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I Forge Iron

Lysdexik

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  • Location
    King George, Virginia. USA.
  • Biography
    Paternmaker/Woodworker, new to the iron game, worked for Brown Lennox Chain & Anchor, in the UK.
  • Interests
    I'm ENGLISH, beer, darts, beer, rugby, beer, oh and did I mention BEER!
  • Occupation
    Professional Woodworker

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  1. I have read about three pages of this thread, and at the risk of "comeing out" as a computer illiterate, I will ask the question. How do I search for previous threads on a subject? It took me the best part of a month to get comfortable with GOOGLE, so internal search engines are more of a mistery than smithing! I agree with the original post of this thread - with a couple of reservations - most of the time I don't know whether the question I ask is valid or not, thats why I ask. The safety issue is another matter. Anytime I am doing something that is unwittingly unsafe (like checking the temperature of a fire, useing the mercury thermometer you just made from a piece of galvenized pipe) I WANT TO KNOW! But the inability of the current world to accept responsibility for an individuals own actions is rediculous. If I go to my workshop and cut off a thumb on my tablesaw, thats MY fault, not the saw maker. If your head tells you that it's unsafe, believe your head. God put personal OSHA in all of us, listen to your internal watchdog, he's on your side. And as a kind of footnote, QC, Frosty, Glen & nearly everybody who has ever replied to one of my questions has made the information understandable and available, I thank all of you. Hookie......
  2. I realy like the look of this idea, you move air push and pull. Has anyone seen a way of storing air like a double bellows, a kind of "blader" maybee?
  3. Thanks guys. You may be waiting a while for pics - the whole thing is a little beyond my scope - but if you don't stretch, you'll never know. Thanks for the epay post, I wish I had seen that monster. For 225 quid I'd have torn his arm off! It was in Knighton, right in the area I would expect to find one. I am going to see the guys at Colonial Williamsburg soon, so I will pick their brains, they do not have one in the collection, but Jay Gaynor was realy helpfull in finding reference material for me to look at. The roughing knife is the bit that worries me there are two other tools, a hollowing knife, which is just a gouge type blade set at right angles to the "tail", and a blade for cutting a groove for the leather to finish in. Those are easy, but I have never made a blade that long, I temper tools all the time for one and another, but that edge must be about 18 inches, and I usualy draw my edges with a copper billet, it's a long time since I tried with a flame. I was interested to see the coopers tools, my family were coopers for a long time, a belly/block hook was where the big money was earned, casks were made piece work, and the faster you could raise them the more you made, but it was brutal work at the hook - a young mans tool - according to my cousin, who was the last full time cooper. I am a joiner, so I primarily work on straight lines, to take a piece of wood that is curved in all planes and match it to others that are similarly curved, stand them up,and make them watertight, with no pattern at all, is a black art, two shades off witchcraft!!:confused: Hookie......
  4. I use an old block of Locust wood, it is very resistant to charring, and bugs wont touch it, so I leave it out in the open. I started a depression in it with a tow ball heated up then burned into the end grain, then I made a set tool out of another ball, the next size down, with a set of leashes held tight with a nut. Heat the piece, set tool a dimple in the middle then work it outward with a ball pein hammer, I make lead laddles etc. I am a woodworker and I carve all kinds of Swages from locust end grain, in the south it is readily available and has no real comercial value. Makes the best anvil stump, because insects find it repulsive, and once dry it is as hard as good oak. Hookie.....
  5. I am trying to get a plan together to make a clog makers stock knife, I am from Monmouth originaly and stock knives were around, but not common. I live in the USA now & stock knives never made the swim to this coast. Virginia had a large Welsh contingent because of the slate here, but clogs were not the feature of Virginia industrial life that they were in the UK. My family were primarily coopers but they were brokers for the local clog sole makers that made MILLIONS of them for the factory and mill workers in the industrial revolution (OK HISTORY LESSON OVER). I want to make clogs for a couple of guys who do the hysterical re-enactments (now you know why lysdexic), clogs are not prone to problems with sweat/athletes foot/burning/wearing out frequently/and sore feet. Has anyone made a stock knife? They were used in the welsh borders for clog making, in the forest of dean for tent pegs, in the