forgemaster

I often wonder about the effects of heavy metal poisoning, as a small boy to late teens up on the north coast of NSW we would go shooting most weekends (back when small boys could do that kind of thing in Australia, without the full SWAT squad being called out cause "someones got a gun down the swamp and they are shootin at people n cows n every thing") We only used slug guns (air rifles) and to make it easier to reload we would just carry about 20 lead slugs in our mouths, all day, just about every weekend. Has this done me any damage? I don't know. I thought it could lead to birth defects, but I have 2 beautiful healthy little girls that says that did'nt happen this time. I have also copped a few fume fever bouts yet the MSDS on most welding products will say that zinc poisoning will disipate fairly quickly, and your body will actually develop an immunity to it. That is still out to the jury. Regarding heating and forging of chrome plated bar if you have you furnace or forge flued to an outside area I can't see it being a real big problem, as the chrome should burn off while in the fire. Anyway if you were to stick your head above your furnace or in the flue for an hour with it running but nothing in it I reckon you would feel a bit crook too, just from breathing in the effects of the combustion needed to heat your furnace.

I seem to recall that on the first hammered that while I was standing on the top of Moonies 7cwt hammer while it was slung up on the crane 5 feet in the air with a beer in my hand at 1.30 in the morning I had a birds eye view of the whole thing and there was at least 15 people there all told, but only some of them were IFI members (i was not one at that time). That said there seems to be more people every year.

Do you still call it a bucker if it is a pneumatic jack that is being used on the back? If it was held we always called what you call a "bucker" a "rivet dolly". We also have a pneumatic holder on that can also impact as well as well as push. Phil

Hey monster I did'nt even realise that that footage existed, I looked at this thread and figured that the video would be from the UK or US so did not bother to look. You army guys keep things pretty close to your chests. Its good to see that there is footage of the lovely Jennifer Louise controlling the holder up. There is also a boilermakering firm in England somewhere that I have seen in a magazine article (old glory) who have a heavier version of a resistance heater. Phil

Yeh to the guy who started this thread, I apologise for assisting in the way it got a little off track, just a little off track!

hey John I did'nt get to see you on the Sunday at Moonys, were you there. I was going to punch the eyes on those flatters for you but when I did'nt see you I had figured that you had gone home. Phil

Nah the armadillos are not native to Oz, there were a couple that escaped during WW2 that had been mascots for US forces stationed here, and are now in plaugue proportions, thats why we sent you the gum tree, as pay back. I'm pulling your leg really. We would have sent you the gum tree anyway. Actually we normally get whoever is coming to Hammered at Moonys to bring some Armadillo helmets with them. I was going to say that we normally put aluminium foil in our hats but armadillo helmets seemed so much more avonte guarde. Phil

I can help here. Get a piece of steel the right grade, get it hot and take it to the hammer and hit it until its the right size and shape, then stop. Stopping is the most important part otherwise you will make it the wrong size and shape. you can thank me later. Phil

I was going to keep the infinite improbability drive a secret, but now its out. Guess I am gonna need an armadillo helmet now to stop the government from stealing my ideas. Phil

We would normally make that kind of tool by sinking a bar close to the size into a block,(to cut down on machining, then when its cooled down machine it on the shaper,(shapers are great tools for making a host of forging tools) this tool used to have a long handle on it, but it was cut off so as one bloke can use it. If you have the long handle on it it just tends to bounce up and down if you use it without an offsider. The tapered OCTAGONAL things are the small ends of combination dogging hammers, used for driving dog spikes into railway sleepers.

I am just amazed that from some bloke asking how to weld 2 pieces of spring together we ended up discussing the battle of Jutland or that a Hummer is better than a bush master, etc. If I was to ask what is the better fuel for spaceships would we end up discussing the best included angle for grinding a hardie edge. I'm not nit picking I'm just amazed at where we end up going with these discussions. Phil

We always used to use sand. Worked Ok for us. Borax Pfff!

We normally rough forge the hex to near size otherwise it will tend to stick/wedge its self into the tool. Phil

Nah thats cool FC, I've taken some photos of a hex tool and an application for forging a shaft hex from a necked head.

