arftist

If you have 20 of them all the same brand, it is worth doing some testing to find out. 

Professional knife makers use known steels for the convivence and ease, however 

for practice you can certainly reuse used tool steel if they meet enough criteria. 

I don't have all night to explain it to you but if you search this site you should be able to find guidelines to use junk yard steels.

Rasps can make good knives but certainly grind off all the teeth before you start. 

Old circular saws are usually a very good alloy for practice knife making as well.

McRaven does a pretty good job of explaining junk yard steel knife making as well as

Weygers.

You most certainly can cut and weld the cable with a torch. 

Buy an acetylene tank, a plumber's B tank will work and should be very cheap if bought used.

Buy an "owner size" oxygen tank.

Buy a torch set. 

Learn how to gas weld. 

Cut the wire with the cutting tip, then switch to a welding tip, adjust the pressures of the gases to neutral, equal low pressures  and weld away, Rene.

Others are correct though, that smaller diameter wire would be much less work overall.

If you do this you will greatly expand your metal working capability for the least cost possible in terms of equipment outlay.

When I was a student gas welding was still taught in the trade schools. It is a shame that it almost a forgotten art now, especially since it is so easy to do.

Furthermore if you are a good gas welder, TIG welding is very easy to learn.

My main business  is polished bronze pipe.

I have a monster bench vise, a Charles Parker Trogan 727. 

I polished the jaws because  I use it for the same thing all the time.

For other vises I have made jaws from aluminum angle, plate and copper flashing.

What Frosty said, something  with lanolin in it.

Also Bag Balm and Norwegian Formula Hand Creme.

I will say this.

It is a Fisher in fair shape.

It is an ideal size for most people. 

The 10 is the weight in tens.

Made in America, it is marked in pounds, 10 at a time.

My best by far Anvil is my Fisher.

Among the other reasons mentioned

the Fisher body is cast iron as opposed to wrought iron which is softer by far than cast iron. The Fisher anvil also had a much thicker top plate. As you can see it is a superior  anvil.

Though much harder to repair  than other anvils it is less likely to need repair.

That is likely why the US Navy chose them, and there is an English  powerhammer built just for them.

T

We like them so much that there is a Fisher museum on the East Coast with a giant collection of Fisher so yes it is special  and precious. 

Finally,  it could ultimately  (eventually)be "restored". 

It has a workable face now. 

Use it for a while before you make any changes and you will know what to do.

Fill the holes  all the way to the top with lead.

Expect the spindles to be able to bend a little.

I have done a ton of these.

It is a post vice made for blacksmithing by Fisher.

Although the body is cast iron these vises, like Fisher anvils which are also cast iron are certainly  made to have hot iron beaten in them. 

I did journeyman year in a shop with an 8 inch Fisher I good working order.

I was worried about breaking it but was instructed by the owner that I couldn't  hurt it.  Of course  I thought to myself "Oh Yeah?" 

If you are a collector don't  use the shiny things.

If you are a blacksmith hammer away Rene. It is a fantastic post vise.

Slice 3" off the side of the Block and screw/ glue it to the bottom. The block is a little too big anyway IMHO.

FYI Elm is The preferable wood for an anvil stump.

For stick welding use 8018

Coiled copper tubing should always be soft at least when new. 

Copper does "age" harden though so a quick anneal will ensure softness. 

To anneal copper heat pretty dang hot and quench in water.

Wrong, not all log splitters use two stage pumps.

I still believe you have other problems as well but you only answer selected questions and will not print a photo.

Too bad you didn't say it was a 2 stage pump in the OP.

Thanks for wasting my time, glad you think it is funny.

Your pump isn't switching into low gallon hy-press, correctly. 

I would still like to see a picture.

Also what is your source for 3 phase?

Read your post again.

Your math says it all.

General rule of thumb for hydraulic engineering: 1 hp per gallon @ 1500 psi. 

Your pump is way too big for your motor. 

At 1500 your pump would require 16 hp to not stall. 

At 2500 it would require over 25hp.

With 1/2" work lines your pump pressure line should be 3/4 and pump supply should be 1". 

