bluerooster

No I didn't. But it's still in the back of my mind. I burned a lot of coal upsetting the ends for the jaws. And I haven't had much forge time since Jan. anyway. Had to rebuild the exhaust hood due to rust, then had to move a bunch of stuff around, to accommodate the side draft hood, which required me to re-mount the vise which i haven't done yet, because I want to replace the stump with a better one. Then My tractor has a flat tire, (I need the tractor to move the new stump) I had to order new tires online, and just got them, but no tubes. So it will be next weekend before I can get the vise mounted again. I sure miss that little vise. I don't know how I got on without it.

Went to the scrapyard today, found a bucket full of 3' x 5/8" square stock, but was already spoken for. Came back and worked at cleaning up the shop. Found and fixed a fuel leak in the shop heater. Small pinhole on the bottom of the tank, causing diesel to soak into the wood floor. Then out to the forge to draw out the reins on the tong project. For some reason the camera can see in the dark better than I can. I thought I had them in pretty good shape, the camera tells me there's more work to be done. Guess I need to put a light in the smithy.

That was quite interesting. I plan to watch the rest of them. Good find.

It would take two or three of the boxes that you just got to hold all my tools, between work and home. But the most used daily tools will fit in a tool tray from a carry box. And that's where they live on a shelf under the drawers. Here's a pic of the tool box that I've used at home for about 24 years. When I got my current job last year I needed a toolbox for work. so I put doors that can be secured, and took it to work. The drawer pulls are bought, the door handles/thumb latches, and hinges. are forged by me from scrap. Top drawer is standard wrenches, middle is standard sockets, ratchets, extensions, and Torx, Bottom drawer is various and sundry items, screw drivers, pliers, punches, files, etc. Shelf holds various power tools, Bottom holds another set of drawers with all metric stuff. Most all specialty tools are in their own cases, and fit on the shelves on either side. Hammers, dollys, etc, fit on the bottom left, along with battery impact, and drill. Yes, toolboxes are like cars, they lose about 1/3 of the value before the ink is dry on the sales agreement.

Daswulf, That sounds about right. Matco, and Snap-itoff come by the shop regular. I haven't seen Cornwell Around or I would check it out. As for tool boxes, they're nice boxes, but dang, they're pricey. I prefer to spend the $ on what goes into the box, rather than the box it's self. Boss bought a new box from Snap-on, to the tune of $12k+ after trade in of his old one. We need a R1234 machine more than he needed a new box. Oh well. I'll stick with my old box, and keep it full of quality tools. And keep an eye out for more of those $36 deals at the scrap yard.

Daswulf, How do Cornwell prices compare to other dealers like Matco, Mac, or Snap-off?

Goods, That's a real nice picket. Les L, I've got a V swedge, and used it as well. I started out by opening it just slightly, heating it, then flux, and tighten. Then slowly brought it up to welding heat, and held it there to allow it to soak through. Clamped it in the vise and twisted it tight as I could, more flux, then back in the heat. Then to the V block tapping and turning as to tighten it more. It seemed to be getting solid by the third welding heat. And also considerably smaller cross section than what I started out with. I continued to work it a high heat, just on the verge of fuming, bright yellow. For a few more heats, then started drawing and shaping at a bright orange/red heat. Just in hopes that the wires will continue to merge under the hammer. I'll post pic of the results. Cable, and blade made from it. One of the delaminations. And another,

Yes it is a workout. I guess hammer in the direction of the lay, as to tighten it up under the hammer.

I've just about given up on cable. I end up with cold shuts all the way through it. And don't know about them until I'm just about finished with the project. Anyway, I got a little forge time in today. Tried to make another basket twist, but I couldn't get the weld to take on one end. The other end set just fine. I thought I had this end set, but after another heat, it blew apart, and can't get it to stick again. I've done about 5 or 6 of these, without too much trouble. But this one is being a pain. One thing I did differently today is, I didn't tie the ends together. I usually tie them together with a bit of tie wire. Mabe that's what it is. The tie keeps things in place and doesn't let them move around. So, I set it to the side, and set about the task of flat jaw tongs, and a rivit to hold them together. I still need to draw out the reins, punch the hole, and dress them up. \ Also managed to fabricate a big old clinker.

Waiting on some material that was supposed to be in on the 22nd of last month. Just the last couple of items before covering.

