HWooldridge

I use Mobil Vactra way oil on lathe and mill ways but I also do a wipe down with mineral spirits every month or so to clean away the dirt and swarf.

I seem to recall that a formula for shrinking wagon tires was 1/8 per foot.

This one is solid concrete - weighs about 250, which is the same as the anvil so the whole assembly is around 500 lbs.

I like those a whole bunch. My second son is a working cowhand in West Texas and I made a very plain set for him to use everyday. Your work is outstanding and would great on any pair of boots.

Rest assured the grease did not harm it. You may want to pull the screw and box out of the vise to determine how much is really gone. Sometimes, they wear out and eventually fail - and occasionally someone cranks down on the handle with a cheater bar and breaks the box thread (many were cast iron). I have also seen the wrong screw and box combination - like a 1" male thread inside a 1-1/8" female box - as if someone put the pieces together without measuring and expected it to work. Something may become obvious if you take it apart and do a little cleaning.

Bruce, You are quite correct that belt thickness would make a difference on a V-belt setup with grooved pulleys. In that case, you have to figure out the point of contact on the sheave and various belt cross sections would affect final speed. Browning Gear used to have a really good book on figuring belt and pulley sizes - it might be online as a .PDF on their website. Machinery's Handbook also had the same info (at least they did in the 22nd edition). H

Nice job. I had a similar one on a fire pump - if I remember correctly, it was a 20 hp. Ran like a top.

Not really, speed is primarily determined by the ratio between driven and driving pulley diameters. Width of belt may affect slippage but I do not think you will see any difference between 1-1/2 and 2 inches unless the application is already near its maximum rating.

I did some quick down and dirty numbers based on your measuring tape and it could weigh 700-900 lbs. A 12" cube weighs 489 lbs and this piece looks like it has more mass than that.

Yes, that's the one...

Interesting discussion. I am not a knife maker but I am definitely a knife user - having butchered hundreds of animals and fish (both domestic and wild) over the years, and I'm the chef in our kitchen most nights so have spent many hours with knife in hand. I also did a little catering in years past so am accustomed to feeding 50-100 people at a sitting. One of the best ones I've ever used for all around work is the JA Henckels 6" utility knife (I can see a few smiles in the audience). It functions as a small chef's knife, will also work as a boning blade, skins a deer or a hog in a pinch and would be pretty deadly in a knife fight, if I were so unfortunate as to be forced into one. Obviously, there are better blades specifically made for each of these scenarios but it fits my profile for a universal knife (everyone is probably laughing out loud by now but bear with me). It's easy to sharpen but will also hold an edge. I admit I can't split wood with it but I have processed entire animals from gutting and skinning through to cutting steaks (did I mention I can also use it at the table?). Although I don't eat sushi, it will filet a fish well and is stainless so will go through the dishwasher just fine. If I made a sheath for it, it is light enough to pack on the trail. Finally, if I happen to break it, I can go to most any upscale department store and buy another one for $35. That's my basic list for a universal knife from someone who grew up using one - and those would also be some of the things I would want in a custom blade.

Brazing would be my first choice as the success rate is usually higher (unless you are quite familiar with welding cast). If you do decide to weld, it helps to strap it with steel if the design will allow it. Imagine stitches across a cut - short pieces of flat steel (perhaps 3/4x3/16?) spaced regularly and welded using Ni rod. My Beaudry hammer ram is cast iron and was broken in half across the middle when I bought it; I cut a piece of 1/4 plate to size and welded it to the front of the ram using short stitch welds followed by peening. This repair has held up to regular use for 20 years and shows no signs of letting go.

