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I Forge Iron

Gazz

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    NH
  • Interests
    Metal working, sculpture, history, gunsmithing

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  1. One of the first things I shot from the cannon was a full soda can. It turned it inside out quite neatly but a bit ragged around the edges. I remember reading in an old Dixie Gun Works catalog where they tested one of their barrels. I think it was about 10-12" long and threaded on each end for breech plugs with a vent or fuse hole drilled midway. They filled it with black powder screwd both plugs in and touched it off with a fuse. All the fire and gas came out the touch hole is what they said happened.
  2. I once had a "consulting" job to build a cannon for a local high tech company. They were getting government money to develop steerable artillery projectiles and wanted a way to test the electronic components in live fire situations for their ability to withstand the g forces. The cannon was built from a steel heavy wall tube that I acquired from the town dump which had a large ball welded into one end that had the appearance of a cascabel as seen on muzzle loading guns which made an excellent start for the project. I bored some 1" cross holes and drove in some 1" steel rods to further secure the breech plug and also used a steel liner that would accept a beer can for a projectile. I also made a steel pipe sleeve which the trunnions were welded to and positioned this to make it a bit breech heavy. I proof tested the tube by digging a hole in my back yard where I could position it at 45 degree angle with it all being below grade in case it let go. I poured 1lb of 2f powder in and rammed a large wad of fresh grass clippings for wadding and then packed the rest of the bore with sand. I put a long fuse in, lit it and positioned myself about 50' back and waited. A most impressive blast with lots of smoke which launched the barrel about 15' into the air and landing about 20' behind the hole where it made a nice dent in my lawn. It had survived! I was relieved that the police did not show up which was kind of surprising as I live in a moderately populated part of town with neighbors 100 yards on either side. When the tube was finished I gave it to my engineer contact at the company who built a carriage for it from an old snowblower. The motor was gone but the handle bars made it easy to move around and point or aim. While he was doing that I machined a couple of two piece aluminum projectiles that would hold the electronic packages and off we went to the SIG range to shoot it. We were only able to find one projectile buried in the berm and believe the other overshot and was lost in the woods behind. A day or two later I got a call from the engineer who said that the electronics package survived perfectly. Before I was paid for my work, the company was raided by every government agency you could think of, INS, ATF, FBI, IRS and probably some others and all their records and pc's seized. The owner of the company was a naturalized US citizen from China and was "swatted" by a competitor or so the story goes. Eventually all seized materials were returned as no crime was committed and I got paid about a year later! I had found two of the heavy steel tubes at the dump and while doing the first build I made sure I bought enough stuff to finish the second one for me which is partially built. I did manage to acquire a pair of nice pair of heavy duty wood spoke wheels with an axle and a large old chestnut beam for the trail. Still lots of work to do on it but I should be able to finish it before I croak. It will be sort of like a Confederate mountain howitzer when done. I forgot to mention that I do have a small 1" bore all steel cannon in a naval type carriage that is a real crowd pleaser at various outdoor gatherings. It's louder than its size would suggest.
  3. Saw this today. Interesting way to remove the grit at the overlap.
  4. Nice hammers John! Is the tool place in Fremont or Epping? I just heard of a place in one of those towns and I thought I knew of all those sorts of places. A neighbor came by to talk to me about modifying a slick he had just bought there. After a long discussion I was able to talk him out of the mods he wanted. He is a retired carpenter and formerly worked for the government restoring various historic colonial buildings that are part of the parks system. He used a slick to do what he called ship lap the ends of clapboard siding, somewhat like skiving the ends of a leather belt. In other news, I dragged these things home from a yard sale last fall and am wondering what they may have been used for. Some kind of hose, tubing or pipe fitting tools? I bought them thinking the chunks of steel might be useful for something in the shop. Next is a forge blower that I got from an estate cleanout nearby. I had stopped to look at the 1950 Jeepster that had been dragged out of the garage and this was on the floor of it. $20 later it was in my truck but does need some repair to the bolt ears but still spins freely. And finally, I've had this crank in my piles for several years but every time I see it I am impressed by the smiths skill in making the transitional form so gracefully. I tried to edit my above post to add that two of the tools have sharp knurling and polished "working parts" with slight tapers at the end. The edit function allowed me to add the text but then told me I couldn't edit because the post had been moved or something.
