Tubbe

Woho, that's allot, but probably needed. Nope, that's the main problem... I can make a qualified guess among the types of steel used for dies and average somehow, I guess.

ok? There may be applications where you gain from the multiple tempers... but for me I don't want to go too soft from the beginning. When I somehow find the right hardness maybe another pass of tempering at a lower temperature may be in place. Another thing! I have never hardened a piece of this size. Is there a good rule of thumb on how much quench fluid one need for a specific size of object? I have a feeling the bucket I have will heat up real quick...

Hi, I recently bought an old trip hammer. It's in pretty good condition but I'm currently reworking the dies. The bottom die went through the milling machine with no problem. However the upper die is super hard and I really need to anneal it before it goes near any machine. Well thats easy, but then what? I don't know what steel it's made of. How do I heat treat it? This is my plan... Heat, and let it soak for a good while in the forge to non magnetic, then quench in oil. Then I plan to temper it in the oven in stages, to check how hard it gets. First stage 200 deg c (~400 F) and then increase to 250 (~500 F) and so on... This type of die is attached to the hammer head with a round 1 1/2" (40mm) shank. Should I temper the shank even more with a torch maybe? Any ideas or thoughts?

Dave, good work on the drawing! I really admire your dedication and thirst for new challenges. I wonder... John B, your leafing stakes looks fine. Would it be sufficient to go with mild steel for a couple of these, or what did you use? And what diameter stock did you use to form the grove in the creasing tool? It should match the hammer, right?

Yes, wow! Can't help being a bit jealous.

Well, sorry for reviving this old tread... but I just completed my fourth pair of tongs. For some time now, I have realized the need for a proper scroll/bending tong. This is what I came up with yesterday. I'm not quite sure about the actual design of the jaws, but time will tell. Forged from 5/8" square stock.

The bending fork is ready for use! I think it turned out very nice. It actually wasn't mild steel... when I made it ready for center punching for the split line, i quenched it, and it hardened up quite a bit... my center punch went "popp". Had to regrind that one. Thought I did spark test it from the beginning, must have been blind. So, for the final stage i just normalized it. Hope that's ok. It's a nice ring to it as well... probably could tune an instrument with it :)

Started a little project a couple of weeks ago. I had a piece of round bar about 1,5" diameter, 4,5" long, laying around... I've looked at it many times, and finally one day, I threw it into the forge. I tapered down a shank (1") and popped it into my hardy hole and made the upsetting there. This is for a smaller anvil, and I noticed that the anvil actually heated up quite a bit, so be careful and cool the hardy hole bit of your anvil doing stuff like this. To fuller down the middle part I made myself a spring fuller from two pieces from a crowbar forged to shape and welded onto the "spring". Heat treated and all... Now I have to draw the fork part out a bit further and split it in two. Wonder what diameter I should aim for? I am thinking 5/8"-ish. It's mild steel, perhaps even larger. I'll try to hot cut the split. It's tempting to do that in the upright position in the hardy hole, but making a straight cut like that sounds impossible, or what do you think? Still, the plan is to do it horizontally from both sides... This tool is made to fit my large anvil with a 1,5" hardy hole. That's why I used a stump of square tubing as a shank... Quite hard work doing "heavy" stuff like this by hand and alone... :)

Second pair of tongs done! I wanted to make a pair of more versatile tongs to hold stock around 1/2"... so I aimed for a bolt head design with v-shaped jaws, and this is what I came up with using the same 5/8" material. I actually necked down the hinge area the same way as with my first pair but realized that's not quite necessary for this design. It even made my reins a bit too thin near the hinge, so I'll see how long they will hold up.

Finally I managed to mount the chimney and I'm pretty happy with how it draws. With the 12" diameter pipe allot of air is sucked through and seems to keep the chimney surprisingly cool actually. No problem holding my hand near the base. I'm using coke, however with coal which is burning with lager flames could make the temperature rise a bit further.

Thanks all! Beginners luck... I'll keep them as they are. For the next pair I'll have to look for some heavier stock I think. Something around 20mm or slightly larger. What is your basic tong stock? Will be a tough thing to draw out though...

Hi, Forged my first small pair of tongs today, from 16mm (5/8") round stock. They ended up pretty nice I think, for being my first pair. The jaws are flat at this moment, but I probably add a groove later on...

Hi, This is the progress of my forge build. I thought I had to share this with you all. Here is the sketch I started off with. I started welding the firepot from 10mm plate. My old stick welder came to good use, but excuse my welding skills... This is my first version of the "air plate". I made this piece replaceable to make it possible for different types of air blasts. Ash gate added. Small test fire! Side draft "super sucker" box. Designed for smokestack at 315mm, approx 12". The table assembled This is my solution for an air valve Valve attached with handle Next project is to mount the smokestack through the roof... Cheers!

Avadon, Mark Aspery has a really nice video on this topic: Forging a bottom swage & making a small swage block

Very nice Peter. I'm also doing research for the "perfect" forge design... the side draft is indeed a strong candidate for the exhaust. Maybe you could clarify this part: Do you mean that the front opening area should be equal or a bit smaller than the uptake pipe? If smaller, what percentage do you think is beneficial? Also, is there a particular reason for your rather large front plate, compared with the "original" super sucker drawings?

Hi, this little monster followed me home just before Christmas....nice gift for myself. It's a kohlswa 182 kg anvil (~400 lb). I hope it will come in good use. Greetings from Sweden Tubbe