T-Gold

Sections of 8" and 6" make great bolt-on side tables for heavy equipment, and the narrower pieces can make cover plates for your anvil so you can do chiselling over the sweet spot.

Scrapped out? xxxx of a shame... good thing you have so many spares. Edit: words edited

Hey, I like it. It's like a bowie Smatchet. Did you straighten the leaf spring hot, or find a straight portion, or what? Smatchet:

Ian, that will not fit in your carry-on. :)

Yup, I watched the whole thing... saw a lot of that... I want one for demoes. Also one of those speed-skater helmets with the flames coming out the back :)

Kallsme'n, I don't know if you do this, but I have heard tales of guys putting hamburgers wrapped in tin foil between the dies of their hammers after the hammers have been in use... that would work well on that die you used to forge the Volvo driveshaft (If any of this doesn't translate let me know...)

Thanks, Kalsme'n. 4340 seems like a good choice for a forged anvil.

Can anyone translate that specification to American standards? Sounds like stainless but I doubt it.

My shop currently has one area fluorescent, one area incandescent (100W), and some task lighting. It needs more but I am not doing much work in there at the moment (full of junque!). More is ALWAYS better -- much easier to turn off a light that is installed than to need to install one that isn't :)

Amazing Simply amazing. Was that all in one heat?

How much does that weigh? 20kg? Looks great, very cool work, and amazing hammers :)

I have a mate who swings an 18# for me with great alacrity The big ones can be handy if you have someone who'll swing 'em. Otherwise, it's a primitive demo anvil.

For the large pillow block: Cut through the sides a few inches above the mounting holes. Now you have a bending hardy (bottom half), a ball swage in the making (if steel, flatten top half, cut in two, weld to spring and hardy shank), a dishing swage (weld inner race to shank on outside), and a bunch of honking big ball bearings. :)

Rantalin, heck with the dump then -- go visit auto repair shops and automotive junkyards (as opposed to garbage dumps), and talk to them. You may want to ask the junkyards about "orphan" leaf springs -- single springs without mates, which are not worth much.

I save 'em til they're a little bigger than that... but I pretty much always use the guard. If someone whinges about it I tell 'em it's to keep sparks outta my face. Usually the complainers don't wear earplugs or respirators, so I have to shout so they can hear me with their deaf ears over their own coughing. :)

Rantalin, get some decent-condition leaf spring and use that. For the amount of effort you want to put in you'd be much better off working with something that'd actually make a functional blade. I notice that you mention "durability" -- do you think that mild steel will meet your standards in this department?

My favorite hammer is an engineer's (sledge) 2-1/2#, with the handle shaped into a rectangular cross-section. I am constantly reminding myself to lighten my grip, but I'm improving. Also having to train myself out of putting my thumb on the back of the handle. I am improving -- oddly, when I'm tired and I choke up a little, my technique improves! Fortunately I already keep my elbow tucked in pretty well.

Glenn, I would take that a step further -- given that it is probably past copyright, I think it might be a good idea (after all the hard copies are sold, of course!) to scan and make available online this literature. If this ends up happening, you are welcome to post it to me--I will do it for you and post it back when done. :)

I foresee problems in burnout and heat treat if you use lost wax -- interestingly, with a custom cope and drag, I think this would work surprisingly well sand-cast. Still be worried about losing the heat treat on a fair bit of the blade. I would want to get as much of the blade outside of the molding box as possible and wrap it in wet newspaper/wet towels to keep it chilled. You would still end up with a big difference in heat treat in the transition between the hilt and the blade, which could cause the sword to bend there. Worth a shot on a piece of spring or something as an experiment.

This is sort of off-topic, but you know didys are made for sodium flare, right? They're only as appropriate as a pair of sunglasses for forge welding... If you really want white heat, you need more BTUs and a refractory that can take it -- a hot face of Mizzou will do fine. Get a nice big squirrel cage blower and as big of a propane supply as you can muster, and let fly. If you can weld at the heat you can already attain, though, why do you want a white heat? Your "sparkler" heat is just about what I would define as a white heat anyway, and I weld a bit below that.

Third hand stand I can do -- lathe isn't big enough for the faceplate thing, though I did think of that. That's on topic, I think! They seem a little shallow for firepots. Was thinking stands, but third hand is the first thing I've heard that I won't knock over. More are welcome. Other ones I've thought of: Bolt-on flywheel for something that needs the extra umph (drill press?) May use one for an exercise bike I'm building... ought to run a lot truer than the exercise disc weights I was going to use. Slack belt pulley? (Bolt two together?) That could actually be handy... would it need some crowning?

Also try heavier stock, 1/4" is really light to weld. Try at least 3/8" sq, better 1/2". Or flatten 1/2" round a bit if you have it, that's a pretty good section. Wire brush and flux liberally with borax...

VERY good work! Congrats!

Anyone out there have any uses for brake discs? I keep seeing them in the Goodyear dumpster that I ride past on my way home every day. Seems like they ought to be good for something! Are they steel, or CI?

Good work! Is that a Wilkinson anvil? You may want to get a kneepad if you plan on working on the floor consistently. If I were you I would cut that weld in half crosswise with a hacksaw or similar and check for a line across it, to see how it came out. Dunno about cheaper... takes me about 12 hours to burn $12 worth of propane. Price might have gone up since I last filled though. Doesn't matter anyway, charcoal looks like fun! :)