new forest for Willow blanks for cricket bats, etc. For the uninitiated a stock knife is like a draw knife with a hook instead of a handle on the one end, and a long handle/lever on the other. The hook was put through a staple or ring in the "stock" (a big bench looking thing) and pushed down to slice, very accurately I might add, wood from split wooden blanks. If you GOOGLE "clog makers stock knife" you will get a couple of sites with pics. Give me some clues guys, I can't work out how to start. The thing I like about this forum is the "superbrain" concept, I get smarter by asking for your help than I could ever possibly be on my own. To quote that great British philosopher and genius, Wurzel Gummidge "put your thinking head on" and see what you come up with. Paul Hook
  6. Hi Sam. The old timers at Brown Lennox, always said that the German warships in the first world war were clad in a plate with a very high chromium content, something to do with anti magnetism/degausing rather than corosion resistance. But they also said that Monmouthshire was in Wales so what did they know! For my four penneth, anything in that part of the North Sea, can stay there, too bloody cold in high summer for anyone in their right mind to go looking for it. Paul Hook
  7. What type of steel for axe/hatchet heads, If I don't have a project for this weekend I could end up - SHOPPING - I get the shivers just saying it. Paul.
  8. A tool very similar looking to this was used for setting the headspace on PAK/HOW guns. But with the advent of chargebags became obsolete. Paul
  9. Wow I just read that last reply and there are no W's, now you know why Lysdexik.
  10. Great Idea! I have two ridgid units and I was ondering ho to utilize them. I don't use them like I used to, and I as going to e-bay one, but I think I will try a rethink. Paul
  11. Thanks for the input, the old tyre benders were worked cold, and I think (there I go thinking again) that if I cut all stock to length first, I should be able to negate some of the springback. I like the look of the roll machine and for 200 bucks I think I would have a job building something, I don't have the "bonepile" contacts in my new location yet. Thanks for the vaughans info Sam, the problem as far as that goes for us is the cost of shipping, the GPO doesn't like stuff that big, and I don't know of anyone still importing to the "Colonies". There is a horror story of anvils being quarantined, because they were marked as "EQUINE PRODUCTS" and some moron in customs held them up because of the scare over BSE/mad cow. I have thought about building a version of my own, but finding a knurled/toothed "power" roller seems to be the problem, any sugestions? Paul
  12. I truly believe in an apprenticeship system! Having said that, in this day and age, most of us don't have that kind of time to devote to what for the majority here is a hobby. All instruction from someone who knows anything more than you do, about any aspect, of all crafts, is worthwhile. I am primarily a woodworker, and in the 36 years that I have been involved in the craft, I have learned that what you absolutely know to be the truth today - will make you a liar by this time next week. None of us will ever know our subject completely, or there would be no chalenge in it to hold our interest. Short of quiting what you are doing, and becoming a full time apprentice, schools are the best, most effective way of learning/re-learning/tweaking or expanding your knowedge of all crafts. I believe we all have a need to school ourselves regularly, what I see at a class won't be what you see at the same class, experience "goggles" mean that we all see differing things, and watching someone elses method of work is always a good thing. So bite the bullet and go to school, at least you will be volunteering to go this time 8-) Paul
  13. Gentlemen. I need some ideas on a consistent, repeatable method for bending 3/8 to 3/4 square stock into circles. When I worked for Brown lennox we had an old tyre (thats tire for those of us that speak American) bender, it was kind of similar to a slip roll machine on steroids. I believe I have seen one in an old Champion or Bufallo catalogue. I have a Champion tyre shrinker, so I know they were in that pre-pneumatic business, but I bet they are hard to come by, and as always some bloody antique millionair will have a real sense of humour about his pricing! Halbol fleight have a machine for embossing "jewelry" that kind of looks like the thing I need, but as usual it's probably made of Tiwanium, and I don't think it would handle the rigours of steady use. Paul PS I need to bend circles for a bunch of flower hanging baskets and stands for the same, the largest diameter will be about 24 inches and the smallest will be about 6 inches.
  14. I just built a pair of bellows "on the cheap" plywood leaves, and 4oz leather (I normaly use 6oz) and it cost me more than that. Sounds like a winner to me!! Paul
  15. Thanks for the post G, these things are elusive these days, Kwa Heri. Paul.
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