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I Forge Iron

DEERESMITH

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  • Location
    West Michigan
  • Biography
    Maried,three kids,wife has career.Little time to play blacksmith.
  • Interests
    old machinery,farm equipment,metal working
  • Occupation
    Ford Dealership auto tech,transmission specialist

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  1. The jaws are 3 7/8" wide, and the vise is much lighter duty that the 4" post vise I have. I believe this may be 18th century as the screw box is more primitive, and open on the end. Very pronounced chamfering. It has clearly had a rough, but long life. The handle is 14" long, and 5/8" diameter. The forcing screw is 1 1/8" diameter. The parts fit together nicely, but maybe the screw parts are from a heavier vise? I really feel like I am using the same amount of strength to snug the jaws as I use for everyday use in my bench vise, and the dynamic jaw definitely starts to bend. I haven't tried, but seems like I could probably bend it back where I started if I weren't careful. The cracks are on the side of the jaws that would be squeezed tighter when tightening the vise, IF THAT MATTERS.
  2. Hi guys. I am a blacksmithing, metal working, and old tool enthusiast, but not necessarily good at it. I am a mechanic by trade, and honestly better at assembling things that already fit together. Anyway, I have a little post vise that the dynamic jaw was obviously bent, as the two jaws were very close to each other right where the forcing screw goes through. It was clear that the static jaw was basically straight, and the dynamic jaw was bent right where the iron wraps around. I straightened it in the press, without heat. I decided to do this for two reasons. I wanted to maintain the original patina, and I didn't want to risk heating one side more than the other and cause it to twist. (we only have a torch at work, no forge) I got it pretty straight, but had slight crack on each side, at the base of the wrap. The cracks are not very deep, and they are on the outside of the jaw, right on the thrust washer bearing surface. The cracks are not opened up. Anyway, when I reassembled the vise, it seams to want to bend back when I tighten it. I am not using a cheater bar, or even pulling excessively hard. Here are my questions. Do you think the primary problem is the "memory" of the iron? If I heat the area up to critical temp, and leave it in the fire and let the fire go out, will that remove the "memory? If I decide to do that, should I weld the cracks? And if so, what method? What rod or wire? This is one of the older vises with the very pronounced chamfering, so I suspect that it is wrought iron. Thanks, Kevin
  3. I appreciate your advise, but I don't think I completely got my point accross. I want the rivet securely fastened to the lever, while mantaining proper clearance for the handle. I think I need some sort of upset between the handle, and the lever, so when I peen the end of the rivet,the rivet will be securely fastened to the lever, and the handle will be allowed to spin on the rivet, but the rivet will not be allowed to spin or wiggle in the lever. Here is how I made my rivet head. I made a rivet head tool by driving my ball peen hammer, ball end, into a hot piece of steel. The diameter of the rivet head tool is 9/16" ( 3/8 X 1.5) I upset the 3/8" rod best I can, then drive it into the rivet tool that I made. When I attempt to drive the hot, upset end of the rod into the tool, much of the metal wants to expand out the sides of the tool, yet the metal has still lacked a little from completely reaching the bottom of the tool. This leaves a slight flat spot, or a divet. The divet gets worse if I attempt to correct the metal that expanded over the sides of the tool. I hope this makes sense. If I knew how, I would post pictures. Thanks again.
  4. Guys, I am attempting to make a new crank handle for my Champion 400 blower. I have turned a nice 4" long hickory handle, and drilled a 25/64" hole, so it fits freely over a 3/8" rod. I have done the best job that I know how to do of forming a rivet head on the end of a 3/8" rod. So now I have a handle, on a long 3/8" rivet, that I need to install on my blower lever that has a 3/8" hole in it. How do I rivet this to my blower lever without tightening the rivet down on the wood handle. I do not know how to form an upset to back up the rivet through the lever, with the wood handle in place. Any ideas? Also, If anybody knows how to form a rivet head, without a divet in the top of the head, I am all ears. Thanks in advance for your help.
  5. I have a small "swing set" chain nailed to my stump that drapes over the anvil, but instead of a weight, I have a piece of 1" x 4" attached to the end of the chain. The chain lacks a couple of inches of reaching the floor, so I can step on the 1" x 4" board to hold down my work. I hope this makes sense!
  6. Tillers international in Scotts Michigan offers wheelwrighting class every year. I cut this from there site: Wheel Wrighting - 464 VIDEO Learn the process of constructing wooden wheels for wagons and buggies. See how small hubs are turned and mortised. Practice your hand at shaving spokes. See how felloes are steam bent. Lend your hand as we heat shrink steel tires onto a set of wheels in a cloud of steam. Wheel wrighting is a fascinating combination of early precision wood and metal working, and involves exciting team work. Take cartwrighting as well to complete your transport-building skills. Products: none. Enrollment: 4 to 12. Minimum Age: 14. a/ June14-15, 2008-- Saturday-Sunday, 9am-5pm -- $185 Cook's Mill, Scotts, MI. John Sarge, Dave Kramer, Instructors. Tillers International Home
