Strine

Fionnbharr - Medieval Studies Survey Course? Somewhere to learn how to measure the land with theodolites and the like? And my fave JT (IA I suppose) quote "Pass's anutha bottle will ya?"

Irnsgn, what is the "pointing finger" to the left of the hood in the first photo? And I'd like to see how an ocky strap, especially a blue one, is used in a smithy :)

As I said H. If we both went to a kangaroo hide shop in our own countries. You would get a much higher quality than I would. It's a bone of contention to a lot of leather workers here, especially those that will skive the skin down to paper thin. A mate of mine makes Stock Whips as hat bands. They are no more than 1/4 inch diam and consist of twelve strands. A gun belt eh. Roo hides are not very thick :?

- I have used the hides for a stockwhip, a wallet, an apron and as a bodhran drum skin. The fur is also useful in making fishing flies. - "Roo" is the strongest leather for its thickness than any other leather known to man. - You, as a foriegner have a far greater chance of securing a high quality hide than I have, and I live here. - To procure a roo hide through the back door is very difficult and not worth the risk - Kangaroos abound (no pun intended) in Australia and have very poor road sense. So why waste an opportunity when it arises. Footnote; Sadly it was only yesterday morning, in the pre-dawn, on the way to work that I contributed to the kangaroo road fatality statistic. That's my second in twelve months.

Irnsrgn, another good idea. Ta. Is your tool like an inverted wine glass or is it two flat strips. Another problem is that the tube had no catch points, it being nice and smooth to slide down the hole. Elk it's a device that measures the angle in two directions, dip and strike if you like, and the azimuth (angle from north) of the hole....just a tad high tech. :cry: Thanks again for the input. My thoughts were a pair of a 3 inch hollow bit tongs that closed to about an inch. A cord (A) would be passed from one rein through a loop on the other rein and then to the surface while another cord ( is attached to the rein with a loop. Lower the tongs with cord B but haul up with cord A which closes the tongs. A miniature block and tackle between the reins would add power to the grip. This is where I have the fun nutting out a solution to a new problem, and part of the reason for the topic was that I thought you fellas might might also enjoy the challenge.

Thanks Mike and Glenn. The bar (actually a tube full of D size batteries) is 8 inches long and would probably be leaning against the side of the hole. It is actually the bottom end of another, longer tube that has been retrieved using Mike's method. The longer tube screwed into the shorter tube. You cannot imagine what the long tube is worth. Lads, this is all theoretical now as the short tube has 'gone to God', but should the need arise in the future I would rather be for-armed with a u-beaut tool than not. BTW Mike your method cost $4000 in the end and during the rotation the bottom section was unscrewed.

Jobs done H. I hope the photos help. . . . . . . Edit: Photos Added

The things we have to come up with? I need a pair of hollow bit tongs to pick up 1 1/2 inch diam bar 40 to 50 feet down a 3 inch diam hole. The hole is full of muddy water and black as at 40 feet. The hollow bit bit is ok, and the basic tong bit is OK too. It's the remoteness of the piece to be picked up that's the problem. Any assistance greatfully received.

Q, one thing to remember, unless you've learnt the lesson already. When you've tightened the job up in the vice and the handle is upright be sure to let go of the handle BEFORE the knob slams down on the shaft, lest it catches your pinky and you have to utter things at full voice such as "Oh my goodness I've hurt my finger"

Standy by H, I'll make up a batch of photos showing some detail, and whack them in my gallery. Be right back :wink:

Happy to lend an ear to your ranting OWF. Glad to hear you and yours are in one piece. The times we live in eh :x

I'll get straight to the point. I'm not a knife maker. I'm a finder of road kill kangaroos. My question is what shape blade is the most practical as a skinning knife and why so? It would be great to be armed with some 'good oil' before I hit the shops.

...than choking it with butter. Sorry to interupt, I just had to finish that one off :wink: It's something my father said often. Fifty years on I still can't make sense of it.

