Strine

1 ten thou accuracy is the same accuracy as marking out a kilometre to the nearest 100mm...easiest thing in the world to achieve with the right tools but it costs money...big money. You can't do it with a ten dollar plastic tape measure. Tell the bloke that to achieve such accuracy is going mean his you-beaut interferometer will be so expensive it won't have a market and he's wasting your time and his. Allow me to tell a yarn about an engineer I did a job for. We were building a roof over a reservoir, maybe five acres in area. The roof was to be held up with vertical "I" beams at around five metre centres. The I beams were to be supported on concrete pads, caste in situ with four holding down bolts. My job was to set out the location of each holding down bolt. The engineer required half millimetre accuracy. After much negotiating and telling him he was insane we managed to get it out to 1mm. Had it got to 5mm the cost of setout would have reduced by 80%. The accusations of insanity remained but they were kept in house. Do you know a concreter that can work to 1mm? No, and the engineer didn't either because as it turned out, after all the expensive survey work the most useful tool on site when the I beams arrived was a 14 pound sledge hammer :wink: So as the half millimetre was just a fanciful number to the engineer so too might the ten thou be to your mate. Baffle him with science. Ask him to explain to the nth degree why it has to be so accurate. Whether you understand it or not, pounce on any hestitation with suggestions of less accuracy. You might strike it lucky and get to the 0.002" MM suggests Another solution to the problem is to point out that he is jeopardising his relationship with you as a mate with such difficult conundrums and that he should only consult you for answers to the easy things like what is the meaning of life or what existed before the big bang if there was a big bang. Can you build/fabricate the hole around an accurately machined core then take out the core. I think I'll move on to the next problem solving thread Good luck T

Interesting stuff and I think the replies are coming from experts but I missed the bit about what grain structure in iron, steel, crystals or the wheat-crop has to do with how I go about making an S hook. For mugs like me what is good grain structure and what is bad? For what purpose can good grains be used for and what can be done with bad grains. How can you tell the difference, one piece of steel looks just like the next bit to me except for maybe the shape of each.

Glenn, I felt it was worth the risk in posting the above and felt sure that as it passed over the editor's desk it would be given the proper treatment, thankyou kindly. A reason art, particularly comedy, touches people is they recognise an affinity between aspects of their own lives and the subject. I hasten to add that infidelity is not one in my case So as a blacksmith and as a normal bloke I saw the funny side. D'urfey must have lived next door to a smith. His description of blacksmithing (in terms of shaping metal by heating and hammering etc) is really on the mark.

Half my internet time is spent searching/scouring for celtic music so that I can accompany it with a squealing tin whistle. I even manage to hit some of the notes. Then I came across this ditty written by Thomas D'urfey (1653-1723). I had tears in my eyes and stomache cramps for an hour after. Understand though that it is... er... well... your clever children may need parental guidance. No swearing etc..it's just a song about a smith doing some work for a damsel. Just do a google search for "The lusty young Smith (Thomas D'Urfey)" A short history on D'urfey can be found here too http://www.contemplator.com/history/durfey.html Edit: This edit was posted at a time when the views were still in the low single digits. The warning "children may need parental guidance" did apply, and was thoughtfully included in the original post. The direct URL link was removed and replaced with a google search string to locate that page. This will insure that childern can not get there through the IForgeIron or BlacksmithingForum sites.

Wouldn't have a jolly clue how much, but it sounds like you have heaps of bargaining power. In Australia, a working hammer might fetch from between $1500 to $3000, times about 0.75 for $US I suppose. Less Some for the rust, less some for the stuck thingos, less the labour and parts you estimate it will need to get it up and running. Ask the seller how much he will give you to take it away :shock:

Or "the quality remains long after the price is forgotten" This is true for the most part I suppose. There's a lot of stuff sold for far more than it's worth and on the other hand a good tool can be had for a song. Generally though price should indicate quality and why spend $10 ten times rather than $80 once. I wouldn't know a cheap welder if it bit me on the rear end... a good paint job would do it for me :? Should a machine pass the livery test I would then make a purchase based on the above. We are blessed here though as there is always a good response to someones "curiosity" and the cat is safe.

Never heard of that one but it's sure worth a try. Its a timely tip for us blokes what with summer on the doorstep. And it will cause some double takes at the summer demos when people see all these plastic bags hanging from the rafters Another old time repellent or at least method of keeping the buggers away from your face is to mix cow dung into your dirt floor.

Oaky, I'm happy to bite on that morsel. What use can that fella glass insulator be put to. What am I missing out on. Don't tell me I could have been making whojaquemephibbies at wondrous profit all these years.

A simple thing that we (300 cubscouts and about five blacksmiths) made over a weekend were candle holders. I forget what they're called ...sticking tommies? use 5/16 round bar. flatten enough length to twice wrap around a 3/4 round bar (the candle). Cut off leaving about 3" of the original stock and forge to a blunt point With pliers, vice grips or tongs hold the flat to the 3/4 bar and wrap. Let the wrapping come to the end of the bar just where the flat 5/16 meets the round 5/16. Bend the 3" section over the end of the 3/4 bar. Done. 40 years ago I and my fellow reprobate students each made a poker out of 3/8 square in "Metalwork". It has an eye, a point and a decorative twist in the middle. It's still hanging in the shed. Those were the days when simple pleasures sufficed. Todays kids might want something a bit more "sick" or "cool man" :wink:

Very interesting topic. A mate of mine demos at the Royal Ag Show every year (at making barrels and such)...what a character ! Anyway the bloke next to him demos exactly as Meco's customer and constantly laments the lack of "skilled blacksmiths" who can make a decent striker in Australia. So I set out to prove him wrong, but can not add to the advice given above. What My problem is, I am told there is no suitable flint to be found anywhere in Australia. Other sort of stone has been mentioned and I wonder if that geologist among us could give scientific names to these other rocks so's I can perhaps look for them instead. Calcidium is a good start, thanks Don

