So how do you actually get to see more than the teaser at the above link??

signed:
computer dolt

Oh dear, bin there done that.

All I remember was thinking I want a rest, please let me rest, I'm desperate for a rest now.

Oops too late, I've expired.

The onslaught was relentless. Like the invading hoardes. A new batch of ten scouts every twenty minutes. The leaders were just as harrowing. Ooh blacksmiths, do you think you can make me a ... insert article requiring an hour to design and another hour to forge. What about my rest?

Bear in mind most scouts (12 to 14 years old here) are not very proficient in hammer use or eye hand coordination.

We tried to make at least one thing for the troup camping box rather than an item for each individual. Pot hooks were popular, so too were sticking tommies. Dunking a piece of hot iron in the slack tub was a winner as well.

Notwithstanding the above it was very satisfying to see all the happy, eager smiling faces. And the three of us smiths got a badge as well. Not much I know but it was the thought that counts eh?

Righto,

For the Australian Blacksmiths Association (Victoria) Inc check out

http://www.abavic.org.au/

or send me a private message for more info.

Don't know contact details for the other lot...Do I Mr Dale?

G'day Jane and Minnie,

Welcome

Folks let's wait until these lovely lasses let on where they actually are. I know a smith on Magnetic island (FNQ). I met a bloke the other day from Tassie (he also makes concertinas ). I hear tell there's a few blokes around Perth and a bit north of Sydney.

Once we establish your whereabouts we can concentrate the effort.

I hope its in Victoria :D

Stu, there are now quite a few of us who might be prepared to go to $20 per tong and some dills among us that will go to $30 or $40. My advice next time would be to "keep mum" (hold your tongue) until they're in hand.

After your post it will be interesting to see how they go. Oh, I wish you luck in the bidding and hasten to add it won't be against me.

Also, too as well, $10 (the current bid) will buy a fair amount of material to make your own tongs, or put enough fuel in your vehicle to have a "poke around" for suitable scrap.

Last bit of advice...don't ever underestimate the amount of interest in old tools.

well blkbear good for you on getting good deals. I too have bought some cool stuff on ebay for a very reasonable price. I'm dumbfounded though by one of your countryman who must think a fool and his money are easily parted. Which I suppose they are! But yegods surely the postage and handling on an item the size of a two inch nail cannot reasonably amount to $24. And yegods again if you want two of these "nails" (actually a dremel bit) it'll cost another $24 for each additional item. see 280039955036

The "buy it now" price makes it a copy, end of story.
Ask JPH to make you a fair dinkum copy of one of these things for the same price.:o

kogatana
Your interpretation looks good to me.

The wood is redgum. This link describes the species in more detail

http://www.anbg.gov.au/cpbr/WfHC/Eucalyptus-camaldulensis/index.html

It was from a peice laying around in the shed. Ant dense, close grained hard wood should work allright.

how to you make the 3 or 4 blades sharp so that they cut wood

It is the face of the triangle forming the tooth that is "sharp" not the pointy bit at the top.

Mmmm. I too wanted to make threads in wood. I thought a great big nut and bolt would make a great toy for my toddler. I managed in the end but sadly by that time he was a strapping eighteen year old.

You need to make the tap first so you can use it to make the die. Depending on the size of bolt make a suitable tap by either forging three or four blades onto a shaft or use a more modern approach if you like. No doubt you've seen many taps and have an idea of the size.

At this stage make the flanges parallel and the right diameter for the job. This diameter will be the diam of the stock you intend making the bolt out of. Explained in a different way...the tap should be able to fit nicely into a pipe with an ID of the above. This means the top of the flange needs to be rounded.

Now that it fits neatly into the pipe, make a solid cylinder by filling the flanges with clay, car bog or what ever and shove it back down the pipe. Remove and let dry. Now you have a solid cylinder with four strips of steel showing at the surface.

Next step. on a piece of paper, accurately draw a square with a width and height equal to the circumference of the tap. Divide the top and bottom of the square into 12 divisions. Draw a line from the top left corner of the square to the first mark on the bottom of the square. Call this a pitch line for want of a better term. Draw lines parallel to this first pitch line by drawing lines between the corresponding marks on the top and bottom of the square. Eventually you will run out of marks... just draw another square and carry on.

Wrap the paper around the tap blank making sure the square lines up and lo and behold you have a continuous thread line around the blank at a pitch that works pretty good in wood. Scribe through the paper onto the steel strips. You have now marked the thread line as it passes over each flange on the tap.

