fciron

I quit messing with water heaters after the first one. (I'm the only one I know with an enamel lined BBQ!) Is there a way to tell a copper tank with out removing the shell and nasty insulation?

Of course it feels more productive when you're the only one in there. I assume that you are making some money off of your employees labor, so when you do something yourself then you are making that profit, plus whatever the employee would make per hour. I also assume that you can do things faster and better because you're the guy that trained everyone. So, obviously, doing it yourself momentarily more profitable and it's certainly a lot more satisfying and fun than being in the office. (That's even before any control issues, I know I've got them, that's why I don't have employees.) At some point though, someone has to answer the phones and do the drawing and quoting. Fine, so you make twice as much per hour doing it yourself and it's more fun. (Until the part where you have to do 53 hours of wire-brushing with the angle grinder. ) It is physically impossible for you to do more than 168 hours of work a week, so at some point, to make more money you need more employees and maybe more toys. I think we all need to remind ourselves that the original poster's humorous answer to the question was "Start with two million." Several folks have posted realistic plans for retiring with a million in the bank. Alas, none of them are primarily based on me holding a nice glowy piece of metal every day. :mellow:

Myloh, you can twist a square taper to make a quasi-wood screw, but not a machine screw or tap. Even if you got a usable shape it would have a four start thread.

Cool, it's all tumblers and no wards. Thinking about making warded locks hurts my brain. Donald Streeter's book "Professional Smithing" is about the only place I know to get info on old school locksmithing.

Ooooh, I love the way the hex tool is the finished depth so it acts as it's own stop block. Every hex swage I've ever seen is only the lower half of the hex, so they are just a finishing tool rather than a forging tool. Thanks, Lewis

Thanks for posting some video of the important end of the hammer. (As opposed to the fun end. ) My one quibble: it looks to me like the turnbuckle adjusts the height of the dies and the many holes on the crank adjust the stroke length. (That's a nice idea, the holes. Is that your innovation of part of the Rusty design?) I'm only bringing it up to try to avoid confusion if the conversation turns to how to tune these hammers.

When you put it like that, I agree completely. Back to talking about blacksmithing before we get in trouble.

Phil, I really was just taking the mickey. Don't put yourself out over a technique that we both now agree is inappropriate for the job at hand. If you do write something I'll read it with interest. I had kind of figured out that in might be good for work on a mandrel, but the bit about keeping necked forms centered is a new and valuable bit of info. Thanks. Peacock, I just did a minor rebuild of my LG. One thing I did discover (before my hex tapering adventures) was that you can pull the ram out of plumb with the guides. So not only do they have to be adjusted to a tight sliding fit, but also to make sure they remain at right angles to the lower die right to left. (I don't measure this with a square but by checking that the faces of the dies remain parallel while I tighten the guides.) Lewis

bhartley, I think they drill and rivet through the entire joint after it is assembled. At least that's the way I've done it; if you drill the tongue first there's no way to line it up once it's assembled and if you drill the box first the holes will get distorted when you open it for assembly. maddog, I think when I did it I dressed the box around a drift, less filing than Streeter did. I think he has some fireplace tongs with a forged box joint.

I had the opportunity to visit with a smith in Cameroon. We both spoke a little French, but we didn't get into economics, but he did ask about helping him get an electric blower for his forge. He was looking at having to spend the equivalent of a hundred and fifty dollars (currency exchange rate) to get an electric blower installed. When you look at the differences in costs of living/living standards and prevailing wages I bet that was enough to live on for a month, easy. What might appear to be a moderate expense to us, like setting up a second forge, can actually be a huge expense for someone else. (I know there's a power hammer in another video, but the fact that the smith seems to have the die upside down and be using its dovetail as a working surface would suggest repair parts are not available.) I was in a large market and poking around in the back corners, trying to find tools or other blacksmith made stuff. I saw people who were selling sliced up inner tubes. The long strips of rubber are used for everything we do with bungees and duct tape. I also saw a guy selling used metal pallet strapping, the blued spring steel stuff. That mud furnace that your contemptuous of may be the nicest one for a hundred miles around. I would also ask why you criticize the use of a nut as a bolster, I've probably paid cash money for less effective tools and I suspect I'm not the only one. Those pliers that they're making look a lot like the "Made in Pakistan" box-joint pliers I played with at the fitting counter last time I took my kid to get new glasses. This would seem to indicate that a man turning the crank makes more economic sense than a proper furnace, drop hammers and a tool and die shop. I'm not arguing that either is better, I'm just saying that it takes more than ten minutes of youtube to decide anything about a culture or why people blow themselves up. Heck, for all we know, those smiths are Hindus in India.

