Klorinth

Beautiful work.

That is an absolutely amazing shovel that your friend made. Beautiful!

Yours is very nice as well. I preferred a little longer handle and a smaller blade. Light and fast. 

For large stock I used one similar to that. It was tapered to a narrower point. Maybe half that one.  Same basic idea. 

Everybody,

the shovels we use for professional tree planting are much heavier than your standard store bought, backyard garden shovel. They are thicker and higher carbon content. They get pounded into the ground 2-9k times a day every day for months. I wish I still had mine. I passed them on to newbie when I finished my last job.

Welcome to the group!

As an ex-treeplanter I fully understand what you are asking. I modified all of my shovels. I had short/medium/long D handles for some jobs, and long poles for others. I modified the blades from wide spades used with huge bare roots (6"x18"trees), down to skinny little spears for plugs (4x10cm usually). A bench grinder was my friend.

I never tried to adjust the angle though.

I am a total newbie here so I am not able to offer any usable suggestions. Frosty and many of the other will be able to help. They have more than enough experience. I expect you are going to need to learn about the heat treating of a shovel.

John, those are exactly what I was thinking of. To be honest I'm glad I came across this thread, it has given me an idea for another project. I need a leg hook.

Only the working ends. The shaft should be light and flexible. 

The ends would need to be thin but still have strength.

LOL!

Figures that when a Shepard and a Blacksmith are talking about a shepards hook they are most definitely NOT talking about the same thing... 

What are those for? Hanging bird feeders and potted plants?

I was actually thinking of a shepards crook. Used to catch sheep. I use one when catching my sheep.

So I have made some progress on my RRT anvil... The welding is ugly of course and there are inclusions, but so far it seems to be fine. I did preheat the whole thing, reheated during the welding, and then I slowed the cooling done by keeping it heated for an hour then cooled for another hour.

Now I just need to get a stand setup for it. I need to do the same for the other anvil as well.

Sorry, answered my own question about the difference between the two kits... One has everything and the other does not.

How reasonable is it to think that as a total newbie I can learn to use one of these units? I can certainly see the benefits just for cutting, even if I didn't use it for anything else.

i picked up a cheap little Oxy-MAPP kit to try the idea out. It can only cut up to about 3/16" but it was an interesting experience to use. I have another set of bottles to play with before I decide if I want to put out money for a proper setup.

Due to my work I already know the Praxair guys here.

I prefer what I have been reading about the propane units. I keep 3 small tanks around all the time so it would be easy to dedicate one to a cutting torch.

Charlotte, is there any difference between using their Cutter PAC vs the Pipeliner? Looking at the website I don't understand the difference.

I'll have to keep that in mind. Thank you

That makes sense.

I have coal... So slag is a given... That means having sand or ash in the bottom to protect the bottom... In that case should I build in a 1/2" for this? A little sand bed on top of the bricks?

Have the tuyer 1.5" off the brick?

Absolutely fabulous!

Keep going Scott, and remember to show us some pictures.

I am making plans for a future forge like this. I would love to see how yours turns out.  

Charles, you have mentioned a couple of times the tuyer being 1" or so off the bottom of the fire pot. I have seen others say the same thing so I assume this is based on lots of experience. 

Can you explain why this is? I understand why you don't want it lower, but why not any higher? I'm just looking at understanding not improving anything.

Thank you for the info Buzzkill, very helpful.

And same to you Frosty. Informative. I learned something new.

I just saw him on Facebook earlier today. Should easy to just contact him directly if you search for him.

22 minutes ago, Buzzkill said:

They look like king pins from a large truck to me - in the steering.  Can't be sure without better pic angles though.  Either way, those and the S cam shafts you picked up should be at least medium carbon steel.  I made a flatter from an S cam shaft like you have there.  Worked fine, but was a lot of heating and beating without any help.

King pins makes sense... Most of this came from a diesel repair shop that does mostly just big highway trucks (tractor trailers, Semi's, highway lorries). Any guess as to what they might be made of? 

The cam shafts were a great find... I was hoping to find a spring or two at least. No luck. Although it looks like I will be using the front end springs off my own vehicle... I have to replace the shocks and they will be pulling the whole unit. Bad for the wallet but at least I get the springs.

I was thinking those cam shafts would be a good place to start my first hot cut for my hardy. I assume it will take a lot of pounding. I need a heavier hammer maybe.

Its funny but I'm actually happy about the two pieces of 3/8" mild steel rod I got. They are all twisted up but they should make really easy rivets.

While getting some work done on the vehicle I did some dumpster diving at the local shops... I think I did fairly well. Especially seeing as the scrap guy had just done his regular pickup on Thursday. 

I'm not sure what these three pieces are but they are nice and heavy.

Thank you for all of the advise.

I have been continuing to search online for the information I want... Funny thing is that I have found more answers by searching Amazon.com than anywhere else.  Coil springs 10-35 pounds. Leaf springs 20-47 pounds... Etc.

I like to be prepared as much as possible before walking into any situation. That is why I ask these questions and don't accept many of the answers I get.

i know how to assess value on sight and negotiate a deal. That is not my question. I just prefer to know as much about what I am after as I can.

I need some help. I have asked some others and done some searching but I can't find the right information.

I am trying to find a basic idea of what different truck/car springs and axles weigh.

Axles: small to large

Coil:

Leaf:

I am looking at buying some from different people. No scrapyards, no dealers, no scales. Just me and my eyes. Because of that I would like a rough idea about possible weights. I only need a general idea so I can present a reasonable price for individual pieces.

11 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

Lovely drill but I'm not too gung ho about powering them.  Back 30+ years ago I met a knifemaker at the Guild show, (back when it was in KC) who wanted to save money and so had hooked up his old hand crank drill to a motor.  When drilling a fussy bit, (handle pins IIRC), he reached up to advance the bit and stuck his fingers in the moving gears.  He told me that he could have bought the most expensive drill press sold cheaper than the hospital bills, downtime and 2 years later the fingers were still not working right.  With the hand crank you are protected at least some from that.   There are reasons more modern machines have all those ridiculous guards on them...  Sure I use a hand crank drill press every now and then but boy am I careful about my fingers!  I use my cole drill a lot more often.

I will be setting up everything where there is no power so a hand drill is what I need. Having the ability to add a motor is just a bonus... Besides I got it for $80 which is less than half the price of all the others I have seen locally.

The safety advise is well taken. Thank you.

I found a nice little drill. It's set up with a new chuck and can be belt driven... Not bad. Seems to be running very smooth.

now i just I just need to find the right spot for it.

Got it from a collector  near here..

Wow! Just over double mine. 

Which one did you get?

Any pics?