I had a quick visit to Brisbane last weekend for my parent's 40th wedding anniversary celebrations. While there, I took the opportunity to get a few bits and pieces to continue on with some of my increasing number of UFOs (seems a bit like trams - none, then lots!). Amongst the UFOs I was wanting to get on with was the cattle dock for Swallow's End. With the design work done (thanks again Missy!) it was a matter of finding the bits to construct the fence.
While the Highclere one has 0.5mm square brass, I was unable to source this so settled for 1mm instead. 6 inches is quite a thick post, but cows are stroppy and bulls even more so, so I figure that while the original had 3 inch posts, my bulls are bigger and crankier and thus need bigger posts - at least that is the story. I have also managed to get some 0.2mm nickle silver wire which I will be drilling holes for to thread through the posts. Still haven't really worked out how I am going to do that with a minimum of swearing!
So far 10 of the 26 posts have been manufactured. The process involves cutting 12mm lengths off the longer length, sticking them into my small chuck which is in my drill which is clamped to my workbench and then "turning" a point using a file to stick the completed post into a 0.5mm hole drilled into the cattle dock. As I said, so far 10 done but the time is coming down with practice. I know it isn't as elegant as a lathe but I imagine it is just as quick (if not quicker) and works so it will do me.
Two pictures below with cow posed to give an idea of the progress. If Lisa wasn't asleep in the lounge with Amity watching TV, I would probably be doing more rather than writing this!! I will try and get organised enough to take some pictures of the step by step process - after all, one of the sub-purposes of this blog is to show people how I do it and to try and demystify the process.
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