Chuck Fraser

Ironwolf I live in Joseph, Oregon, Monday we got 8'' of fresh snow on top of mud that has patches of ice ( it's March )I don't know how to post pictures. Phil I do have enough welding leads to do that, from the floor to the top of the rolling H frame press is about 9'. The hydraulic power unit sits on top and has a 5hp 3 phase motor, will this process hurt the motor? Jacques Thanks for the interesting link.

I have a 4 x 10 foot 1 inch thick steel table with a 24 ton rolling hydraulic press mounted on it that I built about 5 years ago. I use it every day, pressing, flattening, weld jigs to it. Lately I have noticed that all the small tools that are laying on it are becoming magnetized and are covered with grinding dust, very annoying. Can any one tell me how to demagnetize my table? Thanks Chuck

Hi Jim The SN # on my 300 lb is 4404. When I got my hammer every thing that moved was rusted tight, it sat out side for 15 years that I know of, I think I spent about 2 weeks gently breaking everything loose, then I got a new 7.5 hp motor, built a jack shaft used 4 v belts from the jack shaft to the clutch pulley. Had to adjust the clutch every day till it polished the rust off the inside of the clutch pulley. Orange clouds of rust filled the air. The clutch has a nasty habit of slightly grabbing when don't want it to, it seems to get better with use, one thing I did that helped the most was to shorten the stroke up, that put the whole machine in a lot better balance. All in all it is a great tool and has made me alot of money. I like the slip belt on the #8 so much better than the clutch on the 300 that I am thinking about locking up the clutch with the adjustment and using a slip belt on it. Please keep us informed on your progress and let me know what you do for the foundation for your 300. Chuck

Jim With the crank in the down position the clutch adjustment is on the left. I think I can see the head of the bolt in your first picture. Chuck

I pounded one out of the top of a diesel barrel, had a wood cook stove that I took on of the lids off and set the wok right on the flames, worked great. I like the look of yours better. Chuck

I have a 250 beaudry with a slip belt and 300 beaudry just like yours. On my 300 there is a adjustment nut on the inside of the drive pulley, it is exactly like a slack adjuster nut on truck air breaks, I had to bend a box end wrench to reach in and get on the nut. There is a collar that slips up and locks the nut, push the collar down with the wrench, now you can turn the nut (counter clockwise I think) to tighten the clutch it dose not take much. I tighten it with the break loose. When the clutch is engaging and disengaging nicely then tighten the break. Go slow with the adjustments. Each time you adjust one it will affect the other two. Good luck Chuck

Keep the blower turning a little when your wetting the coal.

I worked for one of the best art foundries in the USA for 14 years. 1986-2000. In that time I have welded up tons of castings. The metal we poured was one of two alloys, Everdure or Hurculoy we mostly used silicon bronze welding rod from a local welding supply shop (Norco) and we used T.I.G. welders for all of it. Then it has to be tooled out and textured so no body can tell it has been welded, then it has to putined so all the colors look right. The first thing to do is to make sure that it is made of silicon bronze and not brass. If it is brass the zinc will start to fume when you use the T.I.G. welder on it. If I can be of any help let me know. Chuck

Hey guys thanks for the pictures of your presses, I think I will go clean my shop. If I find my welder I may build a tool rack. Chuck

great looking press Randy, how many tons and what pump? Your die rack looks like Martha Stuart works in your shop. Chuck

I first started working in the forge in 1976. Saw a picture of a swadge block in one of the books I bought and I wanted one so bad. Every time I went any where I would stop at any place that I thought might have one for sale. In 10 years I missed 10 of them. Finely I found one in a yard in Milton- Freewater, Oregon that had 10 or 15 acres of really cool stuff, including 6 triphammers 2 cone mandrels and some anvils. I asked the owner how much for the swadge block, he said that he would not sell it now but to check with him next year. Every year I would go back and he would tell me the same thing. I told a friend of mine that if I ever got the first one I would probably have a dozen of them by the end of the year. The next year I borrowed one from another friend, then a artist came to the foundry I was working at and traded me a 300 lb block for one of my knives, I was given one more, I traded for another one. I happen to be going through Milton-Freewater so I stopped by the yard where I had seen the first one 10 years before and out of habit I said to the owner, you don't want to sell your swadge block yet do you? he said yea I'll sell it $50.00. By the end of the year I had 5 of them in the shop. I kept 3 of them. I don't use them much, but when I need them they are great to have. If I was going to build one I would have the shape cut out 3/4'' mild steel plate with a computer controlled laser cutter, including a large rivet hole in each corner. Then stack 3 or 4 plates together and counter sink the out side rivet holes and rivet them together, and grind the rivets flush. Now if the block gets beat up bad enough you could weld up the big dents and grind them back to shape. Chuck

I let my slack tub freeze over, then take a 1'' drill and drill a hole in the center of the ice. Smear some peanut butter around the edge of the hole. When I see them eating the peanut butter I sneak up and kick them right in the ice hole. Chuck

Can you provide a drawing of how you plan on putting the pieces of 1/2'' plate together? Chuck

There is a 250 lb. Mayers Brothers setting behind my shop $2500.00. I am in the North East corner of Oregon Chuck [ quote name='Shadill' timestamp='1297985222' post='212041'] It's enough drive you nuts, because you know there's gotta be some out there nearby just sitting, and people probably don't even know what it is half the time

The cheapest thing I ever did for my shop was to spend $2000.00 on insulation for my shop. When things get better I plan on spending another $1000.00 on insulation. I know I wont regret it. I live in N.E. Oregon. Chuck

