Frog50

Thank you, Buzzkill

Hi, Thank you all for your responses. Inadvertently I’ve learned much except of course for my initial question: What can I use for a liner besides Plaster of Paris, sand, and steel wool? I’ve already built my foundry with the aforementioned materials and will use it until it falls apart (perhaps very quickly). Anybody like to hazard a guess about what might be better next time?

Thank you. That’s pretty much what I thought it was. Considering materials and size, what type of file would be best for my uses? I can envision a jig.

Okay. I’ll defer to your experience now and beg you to tell me what is drawfiling? I have an idea, but it’s probably wrong.

Sorry, but the taper does effect performance. It wasn’t for conserving iron. (Did you forget my prototyping?). Roubo has straight irons in the 16th century. Everybody after him had tapered irons. Roubo had more reason to conserve material than most. Believe me, I wanted to make planes with straight irons. It would’ve made my life so much easier! But, alas, they simply didn’t work as well.

Oh yeah, thanks for the clarification on the word iron. I’m used to woodworking forums and didn’t even consider that might be confusing.

Yup. Did that. Ever try and cut a blank and get the taper correct out of O-1 steel without CNC? Or maybe I should say with only hand tools. It’s a .... on the other hand, I can cut everything I want out of mild steel and not break my wrist or my wallet.

Traditional side escapement planes for the most part, though I’m branching out to other wooden planes. The best source for real quality iron blanks is Lie Neilson in Maine. Best stuff I’ve ever seen but you’re right, pricey.

You’re absolutely right; it is significantly more time and energy. But I enjoy this stuff so sometimes I choose to do it myself rather than buy it. In addition, for prototyping tools, I still need the functionality of the finished tool even though I wouldn’t use that particular iron. As I said, I sometimes go through a dozen or more irons on a prototype, and at $40 a pop or more (that’s a minimum) it can get pretty expensive.

I suppose I should have added that I’m a woodworking tool maker and the steel I buy (particularly for prototyping, in which I can go through dozens of blanks) is becoming prohibitively expensive.

I’m sorry, I just signed up and I didn’t realize there were different areas for different interests. I’m going to be using charcoal since I make it myself, and I’m going to be melting aluminum for prototypes and case hardening steel also for prototypes.

So, I just got back from Home Depot where I bought pop and play sand. Seriously, walked in the door fifteen minutes ago. Woe is me. I’m making a small foundry rather than a forge and want to case harden some steel. So what material should I use instead of the pop and sand?