JHCC

Railroad people; any idea what kind of metal the fat J-shaped pieces in the lower right are?

Interesting. I suppose an electrician for the railroad might have been the original user.

A friend picked this up near her home, where they're doing a conversion of a commuter rail line to a bike path. (The RR spike gives you an idea of the scale.) The notching in the tip of the jaws should be useful for gripping thin stock lengthwise. Any ideas on original use?

Hmm...looks rather like the one I made from a jackhammer bit, shown here with the spring clip that hardens up the fit in the hardie hole:

A friend gave me a bunch of bits and pieces she picked up from a rail-to-trail conversion near her home. Mostly steel, a few bits of brass, an interesting tool, and the inevitable notice from the TSA when your checked baggage is heavy and clanks.

Here's a couple of better views of the blower mechanism:

But this wasn't working very well, so I jammed the hose of a shop vac set to Blow up the ash dump:

A lot like my little rivet forge. What are you going to be burning?

 

Thank you!

And take your picture with the light at a low angle.

Is "Hig praise" anything like "MIG welding"?

Steve, would you be so kind as to repost this image?

I've been thinking about nailing three bits of tire sidewall (about 1/2" thick) on the bottom of my anvil stump for the same reason. I'll let you know how it works.

When my grandfather was about four or five, he was jumped by a pack of sled dogs in the Alaskan village where his father was the local Episcopal priest. After one of the men beat the dogs off (saving his life), my great-grandfather knocked him out with ether and cauterized all the wounds with a red-hot poker. When I knew him, his whole head was covered with old scars.

He was a tough old bird, though; died about twenty years ago, five days shy of 99.

Stake anvil.

He also really liked the photo I showed him of the bracelet I'd made from the retaining ring from inside a CV joint.

Addendum: my mechanic was thrilled to pieces. And has invited me to come pick over the scrap bin any time.

Especially in, oh, Bradley, OK?

Develop that relationship as much as you can. DSW is right; when the time comes for him to get rid of the stuff, you want to be the first person he thinks of when he asks himself the question, "Who's going to make best use of this stuff?"

And here it is!

Charles R. Stevens, I totally get that. However, switching from charcoal to anthracite has changed things up considerably, and this setup is working a lot better than what I was doing previously with charcoal.,

Aaaaaand the leaf blower crapped out. Switched to the shop vac.

Since I don't think I'll need as deep a duck's nest for coal, I've carved off some of the extra clay.

I decided to try some inexpensive anthracite from Tractor Supply Company (as discussed here), but discovered that the hand-pumped blower wasn't giving me enough of a blast to get up to forging heat or keep it there. Then I remembered the electric leaf blower...

Total success. Plus, the look on my wife's face when I told her I'd decided to stick my blower up the ash dump was priceless.

Now, if it were a turnip truck, that would be a simple identification. Potato truck, no way.

Oh, that's been taken care of. Trust me.

Oh, and I finished it with Minwax brown paste wax.