the_sandy_creek_forge

um....i named my forge "the sandy creek forge" cause it sits not even 200 yards from big sandy creek....and it seemed a logical login name....yep....not much creativity going on here....
-Aaron @ the SCF

AND, they are very tough steel, as in resistant to chipping/cracking (if you ARE talking about discing type discs). We made a couple tomahawks out of them once. They hold only a blunt edge (not very hard/brittle) but you'd be VERY hard pressed to make that blunt edge get dull on ya! (and it was a simple cut, bend, weld procedure making them).
-Aaron @ the SCF

You're welcome anytime I am around. It'll probably be later this fall before I'm back to forging in the shop again, this being the reason:

http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/f43/leland-gifford-drill-press-time-brag-3399/

I'm trying to get as much as possible stripped, cleaned, brushed, and repainted before it gets to cold out for the paint to set, and the thing's kinda taken over my shop. But once it cools off, you're more than welcome to come up on a Saturday (as long as you don't mind working in a half-finished shop on a somewhat....um.... overgrown farm) we built the shop on my parents farm (my neighbors in town would not have appreciated the racket I cause at times), then stalled out over a winter, and never really got around to completely finishing it off. SO I am still working over mostly dirt/partial concrete floors and working around whatever my dad can find to conveniently store in the shop. It's cluttered, dirty, and drafty, but it works ( in other words: don't expect a professional looking shop)
-Aaron @ the SCF

Central Illinoisans!! Not only are you here but also I think i read somewhere we got someone in Pekin also. Look up the Illinois Valley Blacksmith Association on the website. Great group in the area. Or just come out to the Thresherman's Reunion at Pontiac, IL this weekend and say hi at the blacksmith shop. I'll probably (if I sneak outta the house before the wife wakes up) be out there working in the shop on Saturday at least, I'll be the one with the beard wearing a leather apron or bib overalls.....

So, welcome to IForgeIron, and welcome to Central Illinois blacksmithing. You bake in the summer, freeze in the winter, and smile about it year round

-Aaron @ the Sandy Creek Forge

Hey Greg,
Now seeing that you are in the Peoria area, I'd almost bet that you got those bricks the same place that I got mine a couple years ago (possible even from the same pallet). But yeh, like everybody said, these bricks will really suck (up all the heat) in a gas forge. You'll spend alot of fuel just getting the forge warmed up. I went to college in the Peoria area, and the ceramics teacher swore up and down that there was someplace in Peoria or B/N that sold the soft brick, but I never pursued it as the hard brick is ideal in my flattop coal forge. Good luck, and if you find them in the area, drop me a line and let me know where as I'll end up building a gas forge sooner or later.
-Aaron @ the SCF

Hickory, Hickory, and Hickory.

I will concur with Thomas though that hedge (aka Osage Orange) does make a relatively durable handle, but finding hedge or hedge boards might be a bit tricky depending on your location. I've also used rock elm for hot cut and cold cut handles and had good luck with it in that application.

Ideally you'd want to cut an older growth hickory that is relatively free of knots. This is one time that the old boyscout rule of not cutting down living trees does NOT apply. If you harvest a standing dead hickory, chances are the wood is either half rotted already or is ridden with some form of insect (at least that's the case around here, not sure about other areas). Once it's down cut out the main trunk and leave the rest to season for firewood (burns nice with a pleasing aroma). Strip the bark and split the trunk into rails (like for a split rail fence) about 4 or 5 inches wide on the bark side to make billets. Lean the billets up inside a relatively dry building to season out for 8-14 months (again depending on your area as far as relative humidity etc.) Once it's seasoned out, cut out the good straight, knot free sections and start sawing/turning/whittling/rasping/drawknifing or whatever method suits you.

Sounds like a lot of work? It is, but you'll end up with just about the best handles possible. Right now I've got about a dozen billets in the back of one of the barns, each billet will give me anywhere from 2 to 8 handles depending on what length i'm making them. Now, if you don't have any hickory in your timber (or any timber for that matter), follow the advice above. ESPECIALLY the part about the grain.

If you look at the end of the handle as it would be inserted into the eye of the hammer, the grain of the wood should run in the same direction as the long dimension of the hammer eye. That's also something that the goofballs at the big box home improvement stores most likely won't have a clue about (been there done that and ended up explaining the whole concept of wood grain to the poor kid ).

Any questions just ask.
-Aaron @ the SCF

Disclaimer: This is my personal method. It worked for my grandpa, it's worked for my dad, and so far it's worked for me. Your mileage might vary.

Edit: Note to self. Check profile, then post response. Seeing that you are in the central illinois area, if you want to drop me a private message, I can probably hook you up with a billet if you want to take a go at making your own handles. I'm located in the greater Peoria area, and I am in Peoria everyday for work. Shoot me a message, we'll see what we can do.

