Dodge

 

I made mine too high.  I am using it for small stock, not 4" bar stock!!!  I got a little carried away.  And a heavier base is needed for sure.  I can say that I see the important's in welding on a sacrificial piece to the top fuller. I used a stick welder to put it together so It's not as pretty as others but it should do the trick.  All 1/4" mild sheet. good luck. 

I agree a heavier base would have been an improvement but I really like how you set your "backbone" at an angle to the dies. Accommodates long stock better :)

Looks like you have a nice clean hammered bevel going, from what I can  see in #4 (hand held) Would that be a Wilton vise its setting on in the last two? Great vises!

Scott

I wish I had payed more attention to how they worked and not just how they came apart and went back together when I was in the service LOL But I'm with Frosty. I will be keeping tabs here ;)

This is why I'll never be a good blacksmith. I've never cared to ask  the RC hardness of even a store bought hammer; let alone a custom made hammer. If it doesn't crack, chip, break or dent when I hit hot metal with it I'm good. B)

thanks guys!

that's not a bbq fork :) way too big - that's for a fireplace, 

i made that knife from a bearing with a local master called "Shlomo Erel". Shlomo had been to a lot of international blacksmithing competitions.

it's not homade micarta its made from "wings" from a vacum pumps :P cool material.

I love re-purposed materials. Especially when it takes on such beauty!!

It looks like something from Tim Burton (Nightmare Before Christmas) :D You've done some nice craftsmanship on it. Especially, as John said, the blending of the handle to metal. But you said yourself; Its really out there! :P 

Unless its metric. The weight is :D My best guess however, is that it's inches as metrics usually don't involve fractions

Beautiful work!  I really like that knife with the date and signature stamps in the handle, I was trying to figure out what it was made from until I took a closer look.  I really like the handle on that bbq fork too, it looks really even and clean!

What is it? I couldn't make it out.

WOW!! Nice work, Guy!! Is that homemade micarta?

I quit eating my Wheaties :D

I made this blade and then I realised there is no hardwood in my area. I'd like to make micarta but I don't think people use fiberglass resin in Puerto Rico for much, so I can't find that in the hardware store.
Any Ideas?


Forgot to mention that the delivery services don't ship here so I can't just buy blanks.
I'd really like some help guys.

I know this is outdated now, but for future reference, I googled "trees native to puerto rico" and Wiki (I know, I know :rolleyes: ) listed 47 different species. Coccobola, a hardwood, I believe, was one. I didn't look into many as they were listed by their scientific names (i.e. Species and genus etc) and I'm far from a botany or wood expert LOL. Also found this PDF claiming over 500 different species indigenous to PR: prwoods.pdf

Hope this is useful

Scott

Edit: After reading further, the PDF goes on to say that only 52 or so are "saw-log size available for domestic or commercial use". But heck! I can't name a 10 hardwoods here in the US :D

If you stood a couple fire bricks on your vise so they formed an angle around the bar that torch would've brought it to orange easily. Just a little containment is all she's lacking.

 

Oh and I have to differ on one point. Bending is a forging process so it by sure and golly brought the work to forging heat.

 

Yeah yeah I know, I keep my head buzzed so the split hairs don't show. <grin>

 

Frosty The Lucky.

LOL If you split hairs you got twice as many. Won't do me any good, however (see avatar) :D

Tresspass? Sacred? I didn't know entry to the craft  was restricted to any one group or demographic. Its certainly not evident in the membership here. I bet there is a member from every walk of life here. "Doctor, lawyer, Indian chief". "Butcher, baker, candlestick maker". Anyone that can swing a hammer... :)

Grundsau,

Where I used to work (light pole manufacturing) we pressed base plate covers from a single sheet of 14 or 16 ga steel. The sheet started as an octagon about the size of a stop sign. (in fact that's what we called these blanks). There was a special die set that, with the aid of a 60 ton press, would form these stop signs into rounded cornered "tub" (the new nick name after the pressing process) about 6" deep x 10 - 12" square that had a flange that we cut off later. That flange was what was not formed into the die much like the OP's photo except they were flat. What those top and bottom dies had were "lands" for lack of a better word that pressed the edges of the stop signs flat as the dies came together. Perhaps if you were to weld a flat land around your top die that would meet the flat surface of you swage block at the same time as the top round die bottomed out it would also flatten the outer "flange". I don't know if this muddies the waters or not but after re-reading Alan's post I suspect that is sort of what he was suggesting. The "lands" leave nowhere for the outer square to go but flat. A side note; the sides of our flanges were not straight anymore due to the amount of material being drawn into the die on the sides as opposed to the corners. Also the reason for them being octagons. (less material to flatten; a square sheet of that thin of material, even with the lands would surely buckle at the corners) The drawing is crude but hopefully you see what I mean

