rlarkin

I have done a lot of experimenting doing my BBQ tools. 1/4" cold rolled. Lots of twists, with forged handles and business ends. Vinegar bath for a couple days, then wire wheeled, and wipped with acetone. As stated above, must be real clean. Any oils of finger prints create HOT SPOTS that are a B**** to get out. I clamp them up and start running the torch over them evenly on the entire length. After 3 slow passes I start to see the straw color. I run one more fast pass then step back and watch. The blue will start and within 3 seconds the entire piece is deep blue. I now either hit desired areas with a brass brush, or more heat in certain areas to get steel color. It is real interesting to stop the heat at straw, then add just a touch more to certain areas to get to blue. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE.

Don't have much to offer in the way of assistance, but that last picture was priceless!

That was cool! Awesome job. You too Brian.

OK. I revisited this thread just now, and recognized the tank, and shop fotos. Had to go to the first post to verify the name. I am honored to be on a forum with the likes of you. My wife is lucky that there is so much distance between me and your shop. Else I would never be home. We have a couple builders in my town, but none like you. My daughter used to go to school in Long Beach, and everytime we went to visit, I always threatened to to stop by, but never did.

OK, so I am finding it hard to believe that no one else has posted an attempt at this. I was working on some BBQ tools for an order today, and between sets got to thinking about the fish. Ran to the stock rack and grabbed a rusty piece of 1/8" x 1" and had at it. Learned that I need a proper slitter because a 3/4" cold chisel don't cut it. Need more practice!

Can you pull it apart? If you can, then it's not welded.

A lot of it is hammer selection, or where on the anvil. You have to understand HOW to move the metal. To make my stems, I either use a rounded corner of the anvil or my cross peen, to PUSH the metal in the long direction, then use a rounding hammer to round and clean it up.

If you have 2 "BUMPS", and a spring loaded mechanism, then you prolly have a split phase motor. The spring loaded mechanism is a centrifical switch that energizes the start up windings, in conjuction with the caps. Once up to speed, the switch opens and the motor runs normally.

Universal (brushed) AC motors commonly run WAY to fast for a power hammer. You more than likely have a AC Induction motor, and they do not have brushes. Sounds to me like the capacitor is gone. They are an easy fix. The capacitor is used to get the motor STARTED, and from that point on it will run at a steady speed. If the capicitor is gone, the motor will not start. Instead it will just sit there and hum. The fact that you can COAX it into starting leads me to believe it is the cap.

Well, my neighbors got home Saturday, and the first thing he did was climb up and mount the Weathervane. I think it came out pretty good!

I assume you are talking about weight balance. The birds are cut from 24 gauge sheet. The support rods are 3/16" pencil, slit 1/2", and brazed on the birds. The nose is a 1/2" sq., 1/8" wall, rail baluster with the basket in the middle that I cannibalized from a display at work. I cut half the baluster off, attached the pivot and the birds, and made a jig to check it. I kept adding weld to the nose and shaping the point until the balance was perfect. Wind test so far have shown very smooth and consistent action.

He knows what I am doing, she doesn't. He wants it black to silhouette in the sky. I am in the country. We all have about 6 acres. Everybody has everybody's gate code, and most have keys. For neighborhood nite out, we have a pizza bash. One neighbor has a outdoor wood fired brick oven. In august we did about 75 pizza till 11:00 pm. This Saturday we are having a "DOG". Dutch Oven Gathering. EVERYBODY cooks. Usually around 30 different foods. And EVERYBODY gets full. I let my neighbor run their horses on my front pasture, for free. Looks cool for me, and I don't have any vet or feed bills.

Bout 2 years ago, my neighbor, who is a concrete contractor, poured a 5' by 30' sidewalk for me at no charge. Been trying to figure out how to start paying him back. He recently built a 10' octogonal aviary for some morning doves that were given to his wife. I think this will be an appropriate start. No blacksmithing involved, but it is metal. About 4' tip to tail. They haven't seen it yet, and it still needs paint. What do you think?

Here in Calif., I pay $29.00 for a 50lb bag of Elkhorn coal. And I have to drive 50 miles one way to get it. Don't have a gasser, yet.

Sounds reasonable, BUT- Metal turns non magnetic above it's CURIE point, which is about 768c. Typical arc welding filler is around 3100c. To me it looks like the rod is being held too far out once the arc is started, causing it to jump. Try sticking the tip in the puddle.

I pickle my BBQ tools in Vinegar. I have a 3' long piece of 4" abs plugged at the bottom with a cap on top that stands off to the side. Takes about 1 and a half gallons of plain old white vinigar to fill. It will hold 3 3 piece sets. Over night works good, but 2 days usually cleans them off REAL good, then a light hit with the wire wheel shines em up ready for finish. The current batch of vinegar has been in there 8 months and STILL works good.

I used a front wheel drive rim with a LOT of offset. Welded in a 3" piece of pipe with a plate on it. Since my vise is a PEG LEG, (broke of with just a 3" stump.), I used a piece of 1" black iron as a prosthetic and welded on a small plate on the bottom to act as a foot, heated up the end and drove it on the stump. Mounted the vice on the plate and filled the rim with about 100 lbs of concrete. While it does move around under large amounts of stress, for normal use it is just fine.

Didn't actually follow me, but Sunday I was working on some BBQ tools and a buddy pulled down the drive and backed up to my shop and unloaded 8 8' long pieces of 1" sucker rod. Then yesturday saw a listing on the local Craigs List, FREE section, "2 acetylene tanks. HEAVY, HEAVY, HEAVY." Sent off an email saying "I'll take em. Be there when I get off work. What's the addy." Pulled in the drive, and found out why they were "HEAVY, HEAVY, HEAVY." She was pushing 80. Anyway, got 2 75cf tanks, with gas, that just might pass the hydro!

Don't let my father hear you say that. He was a Industrial Arts teacher, and when ever he caught me draging a file, I would get drug. Right out of his shop.

Yep. Regular cow colors. This is CAMO. A CAMO PIGGYBANK I made for my grandson.

The horns started out as a 12" long piece of 5/8 rebar. Forged out all the texture lines then pointed the tips and forged to shape. The tail is 1/2" rebar. Fullered out about 1 1/2" on the end for the hairy part, and tapered the rest up to the body. Then hot chiseled some hair lines in the end. The ears are beat out of a piece of 2 1/2" strapping.

Been making a lot Piggy Banks out of Freon and smog calibration tanks. Daughter's mother in law wanted a COW for her horse ranch. Came up with this. Little bit of forge work, (the horns and tail), little bit of sheet metal shaping, (the ears), and a lot of scraps.