Donal Harris

These are just hinges, but if it were an axe, the left one is asymmetric as it is and would be symmetric if moved over to be inline with the blade?

I like them, although my house is probably a bit small for them. You’ve likely answered this question before, but are those wall lamps painted or are they powder coated?

At the rate I am going, you can show me at the Dallas ABANA conference. I am abandoning the T and going to my first plan, which was just copy what you did in your video. Method one in your post above. I had considered that, John, but hadn’t thought of coil spring. Jeez! I must have at least three different sizes of coil springs, four or five if you count the smaller diameters like those from basketball goals. I would have tried it, but didn’t think I could get a piece of leaf spring to true round. Why it didn’t occur to me to just use a piece of coil is more than a little “doh!!!” On my next one, I may try this method.

It does sort of look like Long John Silver’s leg.

What was the wooden thing you posted above, Alexandr?

I’ve read lots of posts online, but all seem to assume the reader knows what they mean by “asymmetric”. I know what a wrapped eye is and I know the meaning of asymmetric. I just don’t know what asymmetric is in regards to a wrapped eye. What would a symmetric wrapped eye be? Likely a silly question.

What would something with a blade similar to #314 above attached to something shaped a lot like an oar be called? My great granddad had one. We used to play with it when I was a kid. He was a blacksmith near Graham, Oklahoma, but like everyone at that time was also a farmer. I have no idea what he would have used it for.

I believe this may have been a mistake. Rather than have the carbon steel shaped like a T, I should have had it angled. With the face down and hammering on the peen to set the weld, everything seems fine. Then when laying the head over to draw the peen out more, the weld fails. The steel actually fell out twice after I thought the weld was good. Would cutting the steel and WI as shown by the red lines below allow me to recover from this? It seems as if the WI pushes against the steel when I try to draw the peen out thinner and pops the steel out.

We never had a swamp cooler. Dad wouldn’t go for it. The doors and window frames in the house would swell, plus mold can be a problem. I sure wanted one though. It wasn’t until sometime between my Freshman and Senior year that Dad finally got the house sealed up enough to buy a window A/C unit.

They are moving to a little town between Houston and Beaumont in about a week. My SIL is a structural welder. His next job is a three year deal. When that one is done, there is sure to be another in the area. I think every third man down there and in the Midland area must be a Sooner. Most of the men in my family and the kids I went to school with have spent at least some time working down there. It is going to be tough seeing them go. My grandkids have been with us since they were babies. Back on point, the rag worked Ok, but I will need to work out how to get it over my eyebrows without it getting over my eyes and being a bother. Whoever above had said I would need to get my eyebrows covered too was certainly right. Didn’t get the hole punched. Worked for an hour or so and then came in to watch a few episode of Z Nation on Netflix. It was bloody hot out. I need to look for a fan or two. Almost forgot. xxxx would come to town if my wife were to learn of it, but I have been using the pool when I want to take a large piece like the hammer from a black heat to cool enough to hold really fast. Works well, and since I am the one who will be sweeping and vacuuming up the slag that pops off, I am fine with doing it.

I will let you know how a cut up t-shirt tied around my head goes. I hope to finish messing around with the peen and at least get started on the hole this evening. It’ll be dark in less than an hour and it is still way hot out.

Monkey see, monkey do. And one day while mom and dad were at work, it wasn’t hard for 9 or 10 year old me to copy what I had seen my dad do countless times and light the cutting torch. That was what I used. I don’t remember what I used for stock. Just something from dad’s pile of junk. What I made were a few latches for some of the wooden gates around the barn. Dad didn’t find what I had done nearly as cool as I did, but he did begin to actually show me how to how to use his tools AND to only do so when he was around.

I going peen then hole. IIRC that was something you seemed to regret on one of your WI hammer videos. You did the hole first and then getting it drifted back the way it needed to be cause you to have to do extra work. I should know later this evening how the peen weld went. I think it will be easier than the face. At least I hope so.