Good luck when you dig it out. One thing I forgot to say, don't put one of those troughs half full of water that the stone runs in, it will sling water all over the place and on you. Not fun in cold weather. Any stone has a heavy side that will stop heavy side down in the trough when your not using it, it then soaks more water making it heaver and that will cause it to wear out of round faster. Also the dryer side wears a little faster. I like something that hangs over the top of the stone that has a small valve that can be adjusted to drip. You don't need that much water to keep the steel cool. I also like my Wilton belt grinder better yet. Chuck

Any old grind stone that I have ever seen was out of round, mine was about 3/4'' out of round. I wore out a few old rasps, some carbide saw teeth, and some leif springs, it was still out of round I used it anyway. One day a good friend of mine was showing me his treadle grinder and how perfectly round it was. He had his wife peddle it while he used a hand held wood router with a square end carbide bit to carefully machine the face of the stone. I said that I had a grind stone that was really out of round but would never treat a router that way. He thought I meant I did not have a router, so he said, well use mine if you want, just clean it up when your done because I am going to give to my brother for Christmas. I used it to true up the face of my grind stone blew it clean with compressed air and gave it back to him. A few weeks latter he was in my shop looking at my now round grind stone when he saw my router and said. You son of a bitch I thought you said you didn't have a router! I looked him and said. I never said I didn't have a router I said I would never treat a router that way, thats why I used yours. Were still good friends and his brother never knew the difference. I went slow and wore a full face shield and respirator, if I had any extras I would have let my wife wear some to. Chuck

I live not to far from several wineries, less than 100 miles. They have sold me 50 gallon barrels for around $35.00. If they had red wine in them it is easy to tell if they leak by the stains. If it leaks on one end thats ok to. Drive all the hoops as tight as you can with a short scrap flat bar and a heavy hand hammer, keep going over all the hoops till you can't get any of them any tighter. then drive the bung in good and tight. Next stand the barrel on end, good end down. Take a sawsall and cut barrel off above hoop that is above the bung. If you cut it off at the bung hole it will be to short to hold enough water for long bars. Don't know any thing about wood eating bugs. Also a good idea to not let it set on the floor, put 2- 2x4 under it so the air can get under it. Fill it up with water and keep it full. Chuck

Hi Here in N.E, Oregon we don't get the humidity like you do. My favorite finish on iron going out side is to spray it with muraitc acid and let lt rust for a year or more then wax it hot. Maybe you could try waxing the face of your anvil at the end of the day while its still hot. Do you have any pictures of the I beam clamps, I would really like to see one. Chuck

I started out forging in 1976 when I lived 70 miles up Snake River from Lewiston, Idaho working for the mail boat. When we went out twice a year for two weeks at a time I would go to Spokane, Washington and buy coal from the only place that I could find it for $7.00 for a 100# bag, it was called Old Horseshoe, it made clinkers about the size of a grape fruit . Six years latter when I was getting ready to leave the river I was talking to one of the tourist that came up on the mail boat, I was complaining about the high cost of coal, this 80 year old guy looked at me and said quite bitching kid I remember when I use to pay $7.00 a wagon load and I thought that was high. So I quite bitching about coal prices and moved on to bitching about other things. Now I have spent $3000.00 to $4500.00 a year on propane. The least that I can remember paying was about $.75 a gallon 15 or more years ago, the highest $2.34 last spring. By late summer there was a price war going on, it dropped to $1.64 per gallon. I all ready had a 500 gallon tank to run the shop on and had another 500 gallon tank that I bought out of a salvage yard and was going to cut up to make a wood fired pizza oven out of. It didn't look bad to me so I had the propane co. look at it they said it was ok so I had them fill it up with $1.64 gallon propane, it seams to burn as hot as the $2.34 propane. Now that the work as slowed down a bunch maybe I have enough storage to ride it out till the next price war. Chuck

I have made copper soup kettles, copper teapots and a copper frying pan out of large copper pipe (3'' to 5'') that I bought from salvage yards. I paid twice the price that they buying it for. Which is still less than half the price of new copper. I would split the pipe length ways with a Bosh jig saw, use a weed burner torch, some times 2 weed burner torches on the larger pipe with 1/8'' thick wall to anneal it then pry the split open and hammer it flat. A 5'' pipe gives you a 15'' wide piece of copper by how ever long the pipe is. Some times you can find short pieces of new pipe in the pile. On old used pipe be sure to cut of any of the ends that have been soldered on, it might be lead solder. Any solder or tin will start to eat deep pits in the copper when it is heated to red hot for annealing. Don't worry about any discolored pipe with paint or water scale on it, most of it will scale off when annealing, take the rest off with sand paper or wire brush. A cheep pickle I have used is plane salt with vinegar mixed till its slushy. Be sure to get all the black annealing scale off the copper before you start hammering on it or you will pound the scale into the surface. I use to tin all the stuff that I made with tin that I also got out of the junk yards. In the 70s they were tearing out all the soda fountains in the old drug stores and they were all plumbed with 1/2'' diameter pure tin tubing. Chuck

Thanks for all the great pictures and descriptions. Great looking shop. Chuck

Alaskan Copper& Brass-------- Portland, Or. Atlas Metals-------Denver, Co.

Alaskan Copper& Brass-------- Portland, Or. Atlas Metals-------Denver, Co.

Thanks for the pictures, it looks great. Are the bushings bronze? Check out the motor for such things as muddobber nest. Nice set of dies. Chuck