patrickrock

Oddleg calipers (sometimes called hermaphrodite calipers)

or angle backmarkers

or dividers used carefully

John, thank you, those oddleg calipers are the berries. I'll have to buy a pair. Never seen such a thing before, but can immediately see all kinds of uses for them.

Bruce, how do you find the center to start with?

In woodworking we have marking gauges which are an adjustable rod with a pin and a fence. And we also have center line scribes.

Neither of them work very well for small pieces of metal such as that used in knife making.

Are there comparable tools in metal working?

Friends of mine saw these down in Soutch Carolina and wanted me to make one.

Obviously no problem to make it, but I wanted to dress it up a bit, figured someone here had probably made one before and might have some ideas about it.

Gate Loop:

Ok. A follow up after filing in bevels for the first time.

1. .99 Cent shrink wrapped bastard file I picked up I don't remember where. Awful.

2. 3.00 Chinese files from the machinist supply shop that was recommended by a counter guy there. Cuts fast, but extremely coarse. Even the single cut smooth file was quite coarse.

3. Nicholson mill cut bastard. Cut extremely fast, and incredibly smooth. Cut nearly as fast as the chinese double cut bastard. Most importantly it cut extremely smooth. Nearly as smooth as the Chinese single cut smooth.

Now remember, the Chinese files that I bought are not the bargain bin special from Lowes. These are stocked items at a machinists supply house and come in an identical range of sizes and cuts as the Nicholsons. They cut fast, but they cut coarse.

The Nicholson was in another world though, and now that I have cheap set of "beater" files I'll be buying Nicholosons for my fine work in the future.

Please be aware I'm not recommending Chinese files in general. The ones I got from the machinist supply shop are clearly a different animal than the cheap crap they sell at home centers.

Exactly sometimes we have to experiment.

I have a feeling the chinese files will suck. My experience with abrasives is similar to yours. For woodworking I only buy Norton sand papers now. They just last longer with less clogging issues.

Yep, I know what a file card is. Like I said I have a couple of Nicholson smooth cuts for my card scrapers. I just didn't feel like dropping another 12 bucks today on top of the rest of my purchase so I bought the 2 dollar bastard file.

For 2 bucks we can afford to experiment, eh?

I wish people wouldn't frame these questions into quality vs. cheap. Different people have different budgets and handle their finances differently. Not everything cheap is junk. Much of it is, as I say, adequate for the task at hand.

For example, I rarely use a right angle grinder, but I need one sometimes. So 3 years ago I bought a Harbor Freight one. Its been going strong and doing all that I need it too ever since. There's no need for me to own a dewalt or metabo. I was able to save myself about 100 bucks there.

On the other hand I use my wood working machinery every day, so I own only Jet and Delta equipment, but even then I waited and bought what I wanted on deep discount. Why? Because this is a hobby for me, and I have a wife and kids, and therefore have a financial responsibility to try and keep my expenses as low as possible.

So, I try to go as cheap as possible when it makes sense. It doesn't matter if I'm buying a file, a car, or a can of beans at the grocery store. Its just how I live my life, and I've rarely been burned by it.

I'll try the 2 dollar file, if it works it works and I'll buy more. If it doesn't I'll buy the Nicholsons next time.

Rich, you've got a lot more riding on your equipment and materials than I do, it makes perfect sense for you to buy the best files and tools you can. I'm not questioning your advice or experience, and in fact I'm sure you'll probably wind up being right. The general consensus here seems to be that the Chinese files are junk.

(But then again 10 years ago I bought a "generic" socket set instead of Snap On, and its going strong too. I've never broke a single handle or socket. Maybe I just don't work my tools hard enough?)

curiouser and curiouser.

Well, even among the Indo-Chi-Wain made tools there are different levels of quality. The guy at the supply house said plenty of people buy the Chinese files, so perhaps they are sourced from something higher quality than the shrink wrapped .99 combo pack from Harbor Freight.

I'm cutting in the bevels of a some small carving and marking knives on annealed 01. I will let you guys know how these hold up.

Thanks, that is valuable information. I had no idea files could last so long. I guess I kind of thought that due to the nature of the work they perform that they could be worn out.

So, I was a machinists supply shop this morning picking up some 36 grit bench grinder wheels (Why the heck don't they carry those at Lowes?), and I realized that I needed a double cut bastard file for another project I'm into that requires some aggressive stock removal, that I can't do with the bench grinder.

I have a couple of Nicholson smooth files for jointing my card scrapers, but that's all I really know about files.

Well, the Chinese file is 3 bucks vs. 12 for the nicholsons and simonds, and I'm cheap, so I bought the Chinese file, after talking to the desk guy who said, the only difference is longevity.

Anyone care to educate me? Remember, I'm not a machinist working a file every day, I just need something adequate for the task at hand.

make her a BAR B cattle brand. She'll get it in about 10 years.

NETT! That was it! I knew I'd seen it in a book. Although that's not really one piece is it. Funny how different that is from my drawing eh? Although I think my drawing would work too.

Thanks guys.

Maybe that was how they did it. That makes sense!

Thanks MooseRidge.

Ok, after thinking about it last night I sat down and drew a pencil sketch of them as I remember them:

1. You can see how rather than a rivet/pivot setup these are forged out thin at the top to act like a spring swage.

2. You can see that one leg is forged into the the arc need to capture the other leg.

Has anyone seen anything like this before? And if so can you remember how the free leg is locked into place? In my mind there was some kind of clever friction fit, but I can't for the life of me remember, and I might be wrong completely.

Right. I saw those.

The ones I'm referring to are forged out of one piece of steel and don't have a screw/thread setup. One leg is forged out longer than the other and has a crook or somehting that traps the opposite (short) leg in such a way as that you don't need the arc/bolt/nut pieces.

I'm making a hash of this explanation, but those dividers were the berries and I've been wanting to make a pair.

Maybe someone can help me. A couple of years ago I saw plans for a set of dividers that were forged all from one piece of steel. One of the legs was looped through another piece of itself if I recall.

Am I crazy? Has anyone else seen this, and can you point towards some directions maybe?

Thanks in advance

I've been doing some adze research and have seen quite a few examples where the adze blade is simply lashed to a handle. Does anyone have any idea how to properly do this? Below is an example of what I'm talking about:

Pic of blades lashed to handles.

That's a good suggestion. You probably just saved me a tip. thanks.

Hi all. I am putting together a one-brick forge so I can make a couple of one off woodworking blades that I need.

My understanding is that the regular bernzomatic plumber's style propane torches will not work.

Would the mapp gas torch like the below one work? On 3/8" O1?

Trigger Start Torch Kit

(I have a regular coal forge too. This is just to prove a point to someone.)

Does anyone subscribe to any of the magazines?

I'm looking at the Blacksmith's Journal and thinking it looks pretty good. Any thoughts?

Like Irnsrgn I just lay an oily rag over it when done.

All,

I would like to build a treadle hammer this summer to help with some heavier stock work I do.

But before I do, I'd like to see one in use, and see if it would work for what I have in mind.

Is there anyone in the Indy area that uses a treadle hammer that would be willing to let me come and watch?

Or a fly press.

Cheers,
Pat Rock

Nice looking knife.

I really like those little brut de forge styled knives. I need to try and make one.

How about this... after a day of smithing and your fire is dead, clean out all the good/salvageable coke. Save it.

When you have to weld start a fire using only the coke.

Every day before I forge I clean out my firepot, sift it for coke, and then safe the coke for when I want to work w/just coke.

Ah yes, but perfect is the enemy of finished.