Jump to content
I Forge Iron

swedgemon

Members
  • Posts

    98
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by swedgemon

  1. Here in the Des Moines area Craigslist there are several custom woodcutters listed (guys with band sawmills or Alaska mills). Call a few in your area, tell them what you need, and sooner or later you will connect.
  2. There is a small weld under each wrapping. The floor in my shop is kinda up and kinda down in places - when we get the bench inside on some level floors and determine which legs are short, I'll glue a piece of leather to the two short legs and all will be well. I have found that even if the legs are all exactly the same length, the oak slab may be slightly warped, so I still need some leather patches under the two short legs. The hammer is a Striker 40 kg (88 lb). It's a Chinese copy of the Chambersburg self-contained hammer...it's a work-horse.
  3. My son came to visit for a few days - he asked me to help make a bench for his dining room table. We followed my previous bench/end table format, adding quarter-braces, as seen in the photos. The top is 2" oak, recently slabbed with an Alaska mill and dried for 3 weeks in my solar wood kiln (starting moisture 35%, moisture after 3 weeks less than 7%). Legs are 1 1/2" square tube, distressed under the power hammer, spreaders are 5/8" square and 3/4" square, twisted and tapered. Quarter-braces are 5/8" round and 1/2" round, textured and twisted. Wrappings are 1/4" round, tapered at both ends. Finish will be Minwax Red Oak stain and 2 coats of clear satin polyurethane...finish on the steel will be clear satin enamel. Note to those doing similar "wrapping" work: passing 30" 1/4" rod through legs that are 9" apart gets downright dangerous - best accomplished with a "torchman" (OK, torchperson) and a second person with pliers and a small hammer to tap the 1/4" into place, and they need to be very conscious of where their partner is at all times.
  4. Alexandr, I admire your expertise in wood joinery and the mirror-like finish. A question - you show the use of a heat gun; is that used to "re-flow" the finish coat? And at what point are you using the heat - before complete drying, or after the Gold Glass has completely dried?
  5. Excellent, inspiring concept and execution - I like !!
  6. A further few points on using 52100 to make knives...it is tough, slow grinding (do not do heavy grinding that raises the steel to a red heat) - you will use up a few belts just getting thru the forging scale. Once you get the form grinding, harden and temper process finished and get a proper fine edge on the blade, the edge will hold up to some heavy abuse - a friend used one of my knives to skin and butcher a deer in Kentucky and did not need to stop to sharpen the blade once...he did screw up, however, when he did not completely clean the blade immediately when he was finished - deer blood left on the blade overnight left deep pits in the steel the next morning. 52100 is NOT stainless and will require periodic maintenance - it may not be the best choice of metal for a "survive-in-the-woods" situation.
  7. Gergely That trench forge is inspiring - good work! While I have never tried to make a knife that long from 52100, I have made several "bowie-type" knives from both large bearing rollers, balls and races. In my fumbling attempts I have found that 52100 will develop stress fractures if you continue forging down to a dull red temp...the forging temp has to be kept much hotter than most other alloys. I had much better luck with balls and rollers...races gave too many problems. In my work (my real job) I had access to paper mill, cement plant, large quarry and heavy industrial maintenance operations, so getting balls and rollers (as well as some brass cages) was greatly facilitated. H1 is another steel that must be kept very hot - in addition, it must be worked "slowly". H1 makes great punches and chisels - I got a few pieces (leader pins) from a forging plant scrap pile years ago.
  8. Camerican and Donniev, what steel did you two use for your tongs ??
  9. Elegant, graceful, beautiful !! Be proud - keep sending us inspiring works like this one !!
  10. Let us see some photos of what you are putting together...we all need inspiration.
  11. In the US any finish that comes from a spray can is called a "rattle-can" finish...the metal finish was applied by rattle-can. I have also used both "matt" and "satin" clear acrylic (enamel??) from Walmart with good results. The polyurethane finish on the oak was applied by brush, lightly sanded with 220-grit sandpaper between coats. Good luck, Aus !!