It is too small to be much of anything. Maybe a small fuller or set hammer. I took both to a SCABA member’s shop and he and another member showed me how to use an induction forge and power hammer. The large piece they mainly worked. Gerald Franklin showed me how to get it to roughly square edges and draw out the taper. Then I worked it until I felt it was close enough to the shape I wanted that I could easily finish it at my forge and anvil, as well as hopefully get a major delam I have been trying to fix for the past two or three short sessions at home welded back solid. The small one was mainly me except for squaring it up. One thing I learned was it is WAY easy to go from “about there” to “You’ve taken it to a mangled mess.” It is just so cool seeing the metal moving so fast and easy that you can forget to stop the hammer. On the smaller piece I also relearned something I already knew. If you hit WI in the direction of the grain once the temp has dropped too much, it will split. At home I was largely able to get the delam welded, but some of it I will just have to grind or file off. The hammer is largely finished. It isn’t quite as out of square as it looks in the photo. Pretty much everything is close enough to where it needs to be that it can be finished at the grinder. I still have to weld in the piece for the peen, as well as punch and drift the eye, so it is still quite possible I can screw it up. I etched the small piece so I could better see where the faces ended and the WI began. I didn’t oil it after, so it is rusted. I will etch it for a longer period and then try to fix that large split and etch it again and coat it with oil. I may use it as a paperweight at work. Now that I knew where the steel transitions to WI, I may take a chainsaw file and round out the grooves I cut and forge the grooves out. Almost forgot, do I punch the hole and then weld in the peen, or do I do the peen first? I think it should be peen then hole, but Gerald said I should do the hole first?

I’ve used an angled peen and prefer it. All my hammers are either ball peen or cross peen, but I bought a small hammer head of a type whose name I can’t remember. It is what a ball peen would look like if you were to squish the ball flattish. I twisted it from a cross to and angled peen. Not all that useful since is so small, but I use it occasionally.

My Freshmen biology professor pronounced protein as protean so we would never forget how to spell it.

6’1” That would probably make yours about 2” too short, assuming you didn’t make it and it was built for a male of average height. I think that is 5’9”. I don’t remember how tall mine is, I didn’t make mine. A friend made it for me. All I made was the pot after the brake drum he had put in it rusted out. It is at a height I like. It allows me to stand straight without stooping over or feel like I have to reach up to it.

How far are you from Sulphur? Brent Bailey is going to be at the SCABA Conference in October.

I soaked the smaller, misshapen one. It really makes the errors pop. I knew I had squished the edges of the leaf spring down over the sides, but didn’t realize it was so severe. I drew red lines in the approximate spots where I plan to trim the leaf spring. One thing I did not expect about the WI was one bar was a bit different than the rest even though all came from the same window bars. I also didn’t expect the pattern to be so randomly twisted and smushed.

Just noticed the acid soak part of your comment. I’ve begun working on both hammers again. The smaller one is not taking well around the edges of the faces. I believe I will give it a soak.

I let my grandson and Granddaughter heat 1/4” steel and beat on it. Before that I went over a few basic safety rules. Assume any steel is hot until you know it is not. Keep the hot end pointed in a safe direction when moving and let everyone know you will soon be moving. Safety glasses at all times. No you may not wear those neoprene gloves your mom bought for you to stay warm out here. Same for the fuzzy coat she gave you. You will wear leather gloves and do not get them wet. If you knock a piece of coal on the ground, do not pick it up with your fingers, even if it is not glowing. Always be aware of what others around you are doing and be ready for them to do something incredibly stupid. And no, you cannot make a sword. Really, once they brand their leg once, they are very unlikely to do it again. I tried working with both at the same time, but it was too much for me to keep track of.

I’ve decided what I need to do. Make a pattern on the good side where it begins to bend around my leg. Use the pattern to cut a piece to match from a piece of leather I have and stitch it on. Will end up looking like something Leatherface might wear, but should be functional. Then add leg straps. Probably move the waist and shoulder strap connection points up a bit so they are angled up at the corners there. As for sweat, still working on that. Maybe something like John? and Tai Goo wear on their heads. Almost forgot, to get the leg slit positioned right, I used a plumb bob while wearing it. EZPZ.

By the way, Brent Bailey is going to be at the conference. Not sure about Joey. I am pumped about it! Two of the coolest and best blacksmiths on the planet and I get to watch them work.

pnut was right. Moving the waist strap up to connect where the shoulder strap connects straightened it out quite a bit. Now to re-do the slit or the legs and straps for them. After that pockets to catch slag. I have been having trouble with sweat in my eyes. I’ve tried several hats, from ball caps worn with the bill in the front and back to a boonie hat. Nothing works. I am not quite ready to try a tennis sweatband like McEnroe wore. What about a welder’s skullcap or a doo rag?

My avatar pic wasn’t taken that long ago. I liked it because my hair was dark again. I had been at the forge all day. I am constantly running my fingers through my hair. I hadn’t realized I had been coating my hair with coal dust each time I did it.