David E.

I remember thinking at time what a tight fisted lot we blacksmiths are. We all want the nice tools, but don't like paying for them. Mind you,I'm a bit older and wiser now and if I like it I ask the wife if I can have it :lol:

Blast it ! soft grit,low pressure, no problem. Soda blasting might be OK for removing paint,cleaning wood and stone without damaging glass, but it is poor in cleaning rusty metal.

I don't really like using tongs unless I have to,if you get my drift,but I have regretted not buying a pair of tongs that I saw at the BABA AGM mid nineties at Carlisle,Cumbria.I think it was Grant who was selling them along with his KA 75,but not sure.They would have looked nice hanging on the wall with a frame round them. :D

Cannot believe what I've just read here yet I hear about it all the time, TV, papers etc. I have no words that can help either of you,so long as you know we all feel for both of you. Dale, you have to be strong and calm, not angry, and your wife will draw on that strength and day by day it will get better for both of you. As for the rest,what will be, will be.

Tippex was invented and made by the mother of Mike Nesmith, of Monkees fame. notalottapeepleknowdat :rolleyes:

Thanks for doing that,I read it at the time but after rereading it all,a lot more has stuck. Thanks to Hofi,Brian et al for such good info.

A Hole :P

Let us know if you find any.

Another lovely piece from Mr Myloh,I put one of my little red dots on your work I enjoyed meeting a man with a good healthy sense of humour david.

Yours looks to be the size down from mine, 2" screw 20" swing 8" stroke (bottom of guides to base) approx 3 feet from top to bottom balls are about 5" dia. (you can get these solid balls from blacksmith suppliers) drill 1/2" hole right through heat up and drift with 1" square taper. I always thought mine was a no 4. a very handy tool. and it has a 1" spigot.

Using copper to fuse 2 pieces of steel together is easy enough, clean well and clamp them together and put them in the fire and keep a close watch, although the copper melts at a lower temperature it seems to wait until the steel is hot enough before it fuses.It gives a strong joint, but perhaps if you chase grooves into the steel first to give a type of inlay when the copper melts will make it stronger to withstand any forging. Do not forget re-introducing the piece back into the fire to get a forging temp will result in the copper doing a runner so do as much forging as you can on the steel first.As Dave said applying the copper as a decorative effect might be the best way to go. Good Luck.

baba agm edinburgh 23rd/25th july http://www.baba.org.uk/_gfx/BABA_2010_AGM.pdf

You could also use a small piece of tubing of a smaller diameter and cut it lengthwise and open it up to fit over the 3/4 rod leaving it a sliding fit, bend your wrap and let it cool,the thickness of the tubing should give you a clearance.

Kool hook,Kool T-shirt, not sure about the ring tho' but then again I'm not big on jewelery.

Very nice Larry,was the 1" plate at a red heat? How about galvanising and then acid etch it,pick out the letters with highlight.Were the bottom edges of the 1/4" die left sharp or radiused?

The smallest Parker Steel do in Black MS is 8mm, but they hold 6mm square MS in bright,these usually come in 3 metre lengths. http://www.parkersteel.co.uk/Matrix/62/Bright+Square+Metric

Nice bowl, is there any particular reason for using a flat bottom die and not a matched pair of crown dies,or is it just for more stability when texturing?

Yeah right, best laugh for ages Sam, You a Yorkshireman then? :lol:

Hands up, you got me. :lol:

Thanks for that link.

Well, overall I enjoyed it because it was about smithing. It was good to see Bob Hobbs again,a gentleman and a master of his craft,I always enjoyed being in Bob's company. I did have a giggle when he awarded 1st prize to the chap that Don Barker had just described as having completely lost the plot yes it was simplistic and would be easy to spot the mistakes but I would watch more. Sam,told you it would suit me down to the ground, :D

Thanks all for taking the time to reply, all good points. I have a Kingsland hydraulic which is pretty much under used, I can cut and punch enough stuff in 1 week to do a years production,great tool. It was mostly curiosity about the tooling needed to punch and drift mortices or hammer eyes if it was feasible. I have the gear to build a 20 ton hyd press but have not got round to it, it was setting the limit switches the other day which got me thinking could I punch as I would on the anvil, then turn over and finish, or would I need to use a bolster as I would punching cold on the ironworker, and use a pointed tool to punch and drift in 1 operation using a lube, might still lead to stripping problems. I would not use it for forging Larry, I have a Sayha, but thanks for your advice, that was an expensive lesson.The collective advice seems to be,forget it,which seems sound. I had better not mention my idea to use it for upsetting David

Has anyone used the punching station on their ironworker for hot work? Either punching and drifting, perhaps in one operation,if so ,what mods did you make to the punch,clearance etc? Or how about converting the punch to a press for pattern welding by replacing the die with a blank and using a flatter as a top tool. The limit switches would come in real handy to prevent overload and give a uniform surface. Anyone tried it? ideas? or is it a non starter. David

I haven't seen my apprentice pieces for ages now,but I am 59. I had to do a perfect cube to pass through a square hole on all faces with the appropriate clearance (which wasn't much, tho' I now forget exactly what it was) all faces of the cube had also to be scraped giving a minimum number of high spots / square inch,oh yes it was a laugh a minute,not much call for it with my blacksmithing but it certainly gave me a better appreciation for what was reqd to have a job done right. BTW John, you were lucky to actually get to sharpen drills in the first week, I had to spend ages standing facing a girder just practising the motion of offering a drill up to the grindstone, I must have done something really horrible in a previous life :lol:

HeHe should suit me down to the ground then Sam, :lol: