gerald

Steak turners, bottle openers.

My rule of thumb is $20 per hour of shop time. I don't pay rent on my shop and I don't have any employees. Some "pro's" have to charge up to $60 per hour of shop time to come out. There are some items that I make that will bring more than the $20 per hour figure, so I charge that. Likewise, there are some things that I build that would never bring that much, so I figure it all evens out. My greatest fear is putting something out at , say $10, that one of my brother smiths has to have $20 for and be labled a "cheap charlie". I've heard some very experienced smiths say that they would rather give a piece away than to not charge enough for it.

I've used Mineral Spirits (Paint Thinner) to clean the screw threads. It seems to break up the grungy stuff pretty well particularly when brushed into the thread corners. After it dries, I lube the threads with "Never Seize" and re-assemble. I have to confess that I don't tear the things down often enough to come up with a schedule. I think the last time I re-lubed my demo vise was when somebody else who was using it complained that it was too stiff.

I agree with DMS. You always have the capability of storing at least a few lumps of coke to start your next fire with. If your forge table isn't large enough to store coke on, you can dedicate a bucket (steel ) in the forging area to drop a few chunks of coke into as you think about it.

I most often use paste wax (Johnson's or Tre Wax). I also have a stash of MinWax wood worker's finishing wax that I use for special stuff. It seems to give a "deeper" finish and buffs up to a higher shine than the floor wax. I use vegatable oil on anything that could potentially touch food. A word of caution about oiling food items: Don't use Peanut Oil. Many people are highly allergic to peanuts. You don't know who will be eating the food prepared with your item so you could be contributing to somebody becoming very ill. Just get a jug of the cheapest, generic vegatable oil and keep it handy for food implements.

I've used one of the 110 kg Old World Czech anvils for about 2 1/2 years. It's great. It took a little while to get used to the hardy hole being up by the horn, but it turns out that it's a good design feature from both a safety and working standpoint. It does have a very high pitched ring from the horn, so I put a deadener strap under the horn. Works great. See IFI Blueprints: BP0255 Stop the Anvil Ring.

I get mine from Jantz Supply (Davis, OK) also. They are good folks to deal with and are right down the road from me.

Gorilla Glue seems to work well in anchoring the wooden and steel wedges.

I use mild steel with the working ends quenched in Super Quench. Works pretty good if you don't have a considtent source of tool steel drops.

IForgeIron Blueprints Copyright 2002 - 2011 IFORGEIRON, All rights reserved BP0367 Forge Blower Duct by Gerald Franklin This re-cycled bathroom heater blower on my forge finally gave up the ghost and had to be replaced. I was in a hurry and didn’t want to get into a drawn out sheet metal exercise. The squirrel cage blower was being replaced by this 4 ½” muffin fan. It came from Surplus Center (www.surpluscenter.com) and cost about $15. It is rated to move 108 CFM of air. I thought that it was a little stout for this application, but since it was to be rheostat controlled, I figured it would be worth a try. The squirrel cage blower had its own shroud that couldn’t be easily adapted to my new fan, so I started looking for something quick to use for a duct. I found it in the form of a .50 caliber ammo box. It is about 11” long, which would allow me to mount the fan farther away from the tuyere than the old blower was. I suspect that a major reason for the demise of the old blower was excess heat getting to the fan motor from the fire pot. The tuyere looks like this so I had to modify the ammo box to bolt to the side of it. This meant that hinges, latches, etc. needed to be removed from the box. After the unneeded hardware was removed, my “duct” begins to take shape. The lid was saved to be the bottom of the duct. It will be re-attached later with a couple of sheet metal screws. I drilled 3 each 5/16” holes through the side of the tuyere to mount the duct to. The tuyere is made from 3” angle welded into a box shape that was big enough to allow access from the inside to mark the hole position and air inlet size on the ammo box (duct). After tracing the rectangular air inlet on one end of the box, I traced the outline of the inside of the fan onto the other end. Both cutouts were then cut with a metal cutting (24 tpi) jig saw blade. I figured that I needed some sort of a gasket to seal the tuyere/duct attachment. I elected to use hi-temp rtv sealer. Whether it is going to be “hi-temp enough” will remain to be seen. All I need is a low-pressure seal, so if the stuff gets brittle from the heat later on, I think I’ll still have enough of a seal to work. If it burns out, I’ll punt. The muffin fan mounted inside the ammo box. This is a trade off. If I put it outside, it would probably run cooler, but inside, it's out of the way. The duct with fan mounted on the tuyere. The red stuff is the hi-temp rtv sealer. I also used the rtv sealer to build a grommet for the fan power cord pig-tail. I wanted to put a piece of screen wire over the fan opening to keep critters out but I couldn’t find it. Maybe it’ll turn up before the House Wrens start nesting in the spring. The bottom of the duct (which used to be the top of the ammo box) is installed using a sheet metal screw through each side. These lids fit pretty tight on their own, so the sheet metal screws are just insurance. These lids have a water tight rubber seal on them. This was another reason that I elected to use the lid as the bottom since it puts the rubber seal farther away from the heat of the firepot. The firepot, duct with fan, and ash dump are re-installed on the forge. Wiring will be re-routed after a test run of the fan. The red wire that goes under the duct is a ground wire that attaches to the duct housing via the sheet metal screw that anchors the bottom (ammo box lid) to the duct. The rheostat is the same one that controlled the old blower. And, it looks like we get enough airflow to get a good fire going. Control with the rheostat is good, too. View full article

