Shop Tips n' Tricks

Breaking down large stock or reducing the section of a damascus billet is hard work without a powerhammer or a striker with a sledge hammer. If you are working alone you will probably end up with a hand full of blisters (especially if you are an office worker) and 1 forearm like Popeye and the other like one of Olive Oil's. To make life easier I fabricated this device which is simply a fullering tool. . It's simply a piece of H13 steel in a piece of scaffolding tube. There is also a lower H13 die mounted on a piece of steel plate 20mm thick. I can mount it on my anvil but I prefer to use it on the diameter 10" steel show as it is at a more suitable height. A simila…

i have one of those wireless remote controls that i set up with my forge blower , i hang on my shirt so i just reach up and hit on or off

Not having the money to buy a Baldor buffer I settled on an inexpensive grinder with the side guards removed and extra long work arbor on each side I've had it on a stand for several years now I see no need to upgrade I bought my extra long work arbors from Kovel (now Jantz supply) Jantz Supply - Your source for knifemaking!

Hi there. I thought I'd post something I made for my workshop a while back, which has proved to be an extremely handy addition. I don't have a lot of room in my shed, and was having trouble mounting 2 bench grinders. Simply can't fit them side-by-side, and originally made a trundle bench with them back-to-back. It always seemed to be the one at the back I wanted to use which really started to wick me off, so I designed to following setup. The guts of it is the "L" shaped bed which pivots through 90* back and forwards, and has a positive lock at each extreme using a cam handle. The pivot is a 1" shaft running in brass bushings, very solid with no play. Quite straight fwd…

I have often wondered how the smith made his left hand dies and taps.If anyone has an insight into this subject, please share it with me.Thankyou.

Here's help for those of you who have struggled with transferring a drawing of a project from paper to sheet metal. Buy some tracing paper from a sewing supplies place (mine came from Wally-World). It's cheap, maybe $1.50 for a package of several sheets. Place a sheet of tracing paper between your paper drawing and the sheet metal and trace over the lines. The transfer is quick and accurate and you are now ready to upgrade the drawing with soapstone. This stuff comes in multi-color packs, but the white and the yellow sheets are the best for this work.

Awhile back I bought a Canady Otto #0 post vise off of rthibeau. I mounted it on a 4x4x1/8 wall piece of tubing welded to a semi brake drum to make it portable.I have used it at several demos. It catches peoples eyes. The other day at a flea market I picked up a Cole #7 manual drill that is for drilling large holes in about any position. I got it for 5 dollars because the guy thought it was missing some parts but it's all there. I mounted it to the opposite side of the post and then on the left hand side I added a mount for 2 old hand grinders I had squirreled away under the bench. Made a real nice manual drill/grinder stand. Just don't let it get over center when you…

hello, when i first became interested in blacksmithing i bough one of those russian anvils from harbour frieght, since then i got a trenton . anyway i still wanted to use the russian 110 pounder and it was mared and scared pretty good , so i surfaced the top with a milling machine, ground the heck out of the horn to make it more usable . took it to the heat treaters that we use at my work the heat treaters annealed it first then treated the material like 4140 and heated it then quenched it in oil , now my anvil is 48 rockwell c rather than the 30 it came in i am happy this things rings well and has good rebound , all for eighty bucks thought i would share

I'm just getting started and I'm attempting to assemble my first forge. I've got my Forge body designed, my burner designed etc. My problem is don't really know anything about working with Propane and the apropriate fixtures. My main question is this. What parts do I have to have to go from the tank to the burner so I don't blow myself up? I'm using a blown burner design More questions. How do you "tune" a blown burner? I know you need to adjust the air/fuel mix but I haven't seen any blown burners with speed controls on the sites I've looked at. Forge construction. Does a Blown burner Forge body differ from an atmospheric burner forge body? My forge w…

I put a stop on my flypress cause it scared me not to. It can be flicked on or off with just my thumb. I also put handles in all the holes on the flywheel and when I am going full tilt I am not reaching for something to grab. Stretch Blacksmith Forge Custom Wrought Iron Rod Iron Art Wrought Iron Art