  12. I usually build things in "two's" when I get busy; that way if things go badly I still have another to present as "finished". These photos are from a second end table, just finished. The oak for this and the previous table were 2' sections cut from some 10' planks. They were going to be firewood, but I decided to make tables, instead. I had to plane/sand out some moderate cupping, but it was worth it. The finish on the oak is Minwax Golden Oak and 2 coats of water-base polyurethane, as mentioned in the OP. The finish on the steel is 4" wire wheel on an angle grinder, brushing out almost all of the surface scale, then a coat of Rustoleum clear satin enamel. The legs are "distressed" 1 1/2" box steel tube with 1/4" feet and a 1/4" plate fastening piece welded on top...1/4" X 1 1/2" lag screws hold things together. The 1 1/2" legs look a bit too large to me - I'll try 1 1/4" tube next time. Doing the distressing was interesting...heat up a section of tube, run it back and forth under the power hammer (light hits), slowly smashing the corners of the box, then bringing it back to square, then almost flattening it the other way. Hollows and bulges appear and pieces of slag get smashed into the surface. Finding some "distressed" tube in a scrap yard might be a better way to do this...thanks for all the great comments !!
  13. Over the last few days (last few years, if you count the 2 1/2 years for the oak to dry) I've been working on an end table. The oak is 2" thick, the legs are 1 1/2" square tube, greatly distressed, the spreaders are 3/4" and 5/8" square, twisted and tapered. The wraps are 1/4" rod, tapered on both ends. Oak finish is Minwax Golden Oak and 2 coats of water-base poly. Lots of propane, oxygen and wire-brush time.
  14. I like your design and the minimal $$ investment but you might start saving some money, or watching for, a TEFC (Totally Enclosed Fan Cooled) drive motor. Grinding dust going through an open motor will make for very short motor life. If your compressor runs while you are grinding, the motor on it will also suffer. You will know when your moment has arrived...one of my older motors made a "Ziiittt" noise and died...I also learned to close-up on/off switches...grinding dust gets in and causes another visit to the electrical supply section of Home Depot. Again, great design and best off luck !!
  15. The last two days I've been making a few revisions on my belt grinder. I built it a few years ago but was unhappy with the way the drive shaft "bounced"...the bearings were too close together. I took it apart, welded some 3" tube sections to the rear of the frame and mounted the bearings out where they should have been all along. It runs right solidly now. The whole grinder pivots 90 degrees on the two flange bearings mounted on the steel tube stand. The basic design and some of the parts are from USA Knifemaker. A few years back I made a few knives from 2" ball bearings (52100 steel). Since I have an 88-lb Striker power hammer, forging a knife blank works well - the belt grinder forms the knife shape, I heat treat, do the final grind and attach the scales...that's one of my knives on the grinder table.
  16. Hello Blaster, Thread drift !! You have, in the lines in your palm, the "magic M", or the "midas M, or the "management M, or the "marketing M"...which type of "M" is determined by the other lines in your palm(s). I am not a palmist, but have applied very basic elements of palm reading most of my life, often surprising myself, and others. The "M" is a most favorable set of lines to have in your palm. Don't send me photos of your palms...get a book about palm lines, if you are interested - makes a great topic of discussion in a group of ladies - not that I have ever used it (;<
  17. Josh, I looked pretty hard but there is no evidence of a dogleg crossbar between the two vertical lines. If there are other 1979 anvils with the letter "M" on them, this one would be a brother or sister (are anvils gender-sensitive??). I appreciate your responses and wish you the best with the anvil museum.
  18. I used sand paper...the disk grinder marks were under the thick coat of black paint. The 2 parallel letters/numbers could be "II" or "11" or lower-case "LL". A quick coat of rattle-can black is in the anvil's future, as soon as my shop warms up a bit (it was 12F last night).
  19. I photoed the area under the tail...there are 4 numbers/letters cast in the base, but I could not find any stamped numbers/letters. I worked for 35 years as a field engineer for a major oil company, calling on major industrial accounts (the ones that used a lot of industrial lube oil). I watched the de-industrialization of the US (1971 to 2006) as companies frittered away, moved south or moved out of the US...sad, sad, sad. There were several bright spots, but more typical was the Baltimore area - when I first started calling on accounts in and around Baltimore the lubes volume was over 300,000 gallons, not including Bethlehem Steel, Sparrows Point...15 years later, when I moved to a territory in KY, the Baltimore volume was less that 50,000 gallons. Companies like Grumman Aerospace, Koppers, Beth Steel, etc., were gone, either closed up or moved out .
