Owen Hinsman

I’ve visited a few antique shops/salvage yards this week, and came out with a decent few things... including a jack that I want to restore. The jack is a Drednaut No. 27 twin lift screw jack. I can turn the knob by hand and lift the jack all the way out (it telescopes), but I want to take it apart and restore it. I’ll probably start with an Evaporust soak.

I've made both a folded hawk and a big chopper with rasps. The hawk has held up well, and I use the chopper every day for cleaning underbrush and pruning. I beat the living daylights out of it all the time, from cutting holes in ice to cutting down trees. It's not heat-treated and it hasn't failed me yet.

Thank you guys. I see how there’s a pivot at D now. I might just build one of these!

I recently came across this illustration in Practical Blacksmithing. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think that this treadle linkage would work.

I got the same one in paperback!

That info about the star drill is really interesting. I have half a dozen floating around my scrap pile. Also, I found this (or rather my dad pointed it out) on the side of the road. How can I take it apart without damaging me or my tools?

JLP, I was the guy a while back that made the grappling hook thread on here. Now that I've seen your video on making one, I might give it a try, find some good rope, and just work on climbing the rope while it's not more than ten feet up. Hearing that bit about breaking both your arms made me realize how dangerous climbing like this can be. Would 3/4" round work as starting stock for the hook, or do I need to get some 5/8" round?

Frosty, I chamfered the edges slightly with a knife, but its very hard, dry maple and my rasp would take a while with it. i'll see how it works for some scrolls and twists and then round accordingly. On a completely unrelated note, does anyone know and good wood grinding discs for a 4.5" angle grinder?

I think I'll try a bark handle at some point... might have to make a spud or two first! (oh no, i have to make more tools). It would be an interesting experiment. Maybe I'll layer in some copper and brass for flair.

A couple of 9” birch logs followed me home (under my arms) from a neighbour’s yard. I noticed he’d dropped some small trees, so I sent him an email asking if I could have them/buy them and he said to take them. Shows the value of asking for permission. Plus I got to try out my green wood end grain sealer from Rockler.

I made a wooden mallet (finally!) with maple head, ash haft, and beech wedge, tried a little copper work, and made a spoon for my loose leaf tea. I also snagged a couple birch rounds from a neighbour and got the ends coated in some green wood end sealer from Rockler.

I recently committed to making a couple hooks and bottle openers for a local charity auction, so I got the hooks done and started on a slot punch for the bottle openers. I needed a slot punch anyway, so this is a nice excuse to make one. I also hardened the little skinner integral knife thing I’ve been working on. It got some real nice martensite formation and it skates a file easily, so I think it hardened alright. On top of all that, I made a prototype for a door opener/button pusher keychain

Thanks for both the positive support and answers about tenons. Now I get that the tenon is heated because it will shrink when cool and make it easier to assemble, but heating the mortise could cause issues getting a good fit. I'm working on a scissor guillotine right now so I'll be sure to post my first go at mortise and tenon construction soon.

I was watching one of Chandler Dickinson’s videos about making a trivet from railroad spikes and to get the mortise/tenon to the right size, he heated the tenon and drive it through the mortise, rather than heating the mortise. It seems to me that heating up the mortise and driving the tenon/river through as a drift of sorts would be more effective. What is the proper thing to do here? P.S. I think that making a thread just to ask this question is a bit silly, so could this become a thread dedicated to mortise and tenon construction? That would be nice.

JLP, I have a set of tongs very much like the last picture in your tong post. What are they for?