Anachronist58

I told my brother the other day that I needed to put my forge blower on a foot pedal speed control. I wanted to have two hands on my work while dynamically varying the airflow. I found one concise reference on IFI by K. Bryan Morgan:

But Brother John was way ahead of me:

0190.pdf

There is much more to this, Never tell John you want to do something. He just goes nuts.  On my way down the hill to fabricate the foot pedal/control linkage.

Unlike a standard Shop Vac Monster, this thing is designed to run at the bottom end of the power curve, and thus, hopefully, will be Very Quiet!!

Will keep you posted,

Robert Taylor

I would show you my drawings, but I'm a bit sensitive right now.  Don't think I can handle the unbridled laughter.  

Actually, I'm seeing some cool stuff on here Glenn, thanks for starting  a Neato Thread.

That Anvil got 13 Horns! I see up to 12 Swage Profiles! And what njanvilman said.

Rich, when you found me to be in error, I demurred.  I did not see a link to the original post, and spent a bit of time searching for it. I tried to correct my speaking out of turn with work.

I finally managed to find (and post) the image to which you referred in Post #11, and could not link to (I hope I got it right this time). 

I apologize for piping up in your blade forum.  I am only a toolmaker, and the work you do is very high end (I also looked on your web site). I will not be taking blade classes for quite some time, as I am just getting to the basics.

For me, this is simply a matter of getting lost in translation, not a slight of your contributions.

As I may not speak for others I will only speak for myself.  I see the value of your contributions, but only to the extent that my competence allows me to do so.  I humbly hope you see the value in that.

Robert Taylor

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I demur - not smart enough to find the pics.

Also Branded as a 'Rotozip' tool.

In my Dreams...... I'd be shakin that thing around for all to see!

Don Shears - Sorry you had to see such a hack job - I have a special affection for mortise and tenon work - glad to hear you got some wrought iron out of the deal. Do post photos - that would be something to see.

Robert Taylor

Not a pulley as it is a continuous spiral groove? And I propose that it is a ball race.  The holes are blind threaded 4-40, and I am guessing that they were index pins for timing the lathe operation. I just can't figure it out.

Thanks Arftist, that was a big concern in my field.  Any one else?

All right then!  I know there are a bunch of "engineer types" (the kind I like) hiding under that soot and scale. 

Got this Item for five bucks at Murphy's Junk Emporium in El Cajon.  Before I transform (destroy) this thing into a cone mandrel, maybe someone could tell me what it really is:

It is 5" in Dia. at the base x 12 - 3/4" long.  Made of Soft Steel. The spiral groove has a +.250" circular profile, with a weird pitch:  3.0187 Grooves Per Inch.  Conical taper is 12.5 Deg.

My guess is that it got scrapped out during manufacture, and is thus an unfinished item.

Come on - I bet Someone on this Forum even used to make these! My apology in advance for what I am getting ready to do to it :o

Indeed, when you say "a LOT of metal",  that means something different to each observer. 

A picture is worth a thousand words :rolleyes:

In my case, "a LOT of metal" used to be .002".  I think that's why I like Smithing. I'm still trying to loosen up, but maybe I shouldn't?....

Are we to assume that you are finishing a BLIND Hole?

Will the Hardy have a Taper?

So yes, seeing what you are up against would tell me, at least, whether it is file time.

It appears that Mr. Swedefiddle has done this kind of thing a time or two before.....

Has anyone ever had problem with sharp corners in their Hardy Profiles leading to cracks?

Robert Taylor

Sorry for the frustration, dognose, but you sure nailed it on the piece you've pictured above.

Whatcha doin' over there, neighbor?

Just bar-b-quein, neighbor, just bar-b-quein :ph34r:

Wow, I was going to post something mean and unproductive about throwing ashes away or digging up the yard, but my wife said if I did that, I would have to sleep in the back yard, under a tarp. :wacko:

The county condemned and made me tear down my first  shop......

Not to brag (but I guess that's what I'm doing) but my wife is pretty tolerant of my affliction:

So, I have long puzzled over how to make a long heat bed that is quick and dirty and consumes as little charcoal as possible. 

Mr. Sells, your lawn forge is an elegant solution. Swords9023,Tell the Wife that you will carefully set aside the lawn divot, and when you are done no-one will ever know it happened, and the lawn is sure to benefit in the long run.  The other thing Steve Sells said about moving back and forth through the heat zone is great advice.

Dan C, I keep wanting to do a brake drum forge, but I would absolutely have to have a pan on it to give a larger "soak area". And nothing beats a tuyere that can be throttled for length (in it's simplest iteration, reads: "poking the coke"?).

Thomas Powers, I'll have something to say about ashes when I've a learned bit more.....

If I were to solve this problem for myself right now, I would get Diameter 4" or 6" black-wall stove pipe. Sold in 24" lengths, which comes with the seam not joined. Spread it open to taste, placing one section inside the other with 1" of ash dough in between the two pieces. the inner pipe will eventually get ate up, not that I would care for what it costs. Sealing the ends is only a matter of cold forming sheet metal caps and a few sheet metal screws. But then, I can dig all the holes I want.....