Show us your bolster blocks / custom made / fancy / or just a piece of metal with a hole drilled in it , what do you normally use

I want to build a swage block stand, my swage block is the big size almost need a lift to lift it any ideas out there how I should build one to make it useaable to make things Gerald

One cent coins were phased out nearly twenty years ago here, but I thought the rest of you might like this... Edit: As the photos posted was clearly copyrighted, Mr. Smith, can you take your own photo and post it. Glenn

found an arc-welder at a garage sale for 100 bones. before I buy it what should I look out for? I am VERY new to this topic. Denny

Oh man... The local steel scrap yard, Schnitzer's Steel, has sales hours at the same time as my office hours... 8-5, mon-fri... I went today at lunch, and if I bust my xxx to get down there, I have about 15-20 minutes to shop, cut, and buy. Of course, there is no time left over for actually eating lunch, but what a small price to pay! I picked up enough stock to last me through my next 3 or 4 projects (a fire poker, some plant hangers, some dinner triangles), and still have a bunch left over. The best part is that all it cost me was about $12. It's kind of hard to tear myself away from the scrap yard though, I just want to browse and browse and browse. Since I…

How about showing us your swage block rack / stand / holder or whatever you prefer to call it

So how do you guys store your short pieces? 4' and under? I bring in alot of 20' and unless for a specific job I cut them in half so I can store them verticaly in a rack grouped in rounds,squares,tubing etc., that way I can store pieces that are 4' plus without to big of a mess. The smaller stuff I just have a shelf on pallet rack dedicated to the shorts and I just throw them on there and try and keep the groups somewhat organized, real small crops of the same thing I try and throw in buckets with similar pieces. I am asking because I'm trying to think of a better system for my new shop for the short crops just to keep them more organized, I'm thinking about a 4' wi…

I had to do some forge brazing in my gas forge last weekend. I found a steel tray that would fit and then filled it with small pieces of industrial coke so i could position the parts accurately and any excess flux was caught by the tray. Thomas

I am kind of particular about clean sharp electrodes every time I weld with the TIG. I also will sharpen several pieces and swap them out periodically if I have a long job. I was casting about for a faster way to sharpen the tungsten and chucked one in my 1/4 hand drill then spun the end against the bench grinder wheel. Presto, sharp point in about 3 seconds.

I was working on a guard the other day and figured i would try something. I took a hunk of rubber tubing and slid it up the tang to hold the guard in place while the J B weld set.Worked just fine. Kept it at a 90 degree and slid off easy when it was dry. I have seen fancy home made jigs out of steel but for someone who can't make one out of steel, try this. Worked out perfect on 3 blades so far and no problems.

What type of floor do you prefer in your shop and what do you feel the advantages are for your prefered type concrete ? brick ? wood ? dirt ? also do you use the type that you prefer or do you use whatever was there to start with How do you mount your vise and other equipment, / Permanent or movable any tricks to maximize the use of available floor space ?

In your opinion. What are the basic fundamentals a novice needs to master before moving on to the infamous "sword" :roll: , or any other stereotypical hand forged item. I know in my learning process so far the basics are always present, and repetition is making them second nature... Also what are some basic items a novice can practice on to master these basic skills? Peyton

what kind of light do you have in your forge/shop ( I have a hard time calling my forge a shop ) its a forge do you like it bright , dark, subdued, or natural light ? can you control the amount of light in your forge or are they all on or all off. fluorescent or incandescent. how do you determine the heats of the workpiece , if by color how is the color of the metal determined under different lighting conditions.

Those of you who use coal, what is your favorite type to use? Brand and size... Peyton

In my limited experience, a little more than 2 or so years, my hammer awareness is getting much better. My hammers that I find myself using the most are: 1lb heller double faced (my first hammer), also since Christmas I have a Cliff Carroll 1.5 rounding hammer that is great! These are the two I use the most. What about you guys? Any tips for hammer technique, and what hammer size and style you use... Peyton