SmoothBore

My experience with welding copper, is limited to high frequency TIG welding, ... using an Argon shield, and no filler rod. That process was simple, clean and effective. I'd be afraid of oxidation issues, when trying to fuse it, without a gas shield. .

As stated above, Victor, Harris or Purox are all durable, and useful tools. They all work just fine. As a practical matter, I'd choose the brand that I could most easily get tips and parts for. .

Google "Baileigh Industrial" and look at their manual and mechanical Profile Benders. I've bent a 6" radius, on 3/4" round, #304 stainless bar, on a "home made" version of their manual "post" type bender. It's just a stationary ring of slightly less than the desired diameter, and a long handle, pivoted at the center of the stationary ring, ... with an adjustable cam follower on the handle. For a 24" diameter, I'd look for a side ring, from a 22.5" split rim, to use for a stationary ring. Bending bar stock is a lot easier than bending tubing, ... and the simple manual bender is very fast. .

You can ALWAYS do better. That's the enigmatic aspect of doing "one of a kind" jobs. The learning process, that you experience in making the first item, ... usually helps you evolve a better plan, for similar items, in the future. Doing strictly "artistic" work, doesn't really appeal to me. I do Mechanical Design, ... and operate on the principal that any fool can build a complex mechanism, to do a simple job. The "art" of Mechanical Design, ... is in building simple, elegant, but fully FUNCTIONAL tools and machines. But the dilemma is the same, ... it's not until you complete the first design, that you REALLY know how to build the next one. .

I dearly wish I could remember where it is. About 6 months ago, my hard drive crapped out, ... and was unrecoverable. Much "good stuff" was lost. .

That's got to be a casting. The "parting line" is very obvious. .

Since they were similar type programs, people often get the CCC and the WPA confused. The young men who worked for the CCC were, by definition, unskilled labor. The WPA employed all manner of Journeyman level individuals, and concentrated more on building "infrastructure". It's entirely possible that buildings that were part of a CCC camp, might have been built by WPA workers, and utilized CCC personnel as laborers. I suspect that any hardware used in that construction, would have been of a very inexpensive, utilitarian sort. ************************************************************** An unrelated item of interest about the WPA ..... I recently discovered a collection of Folk Songs, and Stories that were collected during the Great Depression, by a Writer, who was working on a grant from the WPA. They were mouldering away in the Basement of a Court House, somewhere in the Mid-West, ... until they were "rescued" by a local Historical Society's Document Preservation Program, that scanned them into a computer, with internet access. All such programs deserve out gratitude. . .

Of course, you're right. Getting old and feeble minded, I guess. :(

Some re-bar is just brittle, and full of inclusions. It has limited applications, ... and those "limits" will occasionally give you trouble. Take every opportunity to avoid using it. As for the issue of molten Zinc ..... The most common Zinc alloy, used in hot dipped Galvanizing, is the #3 alloy. It melts at about 788 degrees Fahrenheit. This means, that you don't have to "burn" it off a steel part. Just heat it a bit, ... IN A WELL VENTILATED AREA, ... and wire brush it off. If an acid bath is available, by all means, go that route. Zinc IS a "heavy metal", ... and it's fumes will cause heavy metal poisoning, ... so of course, it needs to be respected. From the mid 1970's to the mid 80's, I was Superintendent of a Company that did Zinc Die Casting. During that decade, I experienced a headache or two that I attributed to Zinc fumes, ... but it's equally likely, that an over-rich Natural Gas mixture, in the melt furnaces, was the cause. The point being, ... that a well ventilated work place is ESSENTIAL to ALL manner of "hot" work. There is Zinc, ... and other heavy metals, ... present in many different, commonly encountered materials. You won't always know it's there. But Carbon Monoxide WILL always be present, in any forging atmosphere, ... and that's reason enough to be cautious about ventilation. .

It's hard to beat a simple stump. With a fabricated base, I'm sure the additional weight of materials helps to stabilize things, ... but I like to be able to move and turn the Anvil around. A Gum ( or Elm ) stump is my first choice, ( because they won't split ) with the Anvil routed into the top, about an inch deep, ... and a shallow, concave recess on the bottom. This simple stand sits very solid, ... but can be moved about, as needed. .

For what it's worth, ... you can move an amazing variety of equipment, with a "Johnson Bar". I recently moved my 16" Monarch "CK", from one end of the shop to the other, ( 50' ) using a 3 ton floor jack, and my trusty Johnson Bar. ( It was one of those rare occasions when having some extra lard in your butt, works to your advantage. ) .

