Pault17

john and Daniel, are you both going to make it to the November meeting?  I would love to meet other IFIers.

I'm lucky enough to live close to Peter.  our state abana chapter is having our second 4th quarter meeting at his place this year.  it's always amazing to watch him work

That is an interesting twist on things.  nice!  a drip tray of some kind would be nice, but the design is cool.  you could take that idea and literally twist the two sides concentrically... or not.  maybe braid them with a third piece that is tenoned into a drip pan that the two holder ends penetrate to hold the candle above the pan... "light bulb" (as said by Gru in despicable me)

nice idea... and all this time I was just using them to forge out mini swords for the little people that constantly ask if I can make a sword.

if I were to do one of those (which yours came out very nicely, by the way), I would have made it then traced.  you are a much better draftsman (seconded)

terrible!  you'll have to send it here for the junk pile and work on another one :D

I do love the knapped look.  thanks for showing

I am envious.  of the class and the work.  wasn't the food great? (if you ate in in the hall, that is.  I didn't lose any weight when I was there a few months ago.)  

looking forward to more of your work

That looks very "utility".  I could easily make use of that on the construction site, and just about anywhere else

Thanks Thomas.  I was wondering.  Once I get the other holes drilled I know it'll be far more useful that the piece of 3/8" plate I currently use, that does not stay put real well. 

As a little person, in the early 70's, I used to live in El Paso.  My dad was stationed at Biggs Field, if that is still there

good morning all,

I have seen many designs and borrowed from them.  I wanted a plate with multiple sized holes to punch clean holes (and I had the limited time and materials available  to make one).  I still need to find/borrow the bits for the three larger holes before its done, but it was fun.  I am a bit concerned that the larger holes may be a touch too close

hammer on

Thanks for sacrificing your wallet and time for the testing Frosty.  I will have to look for it at the welding supply places around here.  I remember at the Folk School in Brasstown, Roberta Elliot swore by stuff she called "Elmer's Glue" that was made up by Elmer Rousch.  I seem to remember her saying it was basically rat poison and ferrous oxide powder in a 50/50 mix, but I may be mistaken. 

it worked well at welding temps, but I (in my totally neophyte experience) had similar success with straight ol' mule-team

weight is right at 2 lb 1 oz.  I did the round face by holding the head in a deep dish depression on a swage block and just wailed the heck out of it to upset both ends pretty much at the same time.

Vaughn,

I heated to above non magnetic and held it there for about 5 minutes, by turning down the heat, then quenched it in veggie oil.  when it was grippable with gloves, I quickly sanded the faces and along the sides then placed it on a drift heated to orange.  I had two drifts and cycled them in the forge as they cooled.  following some descriptions I found in the heat treating section in this forum, I brought the faces to a dark straw then quenched them (just the faces) in water, and kept this pattern or heating and quenching until the area around the hole was to a bright dark blue.  I then quenched the whole thing to cool, mounted it on a handle and used it for 4 hours with no ill effects other than to the metal I was hitting.

Our local state ABANA chapter was about making hammers with lots of workers and production.  We had four forges and 6 anvils going.  more than 10 hammers were started, if not completed.  I forgot to get the specs on the steel, but know it's an oil quench high carbon. I was obnoxious with the other smiths and demo'ers about not wanting help, explaining that I didn't have the help at my own shop, so's I didn't want to spoil myself.  I need to do the final heat treat, clean, polish and epoxy to the handle. 

I was trying to get a rounding hammer style, but didn't do a bunch of fullering at the heads. It was all done by hand.  I pre-drilled my hole with a 3/16 bit to keep it straightish.  Mind you, I have never done this before and wanted to learn with guidance.

Hey Eggwelder,  thanks for bringing this up.  I see the rusty as being a poormans power hammer, compared to some of the others out there.  Poormans is the wrong term; less expensive/more affordable is more like it.  When I get the fund/time/materials, I too plan to go this route.  Storm, thanks for posting the vid.  mucho helpfulo. 

The whole idea of making hawks, hand-axes and full axes has nibbled at me a lot lately.  This is really helpful for technique.  that little bump on the anvil to set the weld...wow, that really makes it look much less mystical.

thanks for sharing

Thanks Dan.  Thanks to you too Gerald.  

This has been fun, and will probably keep on being fun.  I very recently took a "beginners" class and John C Campbell and finally learned the beginning steps of forge welding.  On the one day the instructor taught us forge welding, I did probably 10 or 12 welds that all stuck and didn't peel apart, even when it got a bit too cool.

I then tried stuff out.  I did the fold/fagot weld that Brian started this whole thing with, folding welding, folding, welding again to get enough meat to make a small spoon.  I then started my first "strap-hawk" and managed to get a clean, full-length weld from eye to edge (the strap is 1/4" bar stock and the inner is leaf spring).  I just wanted to see if I could do it.

I will say that even if the fold-over weld is not a good one to start with, my confidence level jumped lightyears when it stuck.

the twisty handles are three rods welded at the ends, twisted, scarfed at the ends, bent, then welded onto the handle end (that was bumped up and scarfed on both sides).  The hook is a loop-weld-cut.  I did three of the handles onto raw bar stock so I could someday make a full set.  all of this and more was in the first day of learning to weld.

Hawk beginnings

tools

Hook closeup

spoon

and upclose (yeah, I shoulda put the weld on the bottom)

Kegan, I am making the assumption that you have access to a power hammer of some kind.  That or, basing on your location, you are just a "dumb marine with big arms :)" (prior service here, so no intentional offense).  with material that large I personally would target hardy tools like small cone mandrel, bick iron, hot cut, small stake anvil, etc.. I would also look at handled tools along the drift and punch side of things. 

all that being said, I would definitely try and figure carbon content, at a minimum, first.  good find

paul

artfist, the truth is the truth.  thanks for the link

Here's one for anybody.  I have a piece of 3.25 round bar about three feet long that I planted in a drywall bucket full of concrete, with a rebar web a few inches from the bottom to keep the post above the bottom of the bucket.  My idea was to make a beater post anvil that could be left outside.  works great and it weighs about 140 lbs.  The problem is that the whole thing is mildly magnetic, and I can't figure out how to unmagnetize it.  works great for checking critical temp, but a bummer when everything else sticks to it, albeit mildly.

sorry for hijacking, but it seemed to blend

Brad, glad the header worked for you.  mind you, it's just mild steel.  I'm still envious about the anvils, but congrats on that deal.

Francis, I have had the privilege of meeting Amos several times at various meetings and gatherings.

Brad, it was great meeting you at the shop last night.  You were right in not telling me what you had there.  I would have followed you home...

Frank.  Love the clean lines and finish.  I almost always get the question "do you make horseshoes/knives?".  normally my answer is no, because I know what skill is needed.  yours gives me pause.  I like the look and feel of the short sword.  I has more real-time use potential than a claymore.  thanks for posting.  waiting on the next one

My little 110-lb Russian HF "platypus" was laid into a 1-inch deep routed depression in the top of my stump.  The bottom was cut with three generous feet oriented with the heel and the horn (two to the rear, one to the front), with about a slight 1/4 inch gap around the anvil.  The stump has since dried a whole lot more that when I first got it (and it had fallen years prior, but ended up not on the ground), and has shrunken so tightly around the anvil that I would need a crowbar and chisel to wedge the thing out.  It sticks in there even when using an 8-lb sledge.