Lou L

Two more bottle openers from my attempt to make 25 for a camping trip.  One is made from a36 square bar and the other is made from a chunk of concrete tie rod (a friend gave me a bunch of cut offs).  The tie rod sparked weird...maybe orangish, with no sign of carbon but it was as tough a piece of steel as I've encountered.  The stuff resisted punching, slitting and general mashing unless is was yellow to bright red.  Both are left purposely to look rough and all, but there are flaws I didn't intend that I learned a lot from.

Based on the dimensions I'd guess that thing weighs more like 150-160 pounds.  Did you actually weight it or are you going by what the seller told you?

It would be a logical repair for a non-blacksmith who wanted to use the vise but had lost/broken the original spring.  But, honestly, I have no knowledge to help determine if it was an original design.  It would be cool too learn it was an experimental original.

I've never done this but Tim at Big Dog Forge (nice YouTube guy) did a video on his cheap and easy method of stabilizing wood with Cactus Juice.  Pretty quick and informative video and you might like his frugal methods.

https://youtu.be/pXmigZMLhpM

Lou

I can't help myself.  Dan Frechette posted a video a while back in which he tried to explain the complex body movement involved in hammer striking.  I think it is worth adding to the discussion.

https://youtu.be/2Q9at4zPvdk

He looks completely ridiculous as he over exaggerates the movement.  At one point he explains that his wife looked out from the house and saw him in the shop.  She thought he was going mad and dancing.

On 6/18/2017 at 3:09 PM, BamaIron said:

LOL, didn't get the anvil. Seemed way too high to me. It sold for $890 bucks! Was a 150lb fisher. I'll hold out to get exactly what I want.

Wow, for that price they could have gotten a brand new, cast steel 240 pound anvil.  I think that many people don't realize they are still being made.

In three weeks I'll be going on my yearly "guys only" camping trip that includes about 25 guys so I decided to make 25 different bottle openers as gifts.  I figured it would be fun to offer them and would be great practice.  I hit the forge today and grabbed two pieces of steel that had been previously mashed when friends stopped by and wanted to see what blacksmithing was like.  Both pieces of steel already had some serious shaping (mostly not aesthetically pleasing) so I challenged myself to figure out how to turn them into bottle openers. 

The first was challening as it as it was already drawn out a lot so I tried to get creative.

   It was a bent up piece of rebar so I decided to keep it tough and purposely put hammer marks i to it and left the rebar markings on the final inch of the handle.  The next started ugly but turned into a pretty straightforward bottle opener.  It was made from some slightly mangled 5/8 square stock.

   It's actually going to be challenging to make 25 distinctly unique bottle openers.  I think that, by the fourth or fifth, they will end up turning out nearly the same but with small changes.  Here are both.

Thanks for all the ideas guys!  I was on a cruise to Bermuda (not a cruise type of guy..) and have been digital free and so I couldn't check IFI.  The main problem I have with mounting that monster is that, when the lever arms are manipulated, the cutting head of the bolt cutter swivels.  It only stays centered in one place if you move both arms equally.  The arcing of that head will make accuracy near impossible.  

Notownkid, I received those cutters from my cousin who is a fireman.  They were decommissioned by his fire department.

Lou

If you flattened out Vermont where would you put all your hunting camps?  .....filled with drunken hunters crying about how there are no deer left....

Seriously though, I'd love to do a meet at Mystic seaport.  I just don't think they would allow camping in Mystic village and the paid lodgings can get pricey.  Plus the lodgings around there can get pricey.  But Bill Scheer is a member with some pull there.  Me, I don't have pull on my own front door.

Other members need to be shielded from these antics...therefore, this thread should be sealed.

I was thinking in terms of raw population density.  At the risk of infuriating some Mainiacs, counting the northern wild lands of Maine doesn't register in my head...unless, of course, we have black bear, moose and fisher cats holding active membership.

Full disclosure:  I would be hard pressed to counter argue if someone adds "Most Connecticut residents" to the list of wild animals above.

19 hours ago, Glenn said:

 Do not be afraid to make adjustments. Compare the old to the new and use what works the best. 

 

That describes the situation perfectly, thanks for the input!

On 6/9/2017 at 9:35 PM, Judson Yaggy said:

Next meet will probably be in Goshen, CT sometime in September, but don't quote me.  

I feel bad now!  Goshen would be easy for me but inconvenient for so many others.  It would be nice to keep the meets in Mass. just for fairness.  Still, I'm excited for it.

When the forge is running the coal does cover the tuyere pipe but it has been difficult to keep the pile high enough because it all wants to roll downhill.  Funny, Glen, I was planning on using some brick to create a deeper firepot prior to this redesign (even told JHCC as much) but I didn't follow through after the redesign.  Thanks for the prodding!  Do you think regular bricks will able to handle the heat or should I get some hard firebrick to do the job?

Ive been using this forge with the concept youmoutlined as the constant goal.  Having that deep fire is the whole design.  In the diagram it is shaped with sand, as was mine, but I found that the weaker blower caused serious clinker issues and suspected the sand to be a big part of the problem.  I'm really doing backflips trying to make this quiet blower viable.

Oh yeah, I tend to use smaller stock (1/4 to 1" normally) but I have some larger stock waiting in the wings and want to be able to get to those projects by end of summer.  I've decided I can't move on to bigger stuff until I'm able to easily whip out a decent pair of tongs that can handle it well.

