bionicarm

sometimes I wish asbestos didn't kill you...perfect application. Looks good!

Thanks, Thought I'd read most everything in vices. I'll be working with the smith tomorrow and I'll try and get a measurement on the jaws if time allows...I stupidly forgot :/

I've been working for a local smith on the weekends. The other day he showed me a vice that he has in storage.... I've heard of these but hadn't ever seen one before, I thought it was pretty fantastic. He mentioned being open to selling it, unfortunately I think that it would cost more than my current vehicle...and I'm kinda short on cash right now :/ I have no idea what the screws look like or anything, what would be a ballpark figure. He also asked me to let him know if there was any action on here about it. I don't know what he's thinking on price, just wondered what you all thought.

has some vague similarities to yer standard hand cranked apple peeler.... First guess is some kinda corn kernel knocker off of the cobber A nice, slow pan video of it and an action vid would help. Depends on if you have access to it still and how curious you are. I for one am intrigued

Ptree, about half the project supervisors are good to work with up here...the other half are wonderful opportunities to practice patience. sounds like an interesting system if a bit tedious :) I haven't run into anyone trying to do anything like that...just hack it out and throw it away, real shame.

As ptree's nemesis (an asbestos project and air monitor) I can affirm all that he said. Asbestos related diseases take 15 to 40 years to surface and usually requires prolonged exposure on a frequent basis to really foul you up...that being said, it's nothing to mess with. you only have 2 lungs and they have to last as long as the rest of you. A good mask is kind of like good eye protection-You don't always need it, but when you do, there's not a lot that can be substituted in...expect to pay a bit for a quality mask and keep extra filters on hand. You won't need them for most things, but if you're say, chipping off insulation.... Proper ventilation can almost never hurt.

OK this just reminded me. I recently was loaned the first 30 years (or so) of the anvils ring. I have a bit of an obsession with smithing so I read them all. There is an article with pictures that I believe is informative and pertinent to this topic. I don't suppose there's any way to post images of that article is there? I am speaking of the legality, not the actual ability to post it. Glen, do you have any insights? I believe I will need permission from ABANNA but I figured I'd ask here to see if there was anything here against it first.

It's called a nozzle dummy

How did you make the...uhh...tapered pipe on the outlet? Sheet metal and a wooden form? Seems to have too uniform a thickness to be forged (could just bee angle though)

not to be derogatory of these gentlemen, but when he's beatin on it with the hammer it looks like a terrible weld. Anyone else think so?

Azur, First I want to say I like your attitude. You work with what you've got. Seal up the holes in the sides however you can, duct tape will work. an old tarp, piece of canvass, saran wrap (plastic food wrap), any of these can seal up the holes. Then attach that thing to a pipe and get to hitting. That will work alright, just keep pumping slow and steady, not the jerky puffs like you're trying to blow a stick around. While you work with that bellows you can begin gathering materials for the next set. Like Glen said, your next set you make will be better, could even go for something a bit more challenging like a double lunged bellows. I have no doubt you can make it work from what you've shown here.

George, I was bare handed, don't like gloves. I didn't get pinched at all, the slit is very narrow, the width of one band saw blade I suspect. I was only aware of it when I thought about it, even then it was not uncomfortable, just different. I agree with your thoughts on cutting your tools, this is just what this guy does and I thought it was interesting and wondered if anyone else did it.

No, it was on the other half of the hammer, where you would grip for a strong blow, and it was MUCH thinner than that.

I have been working with a local, professional smith. When I picked up one of his hammers (after a prompt) I noticed there was a cut in it on the last 8 inches of the handle, straight up through the handle where I would normally grip it. When I asked him about it he said it acted to take up some of the vibration and save his arm and elbow. 'Said it worked wonders. The cut was in a horizontal orientation if you were holding the hammer to strike a blow. Has anyone else heard of this? I used that hammer for about 2.5 hrs and it didn't seem to irritate my hand at all, or feel all that weird either. It wasn't a large gap, it looked like he just used a band saw to zip up it real quick. Just enough for there to be a bit of play in the handle.

Been working my mail hauberk on and off...it's not quite a hauberk yet though... was using the big concrete nippers at the end, longer lever arms really saves your hand if you have to cut many more than a few hundred. I also made some key chain fobb type things and gave them to my buddy and brother, they both like em...looked like smaller versions of Ramsies' bracelet.

I would say no. Reasoning: you are never going to want to sit and forge...it is done in third world countries true, but not if there is access to any other means, stay on your feet. You also want as much mass under your hammer as possible in order to move metal well. You didn't specify what your orientation was but I suggest doing like and turning the big piece vertical with the smaller piece welded on top. Also, you can see how I did mine http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/28857-funny-rr-rail/. This worked out really well for me. Knowing how much material you're working with would be helpful. After you did something like that you could THEN make a solid base out of say, concrete. I'll post some photos of mine later, I made it out of wood and it's working pretty well. The concrete in a bucket thing may work but you may also bust it all up, I've never worked on something like that before, you'll have to get info from someone more experienced...However, if you're going to fill the bottom with dirt you HAVE to dig down below the organic layer (darker dirt) and get to "mineral soil". where I grew up it was a yellowy orange clay stuff. This will pack down tighter (and you should pack it as tightly as you possibly can) and the organic layer will decompose underneath your concrete. When you've got the dirt in, fill it with concrete until your rail track can rest on the top and the striking surface will be about knuckle height (the ones closest to your wrist). Let that set, place your anvil and fill around it in concrete...that's what you were going to do I guess, but I wouldn't do it until I heard from someone more knowledgeable about weather or not it's going to crack your concrete all up.

