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I Forge Iron

MLMartin

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Everything posted by MLMartin

  1. Huzzaa It is fun to make useful tools. I have never herd of such a thing. Just looked them up online. It would be nice to see a photo of it handled and in use. Maybe you will find a good market in Louisville for hand tools! haha good luck friend M Martin
  2. Many punch sets have been used in fly presses. It is what they were mainly used for in the US. Most shops that used them however were working jewelry. Soft metal that was very small. I think a manual fly press would be on the small side to punch steel 1/4 inch or thicker cold. If you want to punch hot steel I am sure a larger manual fly press can but used some. Before you use a commercially produced punch and die for steel make sure to look up the usage information from the manufacture. Most punch and dies are only made to be used with cold metal. You would need to ask the company if they can be used with hot steel safely. M Martin
  3. Well said Wooldridge. I was not intending any condemnation. I apologize if I came off harsh. I am just trying to correct some of the things suggested. I have experienced work hardened steel many times in my day to day work. There is most definitely a noticeable difference from something work hardened and something that is not. Even when both items were already hardened & tempered steel
  4. Anvils from the factory were not work hardened from forge welding with hammers. That is simply wrong. During the welding process the steel was so hot that the hammering done would not work harden the steel. The steel was well above critical temperature and any hammering would be stopped before it cooled to critical temperature. Also anvils were ground flat or slightly convex at the factory. This grinding would remove work hardened surface steel, Not that there was any anyway. It is very likely that most anvils that have been generally used for a number of years may have a work hardened surface. But that is from smiths hammering metal on top of the anvil. Anvils for most of history were largely made by hand, even if that hand was driving a steam hammer. Hardening and tempering was done by trained people but still people none the less. It is very normal for anvils even from the same company to vary in hardness. Good company's had tighter quality control but still some tools leave the business better than others. Also with used anvils there is never any telling what the last owner did to the tool. If that person over heated the anvil some and lowered the hardness it is not a fair comparison to the same brand tool with no abuse. I think it is reasonably possible that one of your anvils was simply softer than the other. Over time the softer one was work hardened from normal use, but after the surface metal was removed from grinding it exposed the softer material bellow.
  5. Thank you Mr Miller for the information. I am always looking to learn more about forge work and steel grades is something I fear I do not have enough knowledge about. I am happy to try working in other steels that are recommended to me. I do hope people can explain why I should use one steel over another. I understand simple steels in the range of 1060 - 1095 all the way to W 1. These are generally iron just alloyed with carbon and little ells. The 60 - 95 denoting percentage of carbon. I would be vary happy to find 1060 to 1080 in bar sizes from 1 to 3 inch for use with hand tools but I seem to have a hard time finding any. I have come across 1060 some but it is hardened and ground. Being this way it cost more than over sized annealed W1 does. Anyone have a recommendation for 1060 to 1080 that is hot rolled? Thank Mackenzie Martin
  6. I have never used 4140 but I know its popular for power hammer dies. I need to learn more about steels. I would not want to use 1045 for these hammers because they have pretty square corners and I have had problems with the steel before and not being able to get it hard enough. What is wrong with W1? 1% carbon, simple water hardening steel. I have made many little punches and chisels and a few little hammers with it before. It seems to harden very well and heat treating it pretty easy. Yes I very much liked my canvas file bags, but sadly rats in my shop chewed it up and chewed on all my file handles the other night. The top tools have a 1/4 inch rod handle hot rapped on to the tool, the hand end is bent into a loop and forge welded closed. I very much enjoy the set up. The table is very thick, and the cute little vice has 3 1/2 inch jaws that are very steep. The steep jaws make for nice filing because I can use the file at a hard angle over the jaws. My Sweetheart bought me the vice! Now I just need to see if I can talk her into making me a nicer one at her job
  7. They seem just fine. Very nice show for the website. Thank you for sharing.
  8. Here are some little hammers I made the other day. I just started handling them. I am just trying to figure out shape, size and forging steps. These were forged from mystery steel, some type of large spring from tractors that drive a plow a foot or so into the ground. Annealed, filled and heat treated. They seem to have come out nice and hard. I very much enjoy items that are filed bright. I plan to order some W1 tool steel and forge some more soon and offer them for sale. Thank you for the comments and suggestions. Also a few top tools I made Cheers Mackenzie Martin
  9. No it probably will not brake instantly. But it is very bad for the hammer and clearly abuse of a tool. I am just pointing it out for people that may not know that running power hammers dry is bad for them. I have seen a hand full of people that have a old hammer in the back of a shop and they think its nifty and do not really know how to work it. And every time they have some one around they like to show it off and just run it full out dry. Then one day they do not understand when the die or the hammer or anvil crack on them. I was really sad when I watched some one run a self contained air hammer with out the lower anvil. The tub was just raising and slamming into the bottom of the frame casting with no anvil to stop the hammer head. I am sure this person destroyed the hammer in less than 20 m I do like the action and the spring rolling over the helve on this hammer!
