jlpservicesinc Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 Well, had me a flat on the old Kubota B6000.. I had no tire irons (aka spoons) to change it out with.. So I set about to make a few spoons... I made 3 of them.. One was made from some medium carbon scrap round hanging around and the other 2 were made from some 4140 rectangular bar I had.. Little story here.. I also have some HSS (high speed steel(used for forged lathe bits, band saw guides and hot punches) ) hanging around in nearly the same cross sections as the 4140. I ended up making one whole spoon out of the HSS before I realized it was HSS.. Wasn't till I went to forge the hooked back section and the material refused to move at an light red heat and it dented the face of the hammer that I figured it out.. Sorry for the ramble.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Millhand Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 Glad you posted, sorry for your mistake on the tool Steel but how did the 4140 hold up as a tire spoon. I had 3 in my shop that were bought and were extremely tough. I am going to need to make some myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted January 24, 2017 Author Share Posted January 24, 2017 4140 works great in the as forged state for the amount of load that was required even in the thin profile the tips have.. If you run full heat treat you could get some pretty tough tooling but for the small use these will see I didn't even bother.. Only thing i might do is thin back the 1st hook as I found it was a little to tall to slip between the tire and rim as it was getting caught between the 2.. If all goes well the next time i need them will be in another 35 years and at that point the tractor will be somebody elses problem.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junksmith Posted June 15, 2017 Share Posted June 15, 2017 Making your own tools may be my favorite part of being a blacksmith! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted June 15, 2017 Share Posted June 15, 2017 funny enough I have tire spoons found at fleamarkets and one from HF cheap. otherwise they are incredibly economical to make. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted June 15, 2017 Author Share Posted June 15, 2017 6 hours ago, Junksmith said: Making your own tools may be my favorite part of being a blacksmith! Yes. But also many other things.. Pipe, guns, brackets, security gates. it's pretty amazing.. 5 hours ago, Daswulf said: funny enough I have tire spoons found at fleamarkets and one from HF cheap. otherwise they are incredibly economical to make. I have irons for mountain biking with steel inserts but no where big enough for the tires.. I also have a tire changing machine for steel rim's up to 18" on automobile tires.. Never gave any thought to tire irons until having the tractor tire completely fail.. While harbor freight is only 40minutes round trip.. It took less time to start the forge and make them.. That to me is the funniest thing of all.. Need a bolt, to lazy to drive up to the hardware store.. Just make one.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted June 15, 2017 Share Posted June 15, 2017 3 hours ago, jlpservicesinc said: Need a bolt, to lazy to drive up to the hardware store.. Just make one.. In my case, I don't have a set of taps and dies, so I'd need to drive to the hardware store anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted June 15, 2017 Share Posted June 15, 2017 On about the same note as quicker to make, I always save good unneeded bolts from from salvage parts. People ask me why I keep that "junk". Well, so many times I would have to stop what I'm doing drive out and waste over an hour trying to find a bolt, instead I go over to a drawer fish one out and bam, free and easy. Back to what I was doing. Now I need to practice making them. There are many tools we can make instead of purchasing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Ling Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 12 hours ago, Daswulf said: There are many tools we can make instead of purchasing. or many tools that me can make to make the tool to make the tool to make the tool that we need instead of purchasing it. Littleblacksmith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted June 16, 2017 Author Share Posted June 16, 2017 13 hours ago, JHCC said: In my case, I don't have a set of taps and dies, so I'd need to drive to the hardware store anyway. You could always make one.. Way back in the day.. I actually made a tap and a die... Wasn't standard size but was interesting just the same.. Also made a file once.. I still have the tools for making them somewhere.. Or i should unless they went to the scrapper.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaleb Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 Wait how does one make files and what tools are necessary? