Shop Tips n' Tricks

This is not really a trick, but I thought I'd pass it on anyway. Might come in handy for someone. Today I was preparing to forge some small pieces.(1/2 in. round.....6 in. long) and didn't need a large fire. I lit a fire with newspaper and small kindling. Because the shop was rather cool today, I just kept adding 1 in. x 1 in.x `12 in. long kindling to the fire. By the time I had gathered my stock, tongs, and proper hammer, etc, I looked at the fire and noticed that I had some NICE charcoal in there. Since I didn't need the large fire, and was only cranking the hand blower once in a while, the charcoal making on top of the forge pretty much kept up with my fuel nee…

i bought a surplus of identical lug wrenches for 25 cents each at the surplus material store 25 to be exact , trying to think of a usefull project the kind that are bent at about 30 degrees i was thinking of spacing three wrenches 120 degrees apart with the socket end down and the shaft going straight up so to make like legs weld a piece of pipe in center and devise an adjustable stock stand . or do the same but scroll the top of the wrench {where the hub cap removal blade is} weld a ring in the inside to hold those large flower pots. does anyone know what kind of stell these are can someone come up with something creative to do with these things chuck

So I'm looking to build me a shiny new blacksmith shop on some new acreage I bought. I've not had a dedicated space before, and have been stuck with either a lean to or carport for most of my time smithin', so I'm looking for what folks think is critical to a shop. It'll probably be timber frame design, since I think timber frames are bad xxx, but other than that it's pretty open. I'm currently thinking of a 30'x30' core space, but I'm not sure if I need to have the roof trusses span the whole space, or if I can allow for some posts every 8'. Ideas?

One time I worked briefly at a Yataiki Workshop; he's a sensei Japanese saw maker. He also made other tools. He was forging a wood marking knife, and part of the time, he would lift the knife a little ways off the anvil before hitting it with each blow. This conserved some heat, because as we all know, the anvil is a big heat robber. http://www.turleyforge.com Granddadday of Blacksmith Schools

Here are two tips for the workshop, practical and easy to implement Pascal

Big stuff will beat the xxxx out of you if your not carful, how bout a handle with a built in isolator. 1" pipe tee handle, 1/2"x 1" bar twisted around a piece of solid 1" round weld it up. Need a bigger forge? The 6 burner NC bolts together, just add bricks! Can't get to your treadle on the hammer? Here is a extension made from 1" angle and a piece of pipe, it will also slide around to any position.

With the configuration of my shop and the building that it is in, I have a 20x28 foot shop and a side room that is about 14 foot square. The side room is my dedicated steel and cutting room. Stock can be taken off of the rack, measured, cut, and returned to the rack all in the same room. I previously used a horizontal steel rack 8 feet long and 4 feet wide. However, with 12 foot stock on the thing it took up alot of floor space, that I didn't have. This is the original steel rack. So, I decided to go with a vertical steel rack in my steel room. I cut some dividers and attached them to the wall. (There are steel guards that keep the steel off of the shop electric main…

Hey All, I'm going to be moving soon, and though my shop is *not* filled with powerhammers and multi-ton lathes, I still have heavy stuff to move around, and now to move locations. I bet there are some good opinions here as to how a person should progress with their "moving equipment". A hand truck is probably first, but what comes next? cherry picker? small forklift? Maybe some intermediate steps are not worth it? If I'm going to be moving this stuff, I might as well have the equipment to do it, and do it safely. This way, I'll be able to move stuff at my new location, and I'll own it, too. Spread forth your collected wisdom. I'm eager to learn. Or maybe some c…

I have a chronic storage problem which has reached crisis proportions since consolidating two shops into one space. One of my favorite solutions was stacking 4" diameter sewer pipe into my industrial style storage shelf. A couple of 1x 3's screwed to the shelves front and back contains a loose stack of 2'- 4" long PVC tubes into which all sorts of stuff can be organized.

A servisable railroad spike twister can be made from 22" 3/8" x 1-1/2" flat bar. Cut off 2 " from one end, save small piece. Find center of long piece and trace the shape of the spike head. Cut with torch till the spike fits loosly but will not turn. Weld the small piece over the hole. To use; Grab with both hands, place over spike in a vise, and twist right or left hot or cold. This method insures twist goes ALL the way to the spike head and looks nice. If you can twist cold spikes with this method i have a job for you.

I live in southern Louisiana, Baton Rouge area. Need help/ideas/things to consider with building a smithy I can use year round. Here is my situation: I currently move my forge and blower to a slab outside the back of my woodshop. I have no roof over the slab. My anvil is inside the shop just near two large swinging doors that open outward. There is an inside pic below. You can see the swinging doors behind that open to theother pic. Problems. No Roof: Sunlight and Rain are a problem of course. And, summer in Baton Rouge is 95F+ (hot for forging) and sun until ~5-6pm (lotsa light, hard to see colors, sun beating down, sunburn). With the Back door open I get …

My parents are thinking of letting me build a shop and i am looking for advice, how big should i go? i was thinking 16'x 16' with 8"x8" corner posts and 8"x8" posts in between each corner post, and it will be 10ft tall. 2ft and 8ft off the ground will be 2"x4" across each open section and leave an 8' section open for a door. I will put 1"x6" board and batton walls and a tin roff slanted to 25degrees, any suggstions?

