ciladog

Scott, No, you don't have to anneal the spring steel. It has to be welded while HOT. I guess I should ask if you are trying to weld a button of spring steel to the top a flat bar of mild steel or are you just welding a handle to the side of the spring steel? If it's the former forge welding is prefered. If it's the latter then just preheat the spring steel and weld while hot.

I buy from these people. Always good service and fast shipping. http://www.sheffield-pottery.com/Kiln-Building-Refractory-Bricks-s/24.htm

Most tool and spring steels like 5160 need to be preheated to a black heat (1000 F) before welding and then allowed to cool slowly after welding.

It looks like a window sash weight.

Phil, If you keep your hammer blows all the same and keep the punch rotating at the same rate the margins will come out evenly.

Necessity is the mother of invention. Now that’s thinking out of the box. Use what you have and get it done.

As I recall you got a six inch metal lathe. There are ways to face a 6 inch round on that lathe but if you don't want to try just get the rounds and I'll face them for you. Or what Dick and Bruce said.

What do you mean 'bigger stuff like that.' Make the dies as small as you want. All you have to be able to do is drill some holes. A place like Speedy Metals will cut the rounds for you for no charge.

Sam, Let's take your idea a bit further. Take off the sow block and the piece it is mounted to right down to the casting. Get a piece of round of equal diameter and a height about 5/8 inch below the bottom of the die. Drill that piece to mount on the hammer casting. Then drill and tap mounting holes on the top of it for 1/2 or 5/8 bolts. Now all you have to do is get 1/2 or 5/8 inch thick rounds (of a smaller diameter) to weld your dies to and bolt them down. Like these Here's a quick change arrangement that works on top or bottom

You should always do this type of work in a well ventilated area but I don't think you have much to worry about melting a key. If you use the brick as a mold the casting will be rough. You can use plaster for a mold if you first make a positive but you need to dry out the mold in an oven to be sure that all the moisture is driven out before you pour in molten metal. You should also use safety equipment such as a face shield and aprion and gloves.

I'm no expert in foundry work but you have such a small amount of brass in a key that I think you will need to use centrifugal casting the way they make jewelry if you want to cast a charm. That's a pretty big enterprise for one charm. On the other hand, if you want to make a small brass billet and and forge something out of it or perhaps cut out a charm with a jewelers saw then that is doable on a small scale. Soft fire brick can be worked with ordinary woodworking tools like drills and gouges. You just scrape a depression in the brick and lay the key in it and melt it with a torch. Here is a video showing simple centrifugal castin. Here is another method. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=v8Td2c3-0tI

Get yourself a soft fire brick and dig out a shallow depression in it. Put the key in the depression and heat it with a torch until it melts into a puddle. Now you can forge it into whatever you like. You will need to heat and quench in water every so often to soften the brass during forging or it will crack. My advice is to move on and keep the key as a spare.

And that says it all, respectfully :rolleyes: ..

When I first started out back in 1973 I made this anvil from a railroad track. I found a railroad siding that had lots of old track piled up and I took a hand hacksaw and cut me a piece of track. Today you would get arrested for doing that. But back then, nobody cared. I had bought a book, The Modern Blacksmith by Alexander Weygers that showed how to make an anvil from a railroad track and I followed the directions. I did it with just a drill, a file, and a hand held grinder. I heat treated it according to his directions. I used this anvil for many years. My point is that you get out of your efforts what you put in. Functionality is one thing and pride is another.

What John B said. You can learn a lot from this man. I have.

Here's a pretty good video on forging a leaf, short and sweet.

Hey Sam, when I saw the first picture it looked like the spike was passing through a punched hole and I thought how the devil did he do that? As always, you da man.

Well Randy, I went into the forge this morning and gave it a try. I have a new respect for Mr. Larson. This is not an easy thing to do mainly because the forging is so small that the heat dissipates in an instant. I'm happy with the way it turned out for a first try at it. The flux did break off as the process went on. But all in all, I think it is an OK attempt. I made a video of the attempt, enjoy.

I still have the billet from this thread. I haven't yet decided what it will be. Heirloom and legacy tools are always a rewarding project for me. I make these strike knives out of about 20 layers of old high carbon bandsaw blades

Those small heads are indeed incredible. I will have to try that on a welding rod but first I have to get 20X lense for my magnifier.

Ferrous, thank you for the compliment.

Metallmangeler, Thanks for posting the way you do it. I will give some of your methods on the power hammer a try. It's always good to learn new ways to get it done.

Thank you all for the kind words. I have made these ram's heads out of stock as small as 1/4" round and as large as 1 1/4 square. In the attached images the small head was made from 1/4 round (that is a 5/16 nut holding it up) and large head was made from 1 inch square. The one in the video was made from 1/2 inch square.

Wolfshieldrx, is that fixture just a holding devise or does it do something?

My first question: Is your raw material cold finished or hot rolled? A little research shows the end product will have different properties. I'm no expert in metallurgy but I know how to do research. Do you have access to a book by William E. Bryson called Heat Treatment, Selecton, and Application of Tool Steels?