming the way I wanted it two. Next week I will try to use a different method. To form my shields I will use a big cast iron bowl to bend the metal to fit the bowl. I will mostly be working on my sword and my new spear. I was able to get a wooden staff for a second spear, so I will be adding that to the project.    

Daily blog #4 Thursday, May 2, 2019. 7:00 I spent 5 hours in the forge and 2 hours researching. Today was one of the longer days I've worked so far. I finished getting sword edge with the grinder and now I have to pet for leather on the handle. After I finished the edge on my sword I started to cut out plates of steel for my shield. The English wheel and take different thiknesses of steel, so I cut two different thicknesses. Each of them is about two feet in diameter. Tomorrow I will start my other speer and continue on my shields, once those are done I will try to make other words. Looking back on today I think I did a lot of hard work and put myself at a good spot for my timeline.    

Daily Blog #3 Wednesday, May 1, 2019. 3:20 I spent 2 and a half hours in the forge and did research for 1 hour. Today I finished all the forge work I wanted to do with my sword. Now I will begin to get a proper edge on both sides and make it look pretty. I have picked out a piece of steal I will do my trial run for the shield. Now that the English wheel is done I will be able to move the steel more effectively. I will spend most of my time doing that tomorrow. Looking back on today I think I could have picked out a better time to work on the shield. I think I could have worked on it longer but I got a good amount of it done.   

Daily blog #2 Tuesday, May 1, 2019. 5:00 PM I spent 3 hours in the forge and 3 hours doing research. I finished getting the shape of the sword that I want. I had a little trouble getting the metal to form the way I wanted it to. Every time I hit it on the anvil the sword would warp in a weird direction. But I eventually was able to get it where I wanted it, so now I can start working on the blade and handle. My plan is to have a double-sided, edged blade with a curved point. Tomorrow I will pick out a sheet of metal that I will use for my shield. Then if I have time I will make more sword and stuff.

Daily blog #1 Monday, April 29, 2019. 2:30 PM I spent 4 hours in the forge and 1 hour doing research. Today was the first day of my Senior Project, I already feel good about my progress. I wanted to get a early start on the day so I arrived at the forge at 8:00 and didn't leave till about 12. My current project is a sword. I have gotten it to the general shape I want and I have forged the edges I want. The next step is to cut out a more distinctive shape and put a shaper blade on both sides. Once I am done with the sword I will start on the shield. Thanks to Gordan I will have access to a piece of machinery that will help me make the shield. I will draw up plans tomorrow after my work on the sword.