Warrigal

What hasn't been mentioned ( I think) is that sometimes, just sometimes a knife with a good steel gets a shoddy heat treat and then becomes the KLO ( I do like that and will use it) Not much you can do other than send it back or strip the handle and bits off and have a crack ( go) at heat treating yourself (This is a blacksmith forum after all) Carl

I now have a couple Galvanised buckets, I have quenching oil in 4lt olive oil tins with the top cut off. Top off for most jobs, side off for long blades. But when I started I had a plastic 10lt bucket but I pt an inch of sand in the bottom so I could drop small items in without melting the bucket. Carl

What I actually said to the missus was "The house budget owes the forge $15 for the new riser I didn't have to buy. LOL Carl

I'm very new to this whole blacksmith concept so I don't always think that way when confronted with a problem. I was mowing the lawn this morning when I broke ( for about the 5th time over the last three years) one of the short handle risers that go from the mower to the hinge that allows the handle to fold down for storage. Sick and tired of getting it welded up. Hmmmmmm I know....yep. So I fired the forge up grabbed a suitably sized old file from my "stock pile" and ten minutes later it is buried in the ash bed slowly cooling ( somewhere in my head the steel in files is air quenched) drilled the appropriate holes. Break now you xxxxxxx. Then of course rang the mower supplier to find out how much I just saved my self. So I can tell the missus. Carl

Had a win this weekend. The Missus wanted an hour of quiet time when I got home from work yesterday so I grabbed the Destructacon ( the three year old) and we went for a drive. Half an hour or so to a rubbish dump two towns over that allows scrounging ( most don't here) I got a 6ft weights barbell ( 8-10kgs) a 16inch rasp and an old wall mounted gun rack for $5 Might turn that into a rack for lighter bar stock or electric leads. This arvo I went to might mate Petes he has just changed cars so I got a set of Nissan Nivara Leaf springs and torsion bars for nix ( no money) on the proviso that if he gets motivated and I have some left he can get some back. Not a bad effort for the weekend.

I was just thinking, what if you took the valve out, flushed the cylinder with soapy water "37" times and then filled it with dry ice pellets. As they boil off they fill the container with CO2, drop the temperature inside dramatically. Just thinking. OR What if you filled it with water and froze it. Grandad had a light engineering shop he had a big reciprocating hack saw (2ft blades) maybe you could find something like that. ( it would need to be bigger though) I spoke to dad about it we both agree our personal preference would be to get someone else to do it at their place, while we were at work. Carl

Ahhhhh that would be why. I have always known them a case hammers for the fruit case description given but here in Oz Shacks were roofed with bark or corro iron ( corrigated tin sheets) Shingles were used but not as a major source of roofing. We don't do the tar and pebble thing you guys do on flat roofs either. Might hit some one up for some advice shortly ( on shingle roofing). The destructacon ( my three year old, son and heir) is pushing for a tree house but I'm heading towards a log cabin because I can get the logs cheap, and we don't have any suitable trees. Thanks for the input. Carl

Stewart, do you not think you have had enough "bad" influence on me? But you have a point a 12mm ring spanner on one end and golok on the other. or maybe a mini Excaliber "Back you dastardly snail/aphid" I must be tired. Carl

Mate I never had a metal work teacher. But I will chase up my wooden mallet, your dead right I hadn't thought that through. Ta Carl

My case hammer looks remarkably similar to this. with a Buck 110 for size. Carl

Young Mr Townsend, how the bl**dy H*ll is yer? How was the show today? When I was a kid in the Grandparents "sunroom" they had a heap of potplants ( small ferns and such in pots on stands not a room full of narcotics) In this room was a small wooden stand with a small shovel, rake and hoe about six inches long overall. To tend said plants. well O.K. more for decoration. A mate of mine Mitch has started growing herbs on his deck ( again basil chillies coriander mint etc not narcotics) I asked him to keep an eye out for files, springs coil and leaf or spanners broken or generaly unloved. He has given me some files and small broken ring spanners of his. I am hoping to turn them a set of these tools for his deck garden. I saw a open ended spanner forged into a letter opener which was cool but I thought why not go a bit further and try to make the mini garden tools. So yeah I want to trim and flatten the broken end of the spanner and then "bowl" ( is that the right term?) it into a shallow shovel/trowel and maybe a little hoe. I'll get some good local "ironbark" drill some shallow holes join them scrape burn I think when I get it close to size I'll up-end my big ball-pein and compress the last bit into the hole tapping the ball-pein into the depression with another hammer. Don't when I'll get that done though. Carl

WARNING FOR THOSE OF YOU ABOUT TO TAKE THE LINK BELOW. US AUSTRALIANS HAVE A UNIQUE ATTITUDE TO SWEARING. Geez Matt your a funny bugger!!! For those of you outside the loop. I know I had better things to do - Laventrix knife forum Carl

Thanks Gerry I was thinking something like that would hold up for a single use. Carl

I am always poking around second hand stores antique shops junkyards etc. And have been doing it for years. I have NEVER seen a swage block sale. A mate of mine gave me some smaller spanners Half inch and such. I was going to turn them into some mini garden tools for the herb garden he has on his patio at his high rise apartment. I was thinking of using the hardie hole to gently bowl out the shovel. I have used a leather sand bag to bowl Brass and copper ( that was a long time ago) Any body got any suggestions? Because it is a small job I was gunna carve a bowl out of wood lock in my vice and use that instead. as I said it is a one off. Carl

