Lumpy Tea Kettle?

Maybe not! I made the first piece for the Rickati tank and it actually looks pretty good.

Here's the rundown:

Cut the blank slightly oversize
Anneal the blank
Run it through the English wheel
Planish
Anneal
Shrink the edges - hammer to fit the form
Trim edges
Shrink the edges - hammer to fit the form
Planish
Trim edges
Shrink the edges - hammer to fit the form
Touch up with mallet and slapper

I've got about three hours in that one little piece but it fits and it's pretty close to being ready to file smooth. Part of the time spent was dragging out all the tools and setting up the air planishing hammer. I bought the hammer a couple of years ago and only used it once. Little bit of a learning curve here - I initially had the air pressure too high. The annealed aluminum shapes pretty easily. Looks like the time spent on the hammerform was a good investment.

I'm going to try and get the sides made this week but that might be a little optimistic. After making the first piece, however, I'm feeling pretty upbeat. Maybe I'll order that Monza filler cap this week!