Backwoods Blacksmith

Call Tom's cell. 541 912 5364.

Metal Work 7030011100u 5 port 2 position glandless shuttle valve 1/2 in ports Tele# 877 700 0749 Tim Schaues. Hope this helps.

Thank you. Nice presentation.

Check with E-Motion in Eugene Oregon. They fixed me up with a steel body shuttle valve that will handle the air flow needed. It is a glandless valve that has no O rings.

I did the heat quench break test on Bellota rasps and it broke clean. No bend. But still did not harden.

Steve, Good work. When I made up mine I replaced the splitter instead of trying to attach to it. Only one bolt. I also ground the base plate smooth and bolted my anvil directly to the base. This way I had no movement in either end. Both the anvil and press end have plates that are drilled and tapped to hold different press plates or tools. I still use it as a splitter so I can put the wedge back on and split away. I have had no problems with the wood skidding the bottom plate smooth. Keep it up and don't be afraid to try new things, keeping in mind the safety factors involved in hydraulics, high pressure and very hot metal.

Cutting the rod short and adding 2 to 3 inches would be the way to go. Think about using coil spring instead of an alloy. Use 6011 rod. I don't think hard face is the way to go. Extra work for little result. The spring is pretty tough. You may want to preheat a little for stress relief. Weld one up, let it cool and see if the weld breaks away from the spring. if it does, then stress relief.

Check out David Einhorn Civil War Blacksmith. He has a really neat set up and it is a side draft. No clinker breaker needed and it would work well with charcoal.

While there is lots of good and bad information be bandied about here about fuel choices what really makes the the difference is the fire pot style. A side draft narrow fire pot will make the use of charcoal a pleasure while a wide bottom draft is a lot of work and uses more fuel. If a guy was serious about charcoal and had the means to make his own and had a good side draft he would be good to go. I think the ratio of charcoal to coal is about 8 to 1 and is even greater with coke. If I had it to do all over again I would set up a side draft and use coke for general work and charcoal for PW. It really depends on what a guy is doing and the size and quantity of work. If I was still doing industrial work I would be using gas and an induction heater. But the work I do now demands coal or coke. I use both. But as i said before, if I had to do it over it would be different. There is no better or worse. It is a matter of economics and availability.

These things support tons of load with little or no impact. Use them as they are on hot metal. It would not hurt to support the rail and the foot but your 35 ton press is nowhere near what they support on the rail road. I would cut the web out and weld the rail to the foot if it started to move. As time goes on you will change things any way.

Thanks for the advice and the recipe. I looked at cactus Juice but prefer not to use the oven.

Good thinking. Looks good

As I have started making knives again, and looking at my supply of grip material [ various hard woods and antler ] I decided to try my hand at stabilizing. After watching several videos I went with the hand vac pump method. I cannot say that I was impressed with the results. The wood used was very light in color and the elk antler, after cleaning, was pretty light. I could not find any Min Wax wood hardener so I went with the Min Wax poly with a light oak color. After roughing the scales to size and cleaning the antler, into the vac chamber. After 1 1/2 hours the bubbling quit and I removed the material. Wiped down and let dry on a rack. Let dry for two days. It is pretty cool in the work room. Fine steel wooled the antler. Not unhappy but not much color. The scales , however, took no color, and would still soak up moisture. I was able to add stain after shaping and sanding to finish. If the wood was fully soaked with poly, how was it able to take stain? And why did the stain not transfer? The poly was well shaken before the vacuum was started and was shaken numerous time during the process. I am sure I missed something, but upon review, cannot figure it out. I am not sure what I expected, but it is not what I got. Talking to another local knife maker that uses poly. He seems to be satisfied. Does anyone with more experience have some advise? :huh: Thank you

I put a 3 hp 240 volt moter and a 11gpm pump on mine. Works great. 3 hp electric equals 5 hp gas

I like your anvil ruler. I made one a while back and it sure is handier than a tape or steel rule. They are never where you can lay your hands on them when needed. I put a hook on one end as to hang it up when not needed.