How I did it.
I did try this once on some long lost sample pieces. I used some of those glass drop things that you can buy for fish bowls. I carefully busted them up practically into dust. I placed the workpiece on a piece of polished stainless, and filled the hole with the crushed up glass. **This was the tricky part** I used the welding tip on the oxy/acetylene torch and got a VERY neutral, very small flame. It took quite a bit of fiddling to get it to where it wouldn't blow the glass dust outta the hole. I slowly brought the glass up to a melting temp and gently packed it in with a shiny pein end of a ball pein hammer. It actually worked quite well. I had a few small cracks in the glass, but they kinda added to the look IMHO. Again, I only did this once, so I am no expert, but it's definitely something fun to try and to experiment with.
-Aaron @ the SCF

Went back to college (only to visit) and helped the guys at the frat house finish up on the remodeling they'd done to the house this summer. Came home with two LARGE, empty beer cans (if you get my drift) and an uninsulated, spark resistant, mouse resistant lock box. Unfortunately, they'd already busted off the combo lock trying to get it open, but no matter, a new hasp and my paper-goods, manuals, and flammable with have a somewhat safer home
-Aaron @ the SCF

Heavens to mergatroid (sp?) Julian. Wish I'd a know you were coming, you guys coulda headed up this way and helped me out....er...um... I mean, checked out my shop! Glad you made it to the SIU forge shop. One of these days I'd like to get downstate to check it out myself. Glad you had a good time in the Land of Lincoln and your welcome back anytime you wanna get away from that Arizona heat.
-Aaron @ the SCF

Oh, But I do..... although i think this only qualifies for honorable mention....not the full award....
-Aaron @ the SCF

...all the way from southwest Michigan Here's a teaser.



I forgot my camera takes huge photos that don't fit in the gallery, so I'll post the link to them on flickr for now.

Flickr: Photos from the_sandy_creek_forge

Read more about my newest toy under the "machinery" thread in the forums.

-Aaron @ the SCF

EDIT: yep...so big that the teaser photo wouldn't even show up when I linked to it from flickr......dumb technology anyways.....

Momma always said that it is not nice to brag.....but she never drove from southwest Michigan to central Illinois with a 1500 pound Leland-Gifford drill press in the back of a half-ton Ford... So i suppose i have the rights.

I won this one off of Ebay. It actually cost me more in gas to get it than I paid for it.

Three spindles. Left most spindle is set up with a taping head and tap chuck (still not certain if this is OE or not, will know once it is cleaned a little better). Each spindle has four adjustable speeds via flat belt drive. It was once set up to run off of a line shaft as the slack belt engagement mechanism is still intact inside of the base. Unfortunately the engagement arm that was situated on the back of the base was removed/busted (presumabely when the electric motor was added to it).

I don't currently have 3 phase in the shop, but am definitely getting a static phase converter once this beast is restored. I am doing a complete tear down and repaint on it, hopefully as close to OE color as possible (that wonder seafoam grayish green that was SO popular on antique machinery).

Other than the aforementioned drive engagement mechanism, the only other things broken that I have found so far are two of the upper quadpulley sets have chipped lips on them. This should not affect operation at all. Wish me luck as I begin the tear-down/cleaning/polishing/degreasing process.

Here's a link to photos. I didn't realize my camera took such HUGE photos (2.5 mb+) that wouldn't fit in the gallery upload. Will downsize them and get more uploaded to the gallery soon.

Flickr: Photos from the_sandy_creek_forge

-Aaron @ the SCF (who now knows that when someone estimates the weight of something anywhere over 500 pounds it is always a good idea to add at least 50% and plan accordingly).

Disclaimer: I DO NOT advocate running over the GVWR on ANY vehicle. The ride back was perhaps the most nerve wracking automotive related experience I've had since I flipped my Ford Ranger. GVWR are there for a reason, but once I got there I had already invested the gas, and knew I wouldn't have access to a big enough truck for several weeks longer than the seller was willing to hold it. Please, Please, Please, plan smart and accordingly and drive safe.

no, no....the sock and the keys are with the guy down at the DOCK

-Aaron @ the SCF

Hey Nick,
Love the hammer. I know what you mean about it being off balance (kind of), two of my striking sledges are old Atha cross peins....the hammer face side is about TWICE as long as the pein side.

What size axles to you estimate you'll need for the bigger hammers? Every so often i come up with some semi-tractor and skid loader axles. I believe they are in the 2-2.5" range. Drop me an email, we might be able to work out a trade of some sorts on a couple cutoff pieces.

-Aaron @ the SCF

In defense of the little anvils....they make great 1 1/8" hardy holders (or the metric equivilant) if you can find one that has the hardy hole oriented the RIGHT way. And they make ESPECIALLY wonderful "let your little brother, who even though he is a mechanic has the hammer control of a chimpanzee, use it for banging on hot steel" type anvils.