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Ling Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 Littleblacksmith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anachronist58 Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 23 hours ago, Junksmith said: Making your own tools may be my favorite part of being a blacksmith! Mr Junk (if I may be so impudent), I could not agree more. 17 hours ago, jlpservicesinc said: Need a bolt, to lazy to drive up to the hardware store.. Just make one JLP, I promised some time ago to put up a spark test image, ref some tunnel ceiling bolts that I had mentioned. Years ago, before I was paying much attention to hot work, I absent-mindedly installed a tuyere into the bottom of my most recently built wood stove. The spoon pictured below is in answer to the question I asked myself: "Can I get this thing hot enough to forge?" Tough going. It only likes to move easy at butter yellow heat (maybe a bit cooler, but not by much). I forged the spoon, and set it aside too air cool. Fast forward a few years, and I had two fossilized free split rims to break down. Hey, they was FREE! Me, that spoon, and a single jack. That's when I found out that my spoon cuts wheel steel. Okay, so it's chisel too. Even with a cold shut that spans the business end. When I got the first ring off, I stretched it to make a die to break the second rim. That striking end has been hit many times. Word to the inexperienced: SPLIT RIMS KILL PEOPLE, EVEN THOSE WHO DO IT FOR A LIVING. (My cousin) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted June 16, 2017 Author Share Posted June 16, 2017 7 hours ago, Anachronist58 said: Mr Junk (if I may be so impudent), I could not agree more. JLP, I promised some time ago to put up a spark test image, ref some tunnel ceiling bolts that I had mentioned Me, that spoon, and a single jack. That's when I found out that my spoon cuts wheel steel. Okay, so it's chisel too. Even with a cold shut that spans the business end. When I got the first ring off, I stretched it to make a die to break the second rim. That striking end has been hit many times. Word to the inexperienced: SPLIT RIMS KILL PEOPLE, EVEN THOSE WHO DO IT FOR A LIVING. (My cousin) Nice, thanks for posting them up.. Certainly throws some interesting sparks.. Looks like a medium carbon with the alloys added in, that tail is pretty interesting as is the color.... I love working with stuff like those and then finding out they material is amazing for tools.. Nice job on the chisel/spoon.. I love split rims for stands.. I used to covet them.. Now I walk away.. Still great bases.. Just not as much of a use for them.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted June 16, 2017 Author Share Posted June 16, 2017 9 hours ago, Kaleb said: Wait how does one make files and what tools are necessary? It can be a great learning experience.. The tools would have to be made.. 9 hours ago, littleblacksmith said: Littleblacksmith great thread.. I found the hardest part was getting the blanks annealed evenly. Then getting the chisel strikes/hammer strikes even enough pressure wise.. Takes a lot of pracitce.. The video of the guy making them was fantastic.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted June 17, 2017 Share Posted June 17, 2017 We put split and lock ring rims under the car hoist to prevent flying parts if they didn't lock properly on inflation. I'd take splits of lockers any day. I never had a split fail but lockers were sort of iffy maybe no matter how careful you were. There's something special about the way of a split rim blowing that gets the blood pumping across the street! The station across the street from us specialized more in trucks than we did and if an explosion rattled the windows we'd call or walk over to see if things were okay. The day we looked up to see debris falling from their bay 3 was a bad day. They'd parked a car inside to make sure it was #1 in the morning and when the morning guy turned the lights on in the bay at the circuit breaker, bay 3 blew the roll up into Debar avenue. No injuries or fire fortunately, we thought it was a fuel line leak on the car. While they're very effective there are better ways to up your alertness than explosions, even just a tire blowing off a rim. There was an OLD custom made tire tool that'd take the tire off the rim like a can opener. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anachronist58 Posted June 17, 2017 Share Posted June 17, 2017 2 hours ago, Frosty said: There was an OLD custom made tire tool that'd take the tire off the rim like a can opener. I'd like to see that. My cousin lived I think another ten years, after the ring took his arm and face off. He was wealthy for those remaining years...... End of shift is always the most dangerous time it seems, the "cage" really slows down the process. Unfortunate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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