I suppose that my "philosophy" leans heavily on, what modern industry calls "best practices". Quite often, an item that could be machined and assembled, ... or welded and fabricated from standard "dimensional" stock, ... can be improved upon, by forging it from one continuous billet. I'm a pragmatist, rather than an esthetic, ... so I'm always going to choose whichever process yields the best quality, for the end result. I like to think the "old timers" had a similar "philosophy", ... and that's how modern processes evolved. .

I suspect the "spike" design, predates modern Socialism, and all it's "Big Brother" regulation. As well as any particular, proprietary manufacturing expedient .....

Supporting the drill, will help with breakage issues. Your flex-shaft air tool sounds like a reasonable choice to power the drill. A drill bushing, sized for the desired twist drill, and clamped into any kind of "vee", ... and another bushing, with an I.D. to accommodate the brass rod, and an O.D. to match the O.D.of the drill bushing, ... also clamped into the "vee" block, ... will hold the drill in proper alignment with the end of the brass rod. No Lathe required. .

I'm not positive, ... but I think you're supposed to heat the spike, before you stick the candle onto it. .

Many moons ago, I worked with a guy who was building a semi-passive solar storage system, in his basement. ( This was looooong before any "alternate energy" products were available. ) Along with a huge stainless steel tank, for storage, he was disassembling old, scrapped steam radiators, and reconfiguring the cast iron segments, so they would lay flat against the walls of his basement. Needless to say, the poorly drained, and often frozen segments, had their fair share of cracks. Being a gullible chump, ( with an over inflated opinion of my welding prowess, ... and a good supply of NI-FE ) it somehow fell to me, to weld up the cracked radiators. Not knowing any better, I cleaned up one of the cracks, and laid down a lovely repair bead. After admiring it for a minute, and congratulating myself on the nice job, I hooked up an air hose, to verify the that it was sealed up. It held air pressure, ... and all was well with the World. Until it went PING ! And a brand new crack appeared, ... right next to the weld. To make a long story short, ... that was when I learned all about pre-heating cast iron, and about burying the finished castngs in a box of dry sand, to slow down the cooling. That all occurred in the mid 1970's ... but I remember it well, and the lessons learned are still relevant. .

Google up "Cross of St. Francis" or "Tao Cross" for a start. Also, ... I think Vines with Grape clusters, are a Franciscan thing. Particularly, a cluster of 5 grapes, is symbolic of the 5 wounds of Christ. For what it's worth .....

Back in the Age of Dinosaurs, ... the guy who taught me to weld, built an addition onto his shop. He imbedded 16" lengths of 4x4 box tube, with flush, 1/2" plate covers in his floor. There was a 2' length of 3/8" chain anchored in the bottom of each tube. You could stick a post into these "sockets", as needed, ... or pull the end of the chain up out of it's "well", and hook into it, from any direction. Simple, ... cheap, ... and effective.

Concur. Brake the edges, and just weld the corners shut. .

I use a rolling Gantry nearly every day, and find it to be a valuable asset. One bit of advice : Make it as high as possible. I often wish for "just a few more inches" under the hook. .

Never overlook the obvious. If the belt is misbehaving, ... it might just be the belt. "Laced" belts are often "out of square", ( making them "tighter" on one edge ) ... and will have a tendency "walk" toward the tighter edge. Try turning it around, and see if it "walks" in the other direction. The automotive "serpentine" belts are popular as replacements for the 1" wide flat belts, found on many smaller lathes, ... but I suspect that your machine uses a wider belt. Industrial "timing" belts come in a variety of widths, .. and work very nicely on crowned sheaves. . .

AMEN. .

No, it's not a "Hole Popper". The EDM shop that I use, has 2 Hole Poppers that they absolutely love, and use them for holes over 1/4". But the machine I'm talking about, holds about a 2' or 3' length of wire, ( cut from the roll ) vertically, in 2 small collets. It charges the wire, through the top collet, and feeds it straight down, ... while rotating, ... just like a vertical mill can feed the quill. It burns a hole slightly bigger than the diameter of the wire. Several of those holes, burned down through the center of a #6 x 32 tap, and some light blows on a small pin punch, will crumble the tap into pieces that will blow out of the blind hole, with a couple blasts of compressed air. It's saved my butt on numerous occasions. .

Tell me how you like your shaper, ... after the first smokin' hot chip flys across the shop, and down your collar. Enjoy. .

There's no need to "thread the wire through" anything. You use the end of the rotating wire, to burn straight down into a blind hole, ... just like with a sinker machine. I'm not saying this is an EASY, or foolproof method, ... because getting broken taps out of blind holes is NEVER easy. And in a "perfect world" there's always a "better" way ..... But the thread was about the usefulness of wire EDM ..... BTW ..... This is NOT speculation, ... I've done this very thing, ... dozens of times, ... over a 40 year span. .