Problem Solving

I'm new to Blacksmithing, and have been reading all I can on the subject. I think I've seen one of these tools somewhere in my readings, however, I can't remember where I saw it. Please take a look at the pics I've posted, and help me ID this tools use and name. Any and all help is much appreciated. I'm not even sure if it's used in blacksmithing, but I just couldn't pass on it at a flea market.

Hello Hammers I found this piece from old shop. I have no idea what it is but maybe i can use it like "mini mandrel";) Tool from lathe?

Many a house has my railings inside, I have been doing fence and gate work for a while but never into fine stone masonry.I have just finished a gate that swings from the center, approximately 48in across. It is to be set into a hard sandstone, the posts I need to set into the first step are 1"square so need 1 1/4 inch holes and the sides or tops of these posts have brackets that anchor into the vertical surface with 1/2 bolts with lead anchors that need 7/8 inch holes. I have a stone mason drilling the holes. I want to know how others would anchor this job and what mortar or epoxy would you use to fill and seal the holes around the posts into the first step. The stone i…

Hi I am new to the site and am desperately looking for specific risk assessment forms for blacksmiths shops and the tools and machinery in it. I have been a profesional smith for 10 years and because i am taking on an apprentice i need to have health and safety proceedures and am finding it difficult to find the relevent info in the UK. can any one help?

Get an old used cheap bicycle. cut off the front fork and tubing, remove the tire from the back wheel, put the back wheel on backwards so the chain is on the opposite side. Change the pedals and sprocket to the opposite side. Mount an 8 inch or so stone to the adjustable seat post with a shaft and a couple of bearings and a V pulley. Put a thin V-Belt to power it around the back wheel sans tire. Make a mount to get the thing up off the floor so the wheel and pedals clear. Set on a chair or stool and pedal the thing to turn the stone at whatever speed you want.

one of my freind is wanting to know if theres a way to bond fire bricks to the sides of a of a coal stove

I have the potential to land a boring/repetitive/non-blacksmithing metal fab job in which I need to cut about 6000 pieces of 5/8 diameter round stainless steel. I am thinking that a shear of some sort is the right tool. I am willing to purchase a tool/machine for the job. The pieces need to have little to no burr/distortion... ...any ideas? Thanks, Henry

Hi guys, I'm hoping you can help me with some ideas. A couple weeks ago I picked up a Plexto stake holder for a song. Now I want to build a bench to go with it. I also have two wood workers vices that came out of a Jr. High shop classroom. What I am thinking so far is to build a large table that will be the centerpiece/layout table of the shop. I'm thinking maybe 5ft by 10 ft, with the stake holder in the center of one long side, then a wood workers vice to the right of it near the corner. Then add the second woodworking vice to the middle of the short end. If I create the square holes for the dogs I can use the vices to hold things from two sides. My plan so far is to…

hi, Can anyone tell me what sort of steel rail wagon axles are made of? I'm using a 3 inch diameter axle as the anvil for a power hammer and want to know what sort of welding rods to use to weld it to the base plate.I only have an arc welder,no mig or tig . Here I go, making another machine :D

hey guys, i just got a good paying job rehammering jackhammer bits & until now i never even knew what steel they were & no one at work knows a darn thing, seems thier old smith wandered off & never bothered to tell anyone how. i found only one relevent page on the web so any input would be apriciated. THX!!!:)

I am not a smith, but I have a handful of projects I would like to attempt and one of my fellow junk collectors has a portable forge he would like me to buy. It is marked Champion Blower & Forge Co Lancaster PA USA. It is a hand crank blower with v shaped drive wheel that runs between 2 leather? wheels, one of the leathers seems to be worn or misaligned so it goes bump every time it spins around, and the drive shaft for the blower itself seems a bit rough as well. If I give it 4 or 5 good spins it will run for another 1/2 to 3/4 revolution before it stops. Based on that I would think it needs some work, the fella wants 150.00 for the forge. I intend to make or at…

Can someone tell me what metal gauges equate to in actual thicknesses? And when getting into the thinner stuff, what are some of the different uses for different gauges. For example what gauge metal would a vehicle exhaust pipe be?

