Whirly

That's a really nice looking piece and I'm sure your friend will treasure it, I know I would if it were given to me. Thomas' comments have weight, beer can/will do those things to a person, and a beer festival? Man, anything goes. Perhaps a hole in the end of the handle and a leather thong and hang it around his neck, to down near the waistline? Still useable and not easily misplaced/stolen.

Riiiiight......Mate, why am I hearing in the background the theme from "The Twilight Zone"? :lol: ...and John, there's a school for this stuff? :blink: Seriously, the chisels look good Sam. I'll have a go making some from that 9264 I picked up the other day. Used a piece and made up a fast&dirty one to make a touchmark and it works great on hot. Will see how it performs on cold metal and if any good, will go from there. Any ideas/diagrams of chisel points required? or just make up as needed? Haven't tried my hand at steel craving, so all new to me (which is great, something new to try.... I just love this site :wub: )

Cool tools Sam. They're now added to the list. The way this list is growing, I need to retire, so I can do all the stuff on there. The isolation out here is starting to show....I had to look up what a Totoro is and looks like...and I'm still not much more enlightened than when I started...Ah well.....

Hiya Pug, there 'sposed to be photos with that?

Paper and pen/cil, but more often than not chalk on top of the work bench....

Hi Greg, as ciladog has shown, there are tools you can get/buy to dress stones. I don't have them available to me and I too get xxxxxx off when I find someone has grooved the xxxx out of a stone in the workshop. With careful application you can work the grooves out with normal use, as in just keep using the wheels but work each side, with a view to achieving a flat face, until the groove/s are gone. If you need to use the full face of the wheel, then you can dress the face using something like a section of leaf spring, sliding back and forth until the face is flat. Again, as noted, the wheel will be smaller, so check the tool rest gap. You'll probably need to adjust it in.

G'day Harry, that stove is fantastic. Love it.....and Mate, I am definatley going to steal your idea :ph34r:. I have an old spherical Freon gas tank that I picked up years ago and have been tossing around different ideas on it's use...and now you've shown me the perfect job for it. Thanks :D

Yeah, that is a good looking bit of kit. Similar concept, but a bit flash for me to have a go at, as I don't have access to machining tools.

Great looking tools Basher! I too would enjoy a weekend being tutored in making these. Bit much salt water between us unfortunately.

G'day madmax, nice stuff. Like the shapes you've created. Particularly like the pot rack (I use an old wooden ladder) only thing I'd advise is make up some heftier pot hooks. Those don't seem to do the rack justice. Keep up the good work Mate.

Thanks Fellas, Multiweld, multigrips are just like another set of tongs, they're great and I use them, but they won't do it all. Francis thanks, the tong ends are only for those strange shaped things we sometimes make that none of the available tongs will hold properly/safely (Learnt about the right tongs for the job while making a knife. Was shaping the handle and holding the blade when a hammer-strike flicked the still-red knife up off the anvil and up to give me a kiss on the face. Took a couple of weeks for the burn to fade) Vaughn, good idea for keeping the jaws together. I should have drawn an indent in the jaws for the locking screw. i probably wouldn't use the through hole to hold the jaws as it may get 'slop' and burr the thread. As to construction, whatever works Mate. I'd go the second option, make a set of tongs and weld the jaw holders on. Judson, I think Vaughn has fixed your 'Lost jaw' problem with the hole and wire idea. As to things getting loose/worn, yeah proberbly if they were used all the time. I was thinking more along the lines of 'special/one-off' or rarely used applications. If they were a 'travelling' set then I'd use something tough to make the holders out of, like drill rod, sucker rod, etc.

Just Brilliant Mate!

The tong collection is slowly growing, as new shapes are required. Like these box-jaws I needed for 1" square bar. Then I followed a 'Tongs' post that lead me to Brian's 'Hold everything' tongs and I just had to make me some. These have got to be the absolute best tongs anyone can have in a shop. I've picked up all sorts of odd shaped bits of steel with these babies. They really are the Ducks nuts when it comes to tongs. They got me thinking about how many tongs we seem to need, and how often particular tongs get used. I regularly pick up two or three sets that cover most jobs and if they don't do it, I have to stop progress and make another set. So I was thinking of something like these, Perhaps this has been done before, but I reckon something along these lines would be useful. The 'bits' could be a standard sized square bar and whatever shape required could be forged or forged and welded on. Then when that 'one-off' set of tongs is required, just the 'bits' need be made. Would probably be good for travelling too as a box of 'bits/jaws' wouldn't take up as much room as an arm-load of tongs. Anyhow, just a thought at this stage.

