Problem Solving

I been diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome and wondering if anyone out there has experience in managing this condition. From the research Ive done it seems that surgery is the only option with a track record but that not even 100% and Im not to keep on someone cutting open my wrists... symptoms progressively weakening grip, tingling in fingers, hand pain getting worse Any insights/opinions/shared experience much appreciated. John Collins

I have been forging a good deal this week a couple hours every night, and my wrist is hurting. Are there some exercises I can do to strengthen my wrist and keep it from hurting? I think my anvil is to high, could this be causing the problem?

I was thinking that a brake rotor disk would be a good start rotating jig . The first one i picked up is unusable because of corrosion but the corroded edge got me to thinking. Have alook at the thumbnail of the disk edge below. Looks like this one was lamimated. Anyone have information of how and from what brake rotors are manfactured .

Hi All A re post ,but in a different category , I am working on a set of gates ,more like doors in a sense more vertical then horizontal in shape .I have only had one set of gates galvanized in the past ,and when I received them back ,the latches and drop bolts were stuck ,thanks to being dipped .A no brainer I guess . So how do I avoid this again ? Use stainless and attach after dipping ? Any ideas .Photos would be great .I could use a little guidance if any one has experience in this department . Thanks for your replies :rolleyes:

Curious if anyone out there has made something like a Sherman Necktie. I have a section of spur-track that I would like to bend into a U for a table base ( a 20' piece that I will cut to size after bending). I've seen a video where a guy tempered an anvil with an in-ground forge. Looked pretty simple... I think it would be feasible to do the same thing with the track, but I am also fairly bold with ignorance. I would definitely appreciate any insights, experiences, or history on the practice before I commit a considerable amount of coal (finite resource here in Charleston) to the project. Thanks

] i have made a brass tumbler for my reloading hobby. i need to reduce the rpms to around 50 ... do i increase the drive pulley size? the belt is 36" long the pipe a 6" pvc

I've acquired an old forge with a champion blower. The blower is belt driven from a flywheel that is spun by using a leather strap ( like an old boat motor) while the blacksmith is using an up & down motion with a lever. I've seen similar forges that use a pitman to turn the flywheel but never like what I described. I've restored the forge and blower to a good usable condition but cannot figure the winding mechanism. I understand the leather strap spinning the flywheel but i seem to be missing whatever is required to retract the strap (coiling it back around the flywheel's hub). The forge was given to me in pieces and I'm so close but not quite there. I can send photo…

I have a job that the customer is going to want to have chromed. Is there anything special I need to do to make this possible? Is there a certain type of steel I should use, or not use? Hot rolled vs cold rolled? Sand/ grind / polish?

Hi, I've been learning blacksmithing for 3 yrs. don't have a teacher but a member of 2 clubs. I mostly learn from books. I am wanting to put a 3/8" or 1/2" hole in some 1/8". X 1-1/4" flat mild steel. Do I need to make a punch to the size and a piece of steel below with a hole drilled the same size as the punch or a close fit to punch it through? I have been looking at some work from a blacksmith fron 1956 his holes are perfect .does anybody want to share the secret of how it's done? Don't want to use a drill. Keith S.

:confused: how do you keep your belt grinder from shocking you because of static electricity

Hi everyone. Can anybody give me any information on where to start when it comes to forming two hemispheres, ultimately to make a sphere out of iron about a quarter inch thick. I have a project in mind for my house that my little girl wants and I promised to make it for her. I am very new to metalworking.... I am a plumber and I always turn my hand to anything I think is possible, but researching this has made it look a lot more difficult. You guys and girls on this forum seem to have a huge amount of knowledge so I thought what better place to come. Researching on YouTube and google has come up with a lot of different things but I guess you need to know what to type in…

any one ever make 3leged lewis pins or sugest what steel it should be made of

I have a client who wants a forged entry door handle. Does any body out there know where I can get just the inner hardware from a good quality lock set? The client wants a hand made handle, but with modern lock parts. I have looked at many local stores and lock smith places in my area with no luck. I would appreciate any help.

Hello guys. As a moderately junior blacksmith (and a welder of only 3 days), I have a lot of experience with rebar and scrap steel, and not a lot of experience with stainless sheet metal. I need to bend stainless sheet into a cylinder about 10 inches diameter and about 22 inches high. I'd like to use the thickest stuff that I can (I'm making a furnace shell / refractory casting formers). Any tricks of the trade? Is it possible I could bend something between 1/16 and 1/8 in thickness? I have nothing in the way of hydraulic tools, etc, so I think it's unlikely (maybe 1/16 is doable). My current thinking is to roll it around a set of wooden disks which have been cut to t…