I'm looking for info on these two shears(?) I've been trying to get working. One is marked "Federal #2 Boston Mass... I got this one working and cut a piece of 1/2x 1/4" mild with no problem. (That was with me just holding it on the bench.) the other has only a patent date of 1897 and two copper stamps riveted to it. One copper stamp has a number "5", the other "A2". the later is interesting in that it has a double ramp type lever system to multiply the force at the blades. I got it to 'move' at least. Many more hours needed on these two. Any info would be most helpful. p.s. You may get a better view of them with slightly better description (maybe) in the folder m…

I'm going a little nuts trying to figure out a way to remove dents from a 14 Ga welded steel hollowbody. It's all closed up so i can't get tools inside. Everytime i heat an area, adjacent areas distort. If a torch is used to weld over the low spots, new low spots appear right next to the spot. If a rod is welded to the low spot, which is heated and pulled, it makes the immediate area better ( except for the nipple formed) but the warpage in the adjacent area gets worse. When a nearby high spot is tapped down, the HAZ next to the weld is annealed and subsequently sinks more than the high spot. When the weld is ground flatter, thin spots are formed which distort when a…

A fellow called me tonight about trying to fix his great-grandpa's beer stein. He thinks it's pewter. It was lying on its side in storage and became somewhat oval, either from heat in the storage building or weight from something else or both. I'm not sure I even want to mess with it but I also don't like leaving people hanging if I can give them a suggestion. My thought was to make a uniform cone shape from wood and tap it into the mouth until the roundness was restored. Has anyone done anything similar or have some sound advice (besides the obvious - "BE AFRAID, BE VERY, VERY AFRAID")...:-)

I am getting ready to buy a plasma cutter. I've never owned one myself but used one at work for years and took air supply requirements for granted. Now that I am going to have to be aware of it I realize I may need to get a bigger compressor. You guys and/ or gals that have a plasma machine; How big is you compressor?? The plasma machine I am looking at requires 270 scfh ;4.5 cfm @ 60 psi. I saw a compressor at HF that claims a rate of 6.0 scfm @ 40 psi - 4.2 scfm @ 115 psi. By doing the math, this seems to cover the range but it only has an 8 gallon tank. Do I need a bigger tank? Whats the difference between cfm and scfm? Same thing?? Pre-thanks for your input :)

G'day all, I have a few old coils springs from cars I picked up very cheap at my local scrap yard. I was planning on using them to make some wood working chisels and wood turning tools. The problem is they are all coated in a black powder coat that I am having dificulty removing. (I thought it was just paint) I have tried wire brushes on power drills but its too tough for this to be easy and sanding cylindrical and coiled steel is not much fun it would take a long time to do becaus of the shape. I can't really heat it first as the powder coat is plastic and would give off some pretty nasty fumes. So does anyone have any ideas on removing it quickly or easily?

Does any one know where to pick up some good coal on the west side of Washington or even in the Portland, OR area? All I can get right now is heating coal and there is no way I will ever be able to weld with it.

A buddy of mine who works in a welding/machine shop gave me 2 small pcs of tool steel like the one in the picture that I want to use to make some kitchen knives. My problem is how to handle these small pieces before they're drawed to a workable length that can be handled with tongs. The easy solution that I could come up with was getting some flat bar or rod welded to them for handles. But what about annealing, if I get the handles welded on after it is annealed will the electic welding ruin the annealling process, or if I get them welded on before will the heat from annealing weaken the welded joints? Anybody have any ideas to throw at me!

Finnally got the camera working. here are the pics of the trailer hitch ball and what it became.

We have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day and use with others. We cannot change our past...... The only thing we can do is play on the string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it and towards others. And so it is with us... we are in charge of our attitudes. Lets stop and think how we react towards others, some times a comment when we are having a bad day or don't agree with others is very hurtful to say the least.

From the email: Can you burn chrome off of metal in a forge? What type gas mask do you need or do you even need to use one?

Hi I`m hoping to tap into your vast experience to help solve a problem. Plaese note that i`m not a blacksmith, more of a hobbiest, but i`m quite resourceful :wink: My question is roughly how much force (in tons or kg) is required to press 3mm thick aluminium sheet approx 10" in diameter into a shallow cone? The angle of the "dish" after pressing will need to be about 12 degrees..but i`m guessing the tooling will need to be at a greater angle to account for springback? I wondered if this sounds like a remotely workable plan, My first thought is to use a hydraulic press with a male punch and a female die (hope the terminology is correct) Essentially the punch p…

I'm thinking on putting in my shop a steel I-beam overhead from one end to the other and using a trolley with chain hoist to pick up and move stuff that's heavier than I can lift by myself. Presently, I'm using a gantry style construction of 4" OD square tube, legs and cross beam, 10' wide. I know that will take at least 2 tons and not bend or flex. I have to move the whole thing to use it on the other end of the shop, which is not easy. The setup I'm thinking of would be about 28' long with the 4" square tube (dismantling the present one) at each end for the legs, I could put a temporary support one third of the way in from either end when necessary. My question is…

There are times you heat and beat metal. Then there are those ideas that pop up and you feel the need to go from concept to production. This VW has two engines making the car a hybrid? New VW hybrid - click here.