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Chattanooga tn
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Location
Chattanooga tn
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I can't see the facebook photos for some reason, but the google plus photos are nice. It took me a while to realize the numeric markings are 10s of millimeters, but after that it made sense. Looks like 1/2" plate, 1 1/2" wide for the part that holds the vise. Hard to say how long it is, but I can guesstimate.
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Yeah. Looks simple. Just not easy to remove. My vise is out in the open, so I like to bring it in from the rain when the day is done.
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Stephen, the part the wraps the vise looks like a rectangular 1/2" steel plate, folded around something square, with slots drilled or drifted in the ends (not necessarily in that order). I think I can make that. What about the mounting plate? 1" steel bar, flattened on one end? I'm not sure I can heat 1" steel bar sufficiently in my small brake drum forge. It would be an interesting experiment though.
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That combination wedge/tenon is really cool. I also appreciate the close view of the spring. All the photos I've seen to date were smaller and less clear. I like the 90 degree bend at the top. Looks like it makes it easier to assemble. The smooth curve is nice too. Here's a straightened photo of my spring. It didn't show up on it's side when I posted it from my ipad last night, but it's on it's side on the laptop this morning. I'd edit the post, but it looks like I can't edit posts from yesterday or something.
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I forged a new spring last night from mild steel 1/2" round bar. I don't think I did a great job, but it's probably good enough for now.
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What would it be if it's not real wrought iron? I was under the impression that these were all forged steel.
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I notice my post is bent. Can I just heat that up over the forge and straighten it?
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Self threading with a die sounds good. Where would I pick up a die? I was also thinking I could just make the clamp assembly in the forge without threads and use metal wedges to take up the slack.
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I bought a post vise this weekend. It's missing a bracket for mounting, and a spring. It came with a 1/4" thick strip of plate, bent into a strap, so I'm using that, lag bolted to a 4x4 piece of lumber, horizontally. I'm using a wood wedge between the vise and 4x4 to tighten everything up. Here's a photo: This is a pretty crappy setup. It works in a pinch, but it's impossible to get enough clamping force from soft pine lumber, across grain like this. The wood just crushes and eventually the vise loosens up. I read about the various types of clamps these vises came with, originally, and I think I'd like to fabricate a u-bolt style clamp. Anyone have any idea where I can get some appropriately sized u-bolts? Also, if anyone is selling an original mounting bracket, I'm interested. I tried a first attempt at forging my own replacement spring this past weekend from mild steel. It's not great, but I think it'll do for now. :)
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Doesn't it say Chattanooga, TN on the left under my avatar? It does for me....
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Really? I've always read that the opposite was true. Bituminous is more impure than anthracite. I haven't really had any complaints with anthracite so far. The start proceedure is a little lengthy, but once it gets going, it seems great. To start, I use about ten brickettes of charcoal on the bottom. I then build a small wood fire on top to light the charcoal. I burn wood for heat in the winter, so I have plenty of dry kindling. Once the charcoal is going well, I pack anthracite around the edges and finally on top and I let it sit for 10 - 30 minutes. Like I said, pain to start, but once started, it seems to work really well. My understanding is that I will need to modify my forge design a bit for bituminous, as it needs to coke first. Anthracite doesn't really need to coke first.
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How deep should my fire be? I've since modified the brake drum. It was 3" deep, and I thought that was too deep, so I cut U slots in the front and back so the work rests 2" up from the bottom of the drum. Yeah, that was one of the first things I noticed as well. Long since corrected. You'll notice I have a nice stump instead of that mess of stacked lumber for the anvil stand too.
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Chattanooga
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Just getting started. I've got 4 boxes of anthracite, a home made brake drum forge, and a small 99 lb Peter Wright anvil, which appears to be in decent shape to my untrained eye.