Pr3ssure

Does it matter where the mount goes on the post vise so long as it's in between the red lines I drew? It's all square right there and it seems like it would be fine. Just wondering because it would be easier to mount it if I had that inch or so of give on either side.

I don't know how much shipping would be to get across the pond but if anyone wants any rail spikes I've got a basically unlimited source of them (and it's not off the tracks). I'd be willing to ship some if someone covered the cost of shipping though, to me they are just free practice material.

Haha, gotcha. From what was listed I want the wrenches and those files because somehow I've only got a few. He also had a few other things like sockets and random handles, might see if there's a big socket I don't have or a handle/crank I can use. Hoping he might have a useful hammer or two. I've been using like a 1.75# ball peen, I have a 2.5# straight peen but I really need a 2# I think. The ball peen is nice because my arm can handle it but I think a little more weight will save me some energy for the half inch bar. 2.5 is a little much for me right now. Need to start doing pull ups again. I guess being 5' 9" and 125# is pretty small. lol

Alec Steele was making damascus for a while before he ever used flux. He was grinding each piece and welding them together in stacked billets so that's a factor. Joey van Der Steeg on youtube demonstrates welding without flux and most of what he does he doesn't use it. I can barely weld with borax so far though.

Gotcha, gonna take up at least $50 maybe 60 or 70, so I figured I could get a little deal on some stuff. a lot of it's been listed for a month or so.

I'm definitely getting them, I have wanted a monkey wrench to make a twisting wrench out of. I don't like the thought of ruining an old tool by welding to it but with having a few I won't mind. If you want a few of them though some of them will just sit around after I buy them so if you want a few I'll take a picture of the ones I don't have an immediate use for to see if you want any. Basically getting them for $1.50 each so I could send a few in the mail or meet you somewhere.

Alright, I'll have to check it out then. Found some pipe wrenches and monkey wrenches on CL (near you das) $30 for the lot. Also has a box of files listed for $1 each, gonna see how much I can get them all for. Taking my mom to the dentist Tuesday, gonna go up then and grab them.

I'm not sure what the one beside the brass one is for though. It's just a small steel one, I've seen something like it before but don't know what it would be used for originally. @daswulf I think it was your vise I saw was painted red and black. What kind of paint did you use? I'm probably gonna use rustoleum or something.

So I went and met my dad to get the post vise he got for me. It's got 5 inch jaws and weighs about 63 pounds. Gonna have to look up how to mount them, want to get the rust off and paint it first though. Also got some hammers. There's a Greene Tweed, a brass, one that's just a small steel head, small one with hard rubber/plastic head and a mini sledge.

I got my coal forge setup probably back in July or August of last year. I haven't been able to forge as much as I'd like to, especially recently with the weather. I move all my stuff outside. Just last week was my first attempt at tongs, I've just bought a few 3 foot sections of round and flat bar from Lowes, same stuff you just got. I started off turning round to square and back to round. Then I started tapering it out to a point and a gradual taper up a little section of the bar. I then made my first piece, a fire rake from 3/8 round bar. I then took flat bar, I think it was like 1/4x3/4 and made it into a fire rake so I could practice turning the flat bar into square. I then made my first hook, it was a hook with the nail built in, can't remember what they are called exactly. So I got to practice upsetting and making a right angle and twisting. Since then I pretty much have just been practicing hammer control and messing around. Just last week I did my first attempt at tongs, I'm not so sure they will work once I'm done with them but I am going to finish them for the practice anyway. So my next pair will be better. Once I can make a pair of tongs I am going to try and make some chisels and punches to make dragon heads. I have some H13 in 3/8th or so round bar. So that's going to be my first planned project. If I can complete the tools and make a dragon head with it, I will be quite proud. It's taken me almost a year to get to this point, granted I haven't been at it every day or every week even. That's not counting that I got my anvil almost 2 years ago and took me a year to get a real coal forge and making the table for it took me about a week and some change going at it every day.

John from Black Bear Forge has a few good videos on dragons, I'll have to rewatch them. That might be my first actual thought out project. To make some tools to make dragon heads and ram heads and all that.

Good idea, so some intricate chisels and punches.

So I have 2 pieces of probably 3/8 round H13, give or take a hair on size. They are both about a foot and a half long. What is something I can do with it? I'm thinking like tiny drifts or something but I'm not really sure what it would be best used as. I pretty much got it for free, the smith I got my forge from had a bucket of it and I grabbed two pieces of it and two pairs of janky tongs and he added $20 to my total.

JLP, thanks for the tip. I actually don't have a Harbor Freight near me, maybe about an hour away. I wanted one of the v/link belts but they were like $30 apposed to $5 so I'll probably just get one on amazon or where ever I can find it cheaper. I definitely want to get a different tool holder than the stock one that came with it. For now though I'm just going to clean it up so it's easier to make small adjustments. I need to find the knobs for the carriage, one was replaced with a plastic one that's a little broken and one is broken. I found a site with the small one I needed and they had it listed for like $180 or some ridiculous amount. So I'm probably going to just try and make some.

it's just a little atlas/craftsman 618. forgot to put what kind it was, I have a post in the lathe section from Christmas time with pictures.

