Mark Wargo New2bs Posted September 1, 2010 Share Posted September 1, 2010 Most of my tools are about 8 inches long. One is an eye punch, a round fuller, a hot cut/slitter, chisel/punches, and various sized straight fullers. I'm learning as I go and having someone knowledgeable guide you is certainly the best route to take. Good luck on your tools. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rakessler Posted September 14, 2010 Share Posted September 14, 2010 Here are some tools made from spring that I did because of the many questions I've seen about making some of your first tools. This spring ended up being 12' 6" long. I cut circles off it on the horn then straightened them in 3 heats being careful not to put any nicks or dings in the material. I then cut them on my hardy into 7" pieces. I forged the striking end first then then the working end. These are mostly one-heat square tapers, stop, or go to round in a second heat, or two sided tapers to form the chisel and fullers. I forge, grind, heat treat, test, and then it's ready to go. This would be a nice starter set to think about making. Hello If anyone is interested I have collected over a dozen coil springs and two complete sets of leaf springs, anyone interested should contact me at ... kessler.ra@gmail.com..................... I had some serious injury and have been selling (cheap) all my material and tools. Including a 1/2 assembled and 90% finished tire hammer, see listing under tirehammer. Oh if u heat up the end of the chiesl till a magnet does not stick, not the whole chiesl just the end u hit, let it sit overnight in vermiculite the stricking end will be softer than the working end. OLD STYLE secret??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted September 14, 2010 Share Posted September 14, 2010 Hello If anyone is interested I have collected over a dozen coil springs and two complete sets of leaf springs, anyone interested should contact me at ... kessler.ra@gmail.com..................... I had some serious injury and have been selling (cheap) all my material and tools. Including a 1/2 assembled and 90% finished tire hammer, see listing under tirehammer. Oh if u heat up the end of the chiesl till a magnet does not stick, not the whole chiesl just the end u hit, let it sit overnight in vermiculite the stricking end will be softer than the working end. OLD STYLE secret??? I hope that you recover from your injury. What are those curly things below the springs and left of the spikes? I got a couple of them in a bucket of metal from Grandpa's stash. Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wesley Chambers Posted September 14, 2010 Share Posted September 14, 2010 If your talking about the three curved pieces they are from railroad track, if I remember right they are used almost like clamps or tie-downs, used a few of them myself free .5 x 1.5 if I remember right. I only ever found them in old piles after a run of track ties were reset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted September 15, 2010 Share Posted September 15, 2010 If your talking about the three curved pieces they are from railroad track, if I remember right they are used almost like clamps or tie-downs, used a few of them myself free .5 x 1.5 if I remember right. I only ever found them in old piles after a run of track ties were reset. Yes, that is it. I think somewhere it is mentioned that they are spring steel or some such. Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianbrazealblacksmith Posted September 15, 2010 Author Share Posted September 15, 2010 Here is another tip about making hand tools from spring. I didn't learn it from Bob Patrick, but I considered it after he told me about welding round stock and wanting to end up round when finished. Forge it hex. When forging hexagonal, you have three opposing sides. So, when I forge the striking ends for the punches, I can hit 3 times and be done with the struck end instead of 4 or 8 or more if you want to go back to round. It just makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Steinkirchner Posted September 15, 2010 Share Posted September 15, 2010 never thought about forging hex, thats why i keep reading. as for those curly things, they are called creepers, because they keep rails from creeping along their distance and they are simple steel if i remember right. in any case they are good carbon steel and are usualy free from stress cracks because they are not ever flexed just knocked on and left. i have dozens of them because the rail boss of our line is a friend of my father and they just replaced the whole line by our store because coal is picking up and they move it all. they make them in a whole lot of shapes, i can think of six or so. the three they use on our line are 1/2 x 1 1/2, 1/2 x 1, and ones that are T shaped. the T shaped ones are super hard. they all make great tools in my opinon. kind of rambling but had to mention it. Ed Steinkirchner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted September 15, 2010 Share Posted September 15, 2010 never thought about forging hex, thats why i keep reading. kind of rambling but had to mention it. Ed Steinkirchner Sounds reasonable to forge to hex too. I will try it. Rambling is helpful thanks for the info. Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pault17 Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 Three things: 1. thanks Brian for being yet another step in my fathomless education in my addiction. 2. All of the guys who keep these kinds of conversations going, thanks there too. Until we get the old blueprints back (I am never really available for the weekly chat), this is the stuff that helps 3. From a long time back, Gerald, I have no feelings of muddy waters. I wasn't able to view closely Peter's slitter. I just know the principle he was describing. Brian has made it very understandable. 4. go back to #1 above pt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tubbe Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 Brian, I'm about to chop up a coil spring to make some punches, and browsed through this fine tread for information. The only thing I'm missing is how you more in detail heat treat these tools. 1) Do you only harden the working end and let the striking end be normalized? 2) To what color do you temper the working end? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianbrazealblacksmith Posted June 29, 2011 Author Share Posted June 29, 2011 Brian, I'm about to chop up a coil spring to make some punches, and browsed through this fine tread for information. The only thing I'm missing is how you more in detail heat treat these tools. 1) Do you only harden the working end and let the striking end be normalized? 2) To what color do you temper the working end? Tubbe, yes I only harden the working end and arrest the temper when purple is almost at the tip, that is, on the first temper, because it comes so fast, before it gets to purple at the tip, I quickly return to quenching the same amount and temper again and again until the temper colors stop running or slow down considerably. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tubbe Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 Thanks Brian! This is my first batch of spring tools that I made this week. I used about half the length of a 5/8" coil spring for these 8 tools. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianbrazealblacksmith Posted July 2, 2011 Author Share Posted July 2, 2011 Thanks Brian! This is my first batch of spring tools that I made this week. I used about half the length of a 5/8" coil spring for these 8 tools. Those look really good, Tubbe. You may want to try hex ends for the struck ends next time. You'll be surprised how simple and efficient it is. All you do different is turn 60 degrees instead of 90 degrees, and after 3 hits, you will have 6 sides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironclad Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 great info you guys, many thanks, will have to give these a try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 I have more hand tools from spring than from anything else and do demos and classes on making tools from coil spring. One tip I can add is to slightly square up the material once it is straightened. Don't make it perfectly square, but leave the rounded corners for comfort in the hand. This will give a direction for the working end and stops it from rolling off of the anvil. Also on smaller stock it helps to stop the piece from bending when hit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Francis Trez Cole Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 I have more hand tools from spring than from anything else and do demos and classes on making tools from coil spring. One tip I can add is to slightly square up the material once it is straightened. Don't make it perfectly square, but leave the rounded corners for comfort in the hand. This will give a direction for the working end and stops it from rolling off of the anvil. Also on smaller stock it helps to stop the piece from bending when hit. very good point Randy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeman Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 I just had a friend stop by the house this evening and drop off two large coil springs. Needless to say I was pretty excited when I saw this thread. I can't wait to get back out to the shop and forge up some tooling. Thanks for sharing this knowledge! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monty Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 i cant see the original picture of the set, only cut up spring, am i missing something, or are they not there? thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monty Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 sorry i can now see all the pics, brian, i dont quite understand about the dies, are you saying to effectively turn the near side of the hammer into a fullering die, or is that completely wrong? many thanks monty p.s. i was also under the impression all your punches had some sort of flat pyramid/geometry, but from the pics it looks as if there are some with completely flat ends, sorry if i am totally missing the point of all you say/show thank you very much for posting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alec.S Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 brian did have some flat bottomed ones, for thin material i believe... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianbrazealblacksmith Posted September 8, 2011 Author Share Posted September 8, 2011 sorry i can now see all the pics, brian, i dont quite understand about the dies, are you saying to effectively turn the near side of the hammer into a fullering die, or is that completely wrong? many thanks monty p.s. i was also under the impression all your punches had some sort of flat pyramid/geometry, but from the pics it looks as if there are some with completely flat ends, sorry if i am totally missing the point of all you say/show thank you very much for posting Monty, the dies or surfaces I choose are half of the flat face of my hammer and the flat face of the anvil while holding the material at an appropriate angle. The hammer is tilted in the direction of the angle that I am holding in relation to the anvil and not tilted as you would to fuller material with the tilted flat face opposing the angle of your hold. Like Alec said I will use flat punches occasionally, but rarely for punching very thin stock cold. I will also use a flat punch when I want to end up with a countersunk hole, and I will punch from one side like a farrier punches holes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monty Posted September 8, 2011 Share Posted September 8, 2011 so.. flat face angled towards me? thank you very much for being so patient monty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 I tried forging hex. Made an ugly mess the first few tries, but I have hex ends on some of my tools now. I am trying to do a thin stock slot punch, for 1/4 inch or so material for making bottle openers, etc. and have been having difficulties with the correct grind needed for this. Can someone please post detailed, clear, and adequately large pictures of the grind. Thank you Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianbrazealblacksmith Posted October 26, 2011 Author Share Posted October 26, 2011 Phil, there are better pictures in "Slitter Geometry" on post #99 and #118. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 Thank you Brian, exactly what I was looking for. Gonna pop a link here for others. Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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