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A somewhat short day, late leaving the house and earlier than usual getting home. In between I sanded the welds on the 20x23x15 bottom anvil block and painted it. Then cut the slot in the top block for the sowblock's dovetail pin and got the parallel sides cut to 7 degrees.
Sometime back someone asked elsewhere on IFI about where to put the taper for the wedge, in the slot or in the pin. Well, the answer is in the pin or the die. The reason is that the wedge can remain the same size and the pin or die can be moved along the slot as desired. If the slot was tapered (typically 1 degree), the wedge would have to be changed or made quite long as the pin or die was moved closer to the wide end of the slot. Another approach that no one (to my knowledge) uses is to have the slot sides parallel AND to have the die sides parallel AND to use two wedges. It is possible in this case to use one wedge on each side, but the risk of the die or pin becoming dislodged is high. So the alternative is to use both wedges on one side (thin tip adjacent to thick tip) and to use two hammers to drive them against each other, thickening their combined width. The unwedged side then locks into the angle of the slot side. I use 7 degrees for that angle and I copied Tom Clark's hammers which copied German hammers. I use 7 degree dovetails when making cabinets out of hardwoods. I still have my well equipped woodworking shop at home. I love furniture making.
BTW, the new book I have on the Norwegian perspective on blacksmithing has excellent segments on making woodworking tools. My buddy Albin D'ski came into smithing wanting to make chisels and such. I know he has the book and surely we'll talk about it one of these days.
Once the top block was finished at the mill, it was moved outside and it was sanded to create the bevels for the end welds. Then it was placed on the big bottom block, ever so carefully aligned, clamped in place in all three dimensions, and tack welded. Then I did full pass stringer beads along the sides to secure it. I lifted it off the layout table, turned it so the back side was up, set it back on top of the table, and welded that joint. It was taken outside and sanded smooth, turned over to put the front side up, set on the table, and that seam was welded. After it too was sanded smooth, the block was uprighted and placed again on the table whereupon two more stringer beads were put on each edge. Recall that the top block is 10" wide whereas the anvil bottom block is 15" so that there is a 2-1/2" ledge. These three stringer beads on each side are in the 90 degree angled joint. I then did a fourth pass with a weaving pattern to create a strong fillet cap weld with a nice flat 45 degree angle. The Lincoln .035 Outershield wire (71-M?) works very nicely. What a superb contrast to the persnickety ESAB Dualshield .045 wire. The anvil was cleaned up and painted to end my day.
To me this was an important milestone in the 150's construction process. It ends the laborious and dangerous heavy lifting part of the build process in which billets are machined. I now move on to creating the tup components and getting the welded unit into young Mike's hands for cnc machining. While he has that I'll build the tower and cabinet frames, etc.
Sometime back someone asked elsewhere on IFI about where to put the taper for the wedge, in the slot or in the pin. Well, the answer is in the pin or the die. The reason is that the wedge can remain the same size and the pin or die can be moved along the slot as desired. If the slot was tapered (typically 1 degree), the wedge would have to be changed or made quite long as the pin or die was moved closer to the wide end of the slot. Another approach that no one (to my knowledge) uses is to have the slot sides parallel AND to have the die sides parallel AND to use two wedges. It is possible in this case to use one wedge on each side, but the risk of the die or pin becoming dislodged is high. So the alternative is to use both wedges on one side (thin tip adjacent to thick tip) and to use two hammers to drive them against each other, thickening their combined width. The unwedged side then locks into the angle of the slot side. I use 7 degrees for that angle and I copied Tom Clark's hammers which copied German hammers. I use 7 degree dovetails when making cabinets out of hardwoods. I still have my well equipped woodworking shop at home. I love furniture making.
BTW, the new book I have on the Norwegian perspective on blacksmithing has excellent segments on making woodworking tools. My buddy Albin D'ski came into smithing wanting to make chisels and such. I know he has the book and surely we'll talk about it one of these days.
Once the top block was finished at the mill, it was moved outside and it was sanded to create the bevels for the end welds. Then it was placed on the big bottom block, ever so carefully aligned, clamped in place in all three dimensions, and tack welded. Then I did full pass stringer beads along the sides to secure it. I lifted it off the layout table, turned it so the back side was up, set it back on top of the table, and welded that joint. It was taken outside and sanded smooth, turned over to put the front side up, set on the table, and that seam was welded. After it too was sanded smooth, the block was uprighted and placed again on the table whereupon two more stringer beads were put on each edge. Recall that the top block is 10" wide whereas the anvil bottom block is 15" so that there is a 2-1/2" ledge. These three stringer beads on each side are in the 90 degree angled joint. I then did a fourth pass with a weaving pattern to create a strong fillet cap weld with a nice flat 45 degree angle. The Lincoln .035 Outershield wire (71-M?) works very nicely. What a superb contrast to the persnickety ESAB Dualshield .045 wire. The anvil was cleaned up and painted to end my day.
To me this was an important milestone in the 150's construction process. It ends the laborious and dangerous heavy lifting part of the build process in which billets are machined. I now move on to creating the tup components and getting the welded unit into young Mike's hands for cnc machining. While he has that I'll build the tower and cabinet frames, etc.
