Fosterob

I think it a good idea to be able to grip the punch with vice grips or mole wrenches when the iron your punching is hot. Rob

I hope you can make something nice for your scappie friend, GOOD SCORE congrats. Rob

Yes, when you texture the head to be decorative you should pay attention to leave some kind of flats for tightening with a tool. Jkiny mentions "gator socket" and that sounds good if your heat is not to short. Depending on back access I also like Mainly, Bob's way of tightening with a nut from behind. Usually I like to use square nuts as they are "old looking" Rob

If you want to have decorative heads on your lag bolts just heat up the head and change its shape a bit to make it look like what you want. You should be able to fine plain or non-coated bolts if you look. Rob

Bob, I think if I knew the answer to that question I may be next in line for president. As it stands now the only thing that I as a consumer has any control over is as eric sprado was saying, not to buy cheap imports from places like wal-mart. I think I said in an earlier post that I do not shop at those places and try to buy domestic product as much as possible. Even though I buy domestic and avoid wal-mart type stores I also realize that my measly little purchases are not even close to being a drop in the bucket. Speck of mist that evaporates before hitting water maybe. I feel that our gov is a puppet for the large corporations that exploit cheap overseas resources and bring those products back here and price them more than they are worth. That being said how can we as a people get the government to change? At the risk of starting a political debate I will only say the people voted change into office last election and I am having a hard time seeing anything different. Sure they will throw us a bone every now and then but I am talking about major things like foreign policy, domestic education, military budget, health care, even food that is safe to eat and is healthy. This is not a one party is better than the other comment because both those parties are answering to the same special interests in washington. In my opinion we have a gov of by the people-for the corporation. As monstermetal said earlier the rich are getting richer and the middle class is rapidly disappearing. If our system of gov was working properly we would not be in this situation now. As long as the gov keeps letting the stores be filled with cheap imported goods most people will buy them. Another example that comes to mind is the wall street bailout that happened recently, after the great depression of the 30's banking laws were put in place to curb greed and maybe in the 90's our gov bowed to the banking industry an did away with some of those laws. Everyone knows how that turned out because we are still feeling the depression. Why did the gov do that? So some wall stret banks could make more money? They already have most of it. The only other thing that I try to do is vote accordingly but at this point I have very little faith that anything different will happen. So I try to educate others who may be interested in restoring our once great country to what we like to think it is. Thats why I post this. If enough people all think and believe the same way maybe our universal consciousness will initiate some meaningful change. Kind of like the 100th monkey. Enough rambles for now. Thanks for your patience, buy domestic. Rob

eric sprado Posted Yesterday, 09:56 AM I don't think current,past,or future administrations have much to do with it.. It is THE GENERAL CONSUMER !!!!! So eric, lets use wal-mart as an example-scapegoat. As they are biggest they are easy to pick onIt is a known fact that Wal-marts will put most ma and pa local stores out of business when they move into an area, so if the area is a smallish one and all the local stores are GONE how does the general consumer have a choice of what to buy? Some of us are lucky and can go to a another store but some places they are the only game in town. Most people think they are good because of low prices but at what cost? Most people do not have the time or especially money to shop at more expensive stores. If they live in a area where wal-mart drove out the local stores the people are probably working at wal mart and making minimum wage. The income our gov gets from tariffs has dropped of considerably and that seems to parallel the explosion of cheap imports. How do you think the general consumer has anything to do with what our gov charges as tariff on incoming goods??? Times are changing and people need to open their eyes to how things are turning out. Rob

A hammer is not a top tool even though they look similar and and have handles. Hammers should not be struck with other hammers. I think what Brian was saying is his hammers have a fuller on them instead of a cross peen and he explained the difference and how he uses them. Rob

Most of what everyone is saying is seems right. Think back to the last time this country was truly great, I would guess that to be the 1950's-early 60's. a single income could have the american dream, house,wife,kids,new car, etc... Did we import a bunch of xxxx from overseas? American labor- probably being led by Detroit auto unions was the highest paid in the world. Those workers spent the money they made on other made in USA items and the economy was booming. I remember NAFTA (north american free trade agreement) was supposed to allow the USA to bring goods to and from Mexico. I think that was the cause of the "immigration problem" that some people complain about now. NAFTA allowed American big agrobusiness to dump corn on the Mexican market. Do you think that when the Mexican people went to there local stores and saw corn from USA for 1/4 the price of the local corn they were going to buy local? Mexican farming was done on a local level and that put millions of local Mexican farmers out of work almost overnight. Nothing to do but go to USA to get work. Or start working for drug cartell, they will pay $. So if we in this country think that some poor wal-mart worker is going to buy anything other than wal-mart xxxx think again because there is no money in the paycheck to do so. Those of you who choose to blame the people for buying cheap items put the blame where it is due. I personally do not set foot in that place and will buy used made in USA before import whenever possible. Back to blame, where should it go? Is it right to blame the people? I do not think so because most of the general public is just trying to stay afloat and that dosn't leave much time to ponder the state of affairs we are currently in. So then can we blame the government? Maybe in a roundabout sort of way. (ya-all try not to get to excited now) The American government is nothing but a puppet for the large american corporations that are outsourcing all of our jobs to china, cambodia.... That ball started rolling when the government stepped in to help a corporation in Hawaii. We now own it. Once that door was open it started snowballing and look where we are now. The way I see it all of our foreign policy is to benefit the corporation at the expense of the American people. The answer as I see it is to eliminate all imports or charge a large enough tariff on those goods that are imported to level the playing field between domestically made goods and imported goods. (example: If is takes $40,000 to buy a truck made with union labor from Detroit but the auto company can make the same truck overseas and bring it here for $18,000 then the tariff on that truck would be $22,000. Money the company would pay the US gov to be allowed to bring it into the country.) If that happened would the companies bring cheap xxxx here. Nobody would buy it because the USA product would almost always be better quality. That will never happen because the corporations are running the government. Greed is the downfall. Those large corporations that are in that position were put there buy employing union workers and selling good products to americans with good paying jobs.