That turned out really well. It's a great feature and I'm sure is now the focus of your deck. A new deck, most folk will look down and around and say "Nice deck", but with this they'll look around and lock onto your panel "Whoa, that's cool" and away you go with the talking point....

Thanks for posting that Rich. Good information to know for future reference, and I've just copied it into my "How To" file ;)

Thank Thomas, I'll give that a try. I'll pick up some boric acid next time I go into town, in a month or so.

Hmmm, just confirms that I've still got a lot to learn about steel types. Pretty much all I've used to date has come from scrap piles/dumps. Playing around with this stuff will hepl with the experience..and like MO, I'll be a little less blissfully ignorant. HW, it was a special run, for the new rail line through the NT a few years back and there will be heaps of these things around Thomas, for cutting edges, will this stuff weld into mild like other spring steels, or should I treat it differently? NJ, good to know as I need to make up some more hot/cold chisels. Will give it a go at making a touch mark as well and see how it performs thingmaker, thanks for the links...and if I don't have a kiln, which i don't, how would you treat this stuff? Any particular colour prioe to quench? (May have to try and get some of those Pyro crayons)

Ok, thanks fellas. Sounds like suck-it-and-see, which is pretty much what I was going to do, just thought I'd check if someone had experience using this stuff. Frank, it certainly is a spring steel, thanks much for the break-down. Larry, Frosty, yes, -tongs and chisels are on the agenda and perhaps a try at a blade to see how it shapes up Thanks again....

G'day All, would like some advice on some steel bar I've been given. Was visiting a saddler I know and commented on some great looking punches he'd made at his forge. He told me they were made from rail clips (18mm round bar) and he'd looked into the company who made them and the steel was 9264. Question is, apart from leather or wood working tools, what would this stuff be good for? Blades? Hawk/axe edge? hot/cold tools? include in a billet? Have mostly only worked with mild and spring steels to date and am not very knowledgable on steel types as yet. Thanks for any and all advice. (tried searching the site for info on this, but perhaps didn't look in the right place, so posting here)

Looks good, should be nice when finished. Post some pics of when she's done. Better be a good bow 'cause it looking like a good knife.

Great looking blade/s Mate. May have to try my hand at something along those lines in the future...dim, distant future at this stage, what with all the other things I want to make... Good to see you using trigger safety even when goofing around.

Holster? I usually use them for hand-guns.......anyhow, nice job on the knife antigoth, and the leatherwork, just like metalwork or any other work, just gets better with practice. Something I've found works well when making sheaths (and holsters for that matter) is; make a blank of the blade, or grease the blade up then soak your leather for awhile in water and it will be easy to mould around the shape of your steel. Let it dry in place and then punch the holes for stitching. Keep up the good work.....

Glen, it can be all of those things, depends on where you're looking at it from I guess. Personaly I won't call myself a Blacksmith 'cause I haven't done an apprentiship in the trade. I weld pretty good, real good, but I won't claim to be a Boilermaker, I can build in timber and make furniture, but arn't a Cabinet Maker or Carpenter, for the same reason- haven't done the training time. I say when asked "I've been doing some Blacksmithing" and elaborate from there. What is Blacksmithing to me? A whole new world of possibilities....and I have to say it's this site and the people on it who make 'smithing possible, interesting and rewarding for just about anyone who wants to try their hand at it. I'm lovin' it!!!

Sam, Daniel, thanks. The stuff I have is not so much a lift rod as in oil well pump, but rather a spinning drive rod to turn a water pump impeller down a bore hole. It too makes for good tong material and spark tests well so may be good material for blades also if H & T properly. Will need to do a bit of research into what steel it is. Thanks agin Fellas for the sucker rod info.

sparky, if that's the first thing you've ever forged, then good on ya Mate. I'd possibly reduce the 'hump' on your dropped point a bit. What did you make it out of? Look forward to seeing it cleaned up. You should have some of the knife Gurus/bladesmiths commenting and they'll give you good advice. Well done!