Charles R. Stevens

Whats the angle on a self locking taper? Getting old and forgot, lol

Actually the primary reason is to isolate the parts of the hammer you are working on. Makes forging down the cheeks of the eye much easier, and it reduces the weight slightly for the size of the faces. Fullering to isolate the faces from eye helps with both round and square stock. If you start with square you need to forge the heads round, if you start with round, you need to forge the center flat. Not to mention if you start with 2" round and want a 2 1/2" face. Lots easier to upset the ends by "mushrooming" them. Form usually fallows function. And isolating, and butchering stock makes life a lot easer. You basically lay out a blank and forge the different parts. Look at the old books that show forging train parts on power hammers. Forging is forging, but when you start seeing how to efficiently get from the shape and size of the stock you have to the shape and size of finished piece you need, you start thinking in a much less linear fashion. Lets take a hardy tool for example. A 2", 1 1/2" or 1 square or round will work, just takes different approaches to get their (and frankly 1/2 will work to, lol.) and for that mater depending on the tooling and labor available you may use different processes to forge the same part from the same stock ( one smith might upset the end of a 1" bar to 2" wile another would forge weld a 1"x1/2" bar around the end to make a 3" head. All depends on the smith, skills, tools and labor) Sorry for getting long winded, and wandering off topic, must be channeling some of that Frosty vibe ;-)

Take a page from the Tomas Powers play book, hail damaged materials from a roofing contractor. Another option is barn salvge, seconds from the manufacture, of recycled mobil homes. (Aluminum siding and a roof fabricated from 4' wide sheats seamed together. As Glenn reminded me a 55 g drum is a 3x6" sheat of steel. Not to mentiom old refrigerators and freezers or resiklin frak tanks. That is just the metal siding optiond, we havent explored other options. Peaple love to burn down old buildings and bury them here. Lots of options.

One has to define the use of an axe, first is it intended as a tool of a weapon? A tomahawk intended as a "woodsman axe" would do well with a 24" handle, and a head 6" long, 4" edge and 1/4" threw most of its length. Weighing somthing like 2 1/2#. But frankly this would be to heavy for a weapon. A batle axe with a 32" handle only sported a 1 1/4# head (same outside dementions of the above head but much thiner) Making it neir as weildy as a sword. A tomahawk intended for fighting would be somthing like 18" handle, 4" edge to center of eye, edge 2 1/2" orso 3/16-1/8" thick. If one splits and drifts a spike, it can be drawn thiner and deaper on the drift, as most end up with the cheaks of the eye being to thick. The tomihawk pictured is not a spike hawk, but it is what I moddel my fighting haks on. Wile I model my woodsman hawks on a swedish military 3/4 axe. I would model a batle axe on the larger head, but it would be much thiner. So you can make a wepon, out of that stock, but to what perpose? It is a better piece of stock used for tools.

Dont even get me started on 4 year colleges... I again have to salute you, NJ

Only thing that even resembles "shop" is FFA and the associated Ag classes. And most of the school admin i have talked to about eliminating chem labs sighted liability. Truth is, at least hear in Oklahoma, a 20 kid sports program is given priority over anything else. Sports is not a bad thing, but when a new ball field trumps a libraries or computer lab something is wrong. The local school board took offense when I expressed the view that a used oil derrick would have been a better investment. At least the boys could have learned a trade. Any way, I'll get off my soap box.

I think the colleges are the only ones who can, the liability insurance has all but elemited shop and science labs from highschools. Some how i find it sad that its ok to criple, kill and subject chieldren to tramatic brain injures on the football feild but its to risky to have a chem lab or auto shop. Sorry american football, lol

Depending on the stock lenght, you might consider simply "out lining" the cross to say figure one peice of stock twice the length of the combined with and hight, bend in half, to form the top branch, forge two 90's and fold back to form the side branches, and two parelel 90's to form the lower branch. This alows you several options at this point. You can (and i think you should) put a twist in each branch. You also have the tips and the center that can be worked as decretive elements, say melted marbels (bolders?) maybe copper, brass, wood, open air?

