henerythe8th

What size tube are you talking about? What sort of radius/radii? You say that it will be a long piece of tube... ...that leads me to believe that this will have a large radius. If that's the case then a rolling mill, taking more than a single pass would likely do the trick... I have a cheap, Chinese version, but it wouldn't be difficult to make one either. You could likely, though I haven't tried it yet...fill with dry sand, weld caps on end (but don't seal, or leave/drill a hole to prevent pressurization) heat in forge or with large torch and bend to shape. You likely don't need thick wall for this job...that's good. Let us know your process and the results, will you? Henry

Depends on what you're doing, more than likely... If you are twisting a piece of hot rolled square bar then you are likely "weakening" it. Why? It's about stress/strain and the cross-sectional properties of the piece, not to mention straightness. All things being equal, if you take a piece of "perfectly straight" rod and apply a compressive, or shortening load to it, it will be "stronger" than one that is a bit bent. Keep in mind, however, that if you apply enough force to it, that straight bar will "cripple" catastrophically. If you applied the same load to a similar bar with a bit of a bend, chances are it's going to start to move with less force, but you'll likely notice it before it gets to those levels. Realistically, most of what we make is not loaded anywhere near what it can take (excluding knives, 'hawks and such), impact loads can create a huge amount of stress... From a bending perspective, still considering the HR square bar, the quench that the steel is put through will likely modify the properties of the material more than the twist will modify the the properties of the cross-section... ...this could become a huge discussion, with many different opinions... Let's see where it goes! Henry PS--Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering...

Lat, Chances are you can't "fix" your twist... If you mess with them, you'll mess them up! you need to make sure that you have them heated consistently because the steel will work more/easier where the temp is higher. I generally use a twisting jig and my small Hybridburner as a handheld torch to heat where I want, then twist... Henry

Sometimes we forget about what the object is... ...and I may be confused. Not abnormal for me ! If the goal is threaded wood, not making the tool to do it then check out: http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=41791&cat=1,43000 you might have to cut and paste... Sometimes it's also prudent to look at different ways to tackle the same job. The link could provide inspiration for making your own. To purchase this tool is a bit spendy--but it may be worth the time... H the 8th

I have to agree w/ Candid Q... DRY WOOD! Let it burn, don't choke your stove down too far. Seal the chimney joints at the thimble--they sell the stuff to do it with at the woodstove or hardware store. Just be VERY careful! A chimney fire can get get hot enough to catch your wood framing on fire that is adjacent to a brick chimney! That's danged hot, man! Creosote is a byproduct of a poor fire...

Way to go yyear! I was getting ready to make a similar offer... You pay for the postal service pre pay box and I'll send you one that's a GENUINE ASO made from RR track. Just waiting to be used... Henry

The other thing that you could do would be to take your current furnace (some call it a forge--which is actually open topped) outdoors with enough pipe to make a new burner and burn off the zinc in your furnace. In all actuality, you could likely burn the zinc off with a charcoal brazier... Like others have said--the zinc vapors-gases-what have you-- can kill you!!! Then you can build a new burner from your now "black pipe". It'll turn black eventually after you knock off the zinc oxide... If you aren't concerned about the zinc fumes do a search on this site or elsewhere in the blacksmithing community on PawPaw Wilson. He WAS a well loved man, from what I've read... H the 8th P.S. Don't poison anyone else with that zinc stuff either! If you burn it off, do it in an open area well away from people, open windows, etc.

While TDY is Korea years ago, I witnessed egg delivery guys on "deuce and a halfs"-slang for heavily built bicycles- with four feet of egg flats front and rear...

Check out the sellers feedback. It's good, but the first item showing is a 106# Hay Budden with a single bid for $500! Nice anvil, but it's not made of silver or GOLD! H

...if this works out the way that it sounds like it will... Those machinist types will find items manipulated by "non-machining" methods interesting and would love to receive items in exchange for more materials, I'd bet... ...may pay off as Xmas gift buyers, etc. too!

I'd like to have one to use! A bit of a critique on your explanation, though... Your blade has a convex shape! Your slack belt had a concave shape while forming that profile. If you remember cave goes in--you'll always get it right... H 8

Only a couple of things on the face of this planet I'd say that about! Mice are one of them! Paper wasp/meat bee/hornets are another... One good reason to dislike mice immensely is that I've been told that they have no bladder and leak urine everywhere they go! Imagine that! Peanut butter is a tried and true bait for traps. No need for string, etc. usually! Get the right kind of trap that a bit of peanut butter will be forced into the bait holder--many of the traps today also have an adjustable set/trip pressure deal. The other slightly more expensive traps that have a pair of teeter totter ramps-one on each end work great too! Like someone else said--place along walls. And turn off all of the lights. Mice love the dark--you will catch most mice in the first couple of minutes of turning off the lights. Another deterrent that worked for me recently was DRYER SHEETS! I had a car parked outside -- no transmission -- for over a year. When I parked it I put three unused dryer sheets in the car and NO MICE! YEA! Ladies post, on the internet, about 1,000,001 uses for those danged dryer sheets--this one appears to work! H 8