I took some pics in the yard and there is some yard art that I also forged hexagon. I must have been more patient that day. I would seem that several years ago I had no problem drawing hex from 3/4" down to a point. I even used it for yard arts which means it was either easy or I didn't care that day. Does this mean I've forgotten things that people want to know? Where do I apply for my old geezer card? More hex tapers by fciron, on Flickr Close up of the end of the hex taper by fciron, on Flickr Hex forged pipe rail finial by fciron, on Flickr

You better define old geezer a little better before some one starts chasing Grant around for his copper. I believe this is what we yanks call a hot water heater. The ones I've dissected have steel tanks with an enamel lining.

Lend me a couple hundred grand to pick it up. I'll let you play with it and I'll be in your debt forever.

I put a block of wood on the saddle and let things bear against that. No removing anything.

Same thing for some of the kids my father hung out with in the sixties. There's complicated sets of motivations, but it does seem that the people crying out loudest for radical action are the ones less concerned with getting food on the table.

1985 1000 TON WILLIAMS & WHITE DOWN ACTING HYDRAULIC PRESS :P

biggundoc, Making a million dollars and making a million bucks off the work of your own two hands are two very different things. You might get lucky and become a famous artist, but that's like counting on your lottery jackpot. You could invent or design a product that people want and then have them mass produced, that's the approach of most businesses. You could hire some talented folks and be the guy that coordinates all the shop and clients coming together, that's about the closest model to making big money and being a blacksmith at the same time. I don't think anyone here is saying you can't make a good living or you can't be a success. We just making kidding around and having some fun, there are other threads for serious consideration of business topics. B)

You're also only seeing the final step. The through hole has already been shaped and they're just opening it with the top tool in the first operation. All the hard and finicky stuff has already been done. I had a similar experience one time when a fellow came into the shop just in time to see me take a flat bar out of the forge, clamp it in a vise and drive a hot cut into it, seemingly splitting it lengthwise about six inches in three blows. Poor guy didn't know that I had split it with the band saw before heating it.

I have a Hofi style hammer from a reputable US maker and the head is loose. I've had it quite a while, so I'm not complaining. Use of the word "never" in capital letters just gets my goat. It's not too bad yet and I will probably do the authorized official glue/no wedge thing when it needs replacing.

I dunno, if you're too flexible you can get bent into some rather uncomfortable shapes. Mark, if it's a hobby then you don't have to break even. Just because some other folks do the same thing for a business does not mean that your hobby must make a profit. Think of folks that you know who spend money on cameras or musical instruments, they don't worry about making a profit even though the world holds professional photographers and musicians. We now return you to the bad jokes. :D

clinton, couldn't that be a matter of spring shape as much as material? Presumably you can just straighten out the too tight spring a little. Most of the original springs I've gotten my hands on are tapered as well, this would let them move more at the bottom.

Thanks, I knew there was a quicker way of saying that. I think that you can often find a thread in any of these stories where the lucky guy did something to put that luck into motion, even if it was just showing interest beyond the mere purchase. (Except for Grant's story, he's just a lucky dog.)

Dang! Those guys do have it down. Donald Streeter shows how he makes box-joint pipe tongs in 'Professional Smithing' if you need more info.

You're lucky you got to buy at the purchase price, not the market price. You may be in for a shock. :o

Oh, this is a new thread. I posted about this in another leaf thread a while back. To expand on what Frank Turley just said, there is actually a heat range just below incandescent where the steel is actually more brittle than when it is room temperature. I actually try to keep that shoulder area hot (by which I mean glowing, preferably orange) while spreading and shaping the leaf so that it will have the plasticity to absorb the shocks.