IForgeIron Blueprints Copyright 2002 - 2011 IFORGEIRON, All rights reserved BP0354 Grinder Gerald Franklin This is my take on a shop built belt grinder (2”X72”) inspired by the one done by Hollis Wooldridge (See IFI Blueprint 215). The base mount is a piece of scrap 10” channel and the upright is 2”X4”X ¼” tubing. The 2hp motor is wired for 220v. The contact wheel is an 8” caster and the idler pulley is a pair of salvaged 1” wide bearings scrounged from a local electric motor re-build shop. Total cost was about $110, which includes a new motor and electrical materials. The pivot bolt for the idler pulley arm is just visible below the edge of the idler pulley. The little white tray below the contact wheel is a plastic kitchenware storage tray filled with water to catch the swarf from the belt. This is a close-up of the idler pulley (bearings). They are 1” wide and ganged in a pair to accommodate a 2” belt. The ID of the bearing is metric so a piece of 2” tubing was split so it would give enough spring for the bearings to press on. The piece of strap above the bearings is a spark shield that is removable so that I can use the radius of the idler pulley as a small contact wheel if needed. You can also see the mounting bolt for the angle iron platen below the idler pulley. The red spring is from the scrap bucket. It provides tension by raising the idler pulley against the belt. This is a close-up of the 8” caster contact wheel and the work rest. This is the drive pulley. I machined it from aluminum stock. The pulley is 4” in diameter and 2” wide (actually 2.125) with a 1 degree crown. This drive pulley is the only part that requires anything close to exotic in terms of tools, that is, if you call an engine lathe “exotic”. The little plastic water tray is held in place with small finishing nails so it doesn’t vibrate out of position. Close-up of the removable spark shield, the ganged bearings (idler pulley), tracking adjustment, and platten. The tracking adjustment (painted white for your viewing pleasure) is a ½” bolt welded to the upright. The nut is moved to provide the right amount of tension against the idler pulley arm. I lined things up pretty well during assembly, so didn’t need much of a tracking apparatus. In fact, I used this thing for several months without any tracking adjustment at all. Individual belts track a little differently though, so some sort of tracking is nice to have. The platten mount is simply another bolt welded to the upright. The platten is 2” angle iron. When it wears out, it can be replaced from the same scrap pile that the original one came from. The 1” round tubing coming from behind the upright is the handle that takes tension off the idler pulley arm while changing belts. Close-up of the contact wheel and work rest without a belt mounted. Also note that the switch is mounted out of the way of moving parts. View full article

Knuckle height seems to work for me, too (knuckles on a clenched fist). It also turns out that this height is about right for holding one end of the work piece between your legs when you need both hands free to use tools (e.g. hammer and chisel). There are a good many hold down tools available, but we all seem to use this "third hand" method at one time or other. So, if your knuckle height and your "crotch height" are about the same, you're in luck with the knuckles, otherwise, opt for the "crotch height". The knuckle height formula seems to coincide with the lower arc of most folks hammer swing, allowing for best efficiency.

Jeremy, again, this is a very nice piece. I wouldn't worry too much about the proportionality myself, but you wouldn't want to take my word for it. Thanks for sharing.

Again, great job, Jeremy. Please don't forget to post a pic when you get the leaves put on. Thanks for sharing with us.

Dilligaf, There are many "theories" around that will tell you what (and what not) to put into a resume. Having looked at many resumes in the days when I used to work for "the man", I'll tell you some absolutes: 1) Don't lie...stretch the truth, maybe, but don't lie. 2) Proofread, proofread , and then get someone else to proofread your final copy. Resumes with typos and grammatical errors will probably be scuttled. 3) Keep it short. If you are young, include all experience that shows that you are capable of showing up at the proper place at the proper time with the proper stuff....martial arts training will fit here. 4) Remember that the resume is intended to get you a job interview, not the job. Hope this helps.

Looks really neat, Jeremy. What material did you use? How about a pic of the texturing tool(s)? Thanks for sharing a nice piece of work.

I saw Randy McDaniel forge some Titanium at a demo last week. It is tough stuff to forge, but it gives a nice "artsy" look to the piece as it displays a grainy look when it is twisted. Hard to work, though.

Welcome, Roy. Glad to see that you've already "discovered" SCABA. Try to go to as many of their meetings as you can make. Also, don't forget the Tuesday Nite Blueprints right here on IFI.

