Dan C

Nicely done, that's impressive! I'd be interested to see what the tongs look like that you use at the beginning. What type of steel is in a ball bearing and how large is the bearing before you squeesh out it's poor little guts?

Sweet, that makes sense now. Thank you for doing the story board!

Yes. For those who appreciate such things, it's a joy to see their eyes light up when you give them the tool they asked for. I have many friends who garden and they love having something that isn't going to break, that is uniquely theirs, custom made. Then I have many friends who like to drink beer who can boast that their bottle opener is way cooler than yours. And for me providing that as well as being able to keep my restoration going, paying some extra bills and having cash to buy the kids ice cream when the truck comes down the street is the icing on the cake. Getting paid to express yourself and make others happy...doesn't get any better.

Frosty, I agree about softening the edges and do so by rolling them lightly on my belt grinder at the end which gives them a stripped look. And yes they do work, have to do quality control testing at the end of each batch. I recently had a batch of 8 go out as grooms gifts. Would you post pictures please of what you do to the edges, as well as the bearing in the mouth suggestion?

That's a beauty, can't wait to see what you forge on it! Here's a picture of my anvil stand that was arc welded from drops. At .40 a lb I paid $24 for it and my time (which doesn't count when you're having fun) The legs are filled w/ sand & oil to cut down on sound, caulking under a board which the anvil sits on, covered w/ sand. There are eyebolts on either side for when I get around to forging a spring type hold down strap. When I move everything to the opposite side of the garage I'm going to bolt it down to the concrete. Surprising how much it jumps around when using a 4 lb hammer. Dan

There's always grooms gifts to be forged and customized.

Commercial irrigation companies will have drops on pipes. They're usually happy for you to get rid of some of their scraps. I used a RR threaded bolt for my dump gate.

I'd put it straight to work and forget about sandblasting or paint. Looks great to me! My forge frame/welding table was built from heat twisted angle iron from a demo'd fire pit. Ugly as can be and I love it. I even put pink roller skate wheels on which were from my daughter's old skates. Rock on! Dan

some posts you might find useful. http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/31855-making-punches/ http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/20191-heat-treating-and-forging-jackhammer-bits/ http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/18545-questions-about-making-tools/ On the HF tools, I'd say try the following which I copied from another posts. Credit goes to someone else on this forum, I just saved it in an email. Basically you cut off some of the excess metal from your piece and roughly forge it to approximate cross section that you will be trying to achieve. Then you heat to above non magnetic and quench in warm oil and check for hardness with a new file. File skates off then you are hard (if the piece shatters in the quench then it's too hard! May be an air quenching steel in that cross section!). File bites in, then reheat and try quenching in water or brine and check hardness. Still not hard enough to skate a file then it's not a good alloy for knives using blacksmithing heat treats (possible may be some weird alloy requiring precise heat treating in computer controlled systems---unlikely but possible. Most likely it's a low carbon steel.) You don't do this on the piece you are going to use because if it shatters you have induced such stresses in the piece you were going to work and it should be discarded. That's the first step. Second step is learning the correct tempering temp.

I like both of those and agree w/ toolish's idea of adding eyes. I've seen ones like the top one in a heart shape, which would be a good seller on Valentine's Day. What tool do you use for the horizontal groove along the sides? I'd been thinking about a tool, maybe like a spring fuller so you could do two sides at once. Here are the ones that I currently do. Dan

Good thread and lots of great suggestions already! As you said, the scrap metal yards aren't open to the public where I live either. Home Depot sells their jack hammer bits for $5, at least around here. Any place that rents them is going to have a bucket full. Sometimes I hit pawn shops at lunchtime and can usually find scrap that they're just trying to get rid of. I always take some of my forgings with me in case I can get a sale as the question of what I do with the stuff typically comes up, You never know when or where you'll get a sale. You can also use some of your work to barter with. I've done well with a local railyard in trading bottle openers & beer for stock material. I keep an eye on Craig's list, got tons of old files that are begging to be made into something. Just learning the key words to search on is very useful. Dan

Thanks Frosty! In what seems to be a largely disposable world, I love how smithing transforms your way of thinking. Not too long ago I would've been dismayed with what would appear to be an impossible part to find. I would've either been searching junkyards hoping to find something, or most likely ended up going to a custom machine shop to have them fabricate the shifter, the arm and now this linkage. To complicate matters this was on a truck that would have to have been towed wherever to get it done right, or spend more money & time going back'n forth. The amount of room between the transmission and master brake cylinder leaves very little room to spare. In this case my first thought was splicing and welding in a piece of steel, but spark testing the original link showed it to be high carbon so that would've not been ideal as I don't have much experience welding high carbon. If done wrong would result in no usable part at all and potential risk. I'm comfortable forging mild steel, so I considered doing that, but then decided against it as there's probably a reason GM used high carbon and I needed to get past this anyway. Searching my scrap pile and spark testing, I found just what I needed. A year ago this little piece of scrap would've gone into the trash, instead thru fire, iron & sweat, as well as confidence & knowledge gained from here, made into exactly what was needed. And this is only one instance. When my radiator was spewing coolant, the resolution for coming up with the money was to turn wrenches from pawn shops into bottle openers and sell them at every auto parts store I went to, so finding a market, creating a product and then selling to that market. This weekend was also spent making hardy tools out of jack hammer bits, forging a gardening trowel for my mom and knocking out my wife's to-do list for Mother's Day with the kids pitching in. Both of my older kids also joined in working on the truck. It's great to see them involved and working together. Dan

