doc

All that is in your valve is a couple of "O" rings. Alcohol will work fine. The limit switch may be a little sluggish for a while. Try the alcohol and run it without the oiler for bit until the oil coming out the exhaust diminishes and things should start to clear up.

This last batch of rods didn't happen to have been made in China did they?

Don't know why you'd want to cause marital discourse over a fisher anvil. There already is a museum for Fisher anvils and so you're not really preserving anything that hasn't already preserved in a proper way already.

my 2cents

Nice vises! I've always liked the way the side plates on the hinge extend so much further up the leg on the German vises. It makes for a much stronger vise and really keeps the jaws in alignment side to side and helps to keep the jaws from twisting when clamping on one side of the jaw.

I don't see how one of those are used by one man unless you do it while the blank is still in a lathe? Since it tapers, and you would have to hold on to the swage with one hand and tighten it with the other to compensate for this taper.

And it should be possible to forge a blank and dress it with a file, but then what do you do if you have no lathe or it is too off center for a lathe?

Did they always turn these blanks back in the day?

If you go to the link given by BOB S you may be able to understand. The blank can either be filed to shape or done in the lathe. If filed and no lathe is available the rod can be held in a vise while turning the handle and tightening the clamp screw at the same time. Also compare the difference between the swadged screw and the filed screw. The filed one has a taper and point,the swaged one has a flat end with much less taper.

Wood screws with flat ends are used as one of the initial markers when first trying to date artifacts that are assembled with wood screws.

Hope this helps,

DOC

Bushing in the handle?  I think you invented something that don't exist.

I agree! It's not supposed to have a bushing there,with one it may bind when you try to open it to its largest opening.

I HOPE your' not intending to put the forge in that corner were it is pictured? Would be a real shame to restrict such a nice piece of equipment like that to a corner where you can't make full use of it.

The screw in your vice has been replaced with one from a "screw jack" or building jack. The box or female thread is also most likely adapted from the jack also,as long as it works use it.

As far as the make of the vice,it might be a an "Ironcity" long ago I had one very similar to it with the same mounting bracket. Look on the side of the legs for a star shaped stamp with the words ironcity.

If your building a "rusty" type hammer you can easily power a 25lb hammer with a 3/4hp motor and could probably do it with a 1/2hp. Check out the Appalachian blacksmith site for better info on size of hammer and power required.

Pretty hard to say who made it, unless you are an axe collector. These tools were made by a myriad of manufacturers both here and in Europe.

You need to contact Clay Specer and buy the plans from him. The hammer you saw was built in one of his classes. I don't have his contact info but Dave Custer here on IFI will.

Very nice, good snappy action. When you say inspired by "champion" you are referring to a Beaudry Champion correct? Very good job,I'm certain it will really perform once you get it bolted down to the floor :) 

With a handle that length, then I'd say it is a coopers axe. Easily swung with one hand for roughing staves. If the bevel is on the right side it's a right handed axe or vise-verse for a lefty.

It looks like a coopers wing axe for cutting barrel staves. At least the axes I used for that purpose looked like that. It also looks like it has had quite a bit of sharpening.

How long is the handle?

Interesting, that SAY-MAC sure was a rocking and a rollin !

If I owned one I'd be so hesitant to hammer on it. Such a piece of history!

If it has lasted over 200 hundred years making history I don't see why it still shouldn't be used to forge a little more history.

It's not like it wasn't made to be forged upon!

The smoke problem is not an issue if you us synthetic 2 stroke smokeless oil. That is what is recommended for home grown K-Bond. 

Good job!

The reason taps and dies for wrought iron weren't made to cut like those for mild steel is because of the grain or fiber structure of wrought iron. Imagine the fibers of the iron running lengthwise along the bolt. If the threads are cut with a modern die the edge of each thread from peak to root is going to be all short grained fibers just like the end grain on a piece of wood, so it has no real structural strength.

On wood screws threads cut with a file instead of swedging are acceptable because the wood will always be weaker than the iron. Swedging for wood screws was used because it made the process quicker. But when it comes to machine screws. It was used for structural purposes.

The old blacksmiths tapered taps do the same thing based on swedging the thread for similar reasons. In both cases whether making male or female threads. It's actually more a form of extruding rather than swedging. The material that forms the thread is forced into the crevices of the tap or die as a tool is either work over the material for a male thread or force into the material for a female thread.

The use of the terms swedging or extruding is a matter of semantics.:-)

I second Bruce's remark, and my first thought is speaking from experience capturing the wooden top within the steel band can get risky as that wood likes to grow come humid weather in the summer……been there done that myself.

Beautiful looking table. Dave well done!!

When I posted the remark about the kittens and biscuits I meant it to be tongue in cheek. I had no idea that so many would take it so seriously.I always think that this kind of conversation or debate is really a chase your own tail kind of conversation. It seems as though many of us have lost our perspective or don't really have one.To kind of put us back on track and let those who like to call themselves blacksmiths whether they've done it for four hours or 50 years, I'd like to relate what I was once told by Francis Whitaker more than 30 years ago.

Francis Whitaker..........." when I had been smithing for 10 years, I knew I was a pretty good journeyman and thought I knew quite a lot about blacksmithing. After 20 years I thought I was quite a blacksmith and after 40 years, I realized how little I knew."

To quote Francis again….This time from the book of A Blacksmiths Craft. I quote" after 20 years, you think you are a master, 40 years later you realize that you were just crossing the threshold."

I've only brought Francis into this debate not to continue it, but to show how someone whom by many is considered a great master looked upon his experience with a perspective that was constantly changing. I don't think it matters who calls themselves a blacksmith and who doesn't, because from wherever they stand now as time goes by and their knowledge increases their perspective will change. Hopefully many will look back on their lives and laugh about who they thought they were and who they think they are now, just as Francis did.

Try these guys for your M42 blades, they have the best price I've seen anywhere and good service.

http://www.sawblade.com

wadau tawkin about........I'll be lookin' fa yoo at Ashoken 

Yoo's right Larry we better keep an eye on that Miller tuff.

I'm sure many of you change the oil in your car. Does that make you an auto mechanic? It's like the old saying " Just cause the kittens were born in the oven it doesn't mean they are biscuits" :)