Edit, It would work but makes no allowances for ram return...Don't know how that happens. I guess that means I'm on the wrong track :/

Monstermetal, sorry to hear about your air hammer, as is looks like you can beat the tar out of whatever you put in there, but I know you're looking for more control. I was thinking this thread could be used to describe to people who know very little about Air Hammers how exactly they work because only by troubleshooting and correctly fixing (not just "gettin by") does real understanding of a machine come about, and though you guys are stumped, you certainly are very knowledgeable in this area. I've read what you all have said here and am trying to put together the picture...Rotational motion from the motor turns a piston which creates air pressure. This amount of pressure is always the same no matter what the throttle is at because the motor just keeps driving the piston at a constant rate. Variation in ram movement is caused by manipulation of valves that direct available air to the top of the ram, bottom of the ram, or vented off into the atmosphere. This means that at full throttle, potentially all air driven by the piston is directed to the top of the ram and none vented off or used as an air cushion. If that's the case I would say that the issue is in the valves leading to the bottom of the ram that allow for an air cushion and decrease stroke length. Air must be leaking from somewhere in that pathway and not forming that air cushion. The big PSHHT! noise on every stroke is the excess air being vented off into the atmosphere correct? The above makes sense and would work, or I may be on the completely wrong track. Either way any info you all have would be appreciated. Also, I mean no disrespect, Sorry I don't have anything helpful to add, I only want to understand how these machines work.

ThomasPowers, You haven't seen the hay elevator I moved all my my lonesome (among other things) ... nearly killed myself before finding a few pullies and some rope :) Stewart, as I said, just let me know when you need me :)

That is one manly gate. Did Sauran, Vin Diesel and Bowser all pitched in to get something nice for Mr. Norris?

I got this a little while ago but couldn't post pics of it because my camera had a small crisis...we got over it together. Worked it off Stewarthesmith by moving about various objects that needed moving and a lot of bird poop, which was good cause I have time and energy. Stewart also allowed me to watch him do a bit of work and we bashed some metal afterward. it's 4.5 inch and needs a bit of work tightening up the mounting plate and maybe a bit of wire wheelin, but I'm very pleased. Unfortunately, most of the pics of Stewart were lousy because my camera didn't like the dim lighting... First pic shows Stewart's anvil. It's ok I guess but I prefer an anvil you can get a good nights rest on, not just a nap when your arm gets tired ^_^ Third pic the color is off, dumb camera.

ThomasPowers, I was thinking about trying something like that, instead of mounting on a bolt I was thinking over just forging a...uh, thing I could tap for the threads in the ball...I have a little tap and die set that may work... Willway, if the tapping does not work I'll probably try the method you described...Now to make a ball :/

ok, so, When I was in college, I opened my dumb mouth and said I'd make something and I don't know how and I don't wanna anymore but honor call me to follow through. It is, Navi...from the video game. This fairy tale creature, a fairy herself, is a sphere with wings attached. http://zeldawiki.org/Navi I forged out a ball from half a RR spike with lousy tongs on a piece of RR rail. It was like a 5 hour process. Then I made wings and textured them (it is very important for them to be textured) and had a guy braze them on because I didn't know what I was doing. Anyways, during polish I dropped the durn thing and it broke so I set it aside for a while and I LOST THE DARN BALL!!! Also the wings. So now starting from scratch and knowing how I don't want to do it, any ideas? I was thinking make a ball and drill a hole in it (How to do so safely?), then put a rivet through and rivet the wings on, grinding everything flush and finishing the wings with a brass brush to help cover it up, but that's all the farther I got with that line of thought. I just want something more substantial than the small area of braze with those big lever arms hangin off the thing. P.S. I received in exchange a groovy, hand crocheted sonic the hedgehog ski hat...it's amazing...thus the bound by honor thing. edit: the wings were all one piece, not 4 separate ones like shown in some pics.

ooh that is larvely. Excelent job. I'm not sure the wood will be enough. It will probably work but prolonged beatin on it may bow out the plate. As stated befor though, easy enough to reinforce.

Hardie tools are a quick way to "hold" a tool down. A hot cut is a chissel you don't have to hold in a hand to cut material. There's an unlimited number of possible hardie tools...kinda like the standardization (is that a word?) discussion above, everyone has their own way of doing things and so everyones hardies are a bit different. Seems like a lot of filing to resize a hardie hole, did a bit of a clean up on mine and nearly didn't make it, that was mostly the hard face I had to file though. If you're really attached to your hardies and have a bunch than reprofile the hole, otherwise make new ones. Having 2 sets of hardie tools can never be a bad thing.