Done

The obsession with iron continued to its temporary conclusion today. Welding the twisty bits on properly, then drilling and tweaking the little thumb latches to fit while trying them out in the little jig I mentioned before. Yesterday I realized I had forgotten to make the latch bolt covers to go on the edge of the door, so I got Sammy to apply some texture to a strip of metal and then we cut the shapes out with the torch and ground them to size. All the iron parts for the door are now done and finished with the tea and tool steel mix as a patina, then reheated to have a mix of wax and fine graphite powder applied. Sammy worked on applying those finishing touches today while I did all the other things. Cutting, grinding, drilling, bending and welding.
Back to wood work tomorrow after a bit of a tidy up to change the mode of the main part of the shop for that, taking the metal vice off the bench and tucking away all the other things that are out for metal work.
With the hot weather and work, we could finally stand it no longer and went to the river for a swim before lunch yesterday, and did the same today. I hope the weather will stick tomorrow, it is very refreshing to take a dip, eat and nap. The heat and drudge of work gets sucked right out of one and although the strain from work is still present, the fatigue is somehow lightened by all those minus ions to something that can be easily lifted with a little sleep. The day that had been hot and muggy becomes pleasantly warm, with a sensation akin to the cool comforting touch of cotton sheets.