The end result is very nice. The detail is particularly professional like. Well done Hollis. I'm heartened to see that the use of the Mig has caused a little angst and the use of a different fastening system is being investigated. For my 2 bob I was thinking a 'collar' could be punched out of the backing plate. I suppose it would be only half a collar!

Ed Without access (that I know of ) to The Anvil's Ring. I wonder if it's possible the score of the Blacksmith's Song could be posted so's I can add it to my meagre whistle repertoire.

Great idea re the faggot weld H. It would be so much simpler for Glenn than a link. Forge welding has something to do with the project at hand but for the most part it's all the things that experts do subconsciously that makes for success. You are correct, it is very difficult to describe at what point to get to the anvil and start hitting your job. My advice to Glenn is to find one of these experts and study intently the process then practise under his watchful eye. Question him about every aspect. I remember watching a bloke weld two bars to make one long one. He only dipped the tip of the scarf into his coffee tin of sand, repeating this a number of times. As far as I could tell the rest of the scarf received no flux at all. His reason - it kept the thin tip of the scarf from burning before the rest of the material had reached welding temp. His description at the time was simply dip the scarf into the flux. That could have meant dip it into the flux all the way to your elbow joint. And Footy. Australian Rules Football. A game for men http://www.footy.com.au/dags/FAQ1v1-5.html

What are we welding Glenn? Seeing as how you haven't done it before maybe we should start with a link in say 1/2 inch. 1/2 inch because it will hold a welding heat for a tad longer than smaller sections and a link because the parts to weld are in place at the time of welding. Fancy things like "dropping tongs" can wait till later. Do your mathematics (note the s; you'll get it right everytime if you do the maths rather than the math ) and calculate how much bar you need for the link in question. The first heat is easy, just make a 'U', keeping the sides at equal lengths. If you're quick you might manage to get the scarfs done in the same heat. What's a scarf you ask? Well it's a thing to go around your neck in the winter when you go to the footy. Or... it's something common to a lot of forge welds where the metal is jumped up or otherwise altered in shape to allow for a better meeting of the faces to be welded. Generally a scarf will also allow for losses of material due to the welding heat, scale and the actual forging. Again we should work on the link because the scarf is fairly simple to make. Making the scarf for a link depends on your handedness. I am assuming here that you are not one of these radical smiths that point their horn to the right if they're right handed. I assume also that my anvil nomenclature is at least understandable if not universal. Hold the 'U' at about 45 degrees to the end of the face, over the table. The far leg is just on the face while the near leg is well onto the face. Hit the far leg half on and half off the face and before each successive hit move the 'U' slightly toward the horn. Do this until you reach the end of the scarf. This should result in a taper that sticks out the side of the leg. Flip the link over and do the same on the other leg as well. Don't be disheartened, Glenn if this takes a few heats. The old chainmakers have probably got a chain snaking out the smithy door by now in the time I have taken to type this far. Now bend each leg toward each other so that the scarfs overlap. Here's where the your handedness is important and has thus far been taken care of whether you are left or right handed but not if you point your anvil the wrong :wink: way. There should be a few little steps on one side of the scarfs...these should come together. The importance of this is evident when you come to actually weld the link. If the scarfs are on the wrong side the act of striking the link has a tendency to pull the weld apart. Next, bring it to a welding heat and weld. So easily said, don't you think? Maybe if we ellimnate a few sources of failure we can do it that way. A fresh fire works better than one that been going all day. If you are fumbling about at the forge and not real sure what to do at the anvil you are bound to fail. If you go beyond the welding heat for too long although it looks pretty there won't be too much of the link left. Its the rats in the fire. When you get it to the anvil go gently at first to make sure the weld has taken before any serious forging to shape. And beware the man carrying copper pennies. Above all Glenn success at fire welding will only come with practise, practise and more practise. I am sorry to say it will not work the first time. If it does then I gladly say you're a better smith than me and venture to suggest you're better than anybodyelse hereabouts.