Mills, Method one: Visualize a box with a cardboard stovepipe taped to the bottom. The stovepipe is open toward the top of the box. Turn your "round brown" upside down so that the crown of the hat is pointing down into the stovepipe. It is supported so that the crown doesn't touch the bottom of the box. Metod two: The Drills Sgts used to have a circular apparatus that looked like a raised up toilet seat and lid. The brim of the hat was slid into the space between the "seat" and the "lid" to hold the brim flat. One of these shouldn't be too hard to fabricate. However you store the hats, consider cedar (chips, slabs, whatever) rather than mothballs. Gerald

IForgeIron Blueprints Copyright 2002 - 2007 IFORGEIRON, All rights reserved BP0292 Hat Hook by Gerald Franklin This little hook is designed to hang wide brimmed western hats but could be used for coats and jackets or even a medium sized Poodle. It makes a good demo piece because it goes quickly and incorporates several different smithing operations. Start with a length of flat strap 12” long. This one happens to be 3/16” X 1” but almost any size will work. Center punch two marks at 1 ½” and 3 ½” from one end. The hole closest to the end will form the beginning of a split. The one at 3 ½” is to hang the hook from. If you use a square or hexagonal center punch, your mark will be easier to find in the scale raised on hot metal. Draw the end to a taper starting at the mark that is 1 ½” from the end. Keep the taper even from side to side. Leave the point of the taper sort of blunt, as you will split it later. Punch ¼” holes at each center punch mark. Beginning at the hole closest to the end of the piece split the taper evenly with a hot cut. You could do this with a hacksaw, but the hot cut operation is more interesting at a public demo. Once you have completed the split, separate the branches and draw them out into longer tapers. Then form the tapers into longhorns over the horn of the anvil. We used longhorns in this example but a later photo will show some different ideas for forming the split ends. Once you are finished with the horns, use the peen to draw out a fishtail scroll end on the other end of the piece. Bend the end of the fishtail over the far edge of the anvil to give it a smooth curve. This is where the hat will hang. It needs to be wide and smooth so it doesn't punch a hole in that $700 Stetson that you will hang on it. Beginning about 2 ½” from the fishtail, form a rough “L” shaped hook. This should result in a bend that is a little less than 90 degrees. If the iron is bent at a good heat, you will naturally get a little curve in the “tongue” of the hook. This holds the brim of the hat better than if it were perfectly straight. After a coating of your favorite wax finish, you have a quick little sale item. A hand-forged nail to hang the hook with adds a nice touch. Different treatments of the split end adds variety. (Hearts, longhorns, Hereford horns, handlebar, etc). If you are really pressed for time at a demo, put a fishtail scroll at each end. It cuts out one of the hole punches, and the splitting and drawing out of the horns. View full article

IForgeIron Blueprints Copyright 2002 - 2007 IFORGEIRON, All rights reserved BP0287 Annealing Tank by Gerald Franklin Most of us have a container of annealing medium in the shop. This one is made from an old galvanized minnow bucket. It works well for smaller items such as a hammer or a few punches or chisels. Take the strainer portion loose from the lid. Most of these can be chiseled loose fairly easily as they are held with just a couple of spot welds. Fill the bucket with your favorite annealing medium. This one is filled with wood ashes from the fireplace. When you need access, just flip the small lid open, bury the item, close the lid, and go do something else. The lid keeps your medium from blowing out of the tank so it’s always ready when you need it. View full article

IForgeIron Blueprints Copyright 2002 - 2007 IFORGEIRON, All rights reserved BP0255 Stop the Anvil Ring by Gerald Franklin Credit for this device goes to Jerry Hoffmann who publishes “The Blacksmith’s Journal”. This little item is designed to deaden the ring on European style anvils, as the hardy hole is near the horn. I suppose that it would also work on London pattern anvils, hardy hole near the heel, although I've never tried it. Take a piece of 3/16” X 1” flat strap and forge a kind of J-scroll with a tight tail that will fit into the hardy hole. It will resemble a hold down tool and I suppose that it could be used as one, but in this case, it will be driven into the hardy hole from the bottom. The tongue of the strap will rest against the horn to deaden the ring. It REALLY works. Most of my hardy tools can still be used with the deadener in place, but if I need the entire hardy hole, it only takes a couple of seconds to knock it out. View full article

IForgeIron Blueprints Copyright 2002 - 2007 IFORGEIRON, All rights reserved BP0254 Anvil Accessories by Gerald Franklin I really like my Czech anvil, but I miss having a step. I took some 3/4 inch mild steel from the “parts pile” and built one. It’s basically a sandwich with the top slice about 1-1/2 inches to 2 inches shorter than the bottom slice, welded up with 7018 rod and a hardy stem attached. It looks like this from the side. By the way, I suppose that you could heat the thing and harden it in “Super Quench” but since nothing but hot iron will touch it, I think that’s over-kill. I’m not crazy about Super Quenching welds, even those made with 7018. View full article

Very well said, Hollis. Some additional points to remember: We have made comments to the effect that we have an obligation to shield younger readers from the poor examples that we older folks set by using vulgar or profane language in public. We should also remember that there are many adults who are offended by such language. Part of being a "sure enough grown up person" is to take other people's feelings into consideration before we speak. It's just good manners. Remember the quote from George Washington..."Profanity is the result of a weak mind trying to express itself forcibly." (or words to that effect).