Here that'd be a RHG... He gave it a red hot go. Usually used to describe a valiant but unsuccessful attempt at something. As you've probably noticed, down here it could mean a couple of things. As is often the case the context is paramount in understanding strine. Red hot could describe an exclaimation that's just a bit too unbelievable. He was 8' tall....that's a bit red hot. Or it could be used to describe something good, She was red hot....a prime example of the female form I wonder why none of the above has any reference to something either red or hot. She might be a little too red hot...too hot to handle

They expect you to vote on a who will run this country at the same time they allow you to hit the heavy stuff. The latter is not compulsory but it helps in executing the former!...18 is the votin' 'n' drinkin' age here. Oh to be 18 again I've never tried mead I wonder if it would help my tin-whistle playing as much as the Guiness does :wink:

...stone the crows! the local Ranger arrives with an infringement notice for disturbing the peace on a Sunday. For goodness sake I tell him...

...in his typically laconic, Australian drawl "By jingoes mate, avalookuttya! grab the Rawlieghs anticeptic Nursey...in a four gallon bucket and be quick about it." I haven't seen a cut like that since Adam played full back for Eden Thirds and collected a maggot's bootstop across the noggin, nor as foul a shed since the rats deserted the chookhouse cos it was too dirty. The Doc had done his time in the outback, somewhere beyond Bourke, on The Darling, where every utterance, nod or perse of the lips was understood perfectly. But here in the Good Old U. S. of A. people generally replied with blank faces. or the universal "ughh!" Someone began to translate, explaining.....

Bon Voyage

Froggy. Maybe "the blues" comes from how sad you get when you grind a favourite tool to blue...stuffing the temper in the process. I wonder if it's related to upset

.....cant hook to jocky this shingle log into place. I remember, Jacko down the road's got it. He used it to roll a log off his mother-in-law. He said it was a log, maybe it was just his mother-in-law. If I can get onto him early he can bring it this morning with his spreader. Jacko Schumann's a nice enough bloke but a terrible borrower. Last thing he borrowed was.....

Sorry BST. It's always a risk inviting foriegners into the fold. Always glad to explain any lexicological troubles you have; as below. Coffee...what you drink during smoko...smoko... mid morning or mid afternoon spell from working hard....spell...rest Gasper...a not to be encouraged delivery system for the drug nicotine...a smoke...also had at smoko....a cigarette...or, dare I say it (check the context)... a fag.

Down here coke is all the go. From my experience if you can grab a big tennis ball size lump and are able to munch it up in your hands it is good stuff. It'll burn hot and clinker up nicely instead of turning to dust and ash, making cleaning the fire a breeze. But then as I read here somewhere, and promised self, that's a good'n, "experience is what you get when when you didn't want to get it". (JPH I think) One more thing BST be sure to sieve your coke before you whack it on the fire. Keep the sievings (breeze) it makes a good medium to fashion a hearth. The old, fair dinkum blacksmiths I associate with have only ever used a breeze hearth. rebuilding the hearth each morning with a bit of breeze and water mixed to a mortar consistency. Another one more thing. A coke fire needs constant air otherwise it just goes out. Mine take about 15 minutes to go out without air.. just enough time for a coffee and gasper. It's the nature of the beast.

And in relation to power hammers. Between hammer and anvil is a no go zone for hands and fingers. An aquaintance of mine now has a skin graft over his thumb as a result of putting his hand where he shouldn't. There is a funny side however. The graft came from a, shall we say, hairy part of his body, consequently he has bum hair growing on the underside of his thumb. Power hammers....very dangerous

Here's an incident that really put the wind up me. Myself, my regular offsider and a ring-in were doing a 'level run' along a country road one time. This involves the use of a telescopic aluminium stick that extends to 5m in height. The ring-in was operating the stick and to my horror had managed to poke it up through power lines overhead. I was operating the instrument through which you observe said stick and could pretend I was having trouble getting the measurement. I demanded he hold it still for a little longer while I sent my offsider over to take control. Calmly he told him not no move an inch except to look up and see the danger. In the end he held it so the fall line would be parallel to the wires and just let it go. We then went and had a cup of tea. "LOOK UP AND LIVE"

:) Glenn a collar is pretty much as your revised description explains....much like that hard bit of stuff at the top of your shirt that goes all the way around your neck. But heh, what you call a rose is what I call a thorny bush that's a mongrel to prune. Who is correct? :)

LOL The sign in my shed just says "The borrowing tools are on loan, call back later"

Some questions first dear client. Those sharp corners at the bends, do they have to be sharp? Let's say no. Then....for a one off... open the vice jaws to a little more than 3/4"... heat up about 2 1/2 " of 1" x 1/8"... lay centrally across open vice... lay a piece of 1/2 x 3/8 over the vice gap and hit it into hot piece. hit down until top of 1/2 x 3/8 is flush with top of "wings" avoid squashing wings... while still hot remove collar to the anvil and tidy up, leaving the insert in place... trim to length. For eleven more repeat. The time taken to design and manufacture a handy little Hat Collar tool would be better spent making the other eleven collars :wink:

I once made a wedge out of ordinary MS. It was about 6" wide at the cutting edge with about a 2" square target on the blunt end to hit with a maul. MS was all that was available at this particular time of desper...er need. It has served me extremely well over the years and by the way is quite blunt. My point is that all those before me have probably known that MS would be OK and I'd reckon your wedge would be the same. ie I agree with the others here.