redd1981 Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 First and foremost thanks for all the advice on everything from fire control to forge welding. I still may not know what the heck Im doing but without this site I would know a WHOLE lot less!Looks like a little flux left on the steel in the last pic haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 Nice twist in the spike.Now, that was either an inordinately long rail spike or you have concealed the weld very well. Where is the join between the spike and the shaft? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThorsHammer82 Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 Very nice. If it's forge welded, you'll never know where the joint is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 Nice poker. You can lose the flux even flux bleeding fro joints by heating the area and soaking it in water. As it cools, capillarity will draw water into the voids occupied by flux residue dissolving it. Repeat if necessary. It isn't perfect but does well.Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redd1981 Posted June 18, 2015 Author Share Posted June 18, 2015 Thanks for the compliments guys.This was two spikes forge welded together point to point and I ground a little off the small side of one of the heads so I could bend it back and have a little more to draw out.This was my first attempt at a forge weld so I took your guys advice and put the two mating surfaces to a grinder until they met real nice and made a flux paste and wound them together with wire.My first attempt turned out to be a bust. The weld took nicely at first but it failed after beating on it a little to cold......about an hour after I thought I had made my first weld. talk about disappointment So I decided to call it an evening and try again the next day. Next day repeated the process but made sure it was hotter than I thought it needed to be and it took for good.For the tines I made a loop at the the end and welded it back to its self and hot cut it in the center of the loop.You can see the cold shut in that one. I did my best to normalize that spot a few times (not even sure if that will help but I figured it couldnt hurt) and have tested it on logs bigger than anything his fire pit will ever see so Im pretty confident it will hold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 Hey Frosty! Congratulations on your 15,000th post! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SReynolds Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 (edited) Is this due to a shortage of steel stock or simply the want to do this? I always thought it best to take the easy route and use steel stock that is close in shape to the end result. I understand if you wanted to try this but I think most folks would much rather not draw-out a RR spike. Edited June 19, 2015 by SReynolds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redd1981 Posted June 19, 2015 Author Share Posted June 19, 2015 A little bit of both I guess. I have tons of spikes and no barstock besides rebar and I guess I just wanted to see if it would work.It did take me an embarrassingly long time to finish it though. Not real certain I will do it the same way again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 Hey Frosty! Congratulations on your 15,000th post! Why think you, I hadn't noticed I don't look at my AVATAR other than to see if I've replied to a thread already. Do I get an award? Something suitable for framing I hope.Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 There's nothing wrong with using whats to hand for stock, it might just take a couple tries to get it right.Perhaps on poker release 02 draw the handle section to a narrower but longer length. This will free up more material for the shaft. Lastly I find the hook doesn't need to be very long 1-1.5" / 25-25mm say. Draw it out a little and turn a simple little ring on the end only 25mm/1" is plenty. Just turn it around so the end crosses the shaft and weld the contact.This is a lot easier than lap welding it and is much less likely to leave inclusions.All that's left is cut the ring and draw tapers to points. If you angle the cut you can save time drawing points.A thing to remember about the handle, guys like sharper handles like straight, pineapple, etc. twists but the ladies prefer smoother handles like a cable twist. Just breaking the edges usually suffices to ease the points for softer hands.Possibly the most attractive feature of using RR spikes is for sales. People like hand forged items especially if they can identify the origin and see the transition to the finished product. Almost everybody knows what a RR spike is.Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SReynolds Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 I wondered about that. No foul. I just see guys making things from spikes and wonder why not use something similar. But I live near a steel supply depot. They sell EVERYTHING and I order from them. Don't even go get it. One fellow on youtube makes a beautiful three (or four?) piece wall hook from a RR Spike. He says he can't get steel..........so if you have a shop of your own...... Then can't get steel; I wonder about that cuz I have all the steel I can use. Somebody dumped a 5 gallon bucket filled with spikes in my lap. I said I don't use them but will experiment with them. Still, I have yet to make anything. I simply pick a length of stock that is close to what I make and use that. Makes it easy, but if you can't do that, then I guess you can't do that. but...I kinda wonder why everybody has RR Spikes but can't obtain steel stock......... Hummmmm. Are the railroads in jeopardy here????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 I live in Alaska and though I have 2 steel yards within 20 minutes you'd have to live in a fly in only area to not be able to get stock. Even then if you have the market there isn't an air taxi that won't haul an external load as aerodynamic as steel stock. Within reason of course, a Super Cub limits out on probably 800lbs. exeternal on floats.I don't know anybody living that remote selling forged work and buying news stock, I do have a good friend who lives pretty far off the main trails but he has a lot of salvage available and does pretty well.Something I've noticed since . . . Well my parents drummed it into us kids so I've lived with the attitude since tothood. There's a BIG difference between "can't" and "don't know how." I can't flap my arms hard enough to hover but I certainly could learn to fly a helicopter, at least before the accident I could've. Desire, drive and education is enough to solve almost any problem. I just don't buy CAN'T except for a few special cases. "I can't" is usually an excuse. There's no shame in not knowing something but . . . Can't?Of course that's just my opinion I could be wrong.Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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