MOblacksmith0530

I had never looked at them. I did take a look online after I read this and I see a radius at the transition that may be in the way and wedge into tht tool holder or have to be removed. you could also put a slight chamfer in the tool holder to prevent this. As far as welding the s and H steels I have used simple mig wild steel and then anealed the weld. Heat the whole thing up and then put it down into wood ash with the tool end exposed it will not get full hard that way so be careful of that. I do have one slitter I use to cold groove mild steel and I made it out of s-5. I just welded it and did not heat treat after in any way and it has held up for a couple years. most of the force is straight down so it seems this is good enough. I have made some tools for decorating the edges of bars by welding ball bearings to the bolt heads with the mig and let them air cool. They are tough enough to easily make the mild steel with little or no wear over a few thousand impressions. Just set the spacing to different widths and weld them on the bolt head.

My phone when I think to look, otherwise as stated above nature or the boss.

I am considering a click on and click off foot pedal. I can carry the steel to the fire and step on it to start the air and then when I return to take it off step on it to turn it back off. I often return the steel to the fire to heat and go pick and place the next tools etc. then my hands may be full and it means I leave the blower on when not necessary as my hands are occupied. Has anyone had any luck finding a foot switch like this? Of course I am looking for cheap if possible.

Wow fantastic stuff. I appreciiate you time in getting these out for us to see.

In my opinion the best way is as the others mentioned and that is to fold it over and forge weld it. It is the easiest type of weld to do and you know your fire will get hot enough since you burned stock in it. Get some borax from your local grocery store or wally world and have some fun. Remmeber ot forge weld you need a deep clean fire without to much blast and with patience, Don't hit too hard when you start the weld.

Speaking of moving anvils my brother and I were making some pins and wedges for a timber job and we were upsetting the heads on some 3/4 bar and by the time we had headed two pins we had walked the 275 lb anvil and stand about a foot and a half across the floor. I normally like my anvil free so I can reposition for bigger work if needed but I may consider locking the feet. The anvil is loose on the stand just trapped on the sides of the feet.

One other thing to consider before you grind/flap wheel the face is to look closely at the dings. Tf they have raised metal around them which they should unless they have been hammered down, take a small hammer and using the flattest face hammer around the dings to bring the metal down and then take a flap wheel or whatever to it gently without trying to grind them out and then use it. It sounds like your damage is minor in size if not volume.

one quart of boiled linseed oil, 1 pint spar varnish, one golf ball sized piece of beezwax, put in a douple boiler an dheat until the beezwax melts. remove allow to cool and add 1 qt of turpentine. THis can be put on cold but a slightly warm piece is even better. Wipe it on an d wipe it off. Good for interior work. Also be sure to use real spar varnish not the poly spar varnish.

Good looking tongs. I am going to have to make a piar with that angular look to them I made mine years ago with rounded areas when those have angles and they work well, but those are cool looking and would be easy to spot on the tong rack.

He must be a masochist or sumpin. Heck my arms hurt with a wooden handled sledge once in a while when I get it in a death grip, can't imagine the pain in the vibrations from a steel pipe.

Looks good, now get you some one inch bolts and start making your tooling...... they ar ekind of like spring tools for the power hammer you can never have enough..:)

Okay here is how I do it. It is like making a pair of box jaw tongs (Thanks to Williamsburg smiths who described it to me some years ago) You need to decide on the size of the hole finished. Then you are going to slit a hole to that size or slightly under but offset along the bar length to get the right angle. Take a protractor and scribe two lines on the side of the bar at the angle you want the finished hole to be, at the width of the finished hole. Transfer those marks to the side of the bar to be slit using a slitting chisel (not a slit punch) to cut halfway through from both sides and at an angle if you can because that will keep the interior of the hole cleaner although if you are putting soething through it you won't notice. Make sure your slits are not past the lines at all and maybe just a bit short. Then you can reheat and clamp in a vise and drive a drift through at the correct angle. I would do this with a flat or oval drift smaller than the finished size then you can reheat and drive the final drift through. The issue you may have is to hold it while you do the drifting as it will want to move because of the angle you are hitting at. I would drift from both sides a litte at a time over either an open vise or a slot in a block. good luck

Another reason for what Whirly said is you will be able to grab the spike close to the head, with the head inside the jaws closer to the pivot. I would try to get them to almost a 90 degree bend right behind the bit if you can.

