Timothy Miller

What you are are proposing is a whole bunch of work and the results will be less than perfect.  The idea of a cone mandrel is to produce smooth round rings most likely what you produce will not be smooth and round.  It takes a lot of skill to to forge plate into a smooth and true cone.   Many very skilled smiths would flat out refuse to try what you are proposing for good reason.  Do you really even need a cone mandrel.  I have one and I am a full tome professional smith it gets used about twice a year.  More often than not I make a quicky form for the job at hand.

If you consider the height the ram would need to be plus the tooling the screw seems about right for that size frame.  I have seen drawings of fly presses like that in old books for cutting saw teeth in s saw makers shop.

It is missing the ram and guides.  It is about %75 of a fly press.  The holes in the frame were to hold the guides.  Good luck you have a bit of a project on your hands.

You would need to establish what kind of steel you are dealing with first.  Then temper it to a very tough temper. 

I have never seen one of those before and I am a serious tool collector.  Its stuff like this that keeps me coming back to this site.

 This is %#@Q?D unfair!!!

 

There is a man around here who has an old-new swage block. He does not use it. He will not sell it. At any price. Now around here these things are very, very rare. And some guys have pyramids of them ... shocked I am.

 

Still, congrats on your find.

I have 3 and I have sold a few over the years.  After a wile the tools just come and you start wondering do I really need 10 anvils and a side yard full of rusty stuff.

Heading up this afternoon

My advise is don't pick it up by your self.

That is not a Trenton it is a fisher they were made in Trenton.  They have some value if they are complete, the missing parts are hard to replace without advanced machining skills.  

Timothy your absolutely right! I have a monster that we have had for 50 years. We use it regularly. I just found 5 more today and have no use. Gonna keep 1 and have to unload rest. Swage block comes in handy as well routinely.

Sorry my bad I guess I am a bit sensitive because the guy who does my CNC cutting thinks I live in the stone age because I do forging. he keeps his anvil on his desk and thinks its a quaint old toy. So lets see some pictures there are many NY members here that would want to see what you got. New anvils go for 5 bucks a pound and up.

I would not be so dismissive of the value of an anvil in a welding shop.  You may not see then as relevant in a modern shop but in the hands of a skilled workman many things can be done, with out the need of expensive machines that require set up and more effectively than banging on a layout table.  I would set up one and not use it a cutting/grinding/welding stand.  Even in the most modern shop there are issues that come up that require good hard surface to pound on. 

A recent yard sale find. A little piece of Long Island history here in iron. This is an summer eel spear or eel gig forged in the Fordham Blacksmith shop in Sag Harbor by J.W. Fordham. It is from the late 19th century they made eel spears and other fishing gear form the 1820's up until the early 20th century. There tools are known by the distinctive rolled socket. These are rare and collectable. Winter eel spears look different they have hooks not barbs. You can see in the last photo that the tines are held in the mortise with a wedge that is riveted in place.

Buy it all. figure out how to use it later.  I would need to see pictures to give you guidance on price.

I wouldn't think it next to useless, without that screw and cross piece it would be next to useless but as it is it would be much better than no vise at all. Yes, whoever did that could have finessed it a little better, like put a spring of some sort to open the jaws, maybe a coil spring from an intake vale off of a 70GMC, that's work to open the jaws. And they could have put a sleeve of some kind to keep the screw centered in the back jaw, but next to useless, naw, I have seen the time I'd a give the left portion of my anatomy for a vise near that good.

But how would you attach it to a bench? 

Bobby is a real fun guy on top of his outstanding talent.

Looks next to useless in that configuration.  I would agree it is a cider press screw or wine press.

There is nothing nice about a skull cracker just my two cents.

So when you flatted RR spike falls out of your Chanel locks and burns a hole through your pants scaring your leg for life you can say the pain was subjective and as good as any other feeling.  

The more I forge the less and less I see as subjective in the craft.  Much of what we do is governed by science, physics, well practiced technique, and visual/intellectual understanding of forms found in our world.  The people who embrace skill and knowledge will always be better craftspeople. 

Love it Frank.

Life is pretty simple, Ron, The possibility to heat metal and move it to creative will has been around longer than these methods devised. It has it's own way of being. Our understanding of things will always be subjective, but not of greater or lesser quality than any other person's subjective experience. 

Don't let my assertions upset you, you needn't confirm your beliefs with my physical injury. Something that is true will stand on its own, regardless of other conditions. 

Continue believing your ways and doing what you do with complete joy. It doesn't matter what you do or what you believe, just do it with joy. If it is not done with joy, it is not worth doing.

What have you been smoking? Tongs are demonstrably better than Chanel locks.  Carbon steel with known properties is better than unknown scrap for making knives.  I take joy in a job well executed with a quality product at the end of it.  Sorry to harsh your buzz dude. 

I honestly don't know why I attempt to contribute anything to this forum... All of you seem to know everything or can find it on GOOGLE... 

 

I'm done with the ignorance and insolence of neck-bearded keyboard jockeys...

 

Enough said.

Doc is not a neck bearded keyboard jockey he has something like 40 years of forging under his belt.   

Just remember hardened steel jaws protect the vise from damage and keep the jaws from deforming so they grip evenly.  Brass copper or aluminum jaw covers are there to protect the work.  This is best practice biased on 100's of years of collective metal working experience.  Dismiss this at your own risk.   

I would go with W1 tool steel because it should be long wearing in this application, its easy to get and you can quench it in water.  Second choice would be O1.  

I would suggest finding a vise and mounting it properly and perhaps a few files and a hack saw.   if you master these tools you will see few limits.