JHCC

Finish-ground and handled the flatter: And while I was at it, threw a handle onto a nice old cross-peen head I picked up on my rambles for $2.50. (This is after grinding some nasty chips out of the edges of the face.)

The only modification I’d suggest to Jennifer’s “flatter guillotine” would be to make the horizontal arm longer, extending past the vertical post. That way, you can raise the flatter by resting your hammer on the outboard end of the arm. Once your workpiece is in place, lift your hammer, drop down the flatter, and you’re good to go.

I’m going to invoke Hanlon’s Razor on this one: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

“Those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of their own.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Pine tar, petrolatum, and paraffin, I believe.

Great work, alexandr. In addition to heat-treating the flatter, I finally made a hook I’ve been thinking about for my kitchen fire extinguisher.

Every word of this.

It will probably work, but it probably won’t last. As a field expedient, short-term solution, it would probably be more than adequate. Of course, there is nothing half as permanent as a temporary solution.

Nice job. A bit skimpy around the bosses, but if they're a copy, that makes sense. One detail is that the jaws of the original had more space between them than yours do. If these are to hold anything thicker than cardboard, you're going to need to adjust the jaws to suit.

Very nice!

The point is to create a line of least resistance for the punch to follow. It’s not drifting, as the punch is wider than the pilot hole — that is, it does still remove a slug (polo-mint [or Lifesaver, for those of us in the USA] -shaped) and you’re not simply widening an existing hole without removing additional material. The advantage of this method is that it gives you a little extra insurance that your eye will come out straight. It’s not really necessary, and I’ve punched plenty of eyes without one. However, since I wasn’t firing up the forge yesterday, I thought I’d zip in the holes just for giggles. The steel is not hardened, so it didn’t require any special drill bits or annealing. Cut all the way around, and finish with a hacksaw if there’s anything left in the middle.

Sometimes, toolmaking is so much fun that I never get around to actually making the hook or trivet or gate or whatever else I really should be working on. (Of course, when I do, I've got the tools for it. Usually.)

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A cutting and grinding session today. From left to right: three 4140 (probably) hammer blanks from 1-1/2” round (the flat is from grinding out some grooves that would cause cold shuts) with pilot holes drilled for punching the eyes, the flatter parted from its parent stock and ground flat (final weight: just under 3 lbs), and a 1” thick “biscuit” of 4140 (probably), cut from the end of a 2-1/2” dia. round shaft. This last had the transverse hole already drilled, and I want to see what happens if I punch an eye down that hole. Also stripped out the gears on my 4-1/2” DeWalt angle grinder. Grrrr....

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I do almost everything on one, but it’s nice to have the striking anvil/portable hole available for certain tasks, especially holding other tooling and drifting holes bigger than the 7/8” square hardy hole on my Mousehole (aka The Undisputed King of Anvils).

Too late to go back now!

The flatter project, out of the hot box and ready for cutting: This is one end of a 10 lb. sledgehammer head, with an eye punched and drifted and all four sides fullered down and flattened. Next steps are to cut it free just above the original eye, rough grind, heat treat, finish grind, and handle.

“But then again, I have no idea what I'm doing.” — 671jungle As do we all, my friend.

Made a “John 15:5 cross” for my sister-in-law’s (belated) Christmas present. A ram’s-head shoehorn for my son, who insists on jamming his feet into his shoes (and likes rams). First ram’s head; the next will be better And finished up a new shovel for the forge, which works great. Also finished the forging parts of my flatter project, but that’s currently annealing in the hot box, so no photo.

Welcome to IFI! If you haven't yet, please READ THIS FIRST!!! A hundredweight is 112 lbs, so 112+0+6=118 lbs.

“Pick-up tongs” generally refers to more slender tongs that are used to remove a workpiece from the fire, so that the smith can then grasp them firmly with the appropriate forging tongs.

“Good quality is never an accident.” — Kim Thomas

I’m saying you did exactly the right thing, restoring these nippers to their original use rather than trying to convert them to something that wouldn’t work as well.