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I Forge Iron

Stephen Olivo

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Everything posted by Stephen Olivo

  1. if you care to see all the tools I have made for my shop take a look at my galary on ipneto.deviantart.com I have made almost all the tools that I use.
  2. Well frosty maybe next time :D Hey I wasn't comenting on the video. I think it was well done. Just trying to help the person understand what they were seeing and some other tricks to it. More than one way to skin a cat and all.
  3. Larry H nice to meet you too. bigfootnampa I agree there are more efficient ways to make one. I forgot to mention that way of making a rivit head. I have done it that way using a cup tool (rivit header) as the backup for the bottom and the key to that one is flipping it after each hit and rotating it (kinda like patting your head and rubbing your belly at the same time). The vice inserts I talked about is probably better if your going to make a lot of one size ahead of time because you can use a torch to heat it up then head it and cut it to a preset length with a vertical bandsaw.
  4. Notice he is constantly fixing the bend on the anvil surface after a little bit of upsetting. Yes this works in real life. You want the heat on the very end and you want to constantly turn the bar as you upset to even out the upset and the moment you notice a bend in the steel you want to fix it. (kind of a 2 steps forward 1 step back sorta deal) Ideally as he upsets the head in the header you want to turn it and strike it each time from a different direction so you don't upset it to much to one side of the shaft of the rivet. You can also upset over the edge of the anvil by sliding the stock in your left hand over the anvil and just as it passes the far edge of your anvil having your hammer swing and hit it just over the far side of the anvil (this relates to the two cars hitting each other at 50 miles an hour as opposed to hitting a brick wall at 50 miles an hour it also saves your shoulder by absorbing the energy of the impact in the impact instead of in your shoulder. In all cases when upsetting you want to strike from a different direction each time to even out mistakes and upset it as evenly as possible, this can be done by either turning the stock as you strike it or walking around the stock as you strike it. You can also take two pieces of angle iron, clamp them in a drill vice with a piece of card stock between them and drill out the size of stock our going to use. To make one in that tool you just heat up the end and place it in the round hole between plates in the vice with the just under 1 and a half diameter length sticking up from the plates clamp the plates in a vice and upset the end down into a head by walking around it and striking the end. You can then clean it up with a cup tool (otherwise known as a rivet header) Upsetting is just that upsetting. You may be striking it to hard or the end might not be square with the shaft. The heat might be still to long for the size of shaft (think 1 and 1/2 diameter of stock = length of material for an upset usually just under is better) I suggest trying it with just a little bit of heat on the very end and light blows till you get the hang of rotating the stock and fixing the bends that happen. Many hardy tools can be made in this way with stock that is just over the hardy hole size and then tapered down to fit. As it is upset down into the hardy hole it creates a shoulder. That is just the same thing only with larger stock. Mark asperys first book I think has some good pictures and info on upsetting. I hope that helps.
  5. bigfootnampa Unless your using a softened hammer to strike it. Most of my tools are now fully hardend and tempered and they must be struck with a softened hammer. This makes dressing the struck ends a non issue and only once in a while you have to dress the soft hammer face (read annealed hammer) This also makes remaking tools a less often chore. This does however mean you have a special hammer just for striking tools and a soft face and a hard face on your sledgehammer. (and you have to know the difference and use appropriately :D) But after having to dress 60 or so hand tools each year or more not including my set tools, I had to find a better way.
  6. often for picking up a coal to light ones pipe. I don't remember where that tidbit of info came from......I wish I could remember.
  7. I prefer a wood handle made by myself. They are very simple so easy to replace and take only a rasp (or belt sander) and saw to make. The size can be made to fit my hand very nicely. The raw wood with a rasped finish keeps any blisters from forming on my hand throughout a long day. The rectangular shape with two opposing corners removed gives me more control over the hammer and keeps it from twisting in the hand so it promotes a relaxed two fingered grip. The uniformity of the handle also means a comfortable right sized grip from the base of the handle almost all the way to the hammer head so no matter where I find i need to grip the handle it fits my hand. I can also get my hand on wood in many different raw shapes that cost me nothing so cheep simple and comfortable my preference is wood.
  8. A simple fuller can be made in the hardy hole of your anvil or if you have a swedge block you can make it in one of the larger holes there. I made my first one that still serves me today although it has been used heavily for the size of it by myself with a 10lbs sledge and upset a piece of mild steel in the hardy hole. The surface is casehardened. My second one was butchered out of a truck axle with a large flange on it and forged. Second was done with the help of my striker. I have also seen a plate welded on to an old sledge hammer.
  9. My friend welded up a mobile rack for me a while back that has been very usefull
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