My truck got several steps forward towards being on the road again. I forged this piece of high carbon steel because the original linkage was too short after a front disc brake conversion. This is about the 3rd time I've used the forge and anvil to fabricate something for this truck. I'm particularly pleased with this one though because it's a first for forging high carbon and punching a hole and even a slot. And now the transmission shifts thru all the gears like normal! After having rebuilt my old carburetor and tried other things, I threw in the towel and bought a brand new one. It wasn't cheap, but the difference in how it runs is night & day. I mention this because it and all purchases in the last 6 months for the truck have been from money earned solely from smithing. If someone asks an anvil cost so much, the answer to me is because they're worth every penny and you can quickly recover your investment. Without smithing, progress would've either stopped long ago, or I'd be digging a hole with credit cards. I'm very grateful for this forum and it's members!!! Dan

I thought it was the IR you needed to be concerned with that potentially causes cataracts? Though I've read that's more at forge welding temps, the amount of IR decreases over distance and can be shielded by anything that's at a cooler temp. All of what I just typed could be horse hooey as well.

I'm going to try something with the dive tank. It was too cheap and convenient to pass by, especially after what I saw knots did with a propane tank, http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/16859-oil-quenching-container/#entry210050. I like that setup. I figure I can make a square base out of angle iron that fits tight around the bottom and then weld that onto some heavy scrap plate that I have. If I do any welding on the galvanized tank it would be minimal and outside with cross ventilation, blowing the fumes away from me. Frosty, I also use an oil quench for finishing when I want a tool or item darkened. Some cases things have been too large for the metal container bucket I've been using.

In case anyone did wonder, I found the following on the thickness of material in dive tanks. Close to 3/16" on steel, but galvanized. "Acccording to the DOT specs, Steel 72s must have a minimum wall thickness of .164 at manufacture, but tend to run thicker, say, .180 or so. The are usually a bit thicker at the top and bottom. Aluminum 80s have a miniumum DOT thickness of .491", and in real life run about .521"

Looks like I should've read that entire webpage as it'd be unsafe to weld on them anyway regardless of how thick the steel is. "Uncoated steel tanks quickly rust in the presence of water, so all steel tanks are coated with zinc. There are two zinc coating processes for steel tanks: dip galvanizing and spray galvanizing."

I tried to find shade 3.0 in grey, but the only ones I could get were green. I got them but seem to distort the temp colors. At this point I've been avoiding looking into the forge except to check the stock's color. Mine is a coal burner and I try to keep something in the way of the hottest or brightest part, as well as moving further away until I ready to remove whatever it is I'm heating. Do you wear them all the time when forging or for only forge welding? Dan

Thanks, that sounds like what I've seen before on the cork screws. I just need to pony up and make some. Very nice use of leaves on your work! Looks like you might need some more time off though to satisfy the lefties... FYI, just knocked out a gardening trowel for my mom for Mother's Day which is this Sunday. Dan

Nice work! What stock did you use for your items and how did you make the corkscrews? Dan

Pulling info from this website as it has lots more info than I want to type, http://www.divegearexpress.com/library/tanks.shtml I realized later my question was vague w/o providing specifics on the dimensions. The HP ones are the steel ones, the AL aluminum and LP I don't know. Height Tanks 17 Inches HP65 20-21 Inches AL63, LP66, HP80 24 Inches LP80, LP95, HP100, HP119 26 Inches AL80, AL100, LP85, LP104 28-30 Inches LP120, HP120, HP130 "Most primary tanks, aluminum or steel, are the common diameter of 7-¼ inches...Some of the larger-capacity high-pressure tanks, such as the HP119 and HP130, are also 8 inches in diameter, although the HP120 is a 7-¼ inch tank"

Just called a local dive shop as I was wondering what they did with any steel tanks that fail inspection. Guy told me he'd sell me as many as I wanted for $5, so other than a quench tank what other uses do y'all think they could be used for? Plan on welding a heavy steel plate to the bottom to keep it upright, cutting & hinging the top. Dan

You don't include your location so it's hard to know what the market is like in your area. I'd offer $100 for it and use it as is for awhile if desperate. Then I'd consider a good candidate for Gunther's restoration process if you're a welder.

Hi Jerry, saw the FB posting for the 18th. I'd love to make it though not sure it's possible w/ young kids, their activities and I'm on call for work (could bring laptop just in case). Is there a particular time of day that would be best to show up at? ChiefcodeX, in case you need a post or leg vise, just noticed a 4" one on the Austin CL for $130. Looks to be in good shape and ready for work. I try to get them when they need work and resell them for about this much. Dan

Be patient and keep a very close eye on craigslist for Austin, Houston & Dallas. They pop up fairly often, the good ones go fast, but they are out there. Use anvil as your search parameter. Check out this thread on getting a piece of RR track and pictures on how I mounted mine. Typically all you have to do is contact someone at a railyard, and explain what you need it for. It also doesn't hurt to bring a cold six pack of beer on a Friday when you visit. I still use mine when I need good edges and the work I did on it is how I brought the anvil that I now have. http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/31537-hypothetical-rr-track-question/ Dan