vapremac

I'd have to agree with Mr. Mullins , its first life was a shaft of some sorts , it even appears to have a flat milled on one side in the third pic. Follow the others fine advice and have at it,a three-square file would work great for cutting in the flutes.

Jim, I knew you would have a solution for that !!! LOL!! OK.....how about something to imitate the pattern of a rope ?

Fine job ! That definitely takes some talent and an eye for detail ,like the platypus,to assemble all the pieces together and still maintain a smooth and rounded appearance. There is a fellow on another forum that does similar work and he can't build them fast enough for all the orders he has.He'll post progress pics of the build on his Facebook page ,kinda interesting to follow.

Curly......I believe you're right,the possibilities are endless. The tooling is only limited by ones imagination. I would be interested in seeing a texturing tool that would do a checkering pattern such as that on a gun stock. Ever seen anything like that Jim or Nuge ?

That's some fine work there Stormcrow.

One tree forge , I visited the links you posted and had a look around ,nice work,unique one of a kind.

Welcome aboard,a lot of great talented folks here.

Jim, You know..... I've come to expect this from you !!! LOL! Interchangeable/quick change tooling is a wonderful thing when trying to be productive. If the holder was left straight (no cap) could it be used in another type of press,say a fly press?

Jim , Another ingenious way of repurposing spent tooling !!

Fine job !!! Welcome aboard !

That's a fine looking "junk" knife ! I like it !!

Ohio Rusty, From the pics it does "look" like grey cast iron. A simple test that I perform when customers bring in things like that is a drill test. Ductile iron - drills and produces a chip just like drilling mild steel. Grey iron - does not produce a chip but rather a clumpy powder.

Welcome Christopher, The talent and knowledge here is amazing ! You would be a wise individual to Run not walk to get under the wing of the two fine folks from Michigan offering their assistance.

Nice find Glenn !

Nice work.....the teeth really add to it !!

Looks great to me.......fine job!!

Francis Trez Cole, I agree, a vise set at the proper height for filing can make a big difference in how you feel at the end of the day. Those vise blocks are a really handy multiuse tool, I know Jim Coke really likes the ones he has.

How cold? TO............cold............18 degrees here right now,suppose to get down to 9 overnight.

JacksonH, IMHO good drills and cheap both have their place in the shop, alot of the decision process when determining which brand or quality to purchase is the level of precision you are trying to achieve. The lower price drills,Harbor Freight ones,I use them and can get them to hold a decent grind over an extended period of time (with proper speeds and cutting oil). The issue that I have with the cheaper drills is that they do not run concentric, meaning they don't rotate in true circle but more of an oval. If that is of no big concern to the type of work you are doing then they will be fine. With the cheaper drills you won't feel to bad when one breaks or honing your grinding skills. When my jobs call for precision tolerance, I leave the cheap ones in the tool room. For this I prefer morse taper shank twist drills, American made , more expensive but a whole lot more peace of mind. So my take on both.........each have their place,depends on the task at hand as to the quality of choice. Hope that helps.............

Happy for you Kayakersteve!!! Allways a good feeling when theres a new toy on the way........

JacksonH........Glad to hear you were able to accomplish what you set out to do in the first place. DSW.........I agree 100%, there is quite a bit of "mild steel mystery metal" floating around among the material suppliers, run in to right often. 118 degree split point jobber length drills are the most commonly sold twist drills and cover a wide range of typical applications in the shop. The correct grind angle is 59 degrees (118/2=59). I hand grind so it could end up 5+- degrees. The critical areas of twist drill grinding is to maintain proper web length and web center. Probably the most neglected angle when putting a fresh grind on a twist drill is the positive rake (the land should gently slope downward from the cutting edge). This allows the cutting edge to do it intended job of cutting, run cooler,evacuate the chips and speed up the whole process. A cutting oil will dramatically extend drill life and regrinds. Each material classification (1018,4140,316SS) has it own set of drilling specs known as surface feet per minute for a high speed steel or a carbide twist drill. Once the material class is known,the SFM and the diameter of the twist drill,a few calculations preformed and that will give you the proper RPM at which to set your machine. Like Rich Hale mentioned,cutting speeds are crucial to long tool life,use the hex nuts for a point gauge,it takes a little time to learn to properly put a good grind on a twist drill. So,even though you believe you hardened the material, changing some of the drilling parameters would have let you bore the hole.

Good looking job on the bark texture!! Now lets see those dies.......

Here's a block that mounts in a vise, this particular one accepts hardy tools with a one inch shank. Also have another that will accept an inch and a quarter shank. Really handy tool to have around.

Looks like your headed in the right direction......this forum is filled with knowledgeable and talented members that will be happy to answer any questions you may have. As far as what tools you may need.......alot of that depends on how specialized or diversified you ultimately want your operation to be.

Greenbeast, What welding process and parameters are you using ? Where did it warp the most, in between the C-clamps? It can be VERY frustrating when this happens but using a well configured setup and proper technic will make all the difference in the world.