  5. Anyway to weld a nut on it? Then there is also red heat on the punch body. Myself, I wouldn't worry about heat treated parts as it is the die that is doing the work and that is scrap now.
  6. The glue in the drive belt kit came in unlabeled small jars and I suspect the belt seller is repacking the stuff for use with his belts. I got the kit from Al Bino Industrial Belting (no joke!) so maybe you can find him and discuss the possibility of just buying the cement from him. I have interest in your efforts as there is a local guy selling 24 grit belts for short money that would require splitting/resizing before I could use them. When I tried to make the drive belt from an automotive serpentine belt I used two plates of aluminum as platens with the ends of the belt clamped between them and then heated gently with a torch. At the time I did not have a non-contacting thermometer so I just watched for the melted rubber to ooze out.
  7. Looks like some hot steel chasing could be in your future. I got a needle scaler last year at a yard sale but was not to impressed with the work it did removing paint or rust.
  8. I never bring muriatic acid into the shop - just the vapors will cause things to rust. I learned that years ago when my mother used some in my dad's wood shop to clean up some antique thing she had. Several days later every bit of exposed iron or steel in the shop was covered with light rust. I don't know how saturated your vise got with the acid but if it was truly soaked, you may want to take it apart and clean it all. Any lubricant on the screw etc. should protect the parts from vapor but if it was soaked, pockets of acid may continue to rust stuff for years. As far as I can tell, muriatic does not freeze readily so I keep a pvc pipe with a cap on it filled with dilute acid outside my shop to clean knife blades before putting them to the belt grinder or any other bit of stock before putting it in the mill. Scale is hard stuff and is tough on milling cutters and abrasive belts.
  9. I realize that. The glue used on the drive belt has proven to be long lasting and I thought it might be of interest.
  10. Junk collection zone aversion - a noble thought. Now it will end up on the floor. Ask me how I know.
  11. Some years ago, I needed to replace the belt on my South bend lathe. I read somewhere about using an automotive serpentine belt that could be vulcanized in place but I didn't have much success and eventually found a place that made and sold synthetic belt material and a two part cement or glue. If I recall, the belt came cut to length and skived on each end so I just had to apply the cement and clamp the ends together properly aligned in place on the lathe. It has held up well.
  12. As I read this, I'm wondering what you want to do with the hoof rasp. Will it be a tool and used for hot rasping or are you going to forge it into something? While I've never done any hot rasping I would think a hoof rasp would get dull quick enough from use - the hot steel will draw the temper from the teeth and they will get softer and wear faster - at least that is my guess. If you're going to make something with it, get it it hot and hammer it.
  13. Just appeared on my home page. There are 4 parts to the series and I found them all interesting especially as watching them was more so than cleaning the house.
  14. When I made jewelry, I made a sort of stylized R stamp that was quite small out of punch. I first made a D shape punch and used that to create the negative space in the R of piece of stock that was to be the final tool while it was red hot. Then I used files to remove everything around the D shape that didn't look like an R and heat treated it. It held up well but was mostly used in silver, gold and other nonferrous materials. I did use it to make a blade on a miniature blade at least once. Remember that your punch is a mirror image of the struck mark. As George notes, the complexity of the chosen design may be a limiting factor in doing it yourself or a least make the job more difficult.
  15. They didn't say anything about it being used for acetylene once exposed to propane, I'm not going to worry about it either. I can't imagine seeing any difference with the rosebud torch since the flame is the proof. Would it be any hotter? I don't think so.
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