When I started reading the thread I had another image in my head, specifically Tomas Powers' double horn armoring stake, but now that I see your plan, and actually like it, the cone fits just all to well in the pick socket. Looks like you may end up with more than 3 tools, the chisel end, if used for a hot cut hardy (even forged simi circle) may still yield a piece of usable stock left over as well as the pick end, if you draw out the handle. I acualy like the plan. This all depends on your welding abilities and doing a bit of research on rod choice and when in doubt preheat and slow cool

Oh good sir, you are certainly high on my "sit down and have a cup of coffee" list, but I'm afraid if i cross that line they would have to feed me intravenously!

One at the top of my list is folks that assume spelling (and by extensian, grammer, one has to love all the wordsa that sound the same) is related to inteligence, if it is it isnt related to low inteligence.

It actually heats the chips, the chips heat the steel. Acording to the manufacuer and the former post.

Oh, Steve! So cruel, so cruel...

Fosty, is that "duralube" as in high end two stroke oil?

'?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent>> Not sure if any one has experiance using one, maybe some of the college trained smiths in Britan

So you just forge hardy tools like large carriage bolts, once you get the plug out of yours, ofcorse

So I have to buy a Christmas tree?! I wander if Sandy will let me get away with bending up some old barbed wire?! Now to ice the lump on my head... Yep, slaped myself in the forehead, good place to stash gifts Glenn

State and federal experts are usualy helpful, tho my experiance isn't with geoligests (they may be haried and overworked?) but most of the time they are so exited that some one is interested in asking their advice that you will get much more than you asked for.

Aldepends on the size of the "cat" and "litter box" Ian. As depocted on the Discovery Chanel, Africa is just a big litter box with some godauffle bid cats. ;-)

Always fun to see some one ask a question (or have an arm chair expert open their "mouths") only to find out that one (or more) of the members realy is an expert. No dumb questions, but if you ask one one you had really better want an answer! (And dont start the question in the middle if you don't want to incire Master Tommases Ire)

Or as as some one reminded me (who was that, Glenn?! Lol) a 55 gallon drum is 3x6 FEET of sheet steel. Working sheet isn't all that hard, it cuts with large snips, or a chisel a bench, clamps and a piece of 2x stock or angle iron, sheet metal pliers and a hammer and a square edged peice of hardwood or steel scrap.

If you figure at least $60 an hour (bet it is more) not a bad price. Tho 12" round with a "T" or a "90" has worked for others.

If that becomes an issue, a demo trailer would allow you to go mobile. Plenty of places you can go if your stuck with a home owners association. I do not no if Arizona offers an online highschool, but backwards ol' Oklihoma dose (and like home schooling the local public school is required to alow pertisipation in extracaricular activities) dont have to worry about gunns, drugs or school administration that is more woried about sports (rampid problem here). I'm afraid that the inconsistencies and abuses caused by our school board system makes home, charter and other non traditinal schools a better opption for most kids. Lo

Metalsmith 21, its been years, but i do keep in contact with teachers and friends in the area. I wander if its any diferent than any ither school? We had 3 grade schoolers OD on prescription anti phycotics just 6 miles up the road. I'm afraid drigs in school has been a fact of life for decades. When I was a kid we had preppies, stoners, jocks and mods. Not to mention nerds, geeks and other outcasts (i fell in the latter) the only diference I see now is the names have changed, and jocks, preppies, emoes and nerds are as likely to be stoners as are the skinheads, choloes and gangbangers. Not to mention guns and knives (i was a country nerd with a knife)

I have a two burner proforge and to be honest it is two large or two small half the time, lol. If i was to give up my charcoal forge I would whant 3-4 different gasers, for fuel effency. Coffee can, 1 burner, 2 burner, 3 burner and a big 4 burner furnace. But I agree, coal gives me a sore throught. As my shop space evolves I will be building afew forges, lol