the swage shape ok; but the the bar itself, no; but it did seal in the first heat.....remember first time in 17 yrs ...rough out and did it cold; no practice at all in the forge. just jumped in and did it. I broke George's stump while doing it actually I did once in heartbar in a swage block; the same as the straightbar shoe but a long bar and fold them over. long time ago
I think the point being, I'm not sure you should be frowning on people not making handmades or suggesting they knock out heartbars when you can't do it yourself. I've seen people, who haven't made shoes in years, knock some shoes out and it's obvious they knew what they were doing. I'm not seeing any aspect of your forge work that suggests you were just out of practice.
You might want to put the point of the heel in the center of the stock. Currently it's on the outside of the stock. You can also trying fullering while your branch is still straight. Then after you blow the stock wider, turn it over (on the face) and forge it back down to 3/4". Then place the crease on the face of the anvil and flatten it until you have crisp lines and it's shiny. Ideally you should be able to do it all on the horn but if you don't have anyone teaching you and don't know where you're supposed to go it's probably easier to do it in the straight and don't stop until you have your original 3/4" section with a heel on it.
Kim go watch Craig's videos it will show you what Eric is talking about. His videos helped me out a lot, I learn by watching people do things but everyone learns differently.
Yeah I learn more by watching because a lot of times it's hard for me to picture what's being described. Though I think I know what Eric's talking about. Fullering then boxing as I turn it to get it back to 3/4 ?
If you look at your pic. Where your fullering starts, it's wider than your toe. So say your fullering blew your stock from 3/4 to 7/8 you need to forge it back down to 3/4. If you're not good at working on the horn it's much easier to do on the face before you turn the branch. And it give you a good idea as to what you need to do to get it back down to 3/4 without ruining your crease.
What's the best way to accomplish it on the horn? I made a it of plain stamps and decided to start fullering my shoes. After a handful, Instead of just turning a toe, I'd bump it a bit and that has helped, but I still commonly get that little bit of extra width right there where the fullering starts. Forging it down and I seem to forge a bit just before the fullering and wind up with my stock a bit too narrow. I'll see if I have any decent pictures on my phone.
This was a better example, but I still see a nice bulge on the inside of the right shoe, medial side.