  10. Hes going to destroy that hammer just crashing the hammer and anvil together. There really should be hot metal in between when running
  11. I will often take a very short heat at the bend area while the bar is strait then give it a good upset. Take a second heat and bend to the desired angle. Take another short heat right at the bend and place the bar in a vice with the bend point up and the bar clamped with both ends in the vice while the bend is above the vice jaws. Then you can use a light hammer and peen and hammer the upset area into a crisp point.
  12. More and more people working in customer service are extremely rude these days. The price you offered was fair enough. But even if the offer was 5 cents there is no reason for the clerk to yell and cuss at you. Just make sure to tell all your friends and other other people in this line of work how rude this shop was. People that are rude tend to go out of business faster than polite people.
  13. The knife with the ring on the back is just wonderful. A decoration like this really sets off the tool I think. It is a very simple idea that becomes a strong focus point.
  14. If the tools was never designed to be a hammer it probably will never make a good hammer. Probably a waste of time and would damage the tools. Just use it for riveting like its designed for.
  15. Nice old colonial vise, composite brazed 9 piece screw box. I just restored one of these a month or so ago
  16. You are probably burning zink off the steel bolt. Galvanized (zink coated) items heated up in a forge is generaly very dangerous. Zink as a solid metal is fine, but when you burn zink it forms smoke cloud that is rich with zink gas. Breathing in powdered or gas form zink can kill people quickly. It is a heavy metal that will collect in the body. Drinking milk or water or any other silly recommendation will not help with zink poisoning. A few people that use to be part of this website have died from zink poisoning or complications from such. I can not say for sure that this is what is happening with your metal as I would need more information about the item heated. But I can safely say that heating up any metal with some type of Coating on it is dangerous. Paint and metal coatings burned are almost always poisonous. Good luck and stay safe
  17. Offer 3000 cash. It may buy it. I am guessing you and the hammer are in the USA? Even 3500 would not be a bad price for a good running hammer. And that one looks very nicely built. I have never herd of it. I would be happy to trade my 50lb little giant for it!
  18. I cant see anything welded to the screw box? How about better pictures of it.
  19. Mr Special I do not think we get to watch this. I am in Louisville Ga and there is lame football all night long on Georgia PBS I guess education fell way to people smacking there heads together. Anyone know where I could watch this other than TV
  20. It is possible to braze male threads onto a screw but I have never seen it done. Even on the old vices like the one I repaired the male screw was always cut into a solid bar. When I repaired the female box I re-brazed threads into the box and had the male screw to use as a pattern. Also even though I was repairing the box, the brazed in female threads was the original way the box was made. So I was just restoring the vice to original condition. I think you should carefully clean the screw box and look at the threads inside. If the threads are in good shape I would not try and chisel them out. Also your screw box is one piece of cast iron. I do not think chiseling the threads would be a good way to go. And like Mr Powers said above your screw is almost surely one piece of metal. I would guess mild steel because of the cast iron box being a later method in leg vises. If I am right and it is mild steel you could slowly build up the worn out threads with little electric welds then file the thread back to shape. This would be very slow and tedious work.
  21. I have never herd of brazing on the male screw. Not that it is not possible, just very uncommon. I very much wonder how you will make the pattern. I re-brazed threads into a female box. When doing this I had the male screw to use as a template. I simply wrapped the new thread around the male screw until I had the right shape. Then inserted the thread into the box and brazed. It would be some kind of trick to use the female box as a form and to shape the thread inside it. I have another vice that has a brazed box and some one in the past made a new screw for it! I guess the person was a good machinist. I just know the screw is new because of the shape of it and some of the little details in the turning. It may be worth your time to call around to some machine shops and bring the vice and ask for a quote on cutting a new screw for you.
  22. I bet a 2 foot cube of high strength concrete under you KA75 would do wonders to keep it from jumping and make it perform better when forging. They are great tooling hammers! I am planing on building one soon.
  23. Looks very much like a Colombian leg vice. I suspect it was forged by Colombian and then sold for resale to Keen Kutter. Looks nice
  24. I make cold chisels from old files now and then, and the most use is in partnership with a file. Often a punched hole or welded joint will need some stock removal to achieve a very clean appearance. I will first use a hack saw to trim away excess, then I use very sharp chisels and lastly a file. Many times when I am making a half lap joint I do not forge it because of the surrounding elements and I am trying to avoid any distortion of the bar. Its a quick step to hack saw a few cuts into the bar then use a chisel to remove the lap area.
  25. I thin it was 1800lbs for the 50lb with a electric motor, and 1600lbs for the 50lb with a flat belt center clutch. I removed all the parts from the frame to make moving mine easier. It had to come to bits anyway as it needed a full rebuild.
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