Mills

A picture may help clarify. You should be able to mount the vice in many different ways to suit the piece you are drilling.

Not to be contrary but there is a use for no gas welding. To make pipe look like tree bark. The worse you can weld the better it looks. I run it as hot as it'll go and then run beads erracticly the length of the pipe. I alos have done the same knocking the flux off of rods (water soaked or scrap) and have just cut lengths of 3/16 HR to do the same effect. My little tombstone don't like 3/16 keeps shutting down ;)

I think that it would be possible to get the rough size. If you can get it hot enough and move fast enough. Here is how I contemplated doing the same. I have not attempted, let me know how it goes . Drill a hole to the ID of the spline Then using some good hot work steel S-7 or H-13 create a punch that has a long lead which will slide through as a guide. When the steel gets hot it will expand so the hole becomes smaller, allow for this. Next create the flats on the outside of the bar a little smaller than needed. The ends should be square to cut through the material and produce a slug on the back side. You will need a bolster block and some type of punch lube. Also once the splines are cut through you, will need to be able top drive it clear so relieve the back part. Allow for mushrooming the head as you drive it. I would heat treat this to be a little harder than usual to avoid deformation. I doubt that you can do this in one heat with a hand hammer. Off center blows will warp your tools, necessitating dressing or replacing. Especially as you are trying for 3 diameters depth. It will be money the hard way. This is the kind of job I no longer attempt as it distacts me from doing what I really want to do. So if this is an exercise for you, I'd like to hear how it goes. If this is trying to avoid a machining bill then you need to ....widen your circle of friends . Good luck.

You ask a specific question Best but for general use. In general an oven at 400 degree will take care of most issues for many steels. If it is to be struck maybe 500 degree draw, if for wood work maybe 300 degree. if a thin section time in the oven is fairly short depending on the steel. if fairly thick longer depending on the steel. Rich Hale and others have given the best advice. PICK the steel you want to use and then learn it in a methodical way. Hope that doesn't come across as snippy.

I use it as well but am not as happy with it. I am using a G4 Mac with OSX 10.4. It will save and open different files but I have difficulty with it still being in the same condition as saved. Emailing the files will get jumbled in transmission. It does have some nice features and capabilities, just doesn't work as well on my Mac. (sigh) and Mac doesn't really have a decent spreadsheet available and Textedit is pretty low end but usable.

Split it first. Open it up some then see if you can coax to final shape. You may need to do this with a couple of more steps if it is very big.

Clifton Ralph shows a lower die he built for his Murray that allowed him to do that. He removed the lower die and inserted a device like a C on its side then bent the stock clamped it with a header block and headed the stock. Seems he was using 1". I don't have a way of getting a clip of that as I have vhs tapes. may be some one else can provide a picture.

I would suggest that you forgo the plate for a welding table and find an old exterior slab door. It is what I use. I also have gone from a 5' x 12' layout table to a 36"x64" and a 32"x64" table. Both from doors, Both on wheels Both the same height. They are flat and have usually 2 known straight edges and 1 or 2 square corners. Angle iron on the sides to create a place to clamp work straight and square. Most of my work is smaller than either table, but when I need to do a larger piece I can put them together. I also have a couple of third hands to assist in odd size pieces.

I have had a pwer hammer first and now have a treadle. I find the always on feature very handy. Since My LG still has no brake I use the TH for the one blow feature and my tooling has a lot more room to grow.

I think most of us don't consider using the anvil with out the hammer as well. On my TH since I have leg problems, keeping the treadle low is good. But I can't use the anvil stand alone, never even thought of that. Now that you mention it it would be possible for your design to work as a stake holder as well.

Forging works the grain structure smaller. Out of the bloom it is pretty rough. forge it weld it back to it self as a big bar again. once refined. forge again, twice refined. guess what triple refined means. that does not take into consideration other impurities such as sulfur which create some trouble. There is a lot of discussion of this which I have read but have no knowledge of so use this to refine your search for answers. By the time it is triple refined you should be able to handle the problem. ;)

band saw or shear. But I don't have either of them. if I needed a piece 3/16 x 3/4 I'd forge it.