 If you work ash refractories, or such as contain Lime, etc.,  Consider wearing gloves, and protect your skin and lungs, One may be burned. I myself have to be reminded of these things over and over again.

Mr. Stevens, How much sand does that take? I don't know much about wood-frame fire boxes....

Robert Taylor

Thanks, rockstar.esq.  Ironically, I coined that phrase after working a couple of months alongside of several PhD's :o

(not a smear of the venerable title per se, just the ones I was jammed in with....)

Blacksmithing, like any other skill, is of course only an App.  You get the App, you click on it, and everything else is accomplished for you  (Certainly I imagine many hundreds of swords have been forged whilst playing World of Warcraft).

A young "machinist" a while back emphatically stated to me that "Aerospace Machining is an Art, not a Science:  If it were a Science, then Anyone could do it."

I always had to keep certain extra duplicate tools on hand for his shift. :(

one of my Managers once declared that "Tool and Cutter Grinding is a 'Black Art', passed down from generation to generation".

My point is only that I completely agree with you gentlemen above, and the saddest thing is:  Those who manage our Education System DO NOT, as evidenced by the systematic elimination of our Vocational Programs, and as personally attested to by at least one venerable member of this forum.

Sort of odd, Rich Hale, that at my former job, I was known as the Troll.  If you came to my department ('Crossed the Bridge') with a request, you had to to have your questions better prepared than "I need a cutter, not too big, not too small", Rumor had it I was a Goat Gobbling Mean Old Man.  Not True.  I simply had a job to do and a backlog. I can't help that my face looks harder than an Iron stove.

As for the way people start new threads on this Forum, I would love to start my own thread, but:

#1, I'm too busy looking up what others have already gone to the trouble to lay down, as is proper for an utter amateur such as I.

#2, I have several things I am working on, and I am Dying to share them, but they are not finished. Hence, they are neither real, nor earned. 

I have to say though, Rich, in these days, when a dime won't buy you a nickle('s worth of metal),  If anyone has the ability to sway young neotrolls back onto the right path, It is this community of Craftsmen/Artists/Educators/Grownups/Administrators who keep a firm yet mostly gentle rein on the goings-on-around-here. 

I bow to All

Robert Taylor

Uhhh, yeah, what they said - and a stunning pictorial metamorphosis.

My Hammer!  I've been looking for that for weeks! How'd it end up in Florida??? Hammer Nappers? :P

Earlier this year, my brother bought 3 pieces of 6" dia. x 1" thick 6061 to turn and mill: "One for you to scrap, one for production, and one spare."  I scrapped one, he scrapped one, and one made it through :wacko:

My saying, which I strive not to be the object of:  "My Intellect is no match for your Superstition".

Oh that makes me wish I had talent - Awesome it all right!

John McPherson and Arftist - Good Posts.  IFI makes me smarter! :)

Yesterday, between posts on this thread I was working two tools (one of which, Mr. McPherson, is a hot cut for my "Craigslist rail anvil" that my uncle roughed out for me 20 years ago- :rolleyes: )  on my milled (.025") Soderfors 88#. Were I not an Idiot Savant with hammering, I would have been very frustrated. One wishes to do his heavy forging over the center of mass, no? ).%C2%A0%20%C2%A0%20But%20I%20am%20fully%20qualified%20to%20perform%20that%20type%20of%20quality%20controlled%20operation%C2%A0'>).  %C2%A0%20But%20I%20am%20fully%20qualified%20to%20perform%20that%20type%20of%20quality%20controlled%20operation 

I was drawing out and trying to maintain a controlled fillet behind a finish-machined feature.

There is a reason for this Potential frustration that would be best addressed in it's own Thread:  Ergonomics in Manual Operations. In short, small manual target zones contribute to sub-par work conditions.  I am not advocating against the two square inch anvil, per se.

Mr. Geek, by Dead Reckoning, I would put my anvil at ~45Rc. I consider that "soft". And yet, Furious Beating on Tough and Hard  steel last night failed to booger my anvil face.

This speaks to Mr. Powers "New Student = Soft Hammer" and John McPherson's pal "Lightnin".  I am convinced that My Soderfors previous life was in "The Corner of Shame" in some classroom  setting :wacko:

Robert Taylor

Yikes!! :wacko:

Mr. "Crazy" Ivan,  It is now time for me to publicly extend my personal thanks to you first, and then to all who found the courage to follow you on this thread, each with his own story and/or perspective - This is what we strive for as Human Beings.

I have been fighting my way out of the woods (see Post #45, above) trying to make sense of my life and the fragments I have left to start over again with - and I have finally emerged, standing on my feet.

The thing is, you see, we pass one-another on the road of life, and who can see the things we carry?

A lot of us don't want to bother others with our burdens, and that's okay.  I just hope that as we look at one another, be it on this site through our other interactions, we remember that none of us are only "skin deep".

Thank you Community.

R. Taylor