Slitters, Punches, Drifts, etc

I am in need of a slitter. I have some tool steel layin' about and was wonderin' what you guys have done. 1. What type of material 2. How thick is the slitter What type of edge do you put on your slitter and why. Thanks for all of your assistance.

I am currently having my one busy that goes to my trade school for machining (I go for welding) make me a cold working punch with interchangeable centers I designed the entire thing in CAD and made drawings for him (I will put the drawings in here later) i currently have a center punch with a sixty degree tip that I am going to harden and I have a I don’t know how to describe it it is almost a pin punch but they are half an inch in diameter I am having him make me one insert made of aluminum, one of brass, and one of steel that I am going to harden I am having him make me two of these as I plan to give one to my dad as a gift my question is does anybody have any oth…

I'm cash and steel poor, and I need a big fat drift for making axe eyes and the like. What I am rich in, however, is stone - so what if I just took a nice hard piece of stone, granite or something, and carved it into a nice smooth drift pin? Has anyone done this?

Good day my fellow IFI’ers hopefully this post finds you well, so I am in need of making some ball end punches, my 1st thought that came to mind was to use ball end hex Allen wrenches and slowly belt sand down the ball end to a ball not hex while keeping it cool to not ruin the temper, the hex keys I currently have are from a company named Bondhus they are supposedly made here in the USA and according to there website it says they use a Protanium steel. Has anyone ever heard of this alloy was just curious on how to find out if it’s safe to use for what I’m wanting it to. Thanks for reading and I look forward to hopefully some responses. Hope y’all have a great day. Merica…

This is still a WIP. Some notes about this 1) still not welded together 2) still needs more grinding on the base of the punch as its currently not sitting straight 3) the handle and sacrifice plate are still in need of alot of grinding to clean up. Also might add another length to the handle via welding. I misjudged how much metal I would have. 4) S7 is the punch metal, and mild steel is the sacrifice plate and handle. 5) I will preheat the S7 Punch before welding to the mild steel 6) tip of punch is .61 inch Base of punch is 1.21 inch 7) this is as close to perfectly round as my naked eye can get it from the tip to half to t…

Hi Guys, I have just been blessed with about thirty old school punches, hand fullers and chisels. After a week in a vinegar bath they are ready to go. Unfortunately i really do not have a good logical place (at the moment to store these so that i can use them without digging through a bucket or opening up 4 drawers to find what i am looking for. Anyone have a solution that works for them? Visual aids would be most welcomed. -c

On a visit to Prospect Hill Forge blacksmithing school in Waltham, MA a couple of weeks ago, I saw an interesting adjustable punch holder. This is basically a piece of pipe with a V-notch in the end, an eye bolt inside to pull the tool into the V, and a nut and washer on the end to tighten the eye bolt against the tool. The instructor Carl West had copied from one Dave Anderson from Tonawanda, NY. I decided to make my own version of this, replacing the washer and block nut at the back with a forged wingnut, partly to eliminate the need to use a tool while assembling, partly to combine the nut and the washer and thus reduce the number of parts, and partly becaus…

Awhile back I got curious how those Kens tong blanks were so I ordered a pair of scrolling tongs from them, as well as a couple bags of rivets to learn with an try out on other stuff they’ve Been floating around the smithy for a month or two now and I thought about gettin round to trying them out, But first I needed a rivet header and bucking block or whatever they call it, ive got a bunch of 2” solid round stock laying around that came off I dunno what, I’m assuming it’s mild steel cause it cuts pretty easy on a band saw but I didn’t bother doin a spark test, an I thought that'd make some heavy duty bottom blocks I plan to make the top tooling outta …

Ive made some rolled roses but I haven’t played with the stacked ones yet an I thought about ordering some blanks to try em out, I watched some videos on making them an I saw him using a ball end punch to do some shaping, then I started in on watching a jingle bell video and he was using different sizes of ball end punches for that too, so i figured I’d make a set of em in different sizes, I found some ball bearings in the different sizes I wanted online, 2” ,1-1/2” , and 1-1/4” I saw some that were carbon steel, there was also some chrome ones and stainless ones, I figure chrome isn’t a good idea for safety reasons so that’s out, So t…

I’m new to the blacksmithing world and still in the process of building my forge but there is a old machine shop closing in my town that has a bunch of milling and cutting tools as well as hammer of all kinds. Can these be used to forge new blacksmithing tools or hardy tools?

Was in the process of drifting a slit for my first hammer eye punch in a rectangular piece of 4140 about an 1 1/4 deep and 3/4 of the way one of the corners chipped off (about 1/4" of a 1"). I was cooling in my water quench bucket after every second/third hit, I didn't work the material cold (good orange heat), used a 2/5lb hammer. What did I do wrong? I should be able to salvage the chisel by regrinding and re-heat treating, I just don't want to repeat my mistake. Any advice (pertinent to my slitting chisel) is welcomed. Edit: Should also indicate that the 4140 billet was annealed in vermiculite for a couple hours after I pressed it from round into rectan…

How do you form this? Do you just drill a hole in the center of a ball punch and then use that to punch the end of another punch?

