Richard Furrer

Three things, one---if you buy in bulk you may be able to get unplated tools direct from the manufacturer...i.e. China two---If you buy in bulk you may be able to have them drop shipped to a plating company in OZ and then shipped to you after de-plating. three---one or two in your back yard may be fine, but as a product line I urge you to find a better way to deal with the plating. the above two may allow for other tool styles in addition to the wrench to be purchased cheaper than you do now...........alibaba is a good place to start. Find the Chinese characters for "plain metal" "bare metal" " no electro-plating" and include that in your messages. Ric

yep

FX2 from Finkle in Chicago. If those are your choices I say H13.....IF they are properly heat treated. Ric

4K for a pump? Must be a high eff oilgear like on your White press? Those are rather good units. I agree with you Larry....nice to have speed and tonnage, but most do not have the electricity for larger motors. I'm setting up a 75hp 3kpsi system to run the 12" cylinders I have here.....that still only yields 1" per second though........it would make a 6" diam. cylinder go 4" second.......which may make me soil my pants (and make a spike in the system without a way to dampen the oil cavitation). Ric

Patrick Hastings makes and sells Japanese alloys. He recently moved to Washington state and maybe a month before he is up and running. http://taganearts.com Ric

Steve is absolutely against absolutes.........wise man. Steve.......I know you have site restrictions given your home location, but would not a hid press be allowed? They can be made quieter with a slower speed motor or a direct couple motor/pump (no lovejoy or linkage just a direct couple shaft). Ric

​I too like presses, but I can not let this statement pass. You know of course Cliffrat that the feather pattern originated in Indonesia many generations ago where the smiths rarely wore shoes let alone had hydraulic presses. That pattern in particular was re-discovered by Larry Sandlin in 1988 I think who taught it to Don Fogg in the 90's who taught it to me and I to Steve Schwarzer and then Don, Steve and I demonstrated it at one of Jim Batson's conferences where it spread like blood in the water.........this was near 16 years ago now. As I recall Don used the power hammer for the main billet building and I hand drove the chisel with a five pound hammer through the stack prior to re-welding. BUT to the point at hand with mokume: Rravan, I suggest 110 copper at the base metal and either 260 brass or 752 nickel silver as the other metal.....no not use 360 brass as it is leaded. The technique involves getting to about 2/3 the liquids temp for the eutectic of the metals in contact and then allowing for both soak time and increasing the area of contact...i.e. holding at temp and then forging it out. Clean all metals very well prior to stacking. Ric

Seems like they would grab tapers. Ric

I pack expecting a forklift to run over it.....because they have. Nothing you can do against a forklift, but PVC pipe works as good as any. I suggest a storage box with your laser Theo, not a shipping box. Ric

India.......the women usually used the sledge...the boys ran the bellows.

Pumpkin casting at UW Platteville http://www.uwplatt.edu/news/iron-pour-connects-art-and-industry Ric

And as we all know the BEST time to alter something is when you are not familiar with the tech and your life is attached to it. I remember when I "improved" my hand bellows by placing it well below the forge level. Worked well with charcoal, but upon switching to coal I managed to have unburned volatiles settle into the bellows so my next puff after letting it sit a while became a rather impressive detonation which blew the coal around and inflated the bellows all on its own. Took me a while to sort out the whys and what-fors on that one. Ric

J.W. If that is your worst client request sleep well...your doing just fine. Ric

Ben, Your welcome up here in Sturgeon Bay to see what/how I do things. Ric

Metal detectors are a wonderful thing.....I think logs are checked upon entry to the mill now.

As always Owen....I hate you a little bit. I hope you find a filmmakers kit as well. Ric

I use this when I need solid fuel other than charcoal and like it. http://www.blacksmithcoke.com Burns hot and with relatively low ash...some fines in the bag, but they run too. No smoke and some clinker. Ric

When you add sugar to lemonade you need to stir it for a while to get all the sugar dissolved. High alloy steels have, well, more sugar. Some alloys maintain austenite structures, some alloys retard formation of other structures, some alloys dissolve into solid solution faster (some crystalline structures decompose into austenite faster than others as well), some structures of elements with carbon (carbides) require higher temps to dissolve and others require time at temp......its the wonderful variety of chemistry and physics.......... Ric

All tooling should be locked into place..no hand held tooling until you get some experience. Tools should be wider than tall...3:1 is good ratio Hot cuts can be blunt and still part off work..."cutting edges" of 1/4" are not useless under the press. Angles of 16 degrees and less are OK...the sharper the angle the greater the chance of kickout. As to tonnage...I have at time though 5 ton was too much and 200 ton too little. Most of my work was done under a 35 tom and 42 ton moving at 0.6 inches per second. I had many many tools for the press. I'm currently gathering parts for a 160 ton and a dual 45/24 ton. Ric

Several companies have the same procedure. I was looking at induction furnaces years ago and one company wants $5,000 to open an account and get you in the system....BEFORE they let you buy a manual...which is an additional $300-500 depending upon which one. The last manual I bought for the induction system I have with a different company was $400 and included a 150 page book (with info specific to the very unit I have with manufacture dates and signatures of those involved in testing) and two sets of large format blueprints. It thought is a high price, but what option does one have? You need one to fix it. As to lucifer upgrades....maybe contact a service rep rather than the company. You may get a look at a manual as well. Ric

So...you own it now? Ric

So...given that charted info on the 1151 steel...I wonder what the optimum rotational rate (RPM) would be for twisting various steels. Could one get more rotations if twisted slower. With most things I try to twist as fast as possible so as not to lose heat...with the machine it is a given RPM and all you can do is work with heating and cooling or take several heats. Ric

I'll look around Sam, but I have a HUGE library of these older works and ten years ago I photocopied the most interesting sections and made a booklet of what I thought was "critical cool" in steelmaking and forging. This image came from that endeavor. If I could rig up some form of gauge I could do yield studies at various temps...but I have no idea what that gauge would look like. I sold my twisting machine: 5hp model here (would do 1.75" mild steel easily and 1.5 stainless at 2200F, but much less of a twist angle) and am building a 15hp version for 3" square...possible 4" frankly I have no real idea as to what it will be capable of....but rest assured I will find a way to stall it. I can not let Danger Dillon have all the fun with big work. Ric

Indeed...a good book.....a bit dry though...not a real page turner unless you like that sort of thing. I'm teaching a class on blister/shear steel along with a few other things next week. Peach pits also work. Ric

The chart was the nearest I have come to working out force required for a twisting machine. Rotational charts are not available...or secret. I'd like to see a similar listing for common tool steels....4340,52100,H13 Ric