metalmangeler

Nice looking forge. If you ever get the feeling that your shop is a mess let me know and I can send you pictures of mine that should make you feel better. most of the time small is the way that I like to go with forge size, but there are those projects that need room.

I make differnt sizes. My set tools have fairly light handles,If a striker miss hits or power hammer having a little give can only help. A larger hammer with a light handle especially in the eye the wood in the eye will sometimes brake enlarge the eye and the problem goes away now I just try to make sure my eyes are large enough that I do not have the problem. I also try to align the grain so that if the handle is looking like this O the grain is not like this =. Some times I discard quite a bit of wood to get the grain the way I want it. (I end up with a bunch of paint stiring sticks.)

I thought that the meeting went pretty well. I guess that we are planning to finish the grill at the meeting on July 20. Maybe we need to preplan some to have the rest of the ellements done so that we can actually finish it? Do we want to try to fasten the ellements together traditionally or just weld it and move on? Most of the time when I am making a project I have an idea what I am makeing before I start, I am thinking that is not the case on this project, I think if we come up with a design we might be more likely to end up with a nice item. I know this is just crazy talk but it might be something to think about. Unfortunatelly I never got my camra out of my coat pocket so no pictures from me.

peening and upsetting like a rivet in this case would mean the same thing.

Very nice, it has been awhile since I did any knife work, I need to get the paying stuff done so I can do some fun stuff.

I see at the bottom of the page it says that we only have a single page lenght. I am aware that Tristan and Jerry both posted messages here Or rather on the bottom of our next meeting page that did not get passed on. This seems like a way to continue our conversation. Hope to see you guys Tomorrow.

I know that Pat knows about the move, but he mainly just monitered the yahoo groop by looking at his email. He might never have come here. It seems like the iforge iron site does not update like it used to, is this true or is it just something on my computer? On a topic it does not show how many veiws nor does it ussually show when there has been a new post or who the last post was.

looks good.

You ask what you can make with what you have, and most experinced smiths think you need more tongs and you can make them. Then you say you want to make things without adding to your tools. You can make a lot of things with the tools you have fireplace tools come to mind, the sort of stuff that is long enough that you do not need tongs, but if you want to be efficeint you will need more tools. We are mostly tool addicts, perhaps you are asking the wrong people. :)

I hear from a number of people each year who want to apprentice. My normal interpretation of this request is that they want me to teach them to forge without paying me, and while doing very little work that is truely meaningfull to my needs. I normally just tell them no. I finely desided to give one young man a description of how I thought it could work, this was a deal where he did about 3 hours of mindless work then I spent an hour actually intentionally teaching him, this is I believe much more than one would have expected in the "good old days". He never took the time to email me back. I say all this to tell you that rather than offer to work as an apprentice you should maybe define what you want and what you expect to produce to get it from the "master". I know it would help me when these people approach me, I think that normally they have not really even thought about that, nor have they thought about the fact that their being in the area is going to cost me time.

I recently forged one from 2 3/8 dia. cut a little long as forged, but not yet ground it Wieghs 6# 10 oz. I think these are getting to a size that they take quite a bit of time for the meeting format. On the other hand Pat is a pretty good striker, this might be the time to do it. I think we may need to deside if we are forging hammers or making a grill. You are right in the anealed state they cut fine with a band saw. If you deside to bring it bring it whole rather than cut short, the idea of forging these hammers is to start with the correct dia. for the end product if you start large with the idea of drawing it out you will end up with way to much work, and time, and more heats which will degrade the product. Looking at these posts we are the only ones talking about hammers and I was not at the previous meeting so I will think that unless someone or a couple someones post something that we are making a grill. If I see other wise I will bring my hammer tools.

It's not pitifull, not everyone really needs to forge 4" stock. Something in the picture for a size refrence would be nice though.

Pat has the dies we made from the parts Brian brought to his clinic, and the tools that Brian left for the club to use so I don't think that I will bring them. I have made a flatter fulling die for finnishing the cheeks I might bring that as I do not think there is one there. The blanks were 2X the diameter for making the rounding hammers, so I guess you would use 5 inches. The hammer that Brian had at the clinic was made from 2 1/4 round so 2.5 ought to make a whopper. Increasing the dia. a little really has an effect on the size of the hammer.

I think they start out with a blank that has the riegn either turned or drawn down so they are not doing that step by hand. (no upsetting on this project) The divet behind the boss is I think a type of design from using the double fuller method of issolating the boss only this was not how these tongs were divided, so then it becomes only a style, in these competions style can be really important.

Pat is back, I can bring a rope twist spring swedge if that is what you mean. What size are you thinking?

Thank you guys, I am thinking that these are nicer looking than many of my past tongs, but then I think of how nice some people make their personal tools and realize I have far to go. I do think they grip well and are functional.

A friend came by the other day and we were forging and he was having trouble finding tongs that worked well for him on flat knife blades so I made these. I took a little more time than normal and tried to make them look a little better. I don't sell my tongs so I have really not been in the practice of making them presentable. I think I need to change my ways. These are the 6 I made. 2 of them were box jaw. 2 of them were these edge grippers that pass by I don't know what they should be called. I also made 1 for gripping flat 1/8 stock and a rivet tong just because.

Unfortunately I was doing a show instead of being at the last meeting, so I really do not know. I was just thinking from what is posted here that having the textureing dies would be a good thing. Organic form grill.

I am suprised that your rasps bent when not heated and quenched. Did you try the part of the rasp that was hard or only the tang which has been drawn back considerably, so that a screw on handle will bite into it?

When we made the dovetails for Pat's hammer it seemed like a good idea that the holes should be spaced like on my small dies. Same thing with Frosty's only I am not sure how that ended up. So some of our dies are interchangeable, but my large ones won't go on their hammers and their dovetails won't go on mine. It should work well for an event like this, or if say Frosty desided to forge a hammer and borrowed the dies that were made at the Brazeal clinic from Pat.

I will bring some texturing dies for the LG.

Thanks Ptree: I hope to have my new cylinder tomorrow, and then this one will be a spare. These repairs really cut into production, but they put into perspective how fortunate I am to have tools.

I am pretty sure you can get fossilized ( actually it is only mineralized) walrus tusk from the natives on st. Laurance island.

For now the 4140 not heat treated seems to be working.

They broke where the nut screws on the rod, they were used for quite awhile, the hammer is about 12 yrs old. I am buying a new cylinder so the repair is only a temparary measure I have some 4140 on hand so I will be using it. I think I will try it without heat treating it and see if that works. I should have it together again tonight, so if it breaks instantly I will post otherwise who I will hope for the best.