David Einhorn

Old trick is to take a piece of modeling clay and form your finished object. Then when you are happy with it, squeeze the clay back into the shape of your metal bar and measure the result.

It is great that you are generous and helping people. As for myself, I am currently a social worker working with some of the poor in our area of Pennsylvania. You would not believe the huge number of poor, homeless, mentally unhealthy, and/or jobless around this area alone. Literally thousands! The charities say they are running out of food, beds and money because of the economy. The shelters turn people away, especially in the winter because of the limited number of beds. Your trip sounds like a lot of fun. Enjoy!

The most durable finish of mild steel that I can think of is power-coating. Some smiths take their stuff to be powdercoated if they can justify the cost. The easiest, cheapest and fastest way is to wipe the metal with a 3M pad from your local hardware store, to get the loose oxidation off, then to apply a couple of light coats of Krylon clear acrylic from your local Walmart. It dries quickly, does not tend to smell, and can be reapplied if and when it starts wearing off.

If my memory serves me correctly, rustlers used to use a specialized branding iron called "running irons" to alter brands. These irons used to be, and may still be illegal to own, in some states. The running iron was basically a straight line that could be applied to a brand to change, for example, an A to "Bar-A" or a T to a cross or a star shape, etc. An interesting site on branding irons is located at: The History of Cattle Brands I observe on the site that not just letters were used in designing brands but also symbols, and what appears to be interesting designs. Are tatoo parlors still sometimes offering "artistic branding" to customers? I think I heard that somewhere a few years ago. Could be wrong on that.

Your efforts and goals sound very commendable. I don't tend to use stainless steel because I have not had a need for stainless. For tools I use tool-steel, and for about everything else I use mild-steel. One place to look for stainless steel is: Admiral Steel another place is the search utility at: [ABANA] The Suppliers Search Mild-steel has a reputation for being easier to file, grind and sand than stainless, but again, I have not had the need to work with stainless. If you are proto-typing and need to make different versions, you might want to make your proto-types from mild-steel as it is easier to shape and costs much less. The only advantage that I can see from stainless is that the final product would likely to need to be made from stainless to sell to your target market of medical people. But if you are in the proto-type stage using mild steel for your experiments are likely to save you money, lots of grinding and shaping time, and your sanity. If you are near a blacksmith, someone with a forge that can hot shape iron, he/she could hot shape either create rough pieces for you to finish, or create and finish the exact shape(s) based on full-size drawings. He/she could even rough out a bunch of each basic shape in mild-steel for you to adjust with files in experiments with the final shape and finish. Thus you can save time and focus on your experiments rather than painstakingly making each variation from start to finish yourself. There are lots of options. While the finished product will likely need to be marketed as being made with stainless-steel, I really don't think that your first proto-types need to be made in stainless. But I could be wrong, and gasp, sometimes am wrong. But we will just keep that between the two of us. ;)

I don't see why you can't use your oscillating sander and other sanders from woodworking on your metal projects. Sanders are pretty much sanders. A decent set of files will allow you to round and finish edges in a safer and more controlled manner, although slower, than using power tools. It is hard to give advice as it is not clear *exactly* what you will be using them for and who will be using them. If I read your question correctly, you will be using them for a "similar" but not identical chiropractic treatment. I am not an expert, but it seems unlikely that you have insurance which will cover the manufacture of these instruments. On a separate but related note, if you are a Chiropractor, will your insurance cover the use or claimed damages from instruments that you have made yourself? I don't mean to be a wet blanket, but you know how some people are. Your project does not seem that complicated. Most of your items look as if they could be made simply using a set of sharp files (half-round, and flat), and maybe a bench grinder if you are in a hurry. Don't forget safety gear, really good goggles, full-face mask, ear protectors, gloves, and respirator are good for protecting your eyes, ears, and lungs from dust, noise, and flying metal. Visits to the eyedoctor and/or the emergency room are not fun.

A photograph would help us to see what might be causing it to tip over. However, in general blowers can be mounted either directly to a forge or separately with pipe legs, usually three pipe legs. I have a 2 foot square semi-portable Buffalo forge, bracket to attach a blower to the forge (that no one wanted, and I don't use) and a blower attached to a separate stand. Buffalo made sheet metal forges in three categories, and they used to be fairly available when I started blacksmithing as a hobby in the stone age. ;-) Those categories were portable or rivet-forge, semi-portable, and the stationary models. Bolting a rivet-forge directly to a blower intended for a semi-portable or stationary forge, would likely result in the forge/blower combination falling over. The large blowers tend to need the weight of a larger forge not to fall over. For using a large/standard-sized blower with a small forge, I recommend mounting it separately on its own legs. The pipe-legs on hand-crank blowers tend to be curved at the bottom, not straight. This curve on each leg widens the base and increases the stability of the blower. I hope that helps.