That's a great story and a beautiful shop.  Keep the tale going.  I want to know if you like using the coal forge or the gas forge more by the end of the summer!

That's perfect design.  Simple, efficient and effective.  Gotta admit, I kinda liked it with the raw wood look.

I fully admit and accept the fact that I'm one of the new guys who went overboard in designing and building my first forge.  I read everything I could (including reams of info here on IFI) before building but went whole hog anyway....knowing I was likely "doing it wrong".  I'll never regret it.  I learned too much already and am still learning from my forge.  Point being, a recent visit from JHCC was instrumental in helping me identify problems with my forge.  Prior to getting a new blower it was "good" but the weaker blower revealed some serious problems.  Thanks to John again for the insights and motivation he gave me to give the old forge a once over.

The original design followed the English side draft style with a water cooler tuyere and a sand bed fore the fire.

   The sand, though, was causing some serious clinker issues that my old dirt devil blower simply blasted through.  When I switched to a more quiet blower everything went crooked on me.  I decided to give the forge a fire pot to separate the coal from the sand so I cut a notch out of a brake drum my mechanic gave me.  I was left with a nice fire pot that fit snugly around the tuyere but still had limited access to the fire.  John instilled in me the need for a more open area around the fire to allow access to stock and I couldn't deny his wisdom.  I grabbed some old bricks that were left by the original owner of my house and used the old sand bed as a foundation for the bricks.  I'm happy with the results and ,y forge, with the quiet blower, is now able to melt steel easily using rice coal.  It still has problems with larger coal sizes and I'm deciding on whether or not i should use my small champion manual blower as a seconds air source or just crush up my remaining pea coal to use it.

Either way, here is the forge in its new form.  Not that much change but it is so much better.  Thanks John!

27 minutes ago, BIGGUNDOCTOR said:

I take it that he did not leave any contact information...

No, he said he is tired of being spammed by teenagers who watch Forged in Fire who will want the anvil for $50.  I felt helpless.

Just now, JHCC said:

That's a pain. Sorry that didn't work out!

(By the way, did you ever finish that pair of tongs we started?)

The hot cut I made turned out to be too deep.  I have to do a redesign.  I'm back at it now because, based on your input, I did a huge redesign of my forge.  It is now a brick-lined side blast with a fire pot (brake drum for now) and works wonderfully when burning rice coal.  That small fan is just a little too anemic for the larger coal.  I dread going back to my noisy blower so I'm considering my options.  Right now it runs very well as is...but the size of the fire is a bit too small for my liking.  I wish I could just radio Scotty and demand more power when I need it.  Tongs will be forthcoming.

Okay, I just need to vent my frustrations about this one:

   A guy posts on Craigslist about an anvil he is selling at The Elephant' Trunk, a huge flea market in New Milford, CT.  It's a 300 pound Fisher with half the bick broken off.  He says it will be with him on Sundays until it sells.  He is asking $300.  For two weekends in a row I am simply u able to get there due to family obligations.  I went today only because he kept the ad up online.  I get there and apparently narrowly missed it.  He said it was a shame because he sold it to an interior designer from NYC who intends to use it as a decoration piece.  He used to smith a little and said it had awesome rebound, solid hardy and great edges.  He had over fifteen people stop by and not buy it either because of the broken bick or the massive size of the thing.  He couldn't believe it.  Said he would have happily asked for $225 from a smith who intended to use it.  There is no emoji for my annoyance.

You can hold billets, bearings, thick plate and pretty much anything else with those.  Smith's made what they needed back in the old days and still do.  I imagine some of the guys here could show you two tongs made for bigger stock than that.  Those are cool and I'm jealous to not have them....but I don't think they are that strange.

I was thinking those might be issues but the idea of welding in a shelf is so attractive.  It would take a bit more fabrication but you could weld a shelf in between the uprights so that it sticks out enough to provide foothold for the post.  Either way, thatnpost needs to rest somewhere.  The mounting plate isn't designed to withstand all of the forces from using the vise and the thing will wobble terribly.  

Oh yeah, while you're at it, attach some tool storage to the side of those bad boys!

Those things are a nice find.  For $65 you got a deal I think.  You bought some cheap fabrication time as well.  I think you could try putting them on the other side if it is stable enough and weld a shelf onto the vertical face of the base so the post has a place to lock in.

Well, I have the old RZ5 rotozip with the 1/8" flexible wand as well.  I was NOT in love with the pace at which I was cleaning out the shovel swage.  Honestly can't remember if I tried out the stones or if I only used the sanding wheels.  All I remember was fantasizing about slamming a flapwheel attached to an angry grinder into those crevices until I didn't hate them anymore.  I just might have some patience issues....

I think I'm going to head out into the shop and work on that block this evening!  Thanks again.

Guess I need to get a die grinder to do mine in one go.  So far I have only cleaned up the sections I've needed to use because it is a pain to clean up.  You did an amazing job!  

I used small grinding bits and sanding wheels on my RotoZip combined with some hand filing.  It would take me days to clean it up all beautiful the way you did.  Great swage block though.

I second the call for an update on the stand you build.  Thanks for setting the standard high.

I'm so bummed I couldn't make it.  The distance wasn't the deciding factor as much as my wife's state exams were.  If it were closer I could have worked around her intense schedule but the travel time made it impossible.  She promised me the next meet.

I knew Dale was going to win!  I'm just going to have to buy the castings if I'm to own any of them.  I'll buy my tickets next time though!  Sorry I didn't get to hang out with you all.