David Gaddis

Not all communities have equal resources. For instance the local EDM shop id 50 miles away...and I forget the hourly rate and minimum setup fee but it is very expensive...and we have a local waterjet but it demands 285 bucks an hour! well the situation is that neither place want our little projects!

Forging a square hole through a thick plate of steel is rather simple in description..and only slightly more complicated. A good striker at a good working height, with a good heat and a good tool...equals a good project.

Carry on

Dave your production is well balanced to its proportion...just the right amount of open air  countered with collaring. And those lines and corners of yours show that you are truly becoming a smith's smith.

Congrats my young friend.

Carry on

You will not need a ball fuller. As you work the metal down...holding the anvil tool sideways...the tool takes on a new shape. You continue around the edge colapsing it...more and more. Soon you see there is a hollowing appear right in the middle of the anvil tool. Of course there may be some touching up.

One of the secret things that happens  with these tools comes from rotating positions of the stock. While the stock is hot and being hit, you move the piece 180 degrees occasionally, and strike from different positions too. Look at some of Brian's videos and notice how often the striker moves from one side to the other...and between heats the newly forged hammer head is rotated too. kinda like a snake dance..that is where the magic happens.

The cupping tool is not perfect in its shape. The hammer get perfected by striking..re-positioning...striking...re-positioning. It is a matter of averaging. If you do not lift the hammerhead and re-position often you project is gonna get lopsided.

Alec ...you try to explain that cupping tool.

What is the rebound test show at this point?

The answer may be relevant to many to exemplify what happens when one uses the hard facing rods on "regular" steel.

There were postings of that information but I would like to read your input and results....probably others too.

Carry on

double entry

It would only take one time to witnes the messup. 

You actually must move metal around in all dimensions...so if you had a 1 in hole then theoretically there would be no metal moved from that position. And there could be a stress point there too...but not likely to be life threatening in this condition.

As you drive the properly shaped drift through the hole...which can be as large as 7/8...metal will be upset in the form as a bulge upward and downward. With the 7/8 hole the amount of upset metal is not such a bad thing...and can be plannished down flat.

Now this may seem strange. It was to me too until Brian, Lyle and myself put a 1 in square hole in 3 inch thick metal with a 7/8 in two heats! The whole project from cold start to cold finsh 2 hours complete.

Remember to drive the drift back through when quite cool to plannish the inside of the hole and perfect the dimension. Your drift should be correctly made too..ie.. the top of the tool should be longer than the thickness of the project.

Before starting the project be sure to "index" the hole from and back by "bruising" the round hole with the square drift. Here the square is aligned to be correct front and back. There is the possibility that you may have to drift from either end should something go wrong. If it does go awry then the square is correct front and back and the hole will not have a twist. 

good luck...

and yeah...weld long heavy bars on each end to be used as tools to handle the hot material. When heating start slowly...or you will burn the outside. Well you will not be able to see it because the thick wide metal on top. It is very easy to burn the outside though.

carry on

Not all coils spring is 1/2 inch. Should you be able to access a good scrap place then you may find some coils of near 13/16 and above. They may come from some of the suburbans and larger pickup trucks. One ton Dodge pickups use a big spring too. In repair shops the mechanics change out those items because they have lost their "spring height" so a vehicle sits unevenly. The shop just wants scrap price for the materials. Trading with "trinklets" such as leaf key holders helps insure the deal.

Good luck

Carry on

Not all coils spring is 1/2 inch. Should you be able to access a good scrap place then you may find some coils of near 13/16 and above. They may come from some of the suburbans and larger pickup trucks. One ton Dodge pickups use a big spring too. In repair shops the mechanics change out those items because they have lost their "spring height" so a vehicle sits unevenly. The shop just wants scrap price for the materials. Trading with "trinklets" such as leaf key holders helps insure the deal.

Good luck

Carry on

Looks like it should be in a movie. I think I can see Freddy or Jason...

Carry on

Ed told me all you did was sit on the side and take pictures while consumming fluid products. Ha!

Come see us some time for some more forging fun in the shop.

Carry on

How about posting some pics with comparisons to other things...then possibly some dimensions. I could do it but I am not sure it is really worth the trouble.

And the biggest trouble maker of the project could be the box with the internal threads. Those guys..big trusshead or acme style threads are contankerous in the internal threading department.

Carry on

Bigfoot...since you live in one of those other places so then catch and release is preferred....But down here in Mississippi we practice catch and fillet!

Carry on

welcome to the place that welcomes those learning the craft of smithing!

from now on there are gonna be lots of questions answered for you here...and you can ask the questions for advise too.

good luck

CARRY ON

yeah...the big ole guy from Michigan loves that purple-surple color. I have seen him attempting to claim other persons tools by using that color. Believe it or not....Go to the TryingIt headquarters in Illinois and your witness that feat.

So watch out for RT

Carry on

Dave..You have some grand kids you are not telling us about?

Carry on

AND your project is great one!

I do not think you can beat on unsupported metal and expect to get any satisfaction.

Example...metal is supported by the anvil when you strike from top.

Contradiction...tinworking technique: hammer half the sphere (flat stock) into a spherical depression (support) OR hammer half a sphere (flat stock) over top of spherical anvil object (support)

Funny thing about this example was a guy near here that made cylinder ends for large tanks...say 8 or 10 feet in diameter. Started in morning everyday with nothing but a big hammer and a tree stump. At the end of the day was a half sphere ready to be torch trimmed for a tank.

Carry on

well if you use it consider yourself "connected" to history through the smithing craft. I will bet you can feel someone's heartbeat from using that item. May you be able to enjoy your new connection.

Carry on

Since making my first guillotine others have introduced me into a better design,

Here is a fuller with 1/2 inch diameter dimensions.

This is a fuller of the 3/4 inch diameter style

a square shoulder fuller

heavy duty butcher style

Tenon rig that has not been perfected. The shoulders are too sharp, and perhaps the material too thin.

All of the items are attached onto the re-usable multi-tool via clevis bolts or regular 1/2 dia bolts. Are parts had been heated and normalized/ annealed in hydrated lime powder. All welds were made with TIG Welding

Hopefully they will serve me well or will be first thing up for Iron in the Hat at the forge council meetings.

Constructive or critique comments are appreciated.

Carry on

Dave...Take Brian's post as a compliment.

There are also compliments coming from us that view your progress.

Carry on

What size stock did you work with? approx finsihed dimension?

Carry on

A well tallented torch man could cut that out and never ruin one thread. In the past we did that same thing on farm and construction machinery frquently. But there must be a hole open on the other end too for proper results. Time required: about 10 minutes, including pulling out the hoses and putting them back up., tip already very sharply clean though.

Carry on

I think that fun part will disappear faster that a leprechan when making a billet. But then again I am not a blade guy. I do like striking some for hammers. Looking forward to striking when the doctors release me in May. Yipppeee

Carry on

Looks nice...but where are the drink holders?

Still very nice though.

Carry on

In our part of the world those points are welded in place on many farm tools referred to as harrows or do-alls or drags. I think the idea of  Mr Powers is correct: replace the points.

Anyone putting a shank that dimension into a granite based soil mixture for 6  arenas 2 times a week should accept the fact that depletion is a factor. He should consider purchasing an additional drag unit so that one could be in the repair shop at convenient timing schedules. Most of those drags are quite in-expensive here in Mississippi. But everything costs more on the Left Coast.

Carry on

Sooooo what is the real price?

Price for the special regulators?

Price for standard torch?

Price for o/a  or o/p welding tips?