Anyone have some jpegs or pics of traditional shop layout? Stuff that shows typical arragement of forge, benches, anvils etc. I went to start arranging equipment, desks, forges today and realized I was totally just guessing. Not great when I have to run some temporary 220V lines. So if anyone has some plan-form pics that show basic tride and true layouts of equipment i'd love to see them.

I know a lot of guys use the one pound of bailing wire that one can get at the hardware store ...the trouble is once you take off the piece that secures the bundle the wire tends to unravel ...before you cut the wire that secures the bundle take a roll of electrical tape and start going all around the bundle the clip the wire and continue wrapping the tape all around so it looks like a big hockey puck. on one siode cut the center out so it looks like a donut on one side. now pull the wire from the inside of the bundle you wan't have the birds nest!

I'm in the process of cleaning out the garage so it can be remodelled into a shop. I've come to realize that I'm tired of tripping over cords. I know I could just crank out some large s-hooks to hang 'em I thought I'd ask what y'all do. I know someone in the group has got to have the ultimate cord organizing method. Show me some pix and give me some text showing how you deal with yoru cords.

Out in the shop today I was struggling with a wiring project. It required twisting the ends of stranded wire to insert into a terminal block. It wasn't going too well cause I was using pliers and making a general mess of each end. I spotted a wire nut on the floor, picked it up and screwed onto the wire and unscrewed it and there was a perfect twisted,pointy end!........Nothing huge, but it made my day a little less tedious.................mb

I am about to build a medium sized shop in my backyard, however I live within the city. My grandfather has worked in construction his whole life and was a city inspector, he said if I received any complaints of noise or a city inspector was driving by that they could and would shut me down asap. I only thought they could do so if the noise was past a certain time at night or early in the morning. But they go by decibel levels and the hammering I'm sure would exceed it. Knowing this city I don't want to invest in a big shop and then them shut me down. The noise and the smoke coming from the flues in the summer is what I'm concerned over people reporting, our neighbors ha…

Hello, here the fuller which I have just finished. Not too much English text, for not abimer your nerves:D. I hope that the photographs will be explicit. A+ PL

Though you guys might get a kick out of an artical I cam across for other uses of borax. Borax When added to a laundry wash, borax makes detergents even more effective. It's also "quite alkaline, so it kills mold and fungus and softens water," says Robert Wolke, Ph.D., author of What Einstein Told His Cook: Kitchen Science Explained (W. W. Norton & Company, $16, amazon.com). Price: About $5 for 4 pounds at supermarkets. Use It to Clean Your

I am bending pipe into a half circle. Specifically 2" pipe 19'9" long, in a 4'10" radius. 2 foot is left on the ends to bury in the ground which leaves 15'9". radius is approximate as long as I get a smooth arc and the ends are 9'8" +/- 2" its fine. Currently I am using a harbor freight bender and have a pattern board to check curve. It is taking a long time to do this. I can't seem to find a technique that allows me to get the same amount of bend each section. so I have a flat spot then too tight. lots of rework. have done stroke counting now i have a wire marking the deflection. still having issues. what say you?

Anybody out there have some real life experience / advice on how to properly plumb a compressed air piping system for a shop? I have a bunch of 1'' shed. 80 gray PVC water pipe. Is this okay to use in a compressed air system ? I thought the larger size pipe would give less restriction to airflow and some increased storage volume. The maximum line pressure would be 125 psi or less. I was going to use glued fittings for joints and elbows with IPT bushings for the outlets. Which way should the line drain ? Back to the compressor tank or towards the filter /regulator end ? How should the drain points be constructed and where located ? I have a secondary …

The chuck on my drill press will only hold bits down to a 5/32" shank, but I often have to drill smaller holes. So, I found out that if you put heat shrink tubing on the last 1/2" or so of the shank, it holds fairly well in the chuck. As long as you center punch the hole the drill bit will follow.

I heard a few people mention dies loosening up on power hammers so with my self made hammer which uses a bolt-on system I incorporated a center pin. This not only might help reduce the risk of something coming loose but also relieves the duty of having to over tighten the bolts all the time in suspicion that it might happen. I drilled and reamed a 1/4” diameter hole approximately 5/16” deep in the center of the ram bolt pattern. I also put this hole in most all of my die plates so a 1/2” long steel dowel can be inserted upon die attachment. It isn’t required but it is there if I choose to use it. It would only allow for rotational movement of the die should the bolt…

Anyone know if there is a gadget or a trick for running several 220V pieces of machinery on the same line. Do they make like a selector switch for this? I know if you got compressor on one side of the shop and your welding on the other chances are they need their own line. But if you have a compressor with a 220v sander near it, it seems like there would be a better way then running endless 220V lines for each piece of equipment. What do they do in big shops where they have dozens of 220v machines? Do they really use a dedicated line for each? Is that best? Or is there a simpler way for the home shop?

Making scrolls for me has never come easy. Practice, a pile of scrolls and still frustration. To make a scrolling jig first you must develope the perfect form and the right size for your project. Some just grab a piece of metal,start banging on it and WALAH! a perfect scroll. I like to it draw first then form to my sketch. Her lies another problem, I sketch like a 3rd grader, even after numorous drafting classes. In the latest AABA news letter our editor Dan Jennings with inspiration from Jerry Fuller posted this nifty apperatice. After seeing it I had a AHHA! moment and new I had to have one. So I dropped everthing and went off to make it. First you need a aluminum p…