Blacksmithing question

[vtfireman85]

@Sledgehammer

i don't have a forge, but i do have a weed burner and a rosebud. I want  to make some twisted square balusters about 36”long, my original thought was to heat incremental sections 6” long starting 3” from the end, clamp one end put 1 full twist every 6” by working my way 6” at a time. Heat, twist, heat , twist. I figured clamping one end to the welding table and doing my heating there would help keep them straight. Alternatively I could make a sort of forge with the weed burner and some cement blocks to do my heating but not sure how to keep things uniform. 
any advice?

[bitty]

Use a 4 jaw chuck on a lathe 

[snoshoe]

I have both a forge and a metal melting furnace that I built. For a job like this. I go just outside the shop. Dig appropriately sized trench. Lay 1-1/4" conduit with air holes in bottom. Tape hair dryer to end of tubing.  Other end just gets stuck in dirt. Fill with charcoal and light. Lay bar on top. When hot clamp one end in vise. Twist other end with adjustable wrench. Second wrench will be needed to keep twists even. Reheat as needed.  Will need flat surface to roll and bump straight once twists are complete.

[vtfireman85]

50 minutes ago, bitty said:

Use a 4 jaw chuck on a lathe 

Cold? 

[Sledgehammer]

Weed burner probably will not get hot enough to do much without a very controlled environment. Could possibly use cheap, soft fire bricks and make a temporary forge. The trick of using a trench in the ground like @snoshoe mentioned would probably work also. A rosebud works but trust me, you don’t want the gas bill to follow. I did that once years ago and won’t make that mistake twice. 
 

I would suggest alternating twists to add a little more flair for what you are doing. One clockwise, next counter clockwise.  You will need to clamp the end, heat, twist. Move the clamping point beyond the first twist, clamp, heat, twist. Multiple twists may be needed to show much depending on the size of bar used. Keep your clamping points at uniform distances down the bar. There is more to a pretty twist than you would think. Practice on some junk first. You will probably want to use more than a crescent style wrench also. That puts force on one side and you really need uniform force on both side to make a pretty twist. An old monkey wrench with a handle welded on the top works perfect. I did that for mine but it happened to be a multi-wrench of some sort so I can grip round stock also much like a pipe wrench. 

[from H to 80]

Local shop makes all types of fancy railing,for just a standard twist they slide a piece of pipe the just fits over the square stock.Clamp one end in the vice and then they have a tool similar to die handle clamped to the other,make as many revolutions as you want spirals. They come out straight as can be, just remember they get shorter as you twist so cut your pipe accordingly.

[int 504]

Big vise on one end clamp other end in power pipe threader. Threader will walk towards vise as it twists. works easier hot.

[nomorejohndeere]

hook a big welder to it like thawing pipe

 

[vtfireman85]

28 minutes ago, nomorejohndeere said:

hook a big welder to it like thawing pipe

 

The big welder i gots, I’ll give it a try 

[Rawleigh99]

Weld a top handle on a cheap pipe wrench and use as said.