woodsmith

I just recently did what you are talking about, my belt sander is of my own design but I made the drive wheel and idlers for it on the lathe, the specs I found for crowning the drive pulley called for .031 crown, (2" wide 4"diamater), as said earlier I accomplished this by cutting with the coumpound rest, because I left a flat zone in the center and tapered off both edges, I used 2.5 degrees on the coumpound, effectivly making a trapaziod crown, knocked down and smoothed the edges, but left tooling lines on the face for traction. I wrote up a BP on the whole thing should come up next week woodsmith

I am putting together parts to build a belt sander for knife grinding, I have most of the materials as far as steel, motor, bearings and pulleys, my question is that the drive pulleys I have for the sanding belt are four inches wide, (not diameter), and I want to run a 2 inch belt, one is flat alluminum, the other is has a rubber surface and is crowned, will the width create problems with tracking, should I make new ones, I have worked out the design as far as desired rpm for belt speed, tension and length adjustments and am planning to use a step pulley for speed changes, I do have access to a lathe, that I could make new pulleys, but thses ones I have are in good shape, the one has the tracking adjustment hardware right with it, hope this is enough info, any other suggestions would also be appreciated, thanks Woodsmith

Thanks, for the help so far Guys To elaborate more, What I learned in the initial attempt, we spent a long time consolidating the lump with many light blows, turning and tapping over and over, working in my small portable forge added a challenge, long time to get up to full heat, then made what seemed like very little progress in a heat. Going by feel, hammering that bloom was like hitting a sponge or a lot of bubbles, squished a little ways real easy, but if you hit hard at all it would crack all apart. This seemed to be the slowest part of the process. Once I got something I could actually really pound on, progress picked up. I had expected it to be a heavy hammer tiring job, but spent plenty of time resting waiting for the next heat. Perhaps with a better suited tongs, we could do an extensive series of squishing operations, could shave off a half dozen heats. Im not just trying to be lazy here, I want to have some Iron left at the end of the process as well. Ill read up a bit more, and take a bunch of pictures all day. Thanks Jared

I am looking for information, how to on forging out a bloom. I have done this once, in an experiment this last summer. A fellow I know here in Wi has done considerable work researching and constructing small clay bloomeries, making his charcoal and smelting Iron. However he does not do any smithing, this gave me the great opportunity to help him out by hammering out a hunk of bar one long (hot)_ afternoon at an event last July. We are getting together again soon, along with some other smithes from the area, to spend a day smelting, and bloomsmithing. Our last work was a rather blind, heat it and beat it job, and while fairly successful I think it may have taken very excessive amounts of time and charcoal. I found we were learning very rapidly as we went. So, any input here about the actual working of a bloom, how to do it faster, ( if there is such a thing), how to get it more homogenous, anything, any input, or references as to were I could read up on this a bit. I would like to be more prepared on this one. It would be greatly appreciated Thanks Jared

I found this green river Foot vise last spring, it has an adjustable upsetting block that slides up or down, below a die block at the front of the vise body there, my best assesment was that they were designed for heading bolts, I use it for twisting a lot, handy for that but not handy for big stuff, jaws open less than 2", Some of the ones Ive seen like this sell on Ebay have gone very high, very curious, you say yours has 4 legs, Ive never seen that style before Woodsmith http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/4189/size/big/cat//ppuser/1907

this is another that I found interesting, it is only one small part of an entire story taken from the Kalevalla, I know its very different than Longfellows work, but Ive made a print and built a frame for each. Iron, Iron, hearken as I call you! Let no false and foolish fears appall you, Come from the crevices that hide you, Leave the worthless stones that are beside you. Leave the earth that lies around, above you, And come with me for I do dearly love you Iron stayed hidden but timidly said "I dare notleave, for my brother Fire wishes to devour me" The smith continued singing: No, your brother does not wish to harm you willingly never would he alarm you with his glowing arms he would caress you Make you pure and with his kisses bless you So come with me, my smithy waits to greet you in my forge your brother waits to greet you waits to throw his loving arms around you glad indeed that now he has again found you Iron almost moved but then paused and asked what was to become of him, why should he leave his quiet and peace the Smith answered: Come with me, for kindly will we treat you on my anvil gently will I beat you With my tongs deftly will I hold you With my hammer I will shape and mould you into forms so fair that all will prize you Forms so rare that none shall ever despise you Axes, Knives, (so men will wish to use you) Needles, Pins, (so women too, will choose you) Come with me you brother shall not harm you Come with me My smithy is sure to charm you Jared Woodsmtih