I use a tool to roll the barrel of the hinges. It is simple device I use in the vice. I use 3/8 plate for the device and weld a piece of round stock the diameter I want the pin to be onto one side of the plate at one end that is parallel to the end. The pin/roundstock does not extend beyond the plate. P then put a 90 degree bend in the hinge stock with enough left to wrap completely around the hinge and also enough left for the weld eith the scarf already on the end. I then heat up the piece for the hinge and clamp it and the tol in the vice with the piece to be bent under the pin and clamped tight aganst the top of the vice jaws. I quickly bend the piece over the top if the tool and tap it down tight to the side and top of the pin of the tool. Take it out and reheat it with a mandril on hand, put the mandrel into the hinge socket and lay it over the far edge of the anvil and forge it down to complete the hinge socket. Then weld it if desired and drift teh hole.

Weld up that center drill hole or it will start a cold shut in my humble opinion.

I have been making standard bodkin points since I saw John Murray do them years ago and I also make two blade broadhead type with the rolled socket and it is a lot like making a leaf only in high carbon. I like the look of the Tudor type but it almost looks line it was made out of hollow form. Think rolling a socket but a lot longer and welded of course then put a long taper into the socket and pinching the sides down against the taper. I don't know just thinking out loud here.

It shore is purty, Nice catch.

I had not heard of the safety sally's. I am currently working at a site on my full time job and they are safety freaks, Way beyond practical safety, I won't go into the details but I dubbed them safety witches in my mind. They are working very hard to justify their existence and the management is supporting it. I had to have the plant electrician disconnect the power and it took him over an hour to mark out the work area and put up all the safety gear for a five minute job. A spotter to keep traffic away would have served the same function and would have saved them at least 45 minutes of labor. Oh well they are paying my company over 100 per hour to have me stand around I guess I can't complain.

WOW! What a level to aspire to...

Like said above it cannot be too big and if it is small you will have to expand it. About the minimum I would try to work in would be 15 by 15. That is what I ask for for demo's and it is pretty tight. I get more if I can so I can display some items as well. Frosty's idea of the cutouts works well that is how I did the base layout for mine years ago. Your eye can spot issues with the layout and size pretty quickly. One clarifier I would add is to make two set one of just the equipment and one of the equipment plus working space. Best of Luck.

Yup blame the tools:)

I make almost all of my daily use tongs out of sucker rod. That being said I have a few pairs made out of mild steel that I I can adjust either cold or hot quickly for a particular task. I agree about the light weight. I think it is best to use as light a pair of tongs as you can get away with especially if you are using them under a power hammer it helps if they have some give.

I started off in the garage. Within months moved out to the 16 by 16 shed, worked in that for a few years until I couldn't stand everything so cramped together. Then built a 30 by 50 and it is too small. I would suggest you start off with a really wide building (meaning with long trusses) and then you can add on over the years by adding more trusses.

The guillotine fuller in the pick looks good but I have done mine a little different. I would use the angle iron vertically and make sure it is wide enough to keep the upper parallel to the lower. I also weld a block to the top to hit on so I don't wear out the blade, the block is directly over the area I most use to hit on so I don't put too much torque on the pivot bolt. And put a large radius lengthwise where you will do most of your work and it will tend to keep the work under the tool instead of trying to spit it out the end. When mine is in the lowest hole the blades of the guillotine they are parallel and the radius gives about 1/3 inch clearance between top and bottom. I have made all my blades out of leaf springs in the as forged state (after straightening)

OR bar and chain oil dang it!