tonyw

I once had my thumbnail half torn off when it got snagged on the thick rope that popped during a giant tug of war. I was rolling on the ground screaming... For me, long nails just get in the way. But each to his own, I guess....

Very nice -- I like the simplicity. Why is the front right curlicue different than all the rest?

I was just wondering about wedding gifts in general. But I found another thread about wedding gifts using the ------------> SEARCH FUNCTION! (should have done it sooner.) Thanks guys.

Got two questions here. My friend Jim Slining gave me two (3/4"?) bars of wrought iron. I want to know what sort of things turn out well in wrought iron and what things are harder to do. Oh, and is wrought iron easy to weld? The other question: My uncle is getting married and I want to make something for the couple, but I am having trouble coming up with any ideas. Can you help me? Thanks for your help, Anthony

Great!!!

You know those fork attachments for a skid loader (or a tractor?) to haul large hay bales around? What kind of steel would those forks be? I'm guessing they are tough, medium point carbon steel. Would they be good for a hardy bick? A small piece off the pointy end would be just right for that...

Exactly.

Thanks for all the replies. This trailer wouldn't be going on public roads, but even though it might hold up, I am probably going to start over on a better design.

If y'all remember a previous thread about my trailer build, which ended in the sages condemning the structural integrity of the trailer and advising me to start over with a better design. Realizing that they knew more about this than I did, I was going to take the thing apart and start over. But I hated to destroy all that work without really know how much my little trailer would hold. It would be best to see her going down fighting, right? And that is what I did. The sages said the point that was dangerously unsafe was the connection point between the gooseneck and the trailer frame. So I tested that point. See the pics below. So what do you think? I am not saying the sages are wrong, but there's probably a 1,000 lbs on that hitch and it didn't break. Tonight I am going to put another piece on it. I still am thinking about rebuilding, even though this one is holding up well. The last picture is the connection point between the gooseneck and trailer--the piece thought to be the weakest.

Here's my first completed RR spike knife and really the first knife I made where I knew what I was doing! I made it in a couple of hours, it didn't take long at all. I'm not really wanting to get into blade smithing, I just wanted to see what making a knife was like. FUN!!!!

Good post there, Glenn. You are right, humor doesn't translate well across different languages. I hadn't thought of that. I guess I will have to content myself with the humor that pops out in the course of regular discussions.

I think IFI needs a Humor Section. Wouldn't it be great to have a place to collect jokes, puns, and stories of funny incidents? Some of you guys are absolutely hilarious. I wonder how many untold jokes there are floating around. What do you think, guys? Or maybe this thread could just be a Humor Thread? Don't think I have any jokes myself, just wanted to hear from you all.

Thanks for clearing up my questions guys!

Well, I can see a forge weld in the mounting bracket too. But perhaps the little wedge piece is high carbon steel. I just hope the rest of the vise won't send shrapnel my way when I am hammering on it...

So I have this small post vise. It is very rusty and I was taking it apart to wire brush it and clean it up a little. I was hammering on a small wedge-shaped piece in the mounting bracket, and blip! this little piece of metal broke off and went zinging into my finger! (The finger is fine now) I had previously also accidentally broken off a corner of the mounting bracket, a year or two before. The vise is obviously forged, not cast (I can see the forge welds) but how/why would it be so brittle?

To the Curmudgeons, from a newbie: Be Friendly to us newbies, especially if you know us in person! I certainly agree with you getting impatient about us asking dumb questions. I am honored to have personally known Jim Slining, who used to work a Williamsburg, and is now at Tillers International. He took a personal interest in me, asked me every now and then what I had made, how I was getting along, etc. And then he made some tongs as a gift for me! I was so grateful for his friendship and interest in me and my being a newbie. His encouragement made a world of difference to me.

I do make regular visits here. But other than some books about welding from the library, and those I just skimmed over, I haven't read much on welding. Actually, my dad, who isn't even a welder himself, showed me how a stick welder works, and then I was on my own. I practiced and practiced and practiced and my welding rod stuck on the metal hundreds of times, and I kept going, and now I have no problem at all with welding, except for occasional welds breaking, so I guess I need to work on consistent soundness. And thanks for the safety warnings. I tend to be cautious around obvious possible dangers (didn't recognize it in my wagon) and so far I have immensely enjoyed metal working.

I don't feel too bad, just a little disappointed. I have spent several summers building the wagon in my free time. But I can feel myself warming to the challenge! Onward to success!

Yeah, you're right Frosty. Thanks for the encouragement!

I am astounded. Scared stiff. I had no idea I could make something this dangerous! And I didn't even try to! *sigh* AND ALL THAT HARD WORK--GONE FOR NOTHING! Well, on the positive side, it is a 100% learning opportunity. I thank you gentlemen for your suggestions and concern for my safety. I am taking a technical drawing course in school, so perhaps I should sit down and properly plan out this project. And any more design suggestions are more than welcome! keep them coming! Thanks a million, Tony

Thanks for the tip, matto. I will try looking at some gorilla carts. Never heard of them before. something else I've thought about is is there anyway I could use springs to counteract the weight of a load, and then I could just tip the bed by hand?

You know, Jim, when safety is the issue, sometimes an ol boys 2 cents are worth a million dollars! Yes, I was a little afraid about that spot where the hitch joins the wood, and thought about bracing it more, just haven't done it yet, and now I think I will. I was hoping to haul firewood with this wagon, so it has to be pretty beefy.

So, do you think that this complicated cables and pipes and tracks and hinges contraption would work if it was built stronger? I'm not sure myself, kind of doubt it.

here are some pictures of this wagon. this is a close-up of some welds on the goose-neck hitch this is the wagon with the bed raised. the tubing on the left is just holding it up--it's not part of the lifting system this is the pipe on the hinge on the bottom of the bed this is the track the base of the pipe runs in. So, the main pulling cable is attached to the little loop of cable you can barely see inside the track, and then that main pulling cable is wound up around a crank, pulling the pipe forward and making the bed go up. Then, here is the base itself, also hinged on the pipe. You can kind of see that the cable clip is breaking.

So, here is probably the most interesting and horrible and confusing technical drawing you have ever seen! At the worst, this will provide you with your day's laugh! This is a diagram of my previous lifting mechanism that failed. First of all, there is the actual dumping bed, outlined in red. Then, underneath it and attached on a hinge in the middle (not shown correctly) is a thick-walled pipe, outlined in blue. Attached to the other end of the pipe, on another hinge, is a base which runs back and forth in a track, outlined in orange (looks like red). Then, attached to the base in the track, is a cable, outlined in green, which is wound up around a crank, outlined in brown. So, if you can visualize everything, when the crank is turned, it winds up the cable, which pulls the end of the pipe in the track forward. Then, the pipe pushes the bed upward, making the whole process work like a hydraulic cylinder. The reason this didn't work is because the cable wasn't attached well enough to the base that ran in the track. And so under heavy loads, the cable is always under strain, and it was pulling loose from the base. I had welded wire rope clips to the base and then the cable went in the clips, but the strain from a heavy test load was pulling the clips off, despite my welds. Also, the crank was terribly hard to turn with a real load. I'm sure this is probably pretty confusing, but some pictures of the real wagon might help. They're coming soon.