Blacksmith Jim

Nice and Simple! The best kind of solution. Looks great :)

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..

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.

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 :)

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 :)

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.

If you don't see one, but you do see people selling tools, hammers, punches, tool steel drops, etc... Ask! You never know what they decided to leave at home since it is too heavy to haul around :P

I liked the look of some of the other sculptures from the same show a little more then these ones. Looks like Hofi put up quite a few in the gallery. Thanks!

Does it really stop it from functioning? I'd try to keep using it :P

Like most things its only a question of time...

Welcome Jakebob! What makes the casting an investment casting? Are you selling them? It looks nice btw. How difficult is it to do aluminum casting?

Hah, sounds pretty crazy Irnsrgn. I can't imagine wondering what the xxxx was happening. It seems like you would think a simple pipe would be safe enough..

Frosty! Love the cup holder on the shovel! I was thinking about needing to make a similar one for my wheel barrow. I usually have to use two hands to move the wheel barrow, so I figured I would need a beverage holder :)

Thought this would be a good "Don't cut into containers when you don't know whats in them" reminder... There is an article about a man who was hired to cut into an old safe, the owner didn't know what was in it. It turned out to be full of M80s, which didn't react well to the cutting torch.. Burlington Free Press.com | Local/Vermont

I'm thinking I'll use olive or peanut oil...

I'm thinking I'll probably make the rounds and look at places like Goodwill or St. Vincent De Paul's. Maybe I can find something for 4 or 5 bucks.. Dumpster diving construction sites seems like a good idea as well, but I'm not sure I have the time for that..