johngore

I got a truck axle shaft that is about 1 3/4, cut off the end and then cut out a section. Reformed (mangled) some tongs to hold the piece. Spent an hour tapering a square and managed to get an inch to fit into the 1 1/8 hardy hole. Man, it's a lot of pounding. I have not yet convinced my wife to man the sledge hammer, so will resume the pounding in the morning. Seems for a cutoff hardy, that it should fit very well, and formed of one piece. Perhaps other tools can be made from welded portions - but I thought I would try forging a single piece for the cutoff. -John

Hope this is a related enough question to post in this thread. Does anyone have a recommendation on salvage steel to search for to make hardy tools for a 1 1/8 hole? Im just starting out. One of my books says to use something at least 1/2 in larger - which means 1 5/8+. Thanks, John