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bigfootnampa

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Posts posted by bigfootnampa

  1. I have to agree with JHCC, nails are useful and good practice.  Tongs are kind of tricky work... lots of pretty good smiths are not comfortable making them.  Handmade nails are not at all the same thing as what you can buy in the hardware stores... they can be vastly more useful.  Hooks are also great projects to get you started.  A good J hook is quite useful and an excellent skill builder!

  2. Vaughn;  Sharpen your punch with a slight point on it... like a center punch with a pretty steep angle.  The slight point helps to prevent sliding or skating off center.  It won’t affect the punches function otherwise.  I do like to finish up with a drill bit... just for efficiency sake, it’s faster.  I do like to use a bob punch to create the countersink, which I sharpen as above and then it’s easier to just drill the through holes cold.

  3. My advice... get 80 grit ceramic belts for your heaviest stock removal work.  Coarser grits are LESS efficient!  

    Set up where you can get a good access to a slack belt area... I do about 75 percent of my grinding on my slack belt space.  

    The addition of a high quality buffer has made my work much simpler and superior in quality.

  4. 1 hour ago, Daswulf said:

    I've heard of sugru but never noticed it in stores. 

    Why do you say they are all too high temp to repair it safely? Brass can take some heat and the main heat will be on that stud with the nut. 

    My original question about one or the other method, my main concern with the silicon bronze mig was that if my heat was too high it could blow through and that I really want to avoid, but if it was the better choice then I would have tried it. 

    I do. I have only needed to use the bronze once and it does lay a nice bead but that was on steel. I'd have to practice with it more. 

    Target carries Sugru.  You can also order online.  The shelf life is a problem with it.  You can’t just keep stock on hand.  IME (which is quite a bit) most brass puddles at VERY close to the same temps as easy solders!  Soft solders are a different story.  You are dealing with pretty thin brass sheet there.  It heats quickly.  I would consider it too risky.  If I didn’t use Sugru I would go with epoxy.  The Sugru would be easier to make it pretty with though... and extremely durable.

  5. NONE of the hard solders are anywhere close to low temp enough to make that repair safely.  To my mind the best way would be to use something like Sugru and make a strap clear around the tube and fillet around the nut to make a smooth streamlined joint.  Avoid color issues by using black, which will harmonize with the rubber parts. 

  6. I have used French presses but I don’t like to.  I grind my coffees pretty coarse and brew with an old style percolator... a new model though.  

    I recently bought some organic Kona coffee and it is terrific!  As good as Jamaican “Blue Mountain” at least!  This is better than any Kona coffee or blend that I’ve had before!  Absolutely NO bitterness at all!  

    My pan... 10” diameter “Lodge” with 3” sides.  The higher sides help to keep the beans in when I get a little wild while stirring!

    4D6D8BF4-2200-4F2E-9E53-E2539C2C9B6F.jpeg

  7. Daswulf; I just set my pan on an outdoor propane burner, pour in a heaping half cup of green beans and shake to level them.  Then I stir them until they are about the right colors.  I like my roasts a bit lighter than most... so when most of the beans are a nice tan color and about one third of them are dark coffee brown... I tip them into a stainless steel colander and shake them around a little.  I use a silicone spatula to stir with (this too has become permanently stained).  I usually roast around four such batches at a time.  The process creates a bit more smoke than you might want inside the house as a regular thing, hence the portable propane burner... outdoors.  The oils and smoke seem to create the patina.  I scrub pretty good with my chain mail scrubber... but the patina inside the pan is unblemished.  In this way I always have freshly roasted coffees at hand!  I usually grind enough for two to four days use at a time.  One advantage is that the green beans keep very well (up to a year at least).  I can order my beans off the Internet this way and still have fresh custom roasts.  I usually keep about three varieties in stock and change them up for different tastes.  The green beans usually sell for about $3 per pound less than the same beans roasted, but better flavor is my motivation.  I have been amazed to find that my own roasts are invariably superior to ANY that I have bought from any source!  I have considered buying a good roaster... but the terrific results I am getting make me reluctant to alter my process!  My roasts seem a bit more uneven in color than what I’ve bought pre-roasted.  I am not sure but what this may be part of my recipe for success!  BTW if you try this, keep a good BBQ glove handy to handle the pan with!

    I wonder whether one might be able to devise a system combining the tempering of a blade with roasting beans to create a nice patina?  Perhaps a hook or similar item could be plunged into ground coffee while still at red heat?  At the moment this is just a hatchling of an idea.  I hope that some of my resourceful brethren of the forge, here, can help me develop it!