Cast iron would handle heat a little better but would be prone to cracking under great loads. Steel would flex more and handle stress better at the cost of possibly softer braking (flex) under hi loads. That said, properly designed for the application, the point should be moot. Weight would be the first thought for racing, assuming safety was equivalent. Steel may prove to be lighter, as cast iron parts usually rely on mass for strength. I would have thought there would be an aluminum caliper for this application.

That may work, when I get to the point of freezing, i usually set the tank in my slack tub. Since moving to a 100 lber I do not experience this problem at all. Yet.

Granpas forge was 2x6's filled with dirt and pipe ran in from the bottom. blower was away from the forge so he could get around it.

2ft x 3ft is a nice size for the hearth. This gives you room to set tools and have a coal supply ready to add as needed. the firepit measurements will depend on the size stock you intend to work but since you are unlikely to be working really big stuff I would recommend a truncated inverted pyramid about 9in square to 3in square. the total depth of your coal fire needs to be approximately 4 inches below your stock and 3-4 inches above your stock. Thus if you build your firepit to be 4 inches deep and flush with the hearth, you will heap your coal 3-4 inches above it. Then add on the tuyere to that. That is easily done with a pipe tee, (2 or 3 in). Air comes in from the side and ash and clinker pass straight through. Put a grate on top of 2 or 3 pieces of 1/2" rd to hold the coal and a door that will close on the bottom for an ash dump. I spent about 4 or 5 hrs building my last one to those proportions but not that big. The critical measurements are to have a good coal bed to match your air supply. Most blowers can handle the size above and more. Also have enough coal above and below your work. I have used rivet forges with substantially less coal but couldn't forge weld with out a lot of fussing in one. I also went too big on a firepot and had to blow a lot more air and burn more coal than necessary. There is a WIDE sweet spot here in which just about anything similar to the above will work. Have a ball.

I allow a 55 gal drum for scrap. when it is near full I cull the inside stock for too short or no longer valued. Such as rebar pieces or bits of tubing. Then I haul it off and am done with it. It doesn't make me money, it is the overhead for running a clean shop.

Stixman you are very motivated. take a breath because there is a bunch of stuff you are trying to learn in one gulp. Brazing is done with a welding tip. not a cutting attachment. you will need then actylene and oxygen to make it sparkle. the information for setting the regulators should come with the torch. You will need to practice a little I'd imagine. Which will bring out some more questions. Ask away. When you get some fuel gasses pick up some BRAZING rod. it will be brass. Also get Brazing flux. The nickel rod mentioned by QC is for WELDING. There is a difference. This is basic general info to get you started. There are nuances and exceptions for all the advice given. Stick with brazing since that is where you are headed. It will be a good thing to learn, many applications. Hope this helps.

Or possibly he was referring to the temp at which steel becomes non magnetic. It becomes magnetic again after cooling below that point.

Alfie I assume that there is a hardy hole. Some of the first projects would be forging a heavy piece of steel to be a clean square edge for when you need it. just drop in the hardy hole and you have what you need. Goes for any other shape as well. The anvil is the base tool it doesn't have Everything you need but gives you the means to get it. I used a belt sander on mine and hit the edges a little to get rid of snags, little sharp edges that will tear up your work. If there are a lot then find the best part clean it up and work there.

Glenn wrote a photography lesson over on anvilfire. iForge Photographing Ironwork and crafts That may give you some more help. Indirect lighting is good also. The photographers of them swimsuit and skimpy things magazines sure know how to do that well.

I had a semester of welding in college, but nothing til I had bought a tombstone and asked a welder friend how to do it. He gave me scrap rod and I got busy welding drums together to make a pontoon raft. I turned those drums every which way sorting through the piles of rods looking for those that were alike. mystery metal in the finest sense. I did mostly horizontal with one drum sitting on top of another but tackled all postion including laying over the drums and welding upside down. Had try it all. Now I use MIG most of the time but still burn the sticks as needed. And am still trying to be a welder.

What Thomas said. For 250 I'd imagine you could get a nice chunk of steel, just like the Brazeal brothers use.

I use a draw knife on occasion, as well as fiber discs in an angle grinder. Til I get a belt grinder I use my belt sander in the vise for final operations. For wood I usually find broke shovel handles about as fast as I need them. iswitched to shovel handles as th hammer handles I have bought did not have good grain. Long handles seem to be a better grade.

You have done well in what you set out to do. Very clean look.