jimcraig58

This is a rail chisel used to cut rail by hand. I worked for the railroad in the early 80's and we still had these around,but  never used them. Some of the old timers talked about using them. 

I recently had the same problem. Forged hardware is too heavy for the door sets you can buy at your local big box stores. It will not stand up. You can buy heavy duty mortised hardware from Baldwin. This is very good, but also very expensive. I also found one made buy a company called Emtec that was very good and much cheaper than Baldwin. It was still very expensive. I found these at a local door shop.  

Thanks for the replies. I found a local door shop that can supply me with the Baldwin hardware. I will try that.

I have a client who wants a forged entry door handle. Does any body out there know where I can get just the inner hardware from a good quality lock set? The client wants a hand made handle, but with modern lock parts. I have looked at many local stores and lock smith places in my area with no luck. I would appreciate  any help.

I have bought sheet copper from onlinemetals.com . The roofers around here don't seem to use copper flashing very much.

I buy my copper from onlinemetals.com . They also carry other metals as well as plastics. The have no minimums and the prices are reasonable.

I have a Drill Doctor 750X and have not had very good luck with it. It works all right for smaller bits, but doesn't work well for anything 1/2" or more. I followed the directions to a T, but still could not get larger bits sharp. I have seen other things on other forums with the same complaints.

The most valuable commodity I have is my time and being able to tie my own brooms saves a lot of that. I don't have to get the handles out to some one else and then wait to get them back. Also, it is a fairly easy thing to do. It only takes about 10 or 15 minutes to make a really nice broom.

Jeff Mohr made a vidio called Broom Making for the Blacksmith several years ago. I got it and was able to tie brooms to my own handles in no time. These hand tied brooms look far better than anything I did trying to attach a broom or brush to a handle and then make it look like it belonged there.I can't remember where I got it but I think teachingtapes.net may carry it.