Millhand

At a auction so time is limited 

18 hours ago, JHCC said:

My old coworker Ed was firmly of the opinion that the longer and harder you looked for something, the greater the chance that you would find it just after asking someone else if they'd seen it. 

This is true!

Mine is.......Im of the firm believe that a broken machine will be fixed just  as a coworker gets back with the tool you sent him to get.    Its like clockwork at the mill.  

Now that is funny, i dont care who you are lol! 

On 8/7/2017 at 9:48 PM, ThomasPowers said:

Well even as late as the American Civil War steel cost 6 times as much as wrought iron so there was an economic inducement to economize on it's use.  (Some folks though that a wrought iron body was superior in how it transmitted energy or just "felt" in use. Sound familiar?)

Yes, Thank you Tomas!

4 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

Holding rebar I'd definitely put a glove on my off hand!

I didn't for awile and im regretting it. Was switching hands mid way because of the wear. Nothing like learning the hard way. 

Nice collection LB! Be proud of that work man, your doing great!!!

I drew out some long tapers on 3/4 rebar,... I see now why you guys hate the stuff!   They will be pull up handles for a friend and he wanted the rebar texture for the grips.    

Wasn't worth it though. i could have done that a different way. Blisters from a bad handle and bad stock hahaa!!!  

Im not tooled up for such things. Need a power hammer asap!

6 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

I have several steeled hammers, generally the colour change alerted me to it before I could rework them. Mainly from a flea market in Columbus OH.

I will definitely catch the next one, I had never seen or knew they existed. So i didn't pay much attention. Maybe this post will save a few noobs from my experience

Kids just brought me some turkey valture feathers, maybe good for a project later on. 

Hand forged dream catcher? 

Not to shabby! Id have done that deal.

Fantastic progression of hammer making. Nice work! 

6 hours ago, Charles R. Stevens said:

I was wandering when the blacksmith stubborn would hik in and you would just weld it back to gether, lol

Yeah, it didn't take long after that last post I decided I had to fix it. Started making a new plug out of d2 and just couldn't make it work. So i went ahead and used the old plug.    Blacksmith stubborn is a real thing   

5 hours ago, Irondragon Forge & Clay said:

That was going to be my suggestion. Looks like you did a good job to me. Think I might try that on the next straight peen I make.

Oh great, after this post there will be lots of hammers out there to confuse the next generation hahaaa! I love it, let's start hiding messages in our tools. 

Like the smith that made this hammer. His was, you have alot to learn grasshopper lol

  I won't be parting with this hammer for some time. Thanks man!

Last time I conversed with them he said he was no longer doing classes and was headed over seas to teach. That was 4 weeks ago. 

After many hours last night i was able to almost restore her to her former glory. forge welded the plug back in . Still has problems and im not sure it will hold. Was a experience though!!

Took till 3am n im feeling the pain today. Longest quick n dirty hammer mod ever!!!! Expensive hammer now hahaa

That's exactly what was done, it was a hand forged hammer, i shouldn't have messed with it i guess.

Hole goes all the way to the body of the hamner and is has a lot of what looks like small wire in it. So strange 

Could have sold it yesterday for 20 bucks to a guy. Now I pitch it in the scrap bin lol just my luck. Lol 

It's a insert never seen such a thing!!! 

Have a hammer eye punch now hahaaa! 

Ok, had a old ball peen hammer, polished both faces and then after looking at it i decided I needed a sort of cross to do detail work on leaves. Fired up the forge and slow soaked her wile it was warming up. 

Had a good heat first blow! Split it rite around the center! Im so bummed...... was a awesome old hammer and I destroyed it. 

Wrought? It doesn't spark like it. More like a mid carbon

Rust down in the crack. Guess it was already there.

1 hour ago, GrumpyBiker said:

I'm wanting to do a oil finish on it.

boiled linseed oil or some sort of blackened finish.

I'd even considered a gun blowing but ruled that out,

She's beautiful! Unfortunately in a smithy environment it wont look like that long. No matter what you put on it.

Id prolly use frostys bowling ally wax on it if it were mine. 

Went digging around on the farm for wrought and found some small pieces. Also on the opposite side of this tread a post vice and hay budden went to a new home from my stash. Made a little room and put some cash in the press fund. 

Also After testing all those pieces in pretty good at just spark testing wrought iron now. 

Se Michigan? Im up by Cadillac and have a nice 150 lb hb ill make you a member deal  on or some rr track ill give you.

Not that plate wont make a usable anvil. Im sure it will do just fine. Looks good to me. 

Had a short story written but ill hold my tongue,..... 

Nice work on that mason jar handle Joe,been meaning to make a few of those myself. I have more projects then time. 

The top showed up today, went with 3/4, its now heading to my friends cnc plasma table for some clamp slots, already had a few stake holes cut in. 

Think ill start on the base Wednesday. 

1 hour ago, ausfire said:

I like the leaves too. Wouldn't like to give us a few guidelines on the process, would you?

Surething , I will make one tonight after work and document it with pictures. They were blanks to begin with. 

Im going to have to give that fork a go! Thx Thomas!

Is that a toaster on top center? 

Hahaaa! Buggers wont hold still! Was going to edit that but now ill leave it to bother the grammar police hehe