  8. So I’ve been roasting my own coffee for a while now.  I am no expert... but we’ve never had such terrific coffees!  I use a cast iron frying pan to roast my coffee.  I have noticed that this pan has developed a very dark and durable patina!  I clean the pan with hot water and scrub it with a piece of stainless steel chain mail after every use, as I clean my pans after cooking.  The patina persists and I wonder if it might be useful to treat smithy products with coffee?  Has anyone experimented with this?  I have not hitherto discovered a patina that seems as dark and durable as this one!  It certainly seems much more durable than any bluing that I am familiar with!

  9. 1080 would be excellent.   If you bend it to a sort of flattened U shape... you could just fit the upper legs to the sides of the handle and through rivet them.  It will be important to get the angle right for the user!  Temper the 1080 to a bit softer than you would for a knife.  Many mower and scythe blades are made of 1080 or similar steel.

  10. I had a little skunk sniff my shoelaces in camp one morning!  It was predawn and so dark that I couldn’t tell what he was at first!  Both of us were a bit startled to discover each other!  Usually I can smell a skunk for at least half a mile... so this one had no odor... I’ve wondered whether he might have been one of those that are scentless.  He seemed shy.  This one was young but not a baby... the babies are as cute as any critter I’ve seen!

  11. 13 hours ago, c.baum said:

    That's too long. Maybe you should ask the search engine of your choice for pics about "Aufbrechsäge". I hope that helps you to understand what i mean. 

    I know what you mean. I prefer a longer saw blade for the purpose.  I’ve harvested quite a few critters in my day.  The process is one at which I am quite experienced.  

  12. I have some bronze brushes (copper) and I’ve found that they actually transfer at a lower temp than my brass brushes.  Also the bronze has a much narrower temp range that works.  Generally it is much more work to get a nice bronze limning than to use brass... I like it well enough to pay the price sometimes though.

  13. The ones that I’ve liked best are Japanese style folding pruning saws.  Cutting on the pull stroke with super sharp teeth.  An American made version that I used for a few years would cut in both directions.  Personally I think a blade of 8” to 10” is about the minimum for reasonable efficiency.  

  14. Here’s my view.  I use a knife with a 10” blade for slicing up bread, lettuce heads, watermelon, cantaloupe, bacon, etcetera.  I use one with a 7 1/2” blade for most everything else.  Even though it’s used less often, I have a disproportionate affection for the larger blade!  I think your mother will love to have a 9” blade!  You might also think about making or buying a good knife roll for her if she often cooks at the church or elsewhere outside her own kitchen.  

  15. To me the cold working is a poor idea.  Obviously this Smith makes it work with his steel.  I would not suggest such techniques.  Sorry about the blood groove mention... I had no idea that it was such a sensitive topic!  I’ve never made one and never intend to, but I might make a fuller someday.  Does that get me off the hook?  I suppose that the water dipping was intended to loosen scale... it seems like a very sketchy strategy to me!  I’ve seen it in numerous videos but it never looks very effective to me.  If you want a sen you’ll probably have to make it.  I’ve seen some good tutorials.  I think they are not too difficult.  I’ve ground one from solid carbide steel.  It works okay but I’m not really sold on it.  My belt grinder is amazing!

  16. The annealing was done in ash, not charcoal.  The ash simply insulated the hot steel, allowing it to cool very slowly.  The annealing enabled the cold working.  Hardened,or even half hard, steel would break or crack when worked cold like that.  The video does not show a tempering process... but surely there was one. 

     

    The "drawknife” is actually a sen... a traditional Japanese bladesmith’s tool.  The sen is made of very hard steel and is more commonly used for things like cutting blood grooves and  fullers on swords.  Personally I would use my belt grinder for creating this sort of bevel... it’s faster.  IMO this much cold work is inviting trouble... but this smith obviously knows what he is doing.

  17. They MUST be ground away!  Solder is NOT OKAY for this type use!  Whatever “various reasons” you have... put them aside and either grind these defects off or start anew!  You’ll be glad that you did.  

    I just noticed... you have some serious cracks showing at the spine of the blade as well!  They are almost clear through!  This is not salvageable unless you can shorten the blade enough to clear away the defects!

  18. I think you’ve got it.  The general obsession with stress risers and such is a bit out of proportion IMO.  Most knives and such made from these items are significantly overstrength for typical uses.  Allowing for quite a bit of artistic leeway in their design and execution.  

  19. Personally I could care less how quality historical work is done!  Modern smiths tend much more toward artistry than technical perfection.  To my artistic mind that is a very good thing!  I have seen some very polished gleaming blades that, to my eyes, lacked beauty and functionality!  Really, some nearly perfect looking blades that were duller than my steak knives... yet they glimmered on each mirror polished surface!  To me they were repulsive!  I will say that I like the more subtle textures achieved by Stormcrow better.  This knife is nice though.

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