John B

Thanks guys

Help Please. I have some antique bellows that have been stood for a while and the leather is starting to harden, before I attempt to try them I would like to soften the leather to help stop it cracking. In the past I have used neatsfoot oil on leather to keep it soft (it appears the Neats are a dying breed as I am having difficulty finding any !) All suggestions welcome, anyone used WD40? it seems useful for all kinds of things

In the past I have clear coated polished metal and it has worked for me. How I did it would not in theory seem to work, however as i know no better this is what I did. The polished metal was heated to be warm enough to just touch briefly, and then beeswax/turpentine (furniture polish) or a spray of WD40 applied and the surplus wiped off and then buffed up by hand with paper tissues, and then a coat/coats of clear lacquer (the kind used to seal metallic paint finishes on vehicles) applied by aerosol and allowed to dry. I did not have any problems with the lacquer pooling, in fact it was a good smooth finish, and you can get a semi matt finish to it. The only problem that I encountered was a darkening appearance of the finished metal. I usually use this finish on domestic internal pieces and tell clients to keep an eye on its condition and treat it like good quality furniture. Never had any returns yet

The key to forging acorns between dies is to neck the stem area down prior to inserting into the dies for the shaping, The amount to leave from the end of the bar can be determined and noted for future reference. I usually keep a sample fastened to the swage handles and a sample of a pre opped item / non destructible reference to bar sizes used at some future date when I have a senior moment trying to recall "How did I do that?"

Hi and welcome, knowing your location, if you are going to start work there priority one should be a large adequate fire extinguishing facility, then you can think about starting the hot stuff.

I have used anthracite, but didn't particularly like it and it was expensive in relation to other coals/cokes, it also affected my chest when using it. I was led to believe it was more toxic than other coals, and so do not use it any more. Basically you can use any method of heating metal that will raise it to the required forging temperature, some take longer than others and some will get better heats than others, try various and settle on what works for you.

Some backyard, thats absolutely the best type of art you could find not just in your backyard, but anywhere. You just can't beat nature and Gods work

If you have a glass works in your area, it may be of use to enquire of them as I believe they use it in their furnaces/kilns

But if you make up a monkey tool to hold in the automotive percussion hammer, it certainly cuts time down to make a squared shoulder on round or square tenons, The rust removing needle attachment can also be used to create a textured finish on bars or plate

I have done similar with gas tanks, but leave the water in when cutting through with an angle grinder using the thinnest possible disc that is used for car body work.

Make sure you are not using too high an rpm when you are drilling, the general rule of thumb is: Smaller the diameter of the drill, higher the rpm Personally I normally use my drilling machine on its slowest or next to slowest speed unless drilling small diameter holes less than 1/4" diameter and have no need of coolant or cutting compounds unless doing high volume runs. It also helps if the drill bit is sharp and of good quality, there are some really poor quality drill bits around that work on wood, but not on steel. Using a drill made from the correct grade of material it is possible and practical to drill through files or springs in their working condition. You used to be able to get drills to "drill square holes". (Handy if you are making socket sets) Not used one for a long time though.

Just went down the garden and found this

Many of the old forges had from the blower, a secondary air feed that went into the side of the main chimney at an angle so the air would suck up the smoke to the chimney from the hearth. Some had a slide valve or other means to shut this secondary pipe off if required Usually the forge had a slide valve for controlling air flow through the tue iron, not an electronic controller, fans are usually over capacity to the tue, so surplus air may as well go up the flue. No extra costs or motors to burn out

Generally speaking I find HSS more useful and verasatile as you can grind cutting edges, forms etc to suit your requirements, Carbide tools are more prone to chipping, and difficult to regrind, you need special grade wheels and diamond laps to do them properly. They also require higher speeds to cut efficiently, and either none or copious amounts of coolant when cutting. I am not familiar with your make or model of lathe, but generally speaking, any size of tool can be used so long as it is set to cut at centre height, and securely held.