File each flange between these marks with a 3 corner file...parallel with the marks on either side and such that the top of the file is level. File away until you are left with a sharp peak without filing away the mark.

All that is left now is to file down the leading end to create a taper.

Let us know when that's all done and we can look at the die which I hasten to add will require some forging

they were great little demo items, especially with children watching

I too make these little trinkets when I can find a nail (see below*). But I usually try and spark up a conversation with a litt'lun before I start. I make no mention of what I'm making, i just babble on to the youngster about icecream, What flavour does she/he like, who makes the best etc etc. After the spoon is finished I mention that..."I was talking to your mum earlier and she told me you could eat as much icecream as you like" after the look of astonishment and confusion about the new rule dies down I hand over the spoon... "But you must use this spoon."

*Mostly I avoid anything to do with horse shoes leaving that side of forging to the horse chiropodists. That aspect of working hot iron must surely amount to only a tiny percent of the craft yet people see a smith at work and immediately equate what you're doing to the fads and fashions of horse footwear. Many is the time when it is absolutely inconcievable how a horse could wear on his hoof what I am forging, yet little Johnny still is told "Oh look Luv he's making a horseshoe". Next time you see a horse wearing a set of tongs, a spray of gumleaves or or set of barn door hinges on his feet let us know will ya! I'd like to see that

Hang in there Smudger

'bout every three or four hours works for me Chop. Sorry... Mr Russell. Why the new name? Do they look like catching up with you?

HW. It seems I have an ally in your grandfather. No roughness here either please.

Is this a common problem among blokes that use their hands a lot (read blacksmith). Could it be the slickness of the hammer is more due to your tough hands than the state of the handle. I find a dab of raw linseed oil fixes it in a flash. I don't know whether it's a treatment for the hand or the hammer but it works. Seems though that to fix a slick handle just make it slicker? Following this through, I wonder whether roughening the handle just makes your hands tougher and therefor the handle slicker. Who knows, but if it works for Junior it might work for you...problem solved.

I do know for absolute sure that applying linseed oil to your handles creates a beautiful patina after a while. That's good I suppose if you just want to look at the handle ;)

I agree with Chris. A long taper is the go. With the necking, and I'm not sure this is different to Chris' method, I hit half on half off the anvil at the location of the neck, repeating after a 1/4 turn one way or the other. the return to the original position (I make no attempt to round anything, i.e. I end up with a square neck and square taper). This way, in cross section, the square of the neck is nestled into one corner of the square of the what will be the leaf part. I then lay the neck part down and flatten the leaf. It is very difficult to round the stalk and not damage the flat of the leaf. To overcome this problem I include part of the flat part of the leaf when rounding the stalk. BTW this was a chance discovery...learn by your mistakes!! The result is a nice transition from stalk to leeff. The pickies might help. And if all else fails grab a bit of modelling clay and play with that till you've nutted out the problem.

I'm spending a lot of time on large building sites. How do you reckon 2" (50mm) reo would go?:)

Sorry Ian. My language skills let me down. The post reads like you spread it on your toast with a bricky's trowel. I meant you lay it on thick over the axle for best results. You are right..."thinly veiled" is the way to go until the taste is aquired.

I just logged on to post a thread about the incidious vegemite and lo and behold there already was one. Look, you nose out of jointed Aussies, have you not realised yet that when the leaders of the free world speak we must bow to their might and say yes sir, three bags full sir. The taste police have flexed their muscles and we lesser mortals must tow the line. The stuff upon generations have grown up on is bad for you so thay say. Pity they don't ban hamburgers eh? Folate sure is a worry. We can't have spina bifida sufferers feeling a tad better now can we? We can't have those afflicted with megaloblastic anaemia helped to regain full health either, that surely would be a bad move. A reduction in birth defects must also be bothersome to the taste police.

I know, what about the US Public Health Service who recommends women of child bearing age take a daily intake of 4mg of folate, get together with the taste police and sort this one out.

Cheftcook, it tastes bloody bewdiful mate and don't let anyone tell you to use it sparingly, spread it on thick and get stuck into it. (Isn't that right Smudger )

Tyler M, it might look and feel like old axle grease but don't let that fool you.

I wonder if you can have vegemite on the aeroplane, a last hit if you like, before you touch down in the good ol U S of A, or will you be tossed in the clink for failing a breath test. Worse, what about if you forgot to wipe the stuff from around your mouth after that last vegemite sanga.