  7. I am using a Champion 400 blower. It is entirely possible that I am not properly managing my fire properly. I am burning coal that I purchased from Tillers International, the place that I took my blacksmithing classes. When I say I took classes, I mean 4 days total training. My fire is constatnly spreading larger than I think that it should. I am constantly watering around the fire to contain it. The coal around the outer part of the fire pot flames up, which makes it difficult for me to see my iron in the fire, particularily when welding. I can water the coal to get rid of the flames,but they return within one or two heats. This may be normal. This is a hobby, and I have little experience. My fire pot has been fabricated from an old farm implement wheel. It is 1/8" thick or so. I know there are variables, but how much coal do you consume in an 8 hour day? Thanks again.
  8. Guys, I have a couple of questions. I have a cast iron forge table that has been lined with some type of refractory cement. This was done before I purchased the forge. I formed a large clinker that went around the entire circumference of the tuyere. The clinker was stuck to the cement lining,and when I removed the clinker, the cement came with it. QUESTION #1: How do I keep my clinkers from sticking to the cement lining. My fire pot is 4" deep. The tuyere is 3" diameter. The fire pot tapers up to 12" diameter. I am concerned that my fire pot is to large, and consumes to much coal. Since I need to repair the liner in the bottom of my fire pot around the tuyere, I am considering using the refractory cement to make my fire pot 9" diameter. QUETSION #2:What are your thoughts on my fire pot dimensions, and the idea of modifing its size? Thanks in advance for sharing your experience.
  9. Thanks for the insight guys. I did get the metal to near welding temp during one of the heats. Do you suppose that the damage was caused by getting the metal that hot, or by forging it while it was that hot. What I am asking is, could I have avoided the damage by letting the piece cool down a bit before hammering, or was the damage already done by the time I pulled it out of the forge. PS I already decided against attempting to use a home forged hook to chain down a car after this failure, however, I still feel the need to learn where I went wrong. Thanks to all who took time to post.
  10. The fingernail belonges to my lovely wife. I did not quench in water. It was a lot of work straightening this sway bar. I still have the other half of the sway bar, but I hate to invest that much work again if it is going to crack again. I plan on making a large j hook to chain cars onto a car trailer. Is there a chance that the metal is at fault? Should I scrap this sway bar, and find something else? I don't think I can keep this entire piece at working temp, this is quite a chunk of iron. Let me know what you think.
  11. I was attempting to make a J-hook, like the tow truck drivers use. I used a 1" diameter stabilizer bar from a car. I had significant straightening to do, and then I forged it down to 1/2" thick. I got interrupted and let it sit overnight, and this morning I noticed the crack. Did I do something wrong or was it the metal that I used? Who can help?
  12. I got this tool at an auction, and I do not know if it is a blacksmithing tool or not. Can anyone name this tool?
  13. First, I am no expert. I was taught to forge weld at Tillers International. After the metal is properly formed, bring the metal to a red heat. Remove from fire,wire brush,apply plenty of 20 mule team for flux,then bring up to welding temp. I have not been taught to poke the metal to identify welding temp, so I have no comment on that. I was told to observe the metal, when it becomes the same color as the fire, it is ready. When you pull the iron out of the fire, you have to get it on the anvil immediatly and get it welded. This is a very small window of opportunity. You do not stop and wire brush the metal when it is at welding temp, the only cleaning that is done at this point is maybe a quick tap on the anvil to knock off a piece of coke that is stuck to the metal. If you are welding two separate pieces together, don't wast time perfectly aligning the pieces,you don't have that kind of time. Get one piece on top of the other and hit it. You can adjust and straighten things later. I strongly suggest practicing forge welding a loop so you only have to manage one piece of iron. I was taught to do this in during a two day Blacksmithing I class, and I was successful in class. It was six months or so before I aquired an anvil, and a small 18" rivet forge. I was unable to weld at home at this point. When I returned to Tillers International for BlacksmithingII I asked for more instruction. I was told that rivet forges do not work well for welding because they are so shallow. You must exclude oxyogen from the metal. If you do not have at least a few inches of coal between your tuyere and your metal, you will introduce oxyogen. You must have clean coke above and below your iron. The anvil must be close by or it will be too late to weld. Small pieces cool even more quickly. I was told that some smiths lay a piece of railroad iron to use as an anvil right on the forge table when welding small pieces so thay can get to it before it is too late to weld. With this new info, I went and heaped my forge extra high with coal, drug my anvil out in the yard next to the forge, and was successfully welding the first time.
  14. Firegirl, If you go to any automotive body shop, they will be able to tell you which adhesive to use for your application. They may even help you glue it using there product if you take your item along. I am a mechanic at a Ford dealer. We also have a body shop. The body guys have "glued" things together for me using a product called "panel bond" This particular product is used for glueing on metal auto body panels such as rocker panels, door skins ect. I am certain that an auto body technician could hook you up.
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