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I Forge Iron

olfart

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Posts posted by olfart

  1. Back on the original topic of drilling cast burner heads, I found out today what happens when you try to drill too close to an edge with a masonry bit.  When I get more castable mix and bust all this mess out of my burner body, the next attempt will be using either crayons or glue sticks.  :(

    Burner Blowout.jpg

  2. A friend asked me this evening if I could make a "wood dog".  I told him I probably could if I had a clue what one looked like.  He described it as being maybe a foot long and a couple of inches turned 90 degrees and sharpened on each end.  After changing my search parameters to "log dog", I found some on the friendly neighborhood auction site.  The photo there doesn't give me any idea of dimensions, as there are just a bunch of them in a pile in the photo.  Can anybody offer suggestions on dimensions for a "log dog"?

     

  3. The monthly meeting of Four States Iron Munchers was today, and I went despite the heat (107 F), but didn't spend very long out in the forge shed.  I did come away with a leaf veining tool made by Bill Epps, who's a member of our club.  Google Bill Epps blacksmith and you'll find a lot of articles he's done.  He donated the leaf veining tool to the club's excrement in the cranial adornment drawing, and I won it!  Then we went outside, and he demonstrated making a couple of leaves with it.  Heckuva deal!

     

    Leaf Veiner.jpg

  4. Uncle Sam's Army introduced me to salt tablets back in 1959, and I keep some in the cupboard all the time since then.  A salt tablet with a big glass of cool (one ice cube) water revives me better than any sports drink.  To stay cool when out in the sun, I wet a Frogg Toggs Chilly Pad (artificial chamois cloth) and drape it across my head, neck and shoulders, then wear a big floppy hat with mesh around the top to let the hot air out.

     

  5. In my area of the USA, the prime mover seems to be the "Forged In Fire" TV series.  At least that's what finally got me off dead center and learning about the craft.  I've yet to make a quality knife, but I've made tools and useful items for around the home.  Yesterday I made a small shovel and a part for my log splitter.

  6. On 4/2/2018 at 4:30 PM, Jclonts82 said:

    Close fitting pipe around the hydraulic cylinder. Heavy Channel iron that fits inside the guides, made it long so it cant flex too much. And rails with heavy angle for the flats. 

     

    The sleeve on your hydraulic ram appears to be scarring the surface of the ram.  If so, when it's converted back for splitting logs, that scar will damage the front seal on the cylinder. 

  7. For what it's worth, I welded up a similar press many years ago and swapped out the hand pumped bottle jack for an air assisted 20 ton bottle jack.  I built top/bottom dies for it and added die plates so I can just slide the dies in/out.  The press is much slower than a regular hydraulic forging press, but it works.  I also added a small tabbed handle to the pressure release screw so I can release the pressure quickly enough to get a second or third squeeze in one heat.

     

  8. 1 hour ago, Will W. said:

    Nice blades, olfart. Your friend does good work. They match each other very well. Love the handles. 

    Thanks.  I'll put a couple of coats of boiled linseed oil with mineral spirits on the handles to give them a little more protection and bring out the wood's colors a little better.

     

  9. These nice knives followed me home (one in the custody of my wife :)).  The top one I won in a club drawing last month.  The smaller one was a Christmas gift to my wife today.  Heckuva deal!  A matched set of knives made by a friend makes for a very nice Christmas!  The wood is Bois d'Arc (Osage Orange or Bodarc in this part of the world).

     

    Knives.jpg

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