Doing some clean up in the shop, and im trying to organize my slits, drifts, punches, etc. I came up with the shelf unit in the picture, but i dont like it. I made another shelf like this when i built my shop and used it to store a couple chisels and punches that i had purchased, but in the end it ended up contibuting to rusty ends. I know this shelf will work for the time being, but im stumped on how to store these tools in my shop. So i was wondering how my fellow smiths organize their slitters, punches, drifts, chisels, etc?

Over the last few days in the workshop I hand forged down some reclaimed jackhammer bits into a hand punch and drift set for making hammer eyes and top tool eyes. I know there is some debate as to the necessity to heat treat this type of tooling but I would be curious to hear some thoughts on the matter.

Hi, I am a blacksmith. I want to know how to make a punch tool, with what material and what is the hardening process? The tools I have available is an anvil, coal forge, hammer and grinder. Any ideas please?

This is frustrating! I made a slitter to slit a 1/4" hole, with the idea to drift the hole to 1/4" so i can hot fit the 1/4"" square stock for this project im planning to build. But the darn slitter keeps bending on me. Im cutting into 3/8ths square stock. I get the steel plenty hot to do the cuts with, but every attempt just leaves me with a slitter that i need to redress. I made the slitter out of an old chisel, and the chisel is 1/4". I hardened and tempered it, yet with every attempt i try in learning how to slit and drift, the slitter bends. In the picture you can see my new start, and after the second strike the slitter bent. Is the …

I apologize if these are oft asked questions, but I have been looking for a couple days now and haven't been able to find the answers I need. I am looking to obtain my first punch and drift (or drifts). I believe I want a slot punch, but if anyone has suggestions please don't hold back. 1. I would like to buy a punch so I have one that I know is well made and has good geometry. However, I have not been able to find anyone online that sells slot punches. Does anyone know where I might buy one? Also what size should I get (I am planning to do simple beginner projects like bottle openers, etc.)? 2. If I must resort to making one, are there any rules/suggestions reg…

Hey all: My latest forging session has me convinced that I need to make some tongs so that I can place shorter stock into my steel wheel charcoal forge. I'm a beginner, so my tongs will not be anything very big. Even if I use a large piece of stock and fashion both sides from a single bar, I still will need to make a hole for the rivet. Right now, I do not have any punches, so I thought I would make one. What is a reasonable rivet size for such tongs? 5/16"? 3/8"? 1/2"? I don't have rivets, so I will be making stock out of what I have. I guess I can drill out the rivet hole, but that would be missing an opportunity. I just checked my scrap bucket and all I…

(not sure how to ask this question, so please apologize for the ramble. i feel it helps convey what im attempting to ask) I decided that i needed punches, as the punches i bought at the local hardware store have a tendency to bend and upset when using them to punch hot iron. So i need punches with more girth and strength. I started pounding the steel, with the goal of making a 3/8ths punch, and then i had a question "is there a certain minimum size id need to make for punching through certain thicknesses of material?" for example, If im working 1/4" flat bar, and want to punch a 3/8ths hole, ok, that can be accomplished. But what if im working a 2"x2" block of steel,…

I wanted to share pictures of a drift I bought from Brent Bailey. It’s really helped my axe making. I think the best feature is the knife like front edge. It’s a pretty crisp edge. It’s easy to started straight and you hardly have to worry about the point of the teardrop pointing at the bit. He makes nice stuff.

First: Several months back, I saw where someone had saved the photos and reposted them someplace on iforgeiron. I cannot now find it. Anyone know where they are Second: it is a very poor drawing, but, does anyone know how I might make this punch? It doesn’t look like it, but it is an eye with an iris and pupil. The white areas are depressions and the red areas are not. Our past SCABA president has such a punch. I suppose I might could ask if he is up for a lesson. When I asked him once, he said he had to make something like three different tools to make the eye punch tool. Sorry for the poor drawing, but it is hard to draw with our thumbs on a …

I made this from tool steel, quenched then tempered to a dark straw colour. Any massive flaws I've missed? I haven't had the chance to try it out yet, but hopefully it will work well.

Hello Guys; I was given a box of 33, 35, 40 and 45 mm drills; mostly new, some chowdered up. MK3 and MK4 tapers. I can only use them in my lathe (MK3 tailstock). I have nothing with MK4. And the bucket contains 50 drills. I always assumed these were HSS; or M2 tool steel; and as such brittle and not suitable for hammering. Then I found one with a chowdered up tip, but what struck me is that the taper had some dents. Like someone hammering on it. The "drill" end of this thing is really hard and will readily chip if struck; but the taper part is soft. So I figured, lets give this a try, I cut it up and made a cute round drift. Guess what; it ac…

Thinking of making a hammer drift from a 1-1/16" x 15" bull pin. Seems like a remember reading somewhere that Mark Aspery mentioned this in his book. I don't have his book so I cannot confirm this. I would just forge it flat on two sides . Seems like it would be a quick way to make a hammer drift. Here is what I am thinking of using. would 1- 1/16" be a good size? Would these have too much taper to work well though? Thanks.