Candidquality

Very nice looking axe. Do you know about how much these weighed? and is there a specific weight most people want in a throwing axe or are there regualtions for competitions? ready to see the heart ones. Thanks for sharing

Sounds like he may be retiring soon. Would be a good time to schedule a trip over there. Possibly catch a last few glimpses and gain a bit different perspective. Just a thought

I've been reading up recently on epoxies to use and one from the local hardware store poeple have been very happy with. Gorilla Glue. I can't remember the links or i'd post them. but in a head to head competition in a smiths shop comparing about 7-8 kinds this one won hands down. just one bit of warning. this stuff expands. a great deal. You dampen one side of what you want glued and apply it THINLY to the other. Then clamp. you will see the glue coming out of the side in as little as 20 minutes. you can wipe this away. or wait untill it's dry and grind it off. Give it a shot once and I think you'll stick with it. I can attest to it's holding power as i've started using it around the house for small things. had a hollow wood door coming apart and decided to finally fix it last night. glued it up and placed it between 2 boards and drove the car on top of it (well what are you gonna do when you don't have enough clamps) pulled it out this morning and it's rock solid. Good luck

Excellent bit of information on old gasoline torches like you mentioned a this site. lots of good little tips on repair and what to look for if you plan to buy your own. http://www.blotorches.com/torchfix/torchfix.html If you do a search on gasoline torch in yahoo you'll also come across a gasoline/oxygen cutting torch system that's cheaper and safer than oxy/acetelene www.petrogen.com

I have actually just started up(after several 15 years or so on not forging) and am making a point to try and hold the hammer properly and lighten up the death grip that I acquire when i get into beating that metal for a few hours. I actually take at least 5 minutes out of an hour or so and remind myself to relax. swing it so it doesn't hurt my arm. I think when first starting up if i do this then I will develop a good habit of hitting instead of blowing out an elbow or shoulder like i've heard so many do. starting a good habit is a lot easirer than trying to break an old bad one. At least for me :wink:

so when are you going to get this pink monster up and running. You are going to paint it pink aren't ya? :wink: congrats on the find.

:shock: Sorry for the Sack. Glad to see it didn't dampen your spirits though. Always amazing some of the twists and turns life takes. Even better is knowing the few months of "new MGMT" policies didn't kill your reputation. Good luck with your newest hobby to pay for smithing :wink:

We finally got some rain. I'm hoping it's enough for the burn ban to come off so I can play with a few forge designs. Kinda like cabin fever but reversed. :wink:

This will get you in touch with the North Texas Blacksmith Association. We're an interesting bunch. last meeting was in Plano (at the heritage museum) and the location varies each time. mostly on the east side of the metroplex. Have any questions feel free to ask on here or at the site. Good luck and hope to see you soon. http://home.flash.net/~dwwilson/ntba/

withholding names and location to protect the not so innocent. I finally saw the guys working on the railroad and decided to stop and ask if they had any old spikes or pieces of track I might have. he said "sorry, I don't have any old ones at all." So I explained that I was going to make some knives from them. "how about a dozen or so new ones" he said with a grin. and proceeded to hand me 14 new spikes marked "W HC" I'm still grinning. not quite as exciting as a major find but a nice end to a long day nontheless

how about 6x6x2 or do you really need the length? I'll see what I can find laying around

how about using as s7 or is it s6? something that's supposed to hold up to a shock. (i think it's S7)

forging new custom anvils? :shock: :wink:

Blueprint to soon follow? Congrats. I hope to see some interesting things from that little toy of yours soon. :)

If you're interested in an excellent explanation here on the site go to blueprint 0078 by Quenchrack. I was hunting around for a bit more technical information when I stumbled across this. I saw an old reference to a company called Timkin that used to produce a great manual (practical data handbook) that they've been producing since 1953. but you had to have a company name. It appears that now they have made it available online (free) as a PDF file. There is also a great calculation page for weight of various normal and unusual shaped tubes(in inches and metric). the link is http://www.timken.com/timken_ols/steel/ If you want the technical information on steels this is a great place to start. there are also individual PDF files for most new metals at http://www.timken.com/products/specialtysteel/engineering/tech_info/hotworktoolsteel.asp just click on the appropriate category then go to town. Personally I would recommend right clicking and then saving to somewhere safe on your computer so you don't have to download it each time. or maybe print out a copy of the ones you use the most. One last link, it is in the same area under tech tips but I thought I

Great information one_rod. Really helps to have a great visual like that to work with. This is very helpfull in my opinion. BTW Glenn, if you think that this would be better suited in another branch of the forum it won't hurt my feelings to move it. I was thinking it might be of general interest but it's swinging more towards metal fabrication. Though I would love to forge weld this puppy up. Just sounds like fun.

thanks Glenn, I will keep an eye out for a real anvil. first local group meeting is on the 14th and i'll be there with bells on. I'm sure one of the locals can get me a fairly good deal. I'm still researching the business end before making any real purchases. I might just break down a buy a new 165# peddinghous. depends on how much damage I do untill I get my hammer control back (one reason to have the free rr-track anvil i'm playing with now.) everything else I have available is free to play with. have pieces of h-13 h-2 p-20 some 310ss and that Luster die that I can't seem to find out anything about(writing to a few steel suppliers for information today) have access to milling machines. ac/dc welders, tig, plasma cutter(which if set up right can also weld, or so i've read). If I wanted to get crazy I even have access to a CNC and some old bits that they don't mind being used up since they buy new bits for every new job. I wanted to get a bit of experience with grinders the other day and spent a few hours polishing a cheap engineers hammer to a pretty nice shine. it's not perfect but the experience I gained will help me later with knives and other shiny do-dads. just enjoying experimenting with all of these wonderfull toys untill I get crazy enough to buy my own and do this right.

