Dogsoldat

Yep a small ball pein taken to the edges of the chisel marks will smooth them out to an amazing degree,   A few minutes before each forging session while things are warming up and I bet you'd be surprised at where it ends up.

Pretty sure the center two are gooseneck tongs that have the appropriate notches forged in to hold work perpendicular to the length of the tongs.

Looks like it's in great shape.  Have you tried the magnet under the heel,  that's where most of the ring is at.

Don't suppose you have any pictures kicking around of his setup for doing those iron melts Frosty?  Kinda curious to see how it might be done.

You did an Awesome job with that wine rack.  I would be REALLY happy to have that in my house!  Keep up the good work.

The spoke shave thing would be a sen,  ( think I have that right) basically  a drawknife for working on metal.

Was going to suggest the safety glasses, but was beaten to it,  My only addition might be a big pocket full of ear plugs.  Sounds like a REALLY COOL experience.  Maybe a Gopro camera strapped to your head so the rest of us get to see it all.  Good luck,  safe journey and please bring back lots of pictures!

Had to look up a Halligan,  quite the interesting bit of kit...

Found a little better piece of scrap in my pile,  a strip of what I assume is A36 3/8 thick x 1 1/2",  and used a strip of leaf spring for the bit.  Most of the bit welded in really nice.  A little patch on the one side by the heel didn't take as well as it was supposed to but I'm learning...   Made two rail spike tomahawks for the cousins little boy,  he really like my first axe, but Mom didn't want anything sharp for him yet.  So they are safely blunted for now.   He just has to pick the one he wants.  Rather happy with the size and weight  on the latest one.  Much closer to what I was after.

Don't ever remember seeing them galvanized,  most likely cast steel of some sort as for uses... 

Looks like a good user,  And best of all it's ready to send to me as it has my initial on it 

Well how about that  only the pictures posted... 

Anyways here goes again,  the body is a piece of A36 3/4 sq by maybe 8"long  the bit is a piece of cable Damascus.  Cutting edge is right at 3" and  the poll to edge is 3 3/4".  The weld down the body didn't take as nice as I had though,  but the bit glued itself in rather well.  Next time I'll have to work the edge less so more of the bit is exposed on the final grind so the cable pattern has a chance to show.  Need a little bit larger starting stock as it's a little small for what I was after, that and a small poll would be nice.   

the drift started out as a 15/16" ubolt of one of the trucks that needed a broken spring changed out.

Lots of pictures are missing in all the axe threads,  I remember all sorts of really good wip's.  Be nice to reference them again.

That's a nice idea torching a hole in the plate for the axe drift.

Please do make that step by step post.  Would love to see how you go about it!

Better have a good read though the heat treat stickies in the knife section.  then read them again...   depends a little on steel but yellow is going to be on the hot side and then being put in wet sand?  will harden the steel.  depending on what steel is being used this may be a too aggressive cooling.  best get back to basics and read everything you can for a while.  then it will all make a little more sense. 

biggest thing to remember and hardest to do,  know I still do it a lot.  Is the boss is flat and the reigns taper up to the boss.   otherwise they look like a heck of a good start

Been wanting to get into the Robert Asprins again.  Had to laugh in Phules company when they won the obstacle course in full kit by flattening it.  And a big joke between the wife and I is all the Vampire Cows along the roads on holiday from the Myth series.

hahaha!  lol,   took me a bit but I got it Thomas!  Think we'd all be redshirts  if you have that character.

yeah, did like into the looking glass.

ah!  nearly done Northworld,  first free book I got for my new kobo.  It says I have 2 hrs to go.  Goes a little quicker if your not falling asleep reading it though.  Sure you haven't been in my library Frosty.  Looks like I'll have to check out Taylor

yeah,  I see the mistake.    been there 2-3 times already...  was looking through old links and the Refflinghaus dealer in the US has a story board for bolt tongs.

lots of good solid blocking will be your friend  think 6x6 to 10x10" maybe 2' long.  crib it if at all possible  and make certain that its all stable.  if your getting into the springs   best to block up the frame.  if you pull the wheel first gives you more room to get into the u-bolts and springs.also makes for a little more room to move and stay out of the way of things if needed.

I'd consider calling a wrecker for commercial trucks and see if they are interested in the complete axles.  the carriers that go into the center of the dif are worth a fair amount and at least on the logging trucks I work on,  the do pile up often enough.  the 5th wheel plate may be worth more to them as well,  as long as there are no crack, typically on the under side around where it pins to the frame.  even the steering axle may be worth something to a wrecker.  we've had to change more than a few on the fleet. 

Guess the biggest thing is everything is heavy and when it drops free it goes with a thump.  think twice and do it once safely...

the air tanks do make nice little propane forges.  I happen to be using a short little tank that I rescued from the scrap bin and with a single burner makes plenty of heat.

cool,  if you need even more reading on many and diverse topics 

http://www.survivorlibrary.com/?page_id=1389

if you put James Cran in the search bar there is a 1910 book that has the tong dimension chart in it.  It's not letting me load it right now but it's well worth a good look though.