I used to just hold the pieces in my hand, but after a visit to the emergency room, I now *always* use a mechanical hold-down. For most drilling I position the hole in the drill-press table under the bit, and use a drill-press hold-down made by Vise-Grips that fits in the holes on the table. I also have a couple of the adjustable type vises that allow you to drill at the flat or an angle. I don't remember having any difficulties lining up its mounting holes with openings in the drill-press table. I am not an expert, but using bolts to mount the drill-press-vise to slots and/or holes in the table seems to be what the slots were designed for. While it looks like it might move within the slot while drilling, I have always found that bolting the vise or hold-down into a slot was secure depending on how tight the nuts were. I could be wrong, but I don't think so.

At the risk of being repetitious, I recommend joining your local blacksmithing group and trying out the equipment that other people have. Then you can make an educated decision. You can also find out what excess equipment members of the group may wish to sell or trade.

It looks like a good start for spark testing and dressing the ends of bars after cutting. Different grinders serve different purposes. Angle grinders, flap-wheels, belt-grinders also have other uses and can do things that the bench-grinder either can not do well, or would be unsafe for. Form follows function.

Every book? On one hand it is true that a brake drum and a piece of rail would work. In a similar vein, a teenager could try skateboarding by by attaching old metal rusty skate wheels to a bundle of sticks tied together. *However* if that teen's first experience with skateboarding was with a nice skateboard, he/she would more likely continue in the sport. Rusty wheels on a bundle of sticks would likely discourage all but the most determined of teens. The same is with blacksmithing. Find a local blacksmithing club and try their equipment before deciding what equipment to acquire. The better the equipment you have, and the better the instruction you have, the better experience you are likely to have, and the better informed decisions you can make on what equipment to acquire. That is my advice. KENTUCKY BLACKSMITHS' ASSOCIATION * Pres: Andy Bennet, Jr. PO Box 366 Brandenburg, KY 40108 (270) 422-3107 [email protected] * Ed: Larry Zoeller 4312 Lahnna Dr. Louisville, KY 40216 (502) 361-0706 [email protected] * The Kentucky Blacksmith Association : ABANA (Artist Blacksmith Association of North America) affiliate.

Excellent! Congratulations.

My apologies, that sounded like a definition to me.

I guess it depends how you look at the definition and use of words. To me, blacksmith means that someone is first of all working with black metal, ie iron/steel, and is smithing which means hitting, preferrably when hot. At least that is what it meant for hundreds of years. Tinsmiths, whitesmiths, coppersmiths also hit and shape metal. If I understand correctly, then your definition includes *anyone* who works with metal including Tinsmiths, goldsmiths, silversmiths, tinkers, whitesmiths, and coppersmiths. Personally, I believe that communication is more precise and more efficient if people are referred to by terms that refer to both the material they work with and the method they use such as hot "smithing" or by stock removal such as machinists. Otherwise we might as well refer to all our tools as generic "thingys" and all people who work in any metal as "metalworky folks"..... as in "Hey metalworky guy could you hand me the thingy from the pile of thingys over there?" ;-)

You could also contact these folks, as they seem to be closer to you than PABA. PITTSBURGH AREA ARTIST-BLACKSMITHS ASSOCIATION * Pres: John W. Steel 2063 Lovi Road Freedom, PA 15042 (724) 774-6757 [email protected] * Ed: Chris Holt 1630 Camp Meeting Rd. Sewickley, PA 15143 (412) 741-6171 [email protected] * Pittsburgh Area Artist-Blacksmiths Association

Hammer face, slightly convex. Sharp edges removed. Edges rounded according to your taste. See Hofi hammers for examples.

Please keep us informed about its durability.

I would have to agree that most potential customers don't care if the item touched a fire or was quality made. There are some exceptions, but how many people really want to afford something that was hand crafted. One of the local smiths started out as a purist, doing everything the traditional way. Over time he lowered his standards so that now he has metal laser-cut for him in bulk, then hits it just enough times with a hammer to say that it was forged (his description not mine). Also, 20 years ago, a skilled smith could make a living at blacksmithing because there were so few people doing blacksmithing. Now it is difficult to drive down the streets in my area without passing near a blacksmithing shop or three.

In my humble opinion, getting a good quality cast-iron firepot for coal or charcoal makes learning about blacksmithing greatly easier. See Centaur Vulcan Firepot with Sliding Ashgate-Centaur Forge for an example of a supplier of quality firepots. You can use anything from a hair-dryer to a bellows or commercial blower with these firepots. Well worth the investment of $179 dollars (plus shipping) in my opinion. Personally, I have been using an old Buffalo semi-portable forge and fire-pot that is much like the one sold by Centaur.

Same as the faucet on a sink.

Mechanize it. Check out examples using sledge hammers under the category of PowerHammers.

I would greatly appreciate being able to look at photographs.

Have you tried moving/adjusting where your pivot point is? Put a round bar on the table and set the weather vane on top of the round bar. Move the weather vane until it is balancing on the round bar. That is your balance point, and where you may want to attach your pivoting mechanism.

There is also something called "bellows cloth" that is used to repair the bellows in pump parlor organs (those piano like things that people used to have).

Is this "tire on the bottom design" your design are there plans with the tire on the bottom somewhere?