If I do wind up adding a piece of steel to the top without adding anything to the ends it might look something like this.

true Glenn, a flat peice to start with is a good idea. This small piece I have now only weighs 39#. so 3 feet would be about 120#. I'll keep my eye out for a larger piece for the stand on end idea. Looks like that piece you have has never been used, was it just cleaned up and put away or used for pretty light work? Strine, never a bad idea to have that date engraved on your forehead or anywhere convenient. two dates I never forget are the birthday or anniversary. now independance day on the other hand :? you have to prioritize what goes into that brain of yours ya know. :wink: So is this piece of track going to stand up to some abuse as it's ground(possibly work hardening?) or is it worth adding a steel plate(of some variety) to the top. I know more weight is never a bad thing as long as you can carry it when needed. With the blue lines being the new steel and green being welds. Is this a good idea to re-inforce the top and make this a more sound anvil?

sounds like a plan. so say I get another piece of track that's about 8 inches for the horn and 6 inches for the other end. what would be the best way to attach them? just weld them up with 7018? and then what about the face? i've read about using 7018 as a backer then a hard facing on top. just being carefull not to leave any pits. an if I'm going to the trouble to add a horn and heel what about a small piece of plate on each side to connect from under the top to the bottom pedistal? and should that be straight? or angle it to meet the top and bottom at their respective edges? btw looking at that e-bay link I notice the top (about the 8th picture) is not slight wear but almost chewn up. think they didn't bother hardening it? or is the native metal so soft that this is a problem and you really need to add some steel to hammer on?

nothing but time at the moment. thanks. saved the pictures of that one. will make a nice model to follow. though the one I have is already too short for that. Would have to add some material and attach for the horn. wonder how i might do that. and what would be the material to use?

thought i'd get some community involvement in putting this little project together. I found this sitting on a shelf at my day job and found out it was free for the asking. So with my good luck in tow I decided to clean it up a bit and ask for suggestions. after a bit of sandblasting this is what I have now. another view with the uneven grinding of it's "horn" with the numbers you can see the flat spot that's been ground along the top on this picture. I'll put this into a blueprint when complete but I would really like suggestions to make this the best possible. it's right at 10 inches long 6 and a half inches on top ground flat. horn is ground lop sided at the moment. I have access to a lot of good equipment at work though i've never run the plasma cutter. I'm wondering a few things like : 1. should i even bother welding a piece of steel to the face. I have scrap H-13 available and something called "luster die" which i know little about. supposed to be a pre-hard steel but that's about all I can find out about it. 2. If not the above material then what would be worth buying to make it work(cheap) and what would be most costly usefull material for a hardened face? 3. If I don't weld a piece to the flat face then should I heat and sink the horn edge to create a step or offset? 4. it makes sense to me to not remove any more material than necessary as mass is going to be an issue with this small a piece of track. is there a reason to give this the london profile or should I just cut a relief under the horn for bends. Now that all that is said. I know it should be keep it simple stupid. but i'm not out any materials at this point and i think it could be a really handy light anvil. And i'm more for one who does it right the first time. And again I will keep anyone interested posted with pictures and eventually a blueprint will folllow. Higher res pictures can be sent if needed. I resized these to 15% to get them to fit the best for this website.

Thanks for replying. been out sick since christmas (not a bad thing though. gave me an excuse not to visit the in'laws.) It's a steel of some sort. haven't spark tested or anything yet. Since there are several pieces of this stuff with the name written on them I thought i'd try to look it up first. Just can't seem to pin a tail on this donkey though. thanks for trying.

Luster Die For some reason I can't seem to get an idea of what this metal might be used for. If anyone has any links or information to help it would be appreciated. Possibly the brand name has now changed and that's why I can't seem to locate anthing? I honestly don't know. Thanks in advance, James

http://www.hydromall.com/happy_grower16.html Inside, outside, on the animals there is nothing better. period. Diatomaceous Earth. For those who just prefer a summary. Buy it at a hardware store and it's utterly safe (not pool supply, this is processed and dangerous stuff). You could eat it if you wanted, thought it doesn't really have any flavor so you might want to add some salt kills bugs by dehydration. Is NOT a chemical. is not expensive. just doesn't get any better. only thing safer is squishing the little buggers by hand. Kills just about any bug with a hard shell. only thing it doesn't do well on is weevils. there's just no good soft spots for this stuff to attack. will not harm animals. can be put in animals food to destroy internal parasites even, but please go to the link and read before attempting this. would be a good idea to wear some eye protection and a dust mask as this stuff is so fine it makes powdered sugar look like corn. could be a little irritating if in eyes or inhaled. I'd wish you good luck. but if you use this you will not need it.