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Posts posted by Blacksmith Jim
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I think it's relatively hard to find a good anvil on the west coast. They are out there, but its few and far between, and often you have to jump on it quick 'cause someone else might want it. I paid 3$ a pound (or slightly over) for my Peter Wright. It's in pretty decent shape, about 115#s.
If I would have been more patient I might have snagged this one for nothing.. My parents recovered it from some contents of the old family barn. The anvil had disappeared for a while, but some inquiries in the right direction were successful at getting it returned. I haven't seen it in person yet, but am pretty anxious about it. I'm thinking it might be a Trenton? It looks like it has a diamond on the side..
I have much higher resolution pictures, but wasn't able to post them because they are too large in size. This one came out a little grainy when I scaled it down.. -
Looks great AM. A friend of mine recently picked up two sets of leaf springs from a log truck. Those things are huge. Some of them get as thick as an inch or more and are about 6 foot long. Huge.. Anyway, a guillotine tool sounds like a good thing to use the stock for. I want to put one of those together sometime soon..
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If you take a welding class at the local community college, you can use their welders for stuff. I took an arc welding class, we spent 3 or 4 hours every Saturday welding. I know they wouldn't care if you ended up working on your own project. Also, if you are going to college, look into their crafts program. The local college here has a large crafts program that has tools people can use for free. Tools like plasma cutters and welders. They actually have a nice new anvil I here, but its inside and there is no forge..
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Indeed, it is a darn fine movie clip. I wish there were more old movies around. Industrial smithing from back in the day is pretty fun to watch. Thanks for the link :)
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It wasn't just the rollers. It was the mounts and everything. I left it sitting. I had a run around looking at welders and didn't have time to go back. I wanted to take another look at where stuff should be mounted to the frame, etc.. Now I just want to pick up some scrap for welding, and probably a 4 1/2 inch grinder with a cut off saw on it :)
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The working definition of "art" for me, is something that conveys emotion.
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I work it from both sides. My anvil has only limited access to sharp corners. So depending on the piece and what my needs are, I move around the anvil..
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Well one thing I was thinking about was that it could be used as-is (with a new motor of course) in the vertical position. Really I only need the guides for horizontal cutting. Well, I guess with no guides it would probably still wobble in the vertical position.
At HF I saw a portaband for 100$. That seemed like an OK solution too :) -
Nice and Simple! The best kind of solution. Looks great :)
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Johnny, yea they look close to roller blade bearing size..
The worm gears looked OK. They were left in the frame. Spinning the vbelt wheels spins the wheels holding the blade. The wheels holding the blade tensioned fine, and in general stuff looked OK.
My thought about why it got tossed was that someone might have burned out the motor, then pulled it to replace it, then never got around to replacing it. No clue if thats the real reason though...
I think I might go back tomorrow and look at the guide attachments.
Right now I'm thinking that I probably won't get it, because I don't have too much time or space to deal with it right now, and I don't have a huge pressing need for it yet. My main focus (and priority for cash) is on finding a DC stick welder. However I'm sure that as soon as I find one of those, I probably will have a need for the saw! -
I think through Grizzly it still comes down to 95$ when S/H is factored in... Hmm..
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Thanks for the link Irnsrgn. For 150$ though it seems like I would be better off just buying the thing new for 200$. I found a few different stores that sell the guides at around 150-200$.
I did find that Grizzly seems to sell them at more reasonable prices. But I am not sure if they are the exact match I need. I wish there was a Grizzly warehouse around me I could go walk into and check them out...
G1010 BLADE GUIDES DIAGRAM -
Hey folks,
I stopped by the local scrap yard today and checked out a horizontal band saw they had. It is basically a low end Chicago model. Likely purchased at Harbor Freight. It was missing the motor and the band saw blade guides. The switch was busted on it to. Now replacing the switch and scrounging up and mounting a motor seems simple enough. However, I'm not sure about the band saw blade guides. I don't think I have the shop space, tools and time to fabricate them. So I would need to replace them some how. Does anyone know if you can order replacement blade guides anywhere? Do you guys have any ideas? Other then the things I mentioned, the saw looked OK. At scrap prices it would probably only run me 15 or 20 dollars...
