macbruce

Well I squeezed the nut crackers on my right toe and the standards on my left and they both hurt like the DEVIL.......:o

Me and a friend of mine, Jerry, were doing some fireplace surrounds and needed a texture that was hammered but not not too aggressive, and this is what JR came up with.........Using plow bolts as the "peens'' he plug welded the threaded ends into a drilled 3/4 plate with a laid out pattern, then it was welded to the boss of the die. The textured piece is 3/8 x 3''..............It saves a lot of elbow grease....mb

I would go with grinding too , but not with an aggressive stone type wheel or cup wheel ....A soft pad or flap disc, say 80 grit would do it proud.............mb

Hw, Do your dies eliminate side swelling and kinking ? If so I'll be fabing mine that way in the future......Looks as though your design could be workable in my diacro............thanks.......mb

Too simple............ HOW MANY....................???

I would say Quantity is a big factor in how strung out you decide get on making bending dies, for a couple of pieces sand would probably do........If you have allot you should forget about sand. The prefered method in the photo is done primarily with a machined die (in ctr of the diacro, hossfield etc)and will usually do the pipe in one sweep without distorting the sides, cold.....The machined die doesn't have to be in a bending tool to work, you simply pull the pipe round by hand......hot I would reckon A simple thing to fab shown in the drawing is a jury rigged version of the machined die made of round pieces. It will work but is more hassle cause the expanding sides of the pipe will pinch, when you feel that happening you need to slip it out and tap the swell into shape before you resume bending.........mb

My curiosity was peaked so I did the only test I could think of. Using 5/8'' plate in the vise, I found another pair of tongs with a similar closed opening.........When I gripped the plate I could pull neither pair straight off, side to side the common pair won........... The common pair are heavier, but not that much. That being the case personally I would opt to making common tongs.......Making a pair of the nut tongs looks like a good exersize in skill, If you got to much time on your hands.........;)

Not that heavy.......I think of them as an anomaly, a prototype.......The extra labor involved making them is considerable. Making a pair of tongs that were a little heavier with longer reins would likely achieve the added crunch without the labor intensity.Like I said I've never seen the like, and nobody here has either as far as I can tell. I don't use em much, and I don't want to restore them, they have a nook on the wall were I can look at em..................mb

Looks like this anvil firm intended to have an anvil in every house! The Missus look like shes about to crack a lobster on her's, after that maybe crush some garlic........We Americans catch on slow........ Are those anvils common in oz ?

If Elvis ever slept on it you could sell it by the inch.......:lol:

Found these at a Goodwill store for $5 !.........Never seen anything like em anywhere. Looks as if they were buried for a time which has made them loose and fragile but still ok for light use..................mb

They do make rock solid tongs, the hinge is bombproof .........don't tell anyone but I've never made a pair of those things after almost 40 yrs in the trade........................I gotta be me....:lol:

Small chain works for me............

I'm not into horses so I use em for tongs..........

What is useful art?.......mb

All art is quite useless. Oscar Wilde

Had a friend or mine lose an eye because of the ''loose'' factor.........Polishing chain in a 3hp pedestal grinder with a 12'' wire wheel.....The brush snatched a 5/16'' chain out of his hands, wrapped around the arbor then at 30 revs. per second the tag end(s) re arranged his face.......holding on to the chain would have been worse. The only safe way to polish chain with a pedestal grinder/wire wheel is to wrap it around a board and fasten each end or bad day.............mb

I don't know if you have any cats Glenn, but if there are NO mice around this is one of the ways they are can take out their frustration :lol:

I bought this Lufkin ruler at the western states conference around 1988. It was new at the time. There was someone selling them for around $35, and said they were the last of the Mohegains............Definatly a smiths ruler, it has a circle guage ( I rarely use it) on one side......don't know what I'd do without it when I'm doing layouts.............mb

''A poor craftsman blames his tools''........unknown mb ><,,>

Forerunner to the PH dies in spring handle format.........Ball bearings on 3/16 welding rod for master....mb