I got my belt for my lathe, I need to get a bigger one so I can use the other gear. I didn't think that the motor mount moves but he belt was only $5. I'm gonna watch some lathe videos but any advice would be appreciated. I already know most the safety stuff, proper ppe, no loose clothing, understand the machine will take off finger or worse if I don't respect it. General shop safety essentially. Also, how hard is it to make bits/cutters. I've looked at some and they seem pricey. Also, which ones should I buy first. The ones that would be used most. I know that's a general question. It came with a cutoff blade though.

Makes perfect sense, I'm probably just gonna have my hand at trying to make some punches and chisels. Probably think of some other useful things I could do with it. Also, I found almost the same bolt on the caterpillar website, except it was 18" mine are about 13". You were right Swedefiddle, connecting rod bolts. No info on metal used or anything but I've got enough to know what they can and can't do. Appreciate all the help.

Yeah, that's what I was saying about the wedges. I knew shipping would be out of the question just an excited thought. I'm so glad he checks craigslist on the regular. It was posted 2 hours ago, so he probably saw it just in time. Also glad he supports me so much in my blacksmithing endeavors. I gotta think of something useful to make him. He's a truck driver so something he can use doing that. He just sent me pictures, it's got 5" jaws and looks like it stands about 40" tall.

well it didn't follow me home but my dad just picked this vise up for me near his work in Ohio for $100. Wonder how much it would cost to mail it. Probably just gonna wait until he brings it to me. Super stoked.

Awesome, I appreciate the info. Luckily there's a whole stack of them, my neighbor who works for a drilling company brings home random stuff like that. As well as an 8 or 9 foot long fan shaft, about 3 or 4 inches around. He said there's stuff like that and the bolts he can get all the time that are just gonna get thrown away.

Yeah, there's a registered trademark logo under the CAT so I'm quite positive that's what it means, I've tried googling it but it just takes me to there site with a list of 2700 bolts. I couldn't put in any variation of what I could think of to find anything in this style. I'm guessing the head just locks into a pre cut hole in the same shape or something and you tighten the nut. I'm gonna try to flatten one out and make a blade out of it. I think I might also try and make some punches and chisels as well. It's definitely tougher to forge than mild steel so I'd say it's high carbon. Might try to anneal it before forging.

So I've got a pile of what I think is bolts from some sort of Diesel engine. I can't remember what my neighbor said they were exactly from. Anyway I'm wondering if anyone knows how to identify them. I saw a post on reddit with some very similar ones and someone said something about the amount of lines on them, like 6 lines means a number 8 bolt. Not sure what any of that means really. There are 12 raised lines and 13 indented ones, not sure if you count the raised or lowered ones. On the head it says CAT | F-C | R | AVS. Also, I heated one and quenched it in water. It hardened to what I would call pretty well, a file wouldn't bite and it made the typical file on hard steel sound. This isn't that bolt, this is a fresh one. Edit: Realized they meant lines on the bolt head. So disregard that. Can't find anything about a bolt with this style head either.

So I think I had it backwards, unless I'm just reading conflicting ideas. So is it blanket, rigidizer, then put refractory or blanket, refractory, then rigidizer. This is why research is a good idea before diving in head first.

You're reply couldn't have come at a better time. I just got to spot in Forges 101 where it said just that. Although in a more complicated way, so you have helped me understand it a great deal more. So ITC 100 is something you basically soak the blanket in before putting the refractory, which in turn not only helps to protect it but also helps in the efficiency of heating and keeping the heat in the forge. So I need to add that to my list of things to get.

I've got the shell figured out, unless I get my hands on some cheap/free steel to build a box shaped one. I'm using a propane tank. For burners I've just gotta buy the parts and assemble. I've got a good design to go off of. So I'm just figuring everything out about what goes inside the shell at this point. After reading, well re reading since I've seen it before, Wayne Coe's Build a Forge I've got a pretty good idea of what I need. I found an 8 foot x 24 inch x 1 inch thick ceramic fiber blanket on amazon, from which I still want to research the brand, for $30. I found a site I can get a 20# bag of kast o lite 30 for $48. Including the material to build my burners that's looking at a bit over $100. Maybe I'm over thinking it but it feels like that is just too simple. Will probably do another month of research before I decide to buy anything. Although from looking into the forging 101 I'm confused as to is kast o lite a ridgidizer, if not is it necessary or recommended? The Wayne Coe article doesn't mention ridgidizing the blanket. Also, is kaowool a brand, if so I've just been using it as a generic term for ceramic fiber blanket. It's what I always hear/read when someone mentions it so I'm not sure.