rstegman

I got my brother some Bed rails. He has since found they are extremely hard to cut.
What kinds of projects is the bed rails used for?

Could they work for tool steel such as for working with wood?

Thanks

The material should ALWAYS come DOWN into the tool, so the tool rest or tool holder keeps the tool from moving. It takes a lot more engineering or energy to hold a tool in place when it is being pulled up from the lathe bed or tool rest.

With metal working, many lathes will also reverse. One use of that is that you can put the tool inside the work. Running the lathe backwards allows you to cut the inside of your work and still see what you are doing. Otherwise you have to go through contortions to see what you are doing, as you do in wood turning.

Learning wood turning. I never had time to really practice as I worked only on weekends, and usually only half a day. Instead, I did projects each and every time. I always had something to show for my lack of skills, bkut did get results. If I had all day long, several days a week, I would do things differently.

When I actually start forging, I will simply start on projects and see how they come out...

Another thing to consider. A beginner might take all day to do something that a master does in half an hour. Pricing when started, based on hours, is difficult because of the speed a master can apply for the same quality job.

In my wood working, my sales essentually pays for tools and some supplies. Anything more is pure luck.

My brother does a lot of welding fabrication as part of his job. He has a six foot tall rack with about six pairs of shelves, each a filled half with steel. None of it is the right stuff for any project he is after.


I do mostly wood carving and wood turning, though I am learning metal working from my brother.
I used to decide on a project, then try and find stock to fit it. I used to never have the right stock for the project I was after.

I made a decision this year to choose the stock first, and then figure out what project would fit it. I also am trying not to add to my stock.

I suddenly went from having almost no stock, to having more than five years worth of stock. What makes it worse, is that I am still gathering stock faster than I am using it up, and this is with my avoiding gathering stock when possible.

I guess I am going to have to quit my job because it is interfearing with my hobbies......

I've been involved in many hobbies and know others in crafts. One always has more stock than you can ever use.


1) How much stock do you keep on hand? (rough guess of some sort)


2 ) Do you pick the project, then look for the right material?


3 )Do you have to get more regularly?


or


4 ) Do you look at your stock and pick a project to do with it?


5 ) How many years of project could you make out of your stock if you picked the material first?


Thanks.
In my wood working, when I chose the project first, I had no stock. when I decided to choose the material first, I ended up with five years worth of stock, all over a weekend......

Some files are only case harden, while others are harden all the way through. I have no idea which is which on my knives and cannot tell the difference. They all need to be sharpened about the same amount. Fully hardened files are generally better for knives of this kind.

Remove all the teeth first. The metal should be smooth before you really start shaping.

My method is to hold my fingers on the other side of the blade while grinding. The instant it gets too hot for me to keep my bare fingers on the metal, I quench it. It takes a lot longer that way than forging it and rehardening it. It is a good way to make a knife when you have no blacksmithing facilities.

My knives are working knives, not show knives, so they don't look spectacular.

I usually make a sheath for the knife by splitting a piece of wood of the right size plus a little extra, trace around the blade, then carve out the minimum wood to fit the blade on one side. I then glue the pieces back together. After they dry, I shape the sheith to something smoothe, possibly following the shape of the knife slightly. On two of my sheiths, I carved them into an animal.
The friction of the other side of the wood holds the knife in place, and generally we jam the blade in so it won't come out.

Some carvers will carve their knife handles into something. My dad carved his into alligators. I cannot carve with those knives as the handles dig into my hand.
My handles are broader than normal carving handles as it fits into my hands a lot better.

Talking out of my ear,
but the sand absorbs vibrations, not act as mass. The small grains give way individually with each vibration, absorbing them.
Where I work in south Florida, Thuds on the streets such as when they were compacting the road bed during construction, is felt though the solid concrete floor of the building. One can also feel when someone drops a pry bar or some other heavy metal onto the ground outside. What is transferring the vibrations is the solid mass.

I make my carving knives from files. Right now, I am using grinders to shape it. The handles are generally Bishop wood or mohogany, or whatever wood happens to be at hand.

I shape my knives with a continuous angle from the back to the edge and sharpen them for carving by laying them flat on the grind stones and on the strop.

Take my opinion with a grain of salt.

Using grinders to shape and cut turning tools is comonly used. The bowl gouge and roughing gouge can be made from rod stock. Shape the grinding wheel for the flute profile you are after, and simply grind and grind, and grind.

One type of turning tool set one can use is where is is basically a rod with a hole in the end and a set screw to hold metal cutting bits. One then has the handle with a set screw to fit the other end of the rod. One can make a whole set of interchangeable turning tools, with whatever shape bit one needs, whatever type handle suites the needs, even outrigers for stability. All that is needed is a bit of imagination. Welding skills help a lot.

The great thing about using the grinder to shape the metal, is that one does not need to heat treat it if it starts that way.