Picture and schematic should help a lot.

If you think it was fitted hot, it may have clenched tight to the wood yet still developed enough spring back that when the fasteners were released there was considerable gap. Now you are trying to fit it cold to a standard that only exists to you. 

You said you were heating where you are bending. How are you heating?

I suggest cutting perhaps into two halfs. 

I also suggest buying an oxy-fuel torch. 

By allowing freedom of movement and using precise heating you should be able to push pull or hit the steel to exactly where you want it to go.

I sincerely doubt it was made any other way.

Definitely forged not cast.

No, that isn't how it works.

The hand wheel closes the vise up to about 6 tons of force.

If one needs to crush something even more, then the air over hydraulic bottle jack can bring the crushing force

up to 15 tons or so.

I think the real point was just to build the baddest vise of all time.

Redo the wonky repair in proper fashion.

Use any hammer head and anneal it. 

It will be plenty soft.

On 12/14/2020 at 9:39 AM, JHCC said:

Maybe a manual gearbox with four forward speeds and reverse?

I used a VW bug 4 speed to run a Camel back drill press. Worked very well indeed. 

Back then there were a lot of descent camel backs around for cheap and that drill press was replaced by larger and larger units.

Without doubt the Ellis is a better saw and will last longer and be much easier to repair. 

Need coolant? Add it, a little giant pump, a 5 gallon bucket for a sump, some hoses and if needed some sheet metal work.

D2 is awful expensive to throw away on a useless project. 

Your idea of a perimeter weld is a joke...forget it. Total waste of time and money.

Silver solder; weak (40-70K) and NOT impact resistant. Not even vibration resistant. 

D2 otherwise is a good choice for a top plate; air hardened (just like S7, H13 and A2

D2 is harder than S7 and highly abrasion resistant and resistant to softening at high temps.

Form a long narrow H from 1/2" square bar set on the diamond.The center of the H should be 4" shorter than the face.

The cross pieces should be a inch shorter than the width of the anvil. 

Assemble the H on the face plate in the flat position and weld the heck out of it.

Do not quench in water or even a moving stream of air as produced by a fan.

Preheat to 350 F and weld to the top of the anvil. 

I would use either innersheild (preferred) or 8018 1/8" diameter. 

Either way you want a big power source (at least 250 amps for the wire feed or 275 for the stick.

If you happen to have 500 amps then 1/16 solid wire would be great, and fast. Otherwise use 0.45. 

For best results bring the finished work to a heat treater with a vacuum furnace.

Frosty greatly contributed to the development of this method.

IMHO, The easiest grog is made from ceramic chimney liner or tile, available for free at the broken pile of any good mason supply. While there buy some washed sharp sand and some fireclay. Use equal amounts to make a decent cheap refractory.

As to the Russian fireplace, been studying them for years first I have heard of this super hotness.

I know for a fact it is not needed.

I never saw any indication that your hammer "works fine".

If you haven't compared your performance to an actual power hammer then you are just muddying the waters with your claims.

Really need to know whether you have AC-DC -or just AC. 

If AC only, buy 7018 AC only. 

All old rods should be dried.

250 degrees for an hour in your kitchen oven is better than slobbering can't start an arc wet.

Most of those rods you don't want unless you have DC. 

I personally have little use for 6013 but I have MIG welders.

As Gun Dr. said 6011 is all around rod. Fast freezing it can fill large gaps and poor fitup. Digging arc does not mind some rust and dirt and can weld through paint if need be. 

Note that all welding purposes prefer clean metal and good fitup can be a component of strength.

I would buy a fifty pound can of 1/8" 6011 to start with. That will be good for 90% of your repairs or fab projects.

After a few cans you can say you know how to weld. After a lot more cans you will be a welder. By then you will be well versed in 7018 as well. 

7018 is required for all structural welding and also for higher alloys such as plow steel and other tool steels. 

When doing these type of welds good well preserved dry rods are always required. 

xx24 rods are high speed good fitup flat position rods and require mad heat. Even 1/8" is likely too big for you.