Ive got a 360# north German pattern double horn that I'm currently using. It's all torch gouged up, but has a flat face and tremendous rebound. The Pritchel hole is plugged with...metal? And is rustd solid. I've soaked the Pritchel in penetrating oil for weeks, moved it under the drill press and tried drilling it out. Three drill bits later, still nothing. I took some heat to it, but don't want to get it hot enough to ruin the temper. As a last resort, put a round punch in it, and struck it repeatedly with a sledge...didn't budge. Being that its a German pattern, I cannot access the hole easily from the bottom as the foot of the anvil would be in the way. Any ideas? …

Hello guys, so recently my dad picked up some steel at an old garage sale, and he got a very large coil spring and 2 long heavy drill bits, both of which are marked with the word Thor is fancy cursive. I have heard that both springs and drill bits are quality steel, but i was wondering if i could get help with some exact identification on the steel and info on how to heat treat it. Thanks! ​"for reference the the coil is about a half inch thick

Hello,everybody .The California evening had cooled enough here that I couldn't resist heading out to the forge. I had no specific project in the works,so I decided to experiment with forge welding,particularly what I've heard referred to as a "jump weld" (see attached photo). I wanted to try and weld a 1/4" piece of square stock to a larger 3/4" square stock,using a jump weld. Things didn't go so well. I cleaned up the stock with 80 grit on the belt sander,rounded the end of the smaller piece,and created an indention to fit the rounded portion on the surface of the larger stock. (yes,I should have taken some pictures) Making sure the pieces were totally clean,…

Hi all, I've been working on a portable tool box, and I'm doing everything I can to keep the weight down. One of the things I've done to help this is make a set of chisels and punches that are made from 2" of 4140. Each one has been slightly flattened, and had a round indent put into the side, so that they can be held in the special "wrench" I made for them. They work very well, and I like the idea, but I'm having a few problems. When I use the punches in the wrench, the bolt that I use to tighten them loosens off after a few hits. I'm looking for either a way to make this more secure, or a new holder that could do a better job. I've tried using another pair of tongs …

Upgrading my ph and was wondering which style of check valve would give the best flow rate. The poppet valves that I have seem to be pretty restrictive. Any suggestions/recommendations appreciated

Hello I was just recently playing around we my new brake drum forge (homemade) and I suddenly saw blue fire coming from the middle what caused this?

Hi all, I'm a relatively green blacksmith/knifemaker with a bit of query that I hope you can help me with. I recently started using proper coal (anthracite) in my forge having before used charcoal and the increase in heat took me by surprise. Under a fast blow the coal managed to melt the 01 steel bar I was hoping to forge out into a blade in half! Now I'm not overly familiar with the rules of decarburization but from what I've gathered if the heat oxidises over critical temperature the carbon "leaks" from the metal. Now I went ahead and forged out a blade from the remaining stock but my question is this: Being that the steel has been melted (and then obvious…

Many smart folks here, so perhaps you can help. I have an old Bernzomatic propane bottle pencil point torch, that I believe was from my Grandfather's tool box (I'm pushing 60). It has a UL sticker on the proximal stem, but no part number. It does have engraved "US and Foreign patents applied". The plastic flame adjustment knob broke a few years ago, and plastic repairs wouldn't work. No knob, no work. So, it remained in a box with my newer Bernzomatic MAPP and Propane stuff for years. A few days ago, I made a new knob from a sliver of 3/4 copper tube and HTS-2000. All went very well until I had the misguided thought of trying to clean up the copper and HTS-2000 k…

Hey guys,please forgive me if this has been covered but my searching has been unsucessful.I was working on some screw- in "eye"s and thought I would just use a die and then realized the die might not really work on the taper.So in a rush I just squared the (soon to be threaded portion) and heated,grabbed as small a portion of the taper as I dared,and then twisted.The twisting seems not very even It seems like it will fuction ,but I wondered if anyone had any tips on this way or other methods to try.Maybe the die is okay?.....I didn't bother to try.Thanks.

My sandblaster [cabinet model] has stopped working properly. The only way it will do anything except blow air is if I cover the nozzle and give it a little air for a second. Then it will work for a few seconds but even then it pulses, spitting instead of a smooth flow. It stops blowing sand within a minute or so. I took off the tip to clean it but it was not plugged. I reversed the tip and that did not help. I made more holes in the pickup tube and that didn't help. I taped the end of the pickup tube off, and that didn't help. I swapped the pickup tube end for end and that didn't help . Every time I pull the pickup tube from the sand the tube is ful…

I have been trolling the internet and can not find anything, so I remembered that I had made an account here a little while ago, so I should use it instead of letting it sit there! So here is my first post: I am looking to add a little zing to some of my creations. I saw on a tv show that ZombieTools seems to splash something on the metal in the final stages of smithing. Does anybody have an idea of what they are using and how to do it? I'm attaching a few pics to show the desired effect. If there is a name for this effect, a thread already covering something similar, or any sort of advice at all it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks guys!