Rik The 2'10" x 2'10" is immaterial. It's just a neat area to store fuel, somewhere to lay the tongs your using or something to support the other end of longish stock, up to a point of course, somewhere to rest a brew to keep it warm, somewhere to stockpile scrap and unused tools. My fire pot is an upturned, 1/2 inch thick, cast iron, truncated square pyramid, 6 x 6 inches at the top, 3 x 3 inches at the bottom and four inches deep. Air arrives at the bottom of the pot via two 3 x 3/8 inch slots from a hand cranked "Rapid B" (Australian) blower. Allowing for a 1 to 2 inch mound of coals above the top of the pot the actual depth of fire is 5 to 6 inches. It works a treat and the next one I make will be exactly the same, only next time I'll make space to knock up a few biscuits or scones. From the photos it looks like your depth including bricks is around 6 inches adding 2 inches for a mound of coals makes 8 inches. That seems just a bit two deep for a small setup. Good on you anyway for trying to get it right. Getting it right at this point must auger well for a continued interest in the craft. Don't be disheartened at early disappointments either. I, as well as probably most of the experts around here could tell a few stories about how niaive they were in the early days.

I start to think about rebuilding the fire if it's not a nice pot of yellow coals within 5 minutes. I am usually preheating stuff by about three minutes after lighting the kindling. To heat the end of say a 3/8 round bar should take only a couple of minutes. I don't add fuel unless I know the stuff underneath is well and truly alight either.

What a fantastic tool holder for all your 1 inch bottom anvil tools. All you need now is four train bogey axles for the legs.

Well there you go. There are not too many clover leaves in my lawn that look like that. If you can't weld the end would it be advantageous to upset at the bend, before bending to leave a bit more material to playwith. A forge weld seems to be the go though. Could you forge a rounded diamond shape on the end and make controlled nick with a cold chisel to define the leaves and then forge them to a final shape. I'm inclined to describe the shape as more medieval than colonial as well. It just has that feeling about it.

Hollis, I think the plot has thickened. A picture is going to help no end as I think we are not grasping what it is you want to do.

H You probably have worked out how big a shamrock you'll get out of the half by quarter. So neck the bar to roughly the size of the stalk, leaving a lump on the end that, when flattened will be enough for the leaf: Shape the lump into a rough hexagon but not too thin: Cut the hex into three with a hacksaw or hot set but don't go all the way to the centre. One of the divisions will be made with a cut on either side of the stalk. This gives you three bits to shape into round leaf sections. You may have to push two sections out of the way to work on the third. Try it in the modelling clay first. I hope this is what you're after and I hope that it works. It's just what I might do in the first instance not having made any shamrocks. The method would probably change once the bugs were ironed out. Making the flower is going to be another challenge :lol:

Dave there is one thing that you oughtn't make as it will drive the customers away in droves and that is a fool of yourself. If you are demonstrating as well as selling, make it look like you are a master at your craft. Wow the onlookers with your skill at making one or two items that you have had heaps of experience at making and avoid trying something new in front of strangers. A marketing tip I use is to give away an (small) item just made to the member of the family watching that will create the most envy among the others in the family. Works nine times out of ten. :wink:

Irnsrgn, 70 quid ie 70 pounds is about US$122. A real bargain for sure I'd say. Newy, A good shape for the hollow in which your coals will get hot is an upturned bowler. Well sort of. A bowler is oblong to fit your nogg'n and maybe not quite taperered enough toward the crown (where Irnsrgn's 3/8 holes are). Round would be better and a square shape works good too. How you get air into the bowler ie through Irnsrgn's holes and what surrounds the brim is entirely up to you. If your imagination is limitless then so is the variety of configurations that will work. Like how to get your forge at a comfortable height, how to arrange a storage area for coal/coke/charcoal etc for immediate use, how to attach the air supply, how to extract any fumes or smoke out of harms way, how to get the forge from A to B if it's to be portable, how to get rid of clinker the list goes on. Some forges I've seen are works of art in this regard. A mate made one entirely out of stainless. We called it the shopping trolly The main thing though is the ducks nest or fire pot. About 6 inches deep, about 6 inches across the top and about 3 inches across the bottom either round or square. That's my tuppence worth and it's possibly worth tuppence. Do some research here and elsewhere and you'll find a whole heap of other ideas. Have fun.