And yes, the guy is ripping people off in a major way. I don't know him, but based on what he is trying to pull with those anvils... I'd almost wager that some of those "buyer's comments" were posted by him, speculatively speaking. And don't bother wasting your breath Jake, he'll probably just ignore your message.
-Aaron @ the SCF

My primary anvil is my great-grandfathers Kirkstall Forge 150 pounder. Apparently alot of these were shipped into Canada and managed to filter down this way. I believe that mine was shipped from a dealer in Chicago. She's a little sway backed and a little battered, but refuses to give up:)



-Aaron @ the SCF

If... You suffer from OTCOD (old tool collecting obsessive disorder).

-Aaron @ the SCF


posted

Now Ted, you know the only reason Sam hasn't commented is because he was already down to Radio Shack buying a fan while you were typing on the computer!

I wonder if there would be a way to sit it on a low speed and have it turn off once you started manually cranking the blower. I don't have a problem with my big forge going out, in fact i can leave it sit for an hour and still have visible heat at the top of the fire. But my little riveters forge tends to put itself out everytime I turn my back on it. That would be great to choke the little fan back to just enough to keep it from going out on me.

-Aaron @ the SCF (overcomplicating everything one step at a time)

Three (3) 4.5" angle grinders on sale at harbor freight are roughly $60 (USD). A brand spankin' new Milwaukee 4.5 inch angle grinder at one of the big box stores is $99.91 (USD). For a difference of roughly $40 (USD). Set up two of the HF grinders with grinding disks and one with a cutting disk. When grinding, if the grinder starts to get warm, set it down and pick of the cool one. As long as you are using them for weekend warrior duty cycles, and keep the bearings cool, the little grinders will last AMAZINGLY long. AND with this set up you don't have to fumble around changing wheels if you need to nip off a couple piece's of 3/8ths or the like.

Thank you Mr. Wright for that link. You will find that I have just joined the group!

-Aaron @ the SCF

Addendum: If your are unwed, without house payments, truck payments, and college loan payments OR if you are doing this full time, buy three Milwaukee grinders instead :)

Hey again,
That is what i was talking about. As I was searching for and uploading that image, I got to thinking just how clever recycling an old hand-cranked grinder would be in a situation like this. Not to mention it would take care of the issues with a 20 pound plywood disk spinning above one's head. Very clever indeed....that idea might have just been stolen. Thanks!!
-Aaron @ the SCF

Hey there,
I too have an old belt driven blower. It is still not connected to the forge, but I found an interesting way to power it. The blower is bolted to the center post in the shop about 24 inches up off the floor. About 7.5 feet up the post is a 3 foot diameter wheel made of plywood. The big wheel is run on an eccentric that is connected to an arm in the rafters that is connected to a pull rope. Wonderful system. A little unnerving at first to stand around, but it spins the blower up to about 800-900 rpm. I'll try to find the pictures we took of it right after it was installed.
-Aaron @ the SCF

Dale, Sorry to hear you won't be back. I really hope you'll reconsider!!

Alternately. I would think that this is ultimately going to be one of those myths where certain circumstance would have to be just right for everything to happen the way the myth claims (hardness, grain structure, force, etc. etc.). I could see chipping, splitting, cracking, maybe even a bit of spalling, but an outright explosion?? I've seen a can of soda explode, and a potato explode (don't even ask) but never a chunk of 1.5 inch diameter steel. Then again, I only practice BASIC metallurgy, so I might be wrong.

-Aaron @ the SCF

Thomas, You do remember correctly, it was some of the Columbians (I have one and for years thought it was just plain broke till someone told me different:) ) Likewise, the idea for the "bearing buddy" has been completely and thoroughly "borrowed"! Thanks HWooldridge!
-Aaron @ the SCF

My Keep-Me-Cool is also a Followed-Me-Home. It is the big blower (12 or 14 inch diameter squirrel cage fan off of an old oil furnace the my grandpa had replaced. It seems to move about 3 times the air that my old circular floor fan moved, and it cost me exactly 35 dollars less than my old fan (which cost 35 dollars:) ). Of course, having the open intake and exposed belt it is not EXACTLY osha compliant but boy will it move the air. Also work great for drying out my garage floor after i spray it down:)

-Aaron @ the SCF

Upon getting a new...um...used vise, I break it down and get rid of the excess gunk and grime (usually going no further than what a putty knife will scrape off as some of that old greasy coating is a great rust deterent). I'll scrub the screwbox and the screw with a brass brush and some solvent, brake/carb cleaner, diesel fuel or whatever else is handy. I wipe it down and let the cleaner evaporate completely. I used to use moly-ep on the screw when I reassembled, but lately I've been using white lithium grease in a spray can. Every time I spray the screw some of the old dirty grease runs off and is replaced by the newer fresh grease.

-Aaron @ the SCF