Any input is greatly appreciated :) -
Clothes dryer vent, worm drive hose clamps and duct tape. Last week my vent blew off of my fan. Too much back pressure I guess. I wondered if I made a mistake with the duct tape etc, but it only took 10 minutes to duct tape it all back together and it is now working fine.
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RegionalChaos,
My coil spring punches are forged and then air cooled, Then I heat the whole punch to Non-Magnetic and then quench the business end in oil, being sure to move it back and forth in the oil. I quickly hit the last inch to expose shiny metal with the belt sander(2 steps from the quench tank) or a strip of emery cloth tacked to a piece of wood and draw temper to a dark straw color.Then quench the whole punch. Works well for me.
Chisels I take to a dark blue.
John
John,
This actually seems the easiest method to me I guess. It seems like it would be difficult to hold the piece into the forge for a slow heat, and I don't have a torch yet. But wouldn't quenching the whole piece after you draw the temper harden the end you strike? Have you had a problem with that?
Anyway, I'm sure I just need to go do it already and I'll figure it out. Thanks for all the feed back! -
Should the struck end be essentially normalized? If so, then heating from the middle once the whole thing has been hardened seems like a bad idea. In that case heating from the struck end makes more sense to me..
Once the tool has been quenched and hardened, what is the best method to apply heat to it to temper it? -
The hardy's look great! I picked up a few old jack hammer bits up at the last NWBA conference. Your photos are very inspirational for me!
One question.. Hand hammer or power hammer? -
Howdy all,
I have recently starting making a number of tools for myself. Various punches, hand fullers, etc.. I have used old coil springs for the material. I believe I understand the steps involved in heat treating, however I have never done it before, and I do have one question.
I am planning on heating to non magnetic, then quenching in 3 gallons of veggie oil (in a metal container with a metal lid). I'll use some files to test it. I'm assuming I want to temper it to a purple or bronze color on the business end of the tool. So here is my question.. What is the best way to apply heat for tempering? I have read about the one heat method, where you quench only the tool end, and then use the heat from the rest to run the colors down. I might try that, but am not sure it is the best method to start with. If I want to quench it entirely, then apply heat again, should I hold the butt end into the coals? Should I heat some tongs up and hold it with hot hot tongs? Should I heat a pile of sand and stick the butt end into the hot sand?
Also, is it OK that the butt end isn't hard? Won't it mushroom more? Could the tool bend from hitting it too hard if the back end isn't hardened to some degree?
I'm sure experience will be the best teacher for me, but I thought I would solicit some wonderful advice here.
Thanks all! -
Hah! Looks like a lot of fun :)
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Seems like Valentin has done some great work. And large too boot! Don't forget the size of his hammers
It looks like a fun project to work on. -
Ian, the set ups look great
Are you guys pretty set on those dies? They look like the would be hard (heavy) to change out :) -
Just think of it as a nice patina :)
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Seeing as how you are in the UK, I think you should look at a side blast forge. I think they work great! Mine has been working better for me then the other bottom blast forges I have used.
Of the ducks nest forges I have used, one didn't have a fire pot and was basically on a flat table. That one bugged the heck out of me. Often there were 2 or 3 other people trying to heat iron at the same time, so the space was crowded, and it was hard to get the fire to do what I wanted it to. It seemed like if I was working it alone (which I never was) then maybe it would be better, as I could shape a pile of coal/coke and not have other people disturb it. Often I would get frustrated though, since I could not push a piece down into the fire. The other ducks nest I use regularly has a deep fire pot. Which can also be a drag. It gets super hot and is easy to weld in, as long as you are only heating the ends of a bar. If you want to heat a section one or two foot past the end (xxxx 6 inches even) then you are out of luck. A lot of time the hot part of the fire is below the table surface.
I haven't had any of these problems with a side blast however. I highly recommend them.
Unique anvil on e-bay
in Blacksmithing, General Discussion
Posted
That sure looks versatile! Especially if it was heavier then 15 lbs.. Very cool looking.