Well done mate some real inspiration there. I'm currently trying to belt/forge half a full six pick head into a hot cutting hardie. I have never welded and don't have access to one ( a welder) at this point. I particularly liked your twisting wrench. Carl

Chyancarrek. The Airshow was a bit flash for this part of the world. Flying Demos by A De-havilland Vampire ( only one in the World flying) a Gloster Meteor ( only one in the world flying) BAC Canberra ( one of a couple) F18 Hornets and a SuperHornet Which is replacing the F111's Quiet a few Statics including F16 ( don't see them here very much) F15 ( or these) Constellation Nimrod Of course the joke is all the Static displays had to go home . Didn't get much done around the house the next day to busy peering off the back deck watching the statics take off and go home. LOL I did have a F111a Land in the back yard latter the day of the airshow. Thats my bloke on the right Dad brought one of those back for me on his last deployment to Vietnam. Circa 1971 Nobody seems to know what happened to mine I found this on Ebay for $40. I takes two D-cell batteries sequence is as follows. Stopped starts to whine, as whine increases in pitch wings extend, It starts to move forward it picks up speed and wings retract, Then stops after about 30ft. It is MY special toy and only brought out if the apprentice has been very, very good. Carl

In 2004 my wife and I walked into a medieval fair in Heidelberg Germany. One of the first "stalls" we came to was "hot tub" 12ft in diameter heated from underneath ( don't ask I didn't look how it was done) as we approached a young lady arose from the steaming water in here genuine medieval bathing costume ( nekid) My wife wife exclaimed " would you get a load of that" Which is Australian for "jolly gosh you don't see that everyday" But I wasn't there as the girl stood up I heard a hammer hit an anvil and had gone to find it. Just a question of priorities really. Carl

I live on the back of an Australian Air force base. So not every day but a couple times a year I get to see this. An F111g Doing the good old "dump and burn" Fuel is released out the back and is ignited by the afterburner. At night time it turns the area to twilight with flickering shadows. I took this pick early this October at the Airshow held at this base. The base is also home to C17 Globmasters. The F111's are due to be retired next year. When we brought the place the Real Estate agent sat us down and under her duty of disclosure told us about the Air base thinking it would be a problem LOL! Carl

After reading this thread I have soaked nearly all my wedged items in a 50-50 mix of raw Linseed and olive oil ( linseed by itself evaporates very quickly, Check my local I'm in the Northern half of Australia). I ended up cutting the top out of 4liter olive oil can 4''x3''x14'' and dropping the hammers tomahawks hatchets and axes in to it. The full size axes won't fit though. A couple hammers and a case hammer ( hmmm case hammer doesn't google a hatchet with a straight edge and a hammer face opposite, OK like a drywall hammer but more a full hatchet face) Anyway they were loose and I thought I had a days re-hafting them coming up eventualy but the soak has tightened them all up. Thanks for the advise fellas. Carl

I read and I care. And I do have a bit of experience with such things. Firstly Don't get a overhead masonry bolt ( eg Ramset) based on the weight of the bag alone get the biggest one you can manage because you also have to account for the stress of the bag jumping around. Secondly after getting sick coping "Flak" about rattling the house I now have a sedan ( car) inner tube around the rafter ( over the top so the end dangles either side) with a largish stainless hook through the two ends then the bag straps through that. I cut small grooves in the hook so I could "mouse" the ends of the hook with wire so the bag can't bounce off. The tube takes 90% of the bounce and rattle off the supports. Hope this helps. Carl

Dads Dad had a light engineering shop. I was talking about my forge and that I had seen the "little black book" in a tool shop but the price was a bit steep ( for me at the moment at least) Dad went inside a came back with Pops Engineers hand book Title page with the date is gone but he had covered the book with brown paper and added his name and class date 1912! Woo hoo. Carl

Inventory!!!!!!! Certainly I'll put a couple weeks aside for that in my next life. On the hoarding subject. My three year old wants a tree house. No suitable trees in our yard. No cash to go and buy a prefab one ( which I wouldn't do anyway. Not quiet enough cash to buy nice wood to build from scratch. So I'm watching Nat Geo the other day and they start talking log cabins. Of course..... The local ply board factory sells logs..... What else do I need, Hmmmm Axe, got heaps Bowsaw, got several. Adze, got two. Brace and bits, got a selection. Froe (For shingles), spikes ( to hold the logs together) hinges (for the door) Got a forge I can make those. Cool I'll start a thread when I get some pics and keep you guys posted. Carl

By trolling the web I got the suggestion of lining the bottom of my "forge" with ash and dirt ( ash from my wood fired heater) Forge is in inverted comma's because it started life as a comercial charcoal fired BBQ I plan ( tomorrow if the stars are in alignment or whatever it is that delivers other jobs for me to do) to "strain" all the charcoal out of the Firebed and then cover this insulating layer with a layer of clay I got from my sister who works in an Art supply shop. As it turns out mum and dad have just dug up their back yard and removed a lot of clay, that will be finding it's way over to my place somewhere in the next week. Outta interest my cast iron fire, closed in like a modern combustion stove but externally all cast iron. Has burn only wood cast into the front wall. Pity lotsa coal around here. Carl

If that is a by-law of the forum. I'd better leave now I've been picking up pieces of scrap steel handle materials Hammers and files for years. Carl