mike-hr

I got free reign on design and manufacture of some joist brackets for an open beam house. They passed engineering, intentionally overbuilt as a focal point over the kitchen area. The designer and clients both really liked them, can't complain about that. I posted pictures on my mini-website: www.olenemachine.blogspot.com mike

Absolutely fascinating, Thanks!

I've had my platten table for over 10 yrs now. I thought of this idea about 15 minutes after it got put into service, finally did it last month, and it's so nice! I made some 16 ga sheetmetal ramps, 2 per side, 4 total. I welded a receiver plate at each end of the table, that accepts 5/8 round stock, 2 pieces, side by side. I found some scrap pipe that fits over the 5/8 round, and cut it into 1 inch lengths. I welded the pipe to the sheet metal for a crude hinge. After assembly, I used some cheap C-clamps to hold the ramps at a 15 degree angle. Now all the grinding swarf, pencils, keys, nuts and bolts, etc. fall down on the ramp, and are easily swept out to the edge, instead of having to pick through the storage shelf below. There's truth in the addage," It's the little things".

John at Gearhart Iron showed me this... If the welder is against the wall, and the bench is out in the floorspace, run a piece of 1/4 x 2 inch flatbar across the floor from the welder to the weld table. Bend both ends up, weld the piece to the leg of the table, and hook the ground lead to the other end.. One less cable to trip over.

I'm building a kinyon hammer next February, when the shop slows down. I'm really interested in the linkage, also how KenZ feels about the 1 x 10 laminate base anvil, vs. a big chunk of 8 inch round solid. is it wiggling at all? A fellow could put holes on a 6 inch schedule and bolt it all together and come up with a strong base that's easier to buy than a big chunk of round, if it works.....

Get ahold of an old Machinery's handbook, I think 4 inch drive pulley is in spec. I made a 3.5"aluminum drive pulley for my mechanical hammer, again with a 1100 rpm motor. It will slip a little upon startup, then I spray the belt with stickygoo belt dressing, works good for about a week.

Thanks, I needed a lift, That worked..

Howdy, Don't know if you're close to Tonapah, But they had a couple hammer-ins there last summer. google tonapahhistoricminingpark

I dumped a box of brew in the cooler, and started free-forming an artsy prototype joist hanger bracket for an open beam house. Magically, it came out looking really sharp Sunday morning, so I took it to the jobsite and met with the owners and the designer. Drove home with a smile and a $3K order for a pile of artsy brackets..Thanks, Miller brewing Co!

It's amazing how fast young folks can pick up the rhythm of a shop. Besides safety stuff, I try hard not to lead a young'un to the end of a project, I want to see how the mind works, what's intuitive, how they're going to get to the finish line. My boy had an exempliary teacher in the second grade. He made her a stacked-pedal rose for xmas vacation. It came out great. I never told him it was going to be hard, and it wasn't. We had a great time together making it, although he never realized he was working. If you don't tell them they can't, they most likely can.

I've been prone to creativity slumps, it's just part of riding the wave called life. What works best for me to bust out, is, take a whole day or four and clean the shop. If i haven't used something in 6 months, it leaves, or goes to the barn. If the daylight hits the work table wrong, move it. I got satellite radio in the shop and some good speakers, access to different music is a great mood lifter. Single malt Scotch is good for getting my creative attitude going, long as I can remember what I did, the next morning

save a complete door and put in the corner of the shop. If it gets too hot when you're forging on an axle, you can roll down the window, and cool off.

I read this several hours ago, and have been struggling ever since to find something to post here .. If nothing else, it makes me realize that the countless hours I spend with my 14 yr old son, trying to instill a work ethic and trying to make a fun time of working in the shop with me, buying old dirt bikes, and then dedicating 3 day weekends to go run them, spending weekends cutting firewood working till we both get dizzy in the heat, etc, etc, are all golden minutes. We all know what golden minutes are, we all need to make the time to make more of them. I can't feel your loss, tried, but can't imagine it. My heart goes out to you Larry. mike hricziscse

I'm in KFalls, 3-1/2 hrs south of you, I'm booked pretty solid till september, but I would be happy to get the local guys in a pile and invite you for a weekend of smithing in my shop. 3 or 4 guys working and sharing ideas towards a common goal is often a better learning avenue than taking a paying class. I wouldn't worry about the craft fair too much, I do public shows around here, sometimes I don't sell much, but somebody that grabbed a card will want a whole lot of work for the new kitchen this fall, etc. You make a better impression if you can bring a forge and work a bit during the show. Folks realize that you're not just a guy who buys stuff from a catalogue and re-sells. Be very afraid of Utah coal, my experience hasn't been good. the stuff I got won't coke at all, is quite sulfury, and goes out when you let off the blast. I reluctantly go to monroe and buy the elkhorn for too much money, I figure I can count on it to perform, and I can usually make $200-300 of product from a bag.