Went to the local scrap yard today. Got a tool cart, and a chunk of Aluminum. $36.

A friend of mine carves some very nice and detailed duck decoys as a hobby. He told me that it was easy. Just cut away anything that doesn't look like a duck.

could well be dried camel dung for forge fuel. I can even see the end of the tuyre.

Yes, the bearing snowman is fantastic.

Form follows function. IOW; make something that works well, and that's the form it takes. BillyBones, I learned on a lathe built in the 1800's, 12' bed, 24" swing. Ran off of a flat belt. We had an electric motor to run it, the band saw, Drill press, and the shaper. I could do anything needed for the shop on those equipment. Did a lot of tapered shaft repair, mostly Model A Ford axles, and front spindles. Build it up with weld, cut the taper on the lath, then cut the keyway with the shaper. Later, we got a LeBlond with taper attachement, Got it used, but I thought I was in heaven. The LeBlond was from the 40's. I had to make a major part for it though. Apparently, some time in it's life someone started the feed with the lead screw engaged. Destroyed the split nut on the lead screw. But, I had a chunk of brass, and an old lathe to make a new split nut. "New" lathe had a short 6 foot bed, with about 16" swing. But it worked quite well for what we were doing. Then years later they got an old Bridgeport vertical mill.

Welding with a torch, the procedure is very much akin to tig, in that, you heat the metal with the torch, and dip filler rod into the puddle. But it's slower, so you have some time to observe what is happening. Like tig you can puddle the weld around and flatten it out. Can't be done with stick, and mig.

If you don't have a tig, you can gas weld to same effect.

It's a post vise, and I don't think it would take kindly to being stuck in a hardy hole. I had to rearrange the smithy when I installed the side draft flue. And had to move the vise. The stump that it was attached to was rotten, and I decided that it needs to be replaced so I didn't install it. I have a new stump, but have to get it from there to here, and my tractor has a blown out tire. One would think there would be some way of using geothermal energy for heat. Being in "the land of fire and ice" and all. But I guess it just depends on where you are there.

Puppy. She's two years old.

Alexandr; A drill with an auger bit is your friend. BillyBones; I like the book stand. May have to try something similar to hold a phone. Dabbsterinn; Looks like you've been busy making things for the shop. I guess it helps keep the shop warm. I got the chance to get started on another fire poker with basket twist handle. But after I got the working end done, I came to the realization that I have no way to do the twist on the handle. My vise is leaned against the tool bench, and have yet to mount it to the new stump. But first I have to move the stump to the smithy. That requires the use of the tractor. The tractor had a blow out on the front tire the other day, and I'm trying to find a new tire. If it aint one thing it's six. Progress thus far:

Nice work Shainarue, I like the tic tac toe set. I got a new tuyere attached to the forge, along with a new fire grate. The fire grate is 5/16" steel plate with 3/8" holes drilled and slightly beveled on the top side. Got it all put back together and gave it a test run to finish the weld on my basket handle. I found that whatever mystery metal I have doesn't like to be forge welded, or worked hot. as it decided to show cracks, and not stick together. I thought there was something up with it when I decided to use it. It didn't look like the rest of my stock. It had surface rust, but didn't look like surface rust on mild steel. It may have some chromium in it. Here's a pic of the new fire grate after todays session. I also enlarged the intake on the side draft it seems to draw better.

The problem that I have with metric, is conversion. If I'm dealing with metric, I can do so. If I'm dealing with feet and inches, I can do so. But when it comes to conversion of units, I get lost. Now when it comes to wrench sizes, I can convert without even thinking about it.

The best forge welding resist that I have found to date is me doing it.

Being easier for me to calculate decimal inches, than fraction inches, using a calculator, I got pretty good at converting fractions to decimal in my head. I just base everything on sixty two and a half thousandths, and can work both ways from there. Most of the hardware that I use is sized by a number for diameter in sixteenths, and one for length in eighths. Ie; 3-10 = 3/16"diameter x 1 1/4" long drilled, un drilled would be followed with "A".

Yes, I'd much rather have snow that doesn't melt, than the usual ice we get here. We might get snow once every couple of years, but we get freezing rain all winter, so we get to drive on ice regularly. Good thing it doesn't last very long, mabe a week at the most between storms.