GottMitUns

Just saw your post Wroughton, Thanks for the Pics!  that the exact grain structure I remember, and yes my legs getting tired from kicking!

Thanks

Russell

My first try at Mokume brought on by forgetting my wife's birthday.  I know it would have gone A LOT better if I had done more than an hour reading about it and started a little earlier than 3:00 todayLots of file work to do. 

The retort is wood fired,  there is a piece of 2" pipe that comes off the back of the inner chamber at the top, and then runs between the inner and outer chambers with 14 of so small holes in it to vent the wood gas into the burn area and help the heating process along.

Russell

Lawman,

   If you want to see a retort in person Goliad Forge has one set up at Mr. Bluntzers shop in Ander.

Russell IMG_0404.MOV

I picked up a 98# Peter Wright over the weekend, my first London pattern anvil.  When I cleaned it up a bit I had found a large block letter formed "T" engraved in the bottom.  I'm curios if this was a mark that PW put on the anvil that means something, or a mark one of the smiths put on it for identification?

Thanks

Russell

Lawman,

   If you cant find 20 mule team at Walmart, Dicks food store carries it.

I would like to see a picture of that If you have a chance to take one!

Thomas,

  I hadn't really thought about what I wanted to do with it other than forge weld a billet of it together.  Everything I have read says it works differently than modern steel and I would like to "feel" this difference for myself.

If I could go back in time I would kick my young self right in the butt, back in the 90s there were some turnbuckles laying around our shop that were around 6 ft long with 1-1/2" threaded rods that I'm fairly sure were wrought iron. They had been in brackish water for 100 +yrs. and the surfaces of them looked more like tree bark than steel (deep grooves running length ways).

I went back that shop and looked for them last year and found out they went to the scrap yard a coupe of years ago.

Guys,

   are there any clues that you look for when trying to fined wrought iron wagon wheels.  I would like to play with some true wrought iron and there are some wagon wheels available around here for sale but I don't thing the owner would be to happy with me taking a wire brush, sand blaster or grinder to his antiques to find out if they are steel or wrought iron.

Thank you,

Russell

I have no info on the double sledge but I am fairly certain that I have watched a video of a smith making chain at THAT forge and anvil.  It was on the web somewhere but I have no idea where.

RWD

Last name of the president of the company was Dupont, I think those big grinding wheels my have been for black powder.

Lawman, one thing I have learned in the last week of running a utility hammer is that things within a 10 ft radius tend to bounce and walk around. my gas forge is open ended on both ends and I stack fire bricks on the back side to block it off, this hasn't been a problem in the past 2 years but it is now! Hot busted fire brick crumbs all over the floor is not fun.

I have to get out of the habit of leaving my hammer on top of my anvil also, it hits the floor with in about 20 strokes of the air hammer.

Just something to thing about.

RWD

Thank you Arftist,

   I will measure the output Dia tomorrow.

I have had 3 of these stamping units over the last 25 years, I think I bought the last one that Matthews made about 10 years ago.  This unit came from a used machine dealer about 5 years ago but it has now been replaced with a dot peen diamond stylus setup. 

In operation one ram would rapid down until the stencil head contacted the part to be marked, then apply a set amount of pressure.  When the head reached the preset pressure a second ram would push the head to the left, rolling the part to be stamped that was resting in a cradle made of roller bearings.  At a preset distance to the left the both rams would retract to their home position.

I think it put out 5000# of down force on the stencils and it was FAST.  it could come down, pressure up, roll 3 linear inches of marking on a part and return to home in about 3/4 of a second.  the home position of the head had to be between 1/8" to 1" above the part to be marked 

Thanks

Russell

Gents,

    I have a old Matthews indent-A-Mark roll marker that has a Brown and Sharpe, Double A, CircuitCenter hydraulic power unit.  The unit has a 3 phase 7.5 hp baldor motor but I cannot find a tag on the hydraulic motor.

the serial # is 84L-34195-4

the model# is T20P

I'm trying to find out the output of the motor to see if its a candidate for a press for Damascus.

Matthews discontinued the line around 10 years ago

Double A was bought by Vickers and then by Eaton and my short search for B&S has not turned up anything yet.

Do any of you know anything about these power units off the top of your heads?

Thank you

Russell

lawman,

Lentz hardware has some pretty good all steel casters at OK prices.  I built one of the hammer racks from the plans that were floating around on here recently and put it on wheels. it holds a lot of stuff!

Very nice touches!

I just ordered mine yesterday from CMT (stampman).  A young Lady named Evonda took care of me.  mine ran 111.00 for the stamp and 30.00 for the design rework.

Lawman,

    How close to Victoria Tx are you?  I just took delivery of a Big Blu 110 and had my first chance to play with it this morning.  Get ready to be dumbfounded with what a few minutes of work with a power hammer can do!  A buddy and I beat out a respectable looking cutting hardy with a 1-1/4" shank out of 4140 this morning, then drew some RR spikes out to around 2 ft for steak flippers.

Black Frog,

   I'm in the same spot at lawman, my big blu 110 should arrive in the morning :D.  I have sent you a PM with my e-mail, could you please send me the article also?

Thank you

Russell

I got a 1 pound block from HobbyLobby but I don't remember the price but a lot cheaper than 3.00 per oz. 

Rockport

   B&B brand lump charcoal from Academy work good

   If you can make it up to Victoria I'll donate enough coal and coke for you to try out and see if you want to go that route. Actually one of my guys lives in Rockport and could probably drop it off on the weekend.

  The Goliad forge has a meeting on Feb 14th in Ander/Weser Texas, just between Goliad and Ceuro.  If you can get there it will be worth the drive.

  I may be helping some guys put together gas forges next month at my shop in Victoria.  figure out how to PM me and I'll let you know when that going to happen if you want to go that route.

    Welcome aboard

Russell

I'm not sure how old this hatchet head is, but I'm fairly sure it the oldest thing I own.

Russell

If you mean you quenched it while it was still red hot, (above the non magnetic state) you made it as hard and brittle as it could be made!  Kinda like a piece of glass.  You need to draw it back from the "full hard" state by bring it back up to a lower temp and letting it soak at that temp for some time, that process is called tempering. 

sorry to say it but you now know the history behind the phrase "lost my temper"

my rule of thumb is any time I have quenched something, treat it like glass until it has been tempered, but I have only been at this for a few years.

If the tang was below the non mag state at a black heat and you dunked it in the slack tub to be able to handle it, there may have been a stress crack from forging the steel to cold.  if that's the case you now know the history behind the saying " Strike while the iron is hot!"

Keep reading and tryingNightblade.

Russell

I have both in my shop and I use the carbide tipped "chop saw" a lot for stuff that is solid square or round under 1" ,angle iron up to 3x3x1/4", and 2-1/2 pipe ( all mild steel).  Anything made of stainless, alum, or high carbon (4140) I send thu the band saw.

The carbide tipped blade makes it a completely different animal then the standard chop saw with abrasive blade, I can cut off a 2" long chunk of 2-1/2" pipe and pick it up bear handed as soon as it fall off the saw.  I used mine daily and get 6 months out of a blade, not production use but steady use.

your mileage may very.

lots of black tee shirts and a welding cap.  Lava soap or hand cleaner with ground up walnut hull.  Make sure and sort your laundry :P  I keep my hair cut high and tight so I cant help you there.

Russell