I wonder if the taste police remember the ramifications of banning alchohol. Methinks banning vegemite in the US may well have the same result. Surely there's enough crime already don't you think.

Tis a sad world we live in.

Dinny, wouldn't you know it, that convention was held a mere stone's throw from home. Geez I could even smell the fires. Why didn't I go? Well, long stories tend to be boring, suffice to say, those in the know understand completely. I think I had to cut my toenails that day so couldn't make it.

Dinny I got it wrong ...it was Denny at Pucka with mum and dad

I WAS ONLY NINETEEN

Mum and Dad and Denny saw the passing out parade at Puckapunyal
(1t was long march from cadets).
The sixth battalion was the next to tour and It was me who drew the card.
We did Canungra and Shoalwater before we left.

Chorus I:
And Townsville lined the footpath as we marched down to the quay.
This clipping from the paper shows us young and strong and clean.
And there's me in my slouch hat with my SLR and greens.
God help me, I was only nineteen.

From Vung Tau riding Chinooks to the dust at Nui Dat,
I'd been in and out of choppers now for months.
But we made our tents a home. V.B. and pinups on the lockers,
And an Asian orange sunset through the scrub.

Chorus 2:
And can you tell me, doctor, why I still can't get to sleep?
And night time's just a jungle dark and a barking M.16?
And what's this rash that comes and goes, can you tell me what it means?
God help me, I was only nineteen.

A four week operation, when each step can mean your last one
On two legs: it was a war within yourself.
But you wouldn't let your mates down 'til they had you dusted off,
So you closed your eyes and thought about something else.

Chorus 3:
Then someone yelled out "Contact"', and the bloke behind me swore.
We hooked in there for hours, then a God almighty roar.
Frankie kicked a mine the day that mankind kicked the moon.
God help me, he was going home in June.

1 can still see Frankie, drinking tinnies in the Grand Hotel
On a thirty-six hour rec. leave in Vung Tau.
And I can still hear Frankie, lying screaming in the jungle.
'Till the morphine came and killed the bloody row

Chorus 4:
And the Anzac legends didn't mention mud and blood and tears.
And stories that my father told me never seemed quite real
I caught some pieces In my back that I didn't even feel.
God help me, I was only nineteen.

Chorus 5:
And can you tell me, doctor, why I still can't get to sleep?
And why the Channel Seven chopper chills me to my feet?
And what's this rash that comes and goes, can you tell me what it means?
God help me, I was only nineteen.



JOHN SCHUMANN
AUSSIE SINGER/SONG WRITER

TOOHEYs OLD!!! no thanks. Victoria Bitter will do just fine

Eh Dinny, was it you with mum and dad watching the passing out parade at Puckupunyal?

Do you really know how to forward e-mails? 50% of us do; 50% DO NOT.

irnsrgn

And herein lies the fundamental problem with the human race and any other race for that matter. Whether it's about forwarding emails, about blacksmithing or indeed about anything you care to nominate.

50% of the population is BELOW average. Fortunately this means half of the race is above average.

As an aside, we'd often go bush for the weekend and all we'd take camping wise was a plate about 1 foot square and maybe an 1/8 thick and an "esky full" (Esky /n. an insulated box to hold things cold). The box would always be relieved of four number of its contents immediately upon arrival at the destination, and the contents of each item consumed soon after. These would form the pillars upon which the plate could be elevated above a fire constructed in a shallow trench. It worked a treat. Naturally these support pillars would eventually succome to the heat of the fire and would require urgent replacement.

BAH...then the mongrels put beer in aluminium cans.

Move your slack tub to sunny Australia:)

We eventually go the way of all flesh. I'd rather it be through old age than through sniffing carcenogens in the fumes from old engine oil. But heh, each to his own. Bear in mind this snippet comes from a ticketed blacksmith-come-oil specialist and not a medico. But then what quallies do I have to refute such claims.

You can get a satin black by holding your piece over gently burning pine sticks as another alternative. I haven't tried other woods but radiata pine seems to work OK.

It's hard to imagine the problem without a picture. This bulge? Is it mountainous or a gentle roll over. When scrolling up the fishtail what about doing it over a waisted pipe ie skinnier in the middle than the ends or something so that the bulge bulges on the inside of the scroll not the outside. The bulge would drop into the waist of the pipe.

Also it is not so difficult with practice to get an even section across the end of the fishtail with a straight or cross pein.

and don't have time for trial-and-error learning

This might be your biggest hurdle. Ever tried winning a footy match without training?