Many of the things that we do in our shops have hazards--some of them not immediate--- ...for instance-NOISE! generally won't hurt you straight away--but after a few years or so, you're likely to develop the "huhs?" That's when someone says something that you can't make out and you say, "Huh?" There are many wonderful things that we like to continue to see, but hearing is a wonderful sense to preserve, too. I don't LIKE to wear protection! I LIKE seeing and hearing! I wear my protection, usually in my preferred form--a hard hat with flip up visor and ear muffs. I think that the setup cost about $80, but boy is it convenient. Not necessary to roll up those ear plugs and get your ears all grubby with your dirty hands, no need to hunt for your glasses. Put the hard hat on, when you need the shield and muffs flip them down... Henry

That's a fine looking knife, Jens! Do you do your own leatherwork/what kind of sheath? Henry

Another way to avoid cords in the middle of the shop space is to use hanging receptacles. The shop that I'm in came with three of them from one of the previous owners. Funny though, they are all at different heights and you can turn around and run your snot locker right into one if not careful... My plan is to modify these... Add chain, bungee and a pulldown cord with a light knob just at a reachable height. That way I can reach, pull down, plug in and let go... ...no more suprise nose knocks...

It's kind of weird, but many times the information regarding the destruction of a piece of equipment is more in depth than the info on how to use it... ... on pieces of equipment that could potentially be used by the enemy. When I was in the Air Force, I had to learn how to disable an industrial sewing machine to be qualified to use it...

Chris, I know that you want to go in informed. I don't know your client, but you might not be surprised to find that his art deco building is really an art nouveau building. My guess is that unless this building was "stripped" that your best resource for style may well be the building itself and it's fixtures, of course... ...just another thought...

Chris, I don't have any actual references... ...but I did Google "art deco iron" and there are a lot of examples via that avenue... Henry

I took a quick glance at the .pdfs and the first thing that I noticed was that there were no "members" to mount the springs of the axles to. My best advice would be to go to the local dealer and look their new trailers over real well. The people that mass produce those types of things have them pretty well figured out. I'm not saying that you have to use the same size material, etc. I am just saying that they're pretty good at what they do and the methods to get from here to there... Henry

I just did a web search on "solid spare tire" and only came up with a few hits for EXPERIMENTAL or alternatives to our "normal" spare tires... Are you sure that there is no valve stem on that tire? I've been working on cars for a long time and have owned over 200 different cars and NONE of them have had a solid spare tire... For a while there were cars that had spares with folded sidewalls that had to be inflated with a can of air. The space saver spares look like the one in the pictures here...

Welcome! Look around, there's a lot to read and see. For inspiration--start with the gallery, for instruction--read posts and check out the blueprints, for a good time--read the stories & blacksmith jokes... Henry

Howdy Patrick, There is a lot of knowledge and experience to be shared here. Don't be afraid to share what you know or what you are learning... ...hopefully, we can learn from each others mistakes as well as our accomplishments... Henry

For quite a while I have considered any powered wire brush to be one of, if not THE most dangerous tool in the shop! Similar to Mr. Smith, I had a very baggy set of overalls on--price was right at a yardsale--and ended up winding up and tearing a large chunk of denim at belly level (thank goodness I didn't have that part of the overalls full! ) with an angle grinder with flat brush in it. Really, when you get right down to it . . . NO TOOL IS DANGEROUS!!! Unless of course it's the TOOL that you see in the mirror every morning... WE TOOLS, have to make sure that we are aware, cautious, etc.

Gobbler, Awesome looking tool. I want to build one, too. But it will have to wait, things are a bit messy in my life at the moment... An explosion blanket? How much does the spring compress? Will a blanket get in the way? Would it be helpful to place a well anchored, righteously sized, piece of slack wire rope through the center to catch the big chunks? When you make your guard I'd recommend making it easy to install/remove -- maybe spring pins through "posts" or "pegs" and to develop an inspection checklist--down and dirty to be employed often... For example: 1) Everything looks generally good 2) No burrs or major deformation of hammer/anvil 3) No visible damage/cracks in spring 4) Electrically sound 5) Guards in place etc, etc Just helps the rest of us share in your long term advice and knowledge--keep you around longer... Henry

Mike, Mr. Kinyon has made some fairly major modifications to his "latest" hammer. He had one of them at the ABANA conference and the latest issue of ABANA's Hammers Blow has quite a few pictures. You might want to check out the photos and read the article. The article says that the new design takes care of some of the shortcomings of the previous design(s) and that you should be able to operate the new hammer with a 5hp compressor--the new design uses less air... Henry