Forge welding has always been a bug-a-boo for me. I'm better at it now than in years past but I always say a little prayer before going to the anvil. There are folks like Bob Patrick who can go anywhere and make a weld but I'm not one of those smiths. I put a point on the tip of most of my scarfs - not a chisel edge but something like you would put on a poker; short and sharp. I started this because I often left a cold shut on a corner of a bar, which weakened it and left me yelling in Low German (very low). While perusing an old text, I saw an illustration of welding round irons together and the author recommended a short upset with a point. I tried it and immediately had better results because a point usually blends on the first heat since it doesn't chill as quickly as the corner of a chisel edge. Mark, it sounds like you are saying much the same thing about "wings" forming from too wide a scarf. If the design will allow it, I also tack most everything with the MIG and then put it in the fire. I know that's a crutch but it evolved as a method to give me success at a time when I was experiencing a lot of failures; I finally figured out that many of my problems stemmed from using pretty dirty fuel and not cleaning the fire often enough. Depending on the size of the stock, I have found I can do 4 or 5 welds and then I really need to stop and clean the fire or the next one is at risk. This is where practice and knowing your materials comes in handy.

Ries may chime it here - he has worked SS extensively. I have machined a lot of SS so I can recommend that you have the pieces passivated to remove free iron from the surface. Anytime you work stainless with some type of carbon steel, it will have a propensity to stain - rather than try to make every tool from stainless, just send it out for chemical treatment. Passivators are located in most large urban areas; the prices are usually reasonable. 300 series SS will workharden so a great deal of cold work may require normalizing but the amount of work you are describing is probably not enough to need it. In any case, I think you will need to make a C-shaped mandrel out of pipe with the proper inside radius so you don't lose the "dome" across the material. With regard to the fabbing process, I tend to agree with Frosty's recommendations.

This was discussed a couple months ago - you may want to search on the thread. Cutting them from sheet metal with a hole saw works for me.

FWIW, this is my personal definition: A bolster is any sort of support under work. In the blacksmithing world, it could be a piece of material bent into a "U" which is put under hot work to support a drifting operation. OTOH, a heading tool has a defined internal dimension (but not required to be round) to support a specific heading operation.

I had an old 180 lb mousehole style that was reputed to date from around 1730. Other than being a bit swaybacked, it was in good shape and did not have the usual cracked edges. It had a small horn and no visible table height apart from where the face plate attached to the body. The face was thin - only about 1/4" - but was hard and bounced a hammer just fine. My 250 PW is from around 1850 or so - makes me realize my tools will very likely outlive me...and my kids.

That is the right decision, IMHO. My factory Buffalo blower puts out way too much air at the lowest setting on the rheostat so the air gate is there for a reason. I have another Champion blower on a forge with a conventional dimmer switch (and no air gate) that can be turned down to a whisper but it takes almost constant fiddling to get the fire right. For my money, the right blower with a good air damper is much more productive that trying to control the fire in other ways.

Very nice. I especially like the latch and door pull - obviously well made and finished.

Use coil springs at the top of the stroke - slam it up, slam it down (starting to sound like a mechanical power hammer).

McNichols Wire. McNICHOLS Products: Wire Mesh

A conventional board-type drop hammer is very close to your description. Forging Check out this link for a picture.

Frosty hit the nail squarely - "air tight" is not needed. Better to have something fairly flexible so the boards are responsive; a light canvas will work just fine. I was reading this thread and it occurred to me that an old oil-skin slicker or poncho would probably yield enough fabric and do the job. In addition, if you also mount the bellows up high, it is protected from many hazards, such as flammable gas, hot bars being swung about and sparks or embers.

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't a wind (or weather) vane supposed to be imbalanced so the wind always forces it in the correct direction - like a wind sock at an airport. I don't think you want it to be spinning, unless that is an intentional design characteristic, which would make it more of a decorative than functional item. Please don't misunderstand me; I'm not saying either way is right or wrong but it should be defined. To answer your question, you can tack on a little weight to either side - in the form of washers or other devices such as lead tape. Although your vanes often have a bottom border to join the individual designs, you could also attach a piece of 3/8 pipe for the axle and cross piece (think "T"...) then add some lead to the lighter side. Simply clamp the vane axle in a vise in the horizontal position and observe which side needs the weight to balance. BTW, you have a nice website and work displayed...

You may have to sharpen on the inside of the blade (the side opposite the bevel) and try to raise an edge from one side only. However, if too much is removed, you'll also have to reset the pivot surfaces where the blades are hinged. If it were me, I'd do it on a belt sander - a file or stone might be a bit laborious; although a stone might well be sufficient if the edge is not too bad.