darksaber

Good to know cause I probably would have torqued them down if I hadn't read this

Well looks like I will be finding some bolts for it tomorrow night or Saturday then . Yes nakedanvil it is cast didn't think about that at the time, just want to get it fixed the correct way. Oak Hill Forge if replacing the bolt was the better option I was planning on replacing the other one as well. And since it seems like everyone is in agreement about bolting that will be what I do. As long as I can get this thing fixed by October 23 I will be happy. I have signed up for the Brian Brazeal class down the mountain and this will be the forge I am using for it, so it needs to be working for that. Again I want to thank everyone for their help in this problem I really do appreciate it.

I have my grandfathers old rivet forge, it is marked with Champion 142, also has a handcrank blower attached. It set outside in the shed for several years and is/was rusted some. Anyway I have used it for about a year now and last weekend as I was using it one of the bolts holding the firepot to the hearth popped off. I finished up the day and once it cooled down I got to looking and wondering how to fix it. Would it be better to take it to a friends and weld the firepot to the hearth or find a bolt and reattach it that way? The bolt seems the easy fix but not sure about long term. Figured I would ask the fine minds on this forum for advice before fixing it up or attempting to this weekend. Thanx for your help everyone.

Very neat idea, I really like it and probably will end up copying it.

Not 100% sure but I seem to remember reading somewhere that they were high carbon. The article I read said the chains and bars both had to be high carbon to stand up to the rigors of chainsawing. Can't remember where I read it but know I did at one point. Hopefully someone else will stop in and give a clear concise answer because I was thinking of trying the same thing later. If you try it for kicks and giggles let me know how it turns out cause it sounds interesting. :P

Looks good man. Just as a FYI since I didn't see anyone say anything about it yet but just in case you didn't know HC spikes top out at like 30 points of carbon. Not enough carbon for even a decent edge, but like you said it doesn't matter either way but just so you know. Keep churning stuff out and you will improve a lot quicker than even you think.

Thanx that was what I was looking for Thomas. That is one thing I do love about these forums, I come up with an idea and others can tell me whether it will work or not without me doing some extensive testing.

Got a question about handles for a couple of knives. Not seen anything like what I have in mind and not sure if it would work and didn't see it in the search. Last Saturday I bought a few files with some handles at the flea market, mainly for the handles of course, it's not like i need more pieces of metal . When I got home I discovered the handles screwed on instead of the force fit type I am used to and that got me thinking. If I were to draw the tang down on the files to no taper would these screw on handle make acceptable handles for a few knives I need to make? I realize I would need to either epoxy them in or find some other way to make them permanent but would it be doable? The handles are the normal file type handles that are cylindrical with a bulb on the back so I would have to shape them slightly The reason I ask is so far the hardest part I have found in doing the few knives I have made is making and attaching the handles. Plus I haven't made but one through tang yet. Thanx for your help I do appreciate any opinions or comments.

Saw a guy a while back who had made a donkey's head from one, he called it a jack hammer. No pictures of it, but maybe I can find one later today.

I like it, plus it feels pretty good in the hand too. :cool:

I picked up 150-200 lbs. of scrap steel at a yard sale the other weekend. Some of it was high carbon, pipe, channel, angle, mild, high-speed, rebar, and what I believe is stainless steel. I say believe because it is still very shiny, and even though some of the other pieces have a slight coating of rust, this has none. A box about 18x24 inches that I could barely pick up, and a 5 gallon bucket that I had to take a good bit out to even lift. Granted a good chunk is what even I would consider scarp, but for 2 dollars I couldn't pass it up. I plan on making up some trinkets, and possibly using it in some pattern weld damascus trinkets, like key chains and pendants, and other things that would make cheap birthday presents and such. Can anyone give me any advice on working the stainless? Not sure if I need to work it at different temps or need to finish it any different from mild steel. If so can I do this at home without expensive equipment. I have an old champion forge and blower as well as a small anvil, and a large tractor tire weight for a large anvil, several different hammers, a small belt sander, and an angle grinder. Thanx for the help y'all.

I was going thru some of my junk metal in the garage and found an old hook that my dad dug up out of the ground several years back before I got into blacksmithing. The hook has about a 1.5" inside diameter circle and lacks about half an inch of being completely closed. Tapers from about 1.5" to about .25" wide and 3/8" to .5" thick. It also has 2 holes off center and not inline with each other, punched not drilled holes. Took it in to class yesterday and in grinding off some of the rust found out it was probably wrought iron, bead blasted it today and from what myself and others can tell it is wrought iron, due to the grain structure. I am going to take some pics before I start working with it and post them later this afternoon. Dad says it came off an old vehicle and the teacher says it probably came off an old wagon. Any ideas what it might have been used for? And how can I fill in the holes so it is one solid piece? Forgeweld them and draw the thing back out straight? How hard is wrought iron to forgeweld to a piece of high carbon steel? Never used wrought iron before, so other than keeping it at almost welding heat, any other tips before I put this in the fire and start beating on it? Thanx for the help. And if the project I have in mind goes like I am hoping I will post some pictures this weekend or first part of next.

A friend and I took a load of metal to the scrapyard last week while there we found a large drive chain of some sort. The chain looks like a bicycle chain only scaled up extremely large, about 6 foot long and 50 pounds or so. We tossed it in the back of the truck and took it back to our blacksmithing class. We joked about forgewelding the thing into a solid bar and then making several edged tools with the resulting billet. We both will finish the blacksmithing program at our school this semester. My question is what could we do with this massive chain? Take it apart and use the pieces, forgeweld a small length of it, forge weld the entire thing, or just scrap it? Thanks for your help and ideas.

One thing I have made that most of my family and friends really like are over the door hooks and wall hooks from them. I am planning on posting some pics of some later this week.

I recently made a hatchet from a ball peen hammer. I want something I can throw at some targets. Should the next one I make have a slightly curved edge or straight? I know the curved edge is more suited to axes as it helps to concentrate the force but not sure about it on a throwing tomahawk. Also where can one find drifts for the handles (preferabbly a store bought one I can copy later). I probably won't start this till after the new year but wanted input now while I am drawing/designing it out. Thanx for the help guys.

Saw this post last week and thought it looked like a fun project to finish up this semester of my blacksmithing classes. Here is the final product after doing some testing yesterday. It was a lot of fun to make, even if it was tough to do. The steel was tough to forge and moved very slowly under the hammer. I broke a tack on the treadle hammer about 3/4 of the way forging it out and had to use my big straight peen. Then noticed my hammer handle was coming out after I finished the forging. I annealed it overnight in vermiculite and then quenched in oil and drew a nice blue almost purple temper on it. It took an extremely good edge and then chopped through a piece of 2x6 seasoned oak lumber (didn't know what I grabbed as I left for class till I got there). No chips or deformed edge after chopping and still had a decently sharp edge on it. I am extremely proud of this thing, and plan on replacing the little hatchet I normally carry with this one. The teacher and fellow students, as well as myself, were pleased at how it turned out. Now can't wait to make a few more. :D