We were a few years ago making/fabricating rail turnouts for underground coal mines. We would fabricate all the rail components, switch blades, frog, check rails then assemble them on a large piece of 16mm MS plate by welding the pandrol plates down then clipping the rails etc to the plates with pandrol clips (obviously) the whole assembly was then delivered to the customer by semi trailer. They then transported the whole turnout underground and usually just dropped it into place and bolted it up. Occassionally they would also cement it in place. It was while clipping the rails into place that we found just how well a pandrol clip can fly. You really had to give the clip one good solid belt to seat it fully into the plate in one go otherwise the clips would just come out as quickly as they were driven in. We also make a handled punch for the gangs to use to drive the clips out of the sleepers, problems occur when they oxycut the clips off if they are hard to move, then try to use our punches to remove the remains still stuck in the plate. With the end of our punch being heat treated and the end of the clip now flame hardened/heat affected they have had chips fly off and hit blokes in the head and body requireing a trip to hospital and paper work to be filled out. The customer then asked us to anneal the ends of the punch to prevent this happening, problem then was that the punch would then mushroom up and then the gangs would either cut the mushrooming off with the oxy or get them stuck in the plate then cut the punch off with the oxy again. It just became a vicious circle. Phil

I had a utter dill phone me quite a few years ago and ask me if I had any apprenticeships on offer, I told him I was looking at starting another in the new year, call me then, earlier rather then later. He left no phone No. and he seemed a little vague. New year came and went, did'nt hear from him so I started another kid who was keen to learn. A month later he rings me to see if I had put on a kid, "yes I told him, what happened to you". Get this "oh I really wanted to learn from a proffessional, you know, someone who really knows what they are doing, so I decided not to go with you". "I'm looking at getting a job with XXXX" OK I said, all the best. One year later he rings me again, says he's made a mistake and the other bloke has'nt taught him anything, he's not learning much at all, all he is is just a labourer by another name, and could I sign him up for an apprenticeship with our company. Bet you can't guess what my answer was. Phil

Just in case anyone is curious, the big!!!! sledge hammer was made by Will Maguire (Billy)(one of my old apprentices) as a assignment for his uni art course, the theme that they had to come up with was "the application of music through the ages" or something like that. The hammer represents "heavy metal". It was made from a blank of mild forged up by Mr Peter Starling at Kymon Forge on a 2 ton Massey hammer, Will then bought it to my workshop where we punched the hole for the handle and forged the ends oct first on our 400 ton press, then prettied it up with our 5cwt Massey. He then took it home and ground the faces etc. The handle is made from the trunk of a small tree. The head weighs 107KG (235.89lb). When it is going to be in an art exhibit it goes on a plinth that stands the hammer with the head to the top.

My brothers, I'm hearing you loud and clear, your statements will get no arguements from me. Once people stop asking me questions and the phone stops ringing and everyon ejust leaves me alone, thats when I can push some work out the door. Phil

Ok ok ok one time I would use hex is when forging a sleeve on a mandrel ie you take a billet punch a hole all the way through it to the size of the mandrel then insert the mandrel and draw the billet along the mandrel. If you forge the billet hex it tends to stop it going square on the mandrel (obviously) and when you have to get it off the bar(mandrel) to get another heat and before it has lost to much heat you knock the corners of the hex in. This increases the dia and allows you to withdraw the mandrel. It is harder to forge a taper by going hex as you tend to flare out the steel as you go towards the point. We almost never use hex when tapering. Another time that you could use hex to an advantage is when you have necked a shaft off a bar and you need to forge it down and keep it central to the bar, going square can sometimes cause the shaft to go to one side especially in the first 2 turns. We also tend to use a hex tool to fix the angles if we are making a large no. of items such as rivet, railbolt or anvil punches. I'll post some more on this later tonight. Phil

They hurt when you try to drive them back into a pandrol plate with a sledge hammer but don't make it and they fly out and hit you in the mouth. Good steel otherwise. Phil

I just love it when someone asks, "so you just get it hot and bash it". Yeh i say "just like flying a plane is sitting in the seat and fiddling with that handle type of thing" Or "well he really looks like a blacksmith he has one of those leather aprons", just like I own a scalpel so I must be a brain surgeon. Phil

But,,,,, notice how you can never find a link at Moonys when you want to use the ammer, thats normally the 1st job, make a link. 2nd job set a pair of tongs to what you want to forge, (I just take my own now, tongs and links) I reckon he hides them after we leave, probly got a draw full of them some where by now. Phil

Consider it done Grasshopper. I'll keep 1st May clear too. do you want the ones for sheet metal steaks out of something better, 1045? (yes I know I spelt steaks rong androo) Phil

I'll see if I can get some video of Starlo (peter) forging some 18 x 18 under his 2 ton Massey, thats inches guys, 18 inches. Phil.

Do you want some MS balls Andrew, 135 dia,? and how many?