iron woodrow

where you coming to in oz? Its a big place!

basically in one blow you cannot upset material more than one and a half times its original diameter. we used to upset 22mm hex drill rods ends to 33mm roundbut it took two steps in a eumco300tonne upsetter. so depending on your tooling, it is simply a task of making the dies. but- do you have a power hammer or press? the dies were two part dies with a heading tool coming from the back. now, your idea could work if you take it in 2 goes. one solid bar with the bottoming out plate- to start the upset, and form the shoulder. then another solid bar with holes deeper than the intended shank length, open end to knock the back out with a bit of rod...

not bad fir a first one.... i hope my first turns out half as good as that!

my camera has refused to co operate, but that hasnt stopped me working on it, and after spending 8 hrs in the hot tropical sun (35 c at 98% humidity) to remove 10x 2" nuts, i removed the main cyclinder. i WILL get PHOTOS!

hats off to you jeremy, for the hammer, and for the welds!

thats cheap in aud.... but shipping's the rub..... :(

i first saw them on my small phone screen. now i am completely impressed!! love them all!

as a 19 year old, i registered my business name as 'dancing lion forge', due to the fact that my family name, Charlton, has a rampant lion on the sheild. i was doing re-enactment at the time and thought that would be a great name. i am now thinking along the lines that it may be considered to 'quaint' to be taken seriously in the professional, big market.

evenings? :P

you mean the padding part or the screw part? i worked out the screw idea when i was just starting out, and i didnt have a drill or drill bits, only my dads screw gun and a bucket of roofing screws....... back when i used to cut stuff out with a skill saw with a metal cutting disk... :o

nicely DONE sir. Are they all drifted or are some wrapped and welded?

here are the shots of the valving, after a bit of a degrease. http://www.flickr.com/photos/41924895@N07/?saved=1

good pics too. nice tool!

great helms usually dont have padding or a liner, as they are worn over either a padded bascinet, or over a maille coif with padding underneath.. i have made the same helm, based on the brian price pattern, but i 'raised' the crown, and punched the holes with a whitney punch. i find making spangenhelms by drilling the holes with roofing screws to be the best option though, as they hold everything together, and when you want to rivet, you just unscrew the screw, and pop in the rivet. i find it almost impossible to pre drill the plates before shaping, as they will never line up perfectly. use the short 'rivet' drill bits that have a cutting end on both ends, because they are very hard to break compared to the standard size bit, and you only need to drill through 4mm at the most, so having a short bit makes all the difference.

good on ya mate, we'll show the world that blacksmithing isn a "dying trade" as long as we keep getting new blood like you. :D

opened up the shuttle motion valve, and she is nice and clean! the cast iron shuttle has been built up with bronze/brass at some stage, and re machined, and there is so little slop in the movement that i did a little air punch when i saw it! the cylinder of the ram seems to be quite clean and tight too. i would dearly love to run this thing on steam, and a monotube boiler does look to be the go, run on waste oil, but the physics of it need a little assistance in my mind...... as phil said, rule of thumb is 10hp for every cwt, and 40 to 90psi, so neither of these thins seem to make for too volitile a mixture for a small boiler. the weight is 132 kg- roughly according to my calculations,( or, according to a 1911 catalogue for machinery sales in my capital city, rigby style like this one) 2 1/2 cwt. so 25hp (or 34 gallons of water turned to steam an hour per horsepower) should be the score. i am going to sandblast the worst of the rust off and then give her a good oil, then hire a tow along compressor to see what she'll do.

my beard is entirely transient, based on my waning enthusiasm toward shaving, and my waxing desire to be allowed in the house. i have two 'hairy' brothers, and there is no way i would be even remotely be allowed to grow it! i tried mutton chops, napoleonic sailor style, and i was nearly divorced in the bofore i shaved them off!!! it was for one weekend for a re-enactment event.

at the moment i am the only one in chat. but i am a young aussie whipper snapper so who would want to chat with me anyway....

a bardiche with a jagged edge. this is basically a 14th century war weapon. are you going to forge it or plasma cut it?

i wonder how much to get the bulldozer here? (australia) :P

love the bulldozer! i wonder where they all are now???!! :(

basically you could use the same linkage as a steam engine. They convert linear to rotary without too much hassle

basically you could use the same linkage as a steam engine. They convert linear to rotary without ton much hassle

and SKILLETSsss and fill them with LIQUID GOLD!!!!

i like to put a bit of spit on the anvil and make my weld on that... CRACK! entertains the on lookers and scares the crows away... :D