Hope this was helpful

Scott

Been thinking about a mini-forge. Just never got past the thinking, LOL. Jim, I was thinking about that factor of it being at the end. Might have to experiment some time. This work only took a few minutes to get malleable. (less than five?) Like I said, It wasn't forging heat by any means, but it got the job done ;)

I was in the process of making some exhaust hangers for my project car and being in a B-twixt (that period between paychecks ;) ) I couldn't wait to get these done but no oxy or acet and too small a project to fire up the forge so just for fun I broke out the plumbers torch. I've never tried hot bending with one but its only .44" (11.2mm) round stock so I went for it. Hey, it worked!! It didn't get to orange by any means but it was hot enough for what I needed. Interestingly though, when I stopped to grab my camera, enough scale had formed to insulate it from rehating to red until I brushed the scale of. Anyway, FWIW:

very cool!

I made mine to accept stock 3" x .38" flat bar for dies. Shown are my "Vee" dies for tong jaws, etc

Wow! Nice work Dominic! If you hadn't said so, I would not believe you hadn't any formal or otherwise art training. You apparently have an artistic gene or right brain dominance. Your form and composition is fantastic for self-taught!

BTW, welcome to the funhouse :)

Scott

I agree with Robert. I used to wash my welding leathers in the washer. They are the same leather. I didn't do it to wash the dye out but rather the sweat but they were clearly a lighter color after the dryer. I even washed leather gloves! Its been a few years but as I recall, the dyes didn't completely wash out of my white t-shirts right away, but once run through the wash, the leather didn't bleed so bad after.

Scott

Permit me to wipe the drool from my keyboard :P.  Mr Bush, I never tire of seeing your work.

I can see that the guard is a separate piece but is the handle and pommel integral to the blade? Simply stunning!

Scott

Looks good for a first PW. We have a bit in common. My first 2 finished knives (my only finished ones so far) were pattern welded billets. I wasn't intending to make knives at all but was fascinated with the PW process. My attempts turned out so well (IMHO), it just seemed appropriate to make them into knives. :)

I'm sorry I didn't see this when it was current. I will try to be brief. I couldn't help notice the OP is not a legitimate member (I didn't know guests could post) But I digress.

In my humble opinion, contrary to the OP's comment to Frosty, guns are not the same as hammers. Guns can be called "tools" depending on your use or profession, but they are weapons. Hammers are not (at least by design). Case in point: A Marine probably won't go to the brig for having a rusty entrenching tool (folding shovel). However, if he was negligent enough to allow his weapon to become rusty, he could certainly face charges that could result in loss of rank and pay and even imprisonment. 

'If the coating offends thee, remove it' <_<

Nice, from what I can see. Photo tip: Concentrate flash at an angle (45º is generally what was used in line photography) so that the flash can't bounce back into the lens. Not easy if using a cell phone camera but bouncing flash off white cards and other tricks can help with flash washout. Hope this helps.

Scott

I've never seen a liquid center one either; like sodium filled engine valves they are something to be aware of; but thankfully rare.

 

They do leave interesting "swarf" though, one had pink and the other green for the last two I drilled 

I honestly thought you were at least as old as I, Thomas :D Liquid-filled, continuous rubberband wound g-balls are indeed a thing of the past. ( "If you remember these, you're as old as dirt" ) I remember cutting into one as a kid. It was fun watching the rubber band winding contract with each pass with the blade.  and since I was a kid, I was very intent on what would happen when I reached the rubber ball core. The white milky liquid must have been under quite a bit of pressure because it squirted my eye so hard I couldn't see out of it for the rest of the day and it was red for many days after. :unsure:

Is that the bilet you posted on FB? Turned out very nice indeed!