  20. Anvilman, I looked thru my records, did not find a receipt, but I did find a 1979 list price sheet and a 1979 distributor price sheet for F/N anvils and double screw leg vises. When I went thru the foundry that day all the usual casting, melt-metal handling, copes, drags, etc., were all there on the floor and against one wall...I do remember the plant manager saying the foundry was now (then) shut down and that they had cast a large number of anvils ahead (the large stack in the back corner of the foundry) so they would be able to fill Navy and Coast Guard orders as new ships were built. That would make my purchase date some time in 1979 or 1980, instead of 1977. He did charge me the distributor price ($215). I sanded the black paint from the throat of the anvil and could find no initial(s) or date under the horn (I had stamped my name under the horn shortly after I bought the anvil). Down under the hardie hole the numbers "11/9" are cast, but I found no initals. A bit of topic drift, but still in the F/N thread, I also have a #4 F/N double screw chain-drive leg vise...got it in the tailgate section of the ABANA confrence in Ashville, NC, many years ago. The screw had been broken just ahead of the handle and welded back in place...it wanted to follow me home. I'll forward copies of the F/N price sheets for your reference. I found a few receipts for hammers and a hardie from Manhattan Tool Co, Newark, NJ...I stopped by the plant several times in my NJ travels - nice follks. On one of my visits they were forging lift hooks for Coast Guard rescue helicopters...it was a "rush" job.
  21. About 1977 I worked for a major oil company...one of my accounts was Delaval Turbine in Trenton, NJ. I was talking about blacksmithing with a few of the folks in the plant one day and asked whether any of them knew where I might get an anvil. They immediately referred me to Crosley Machine, a few blocks away. I went to the plant and met with the plant manager at the time, a thin wiry man about 80+ years old. After discussing the ethics of him selling directly to me, he agreed to sell a 100-lb Fischer Norris. He took me out to the foundry (closed for some years at that point)...stacked in the back corner there was an impressive pile of anvils. He said most of them were made to US Navy/Coast Guard specs. I picked out a 100-lb piece and he said to come back for it in a week or two...it had not been "dressed" yet (the table had square edges). He said the older fellow who dressed the anvils only worked periodically. I don't recall the price. Anyway, I have had the anvil ever since. The two numbers cast in the base are "100" on a front foot and "11/9" down under the hardie hole. The anvil stand came from somewhere out of the fog in my mind...I like being able to move the anvil, as required. As can be seen, I have had to reinforce the 2X12's a few times. Some day, when I grow up, I'll get a larger anvil, but I really like this one !!
  22. On colder mornings I get the front cylinder of my hammer warmed up by causing the front piston to "tupp" within an inch of the bottom die for about 10 minutes. I use a sliding prop (probably not a recommended practice) under the rear of the treadle bar while the hammer is warming up, then use the 3/8 X 42 rod to push it back out of the way when I go to work. My hammer sets on a "cow mat" from Tractor Supply Company, directly on the 4" floor slab...there is no massive foundation under the hammer. There are 2 3/4" dowel pins going through the 1" base plate into the floor slab to keep the hammer from "walking" (guess how I found out I needed the pins??). Hope your hammer install is going well...Happy New Year !!
  23. DK, I am truly humbled by your comments...kinda makes one's efforts seem worthwhile. A good Christmas to you and yours (including a bag of blacksmith coal under your tree !!).
  24. I use Mobil DTE BB (ISO 220 VG) on my Striker 40kg hammer. As you will see in the photos, I got tired of overfilling my oil reservoir, so I installed a sight-glass (from W W Grainger, I think). When drilling the sight-glass holes, be careful of chipping off the layer of plaster the Chinese smear over their castings...might have to use some silicon calk to make the installation oil-tight. My magnetic switch was originally mounted on top of the front cylinder but hammer vibration would kick it out after about 10 minutes of running...I brought some 2 X 4s down from the roof truss, mounted the switch there and it runs like it should now.
  25. If that is from "Young Frankenstein", it should be "stairs" instead of "stars"...great knockers and great movie !!
×
×
  • Create New...