Sam , Can you post of picture of all the vice grip / mole wrenches that you dislike and tell me how much would the postage be to California postal code 93422? Thank you Rob

Thank you Glenn Rob

How do you get quotes like that to work? I have not figured that out yet? thanks Rob

Yesterday I had to go to the ocean to measure for a job, I had to put on a sweatshirt because it was 65-70F. That is our idea of cold. 40 below is just plain crazy. Rob

Down here in sunny California near the coast we don't get cold enough to use that type of system I guess. Good to know there is freeze protection where it is needed. Rob

Thank you clinton and ofafeather, I will do a each to a few hammers and watch what happens. soaking in oil and antifreeze is easier than re-handling with the sikaflex 11fc. It will be over 100F for a few months so should be a good test. Rob

I also recommend a B Brent Bailey hammer. His quality is unbeatable and if there was such a thing as perfection his work is it. Fe-wood: Do you know what that goo is, Or does anyone know how to keep handles tight in the summer heat? Soaking in water is a bad idea. Thanks Rob

Posted to soon, If the amp draw is less on the 3450 rpm motor compared to the 900 rpm it would be cheaper to run the 3450 rpm motor and get the needed torque with gear reduction. Cost less money to turn the motor. Is this right? Rob

Is the amp draw on a 2hp 900 rpm motor the same as the draw on a 2hp 3450 rpm motor? I would think to get the additional torque from the 900 rpm motor without gear reduction the amp draw would be how it gets the extra torque. It is getting late and past my bedtime, so forgive me if i am wrong here. Rob

A friend of mine built a house that had to have sprinklers in it and the one that was over his living room flooded his house in the summer with a few inches of water. Twice. There was not enough attic ventilation and the heat in the houses attic set of the sprinklers. I think the first time was a 140F head and he replaced it with a 165F head. I think that was as high a temp that could be bought. It is now plugged with a pipe plug. I suggest you get on a ladder and read the temperature rating on the head in question and if you are worried change it to a higher temp if possible. Do not do this without your landlord. The sprinkler systems I am familiar with are filled with water not air, When the head melts and opens you want water to put out the fire not air to fan the flames. You could also put a remote thermometer up near it and watch the readings as you run the forge on a hot day. Thats my opinion now. Rob

Grant: I was not thinking you made ships there,more along the lines of the steel plant. Isn't a stilson wrench the same thing as a pipe wrench. I have a stilson brand pipe wrench somewhere with a wood handle. Rob

I seem to remembe some ships used to made of steel plate fused or clad to copper plate on the outside, I may have details somewhere. I also know it is easy to tig weld copper directly to steel. I may be a little concerned about forging it though, the copper might be so much softer at steel forging temps that it may not work well. Do some homework on welding steel to copper and try it, Just be sure to let us know what happens,pics temps etc... good luck Rob

Well said. Rob How do you make a quote of what someone else said in your post?

Welcome, glad to have you onboard. Rob

Wow Grant , that sounds like you have some knowledge on those shipyards among everything else you know, did you work there at some point? It must have been a booming place in it's heyday. Vice grips are one of the more useful tools in my shop. Rob

Here are some pics, The one taken apart has a semi truck wheel bearing instead of a throwout bearing. It is a 2" dia thread on the screw. You should be able to see the cupped washer that is on the back side. The other one with the cupped washers (front and back) are the original ones and should be simple to make. I believe these vices are both columbian, 160# and 90#, about 8" and 6". The two with flat washers are peter wright, the small one, about 4" with one washer looks to be the original one, it has two small grooves around it that match the rest of the grooves elsewhere on it, the larger one, about 6" with two flat washers looks like someone tried to make it easier to open/close by adding another surface that could be lubricated. The screw box on these two is in direct contact with the stationary jaw, it is a flat surface. Both of the peter wrights have bent frames and I think it is partly to do with not having a ball joint on them. As soon as you start to open the jaws the flat contact turns into a point load and without the ball socket to spread that load it is easier to bend the jaws. I know that any vice can be bent by overloading. Are columbians made in USA and peter wright in England? Rob

Sorry to hear about your dad, my thoughts are with you. Rob