Wroughton

Great show MLM. These are speculative samples?

Consider me inspired.

Sent an email to the supplier. Hi Darin, Thanks for your email and I hope I can provide you enough information for your use of these castings. The loop chain is made from Hadfield manganese which is a work hardening steel used most in applications where there is repeated impact to generate a hard surface while maintaining a strong ductile core. Think of crusher parts and liners for ball mills. If the material is heated beyond 600 deg F it will become brittle and weak. After any hot working of the material it must be heated to 1900 deg F and quenched in water for it to become strong and ductile again. Initially it will only be around 250 BHN hardness but as the surface is impacted it can harden up to 550 BHN. The other castings are 8630 alloy steel in a normalized condition. This material can be hardened to around 400 BHN to provide good strength and hardness. Best regards, Matthew De Steur mdesteur@nordstrongequipment.com Technical Sales Representative Office: (604) 882-1602 Fax: (604) 882-1603 Cell: (604) 839-1402 Unit# 205, 9710 - 187 Street, Surrey, BC, Canada V4N 3N6 Anyone with info/experience on forging Hadfield manganese? I had some success with a small pry bar but then had a chunk come completely apart after breaking it down some. I was tending towards the high temp side. Hot short? Wikipedia answered my question. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangalloy

Any literature from the last time there was a standard in the U.S.? I bet someone here has a copy in his back pocket. Would it be too easy to start there? Tossing that out for archaic tendencies could we borrow something from our European brothers that's more current? Not that I'm doing anything about it :rolleyes: , but that seems like a fairly easy fish to fry....err plagiarize.

Freelance, Start making. All your ideas are valid. Bridal shops need all kinds of arbors. Some they rent, some they buy. Timber framed arbors with metal shod joints, are easily transportable and erected on site. The real money is in the rental side of the larger objects. A bridal shop or wedding planner will rarely bother talking to you if you ask them if they're interested in forged wedding accessories without samples. Pictures rarely convey what a sample can.

My apologies for you having to leave the mudderland Bigfoot. I'm an Idaho boy myself. I'm still in Idaho Territory. Anyway, that sure looks like a mend to me. Macbruce's Mum is setting down her line to get a good drift for her fly.

Nice mend!

I don't know if there would be much "wisdom" in buying that anvil for more than $2.00. door stop.

The last one is very nice. Inferno

I bought that book for face value ($40-$50) around 2005-6 and gave it to a friend for letting me use his electric kiln and press to make some copper/nickel mokume billets. He ALMOST looks guilty when he talks about. At least I still have access to it. Technically, it is better than the other mokume books out there but there's not much for trade secrets. Picture quality and examples of beautiful works abound though and it's very inspiring.

JAX brand is also good. Most of the traditional fire arm bluing compounds (Birchwood Casey) seem to work, around 2x as well as "ornamental" bluing compounds from Surfin or other companies. Your surfaces need to be uniform in finish and they must be C-L-E-A-N. A little warming up doesn't hurt either for your materials or patina solution. Also, smooth surfaces are a pain for cold bluing or other types of patina for that matter. You'll do better with a little "tooth". Side note: I have wrought iron. PM me if you'd like a chunk.

Todd, Are you restricted by vintage what you can bring into the shop? For tooling and such? The foundry sounds rather modern....relatively speaking. Some would argue that "blacksmiths don't wear gloves" but sometimes it's a must. (I have a blacksmith buddy that grabs my hands after we shake to see if I've been working.) I generally keep the gloves off while around turning machinery such as drill presses and lathes. Loose clothing is also a bad idea. If you're not catching it up in something you're catching it on fire.

lookin good. Putting up a peace sign for the final configuration?

hmmm :wacko: The chain, and a peak at a quick link. They read E-9710.

A few pictures of the chain.

hmmmm, where did I put that bent pos?

The chain came from a hog fuel storage building. The mill made studs and mostly plywood. The chain ran to the hog fuel boilers. I have a bunch. I have a couple of landscaping projects for some but I'd like some thoughts on what I could be doing with it in the forge, tooling, etc. There are also some quick links. Burly, with a E90** symbol on them. Is that the alloy? Here's the hog fuel building. 60ft tall. The upper catwalk looking thing going in the end was where the chain resided before the demo.

Rivets anyone? I like the tractor hauling around the B-25.

I have some chain from an Esco paddle chain for carrying away wood chips and bark. Normally I would just heat it up and put it under the hammer to see what happens. I'm sure its going to be "obstinant" to say the least. Any thoughts? The links are about 10" long x 5" wide and 1 1/8" in diameter

2005 Duramax 2500 - Aluminum flatbed with 2" cottonwood planking. 190ish, modified Polaris 6x4 bringing out camp. My main scrounger. Other modes of transport, Aluminum drift boat for collecting wrought iron. Cleaning up on the Big Blackfoot a couple of weeks ago.

It has plenty of holes horizontal and vertical. If you need a vise there's a way. You're at a loss for mounting this vise to something?

"cracklin cattle prod" ;)

The life so brief.....the download speed so long. I'm sure they look great Owen but after 10 minutes I only have partials. Great handles!

I run from the niche, hellbent. A niche smacks of different species of bacteria or mold taking up residence on old left overs in the fridge. You're a blacksmith DK, and a cross trained one at that. Your hand work and training will serve you well as you apply detail to larger works. As for making a living off larger pieces, you may have to "spec" some of those to increase your portfolio to show potential clients, buyers, customers, and clients what you're capable of. Make and learn.

Dickb, for that matter why don't you break your stock down 1/4" to get your desired material? Would those short lengths work for your oyster sloops? A little more ideal for damascus and bladesmiths?