Not forging related, but when I'm dragging logs behind the pickup, it helps to chain from the pickup to an old car tire, then from the old tire to the log chain. The tire gives the system some elasticity iffin' there's terrain or rocks along the route.

Sounds like a worthy project, but for function it's hard to beat a chain or cable choker.

Great video JE.. Folks, I stormed into Gearhart with the family a couple weeks ago, I played in Johns shop for a couple days whilst the family got sunburned on the beach. I got to run this hammer for 6-8 beers. It kicks my 80# mechanical hammers' butt, both on squish power, and controll, and also price to build and maintain. Building one of these got bumped to the top of my project list. What I see as beautiful about this machine, is, if something does break on it, parts are available at the local auto and industrial shop, yer back to work in a couple hours. No need to try and tell the Turkish or Chinese liason about this mysterious pinging sound, and wait for weeks to get back to work. I'm all for it.

Look up 'Snarling iron', it's just a rivet set that's bent so's it will get into the space you need it to get to. Also, those couple extra small leg vices in your barn are actually 'inertia bars'. They will provide enough mass to enable riveting with the snarling iron without extra fixtures. In the absence of spare leg vices, a buddy with a sledge backer and a well trained oxy/fuel torch will work.

If it were a Deere Trackhoe, it coulda cut plumb through that wimpy overpass..

When I want to tap a new thread, I hunt through the assortment until I find one that will cut my thumbnail when I rotate the tap across it. I've bought an occasional tap at the big box-mart store on weekends when the industrial house was closed. Cheap new taps won't cut my thumbnail, and I get nervous.

How about, 'Stop when finished' Sometimes the difference between a mediocre piece and a pretty piece is just one or two blows, before or after it's finished.

I'm going, it will be easy to recognise me in the crowd.. Look for the middle age slightly overweight guy with a white beard wearing double knee carrharts and the welding shirt. Hee hee, that never gets old... Hey, CBA and Nevada folks, If you want to stop just over the border in Klamath Falls for beef, beer, and BS, I got parking and tent spots in the backyard. Timberline is about 6 hrs from my place. My contact info is on my bloggy page at the foot of this post.

Fe, I was pondering hard about seeing Claudio, but I'm heading to the Dudkowski life celebration the week before, and am going to forge till I wear a saddle in my new anvil. Metalwalker, Brett Mouton has an open forge in the reno area a couple times a month. Costs a bit for for the forge time, but reasonable for what you get. I spent a couple beers watching Brett and the CBA education team going at a handled flatter like a bunch of wolverines at the last hammer-in, my kind of folks.

Howdy, I noticed no ones jumped on about going to Tonopah, I'll toss a few words out to ease your stress. The event is listed in the CBA news, that almost always means that there will be someone there who will help you. I cut my teeth going to CBA functions, I feel it's in the top ten percent of clubs that actually promote education realistically. Bring a sketchbook, wander around, ask if there's a beginner department, watch the elders body mechanics and fire management, keep a safe distance from who's working, ask questions, and have fun. Bring safety glasses and wear them through the gate. I'm pretty sure you'll get data overload by 2:00 PM. If you have more questions after the event, ask them here. I know 50 good smiths in oregon/california. They all have their own spin, and product. The beauty is, the moves are all the same, just different applications. Watch everybody, pick the fruit you find sweet.

I'm grateful for the opportunity to have called Tom a friend. He confirmed many of the suspicions I had about what it means to be a high integrity, crazy son of a gun. He had an uncanny knack for picking out the most self-absorbed, high ego attendee at a hammer-in, and pecking away at the poor fool until he almost seemed human after a while. He would yell across the crowd that he needed my help. After I made my way over to him, he'd tell me my work was coming along good, but he could tell that I'm not sketching enough. "I found a piece of charcoal in the firepit, let me watch you draw a picture on the sidewalk of that tree over there. Hold it flatways to make a thick line, then smudge it with your thumb, like this... Now start using forging to replicate this line width, you'll have something worth selling sooner or later." I feel lucky to have found the circle of people in our group. We all know that most folks won't stick around for more than a couple meetings, but everybody tries to key in on that sparkle that shows up in an enthusiastic newcomer. I remember being new on the scene, and Tommy spending 4 hour stretches with me, dinging my tecnique, and trying hard to get me to make something with a curve in it. I'm going to miss Tom something fierce, but I guess who I am today has a chunk of his influence setting in my tools. Save me a seat Tommy. mike hricziscse