IronPuppet

Well done, Sam. Something to be proud of indeed! Christopher

Thanks TH for the tip on the implement dealer. This being farm country, I should have no problem finding one. I have the mower attachment for my tractor, but one of the bearings is bad. It's a duel blade affair and the blades look near new, although they are very rusty. The blade deck itself has a bad crack in it too. At this point I don't think I'll be using the tractor for mowing, but instead I plan to make a parade float out of it. I got the thing from my friend who is a junk man. He had an old transmission from a yard tractor and I had mentioned to him I would like to use it to build a float. The next time I went to see him, he had this tractor put aside for me. It is a Viking made in '76. Hardly any rust on it's frame and body. Good tiers in almost new condition. The seat has no rips in it and the steering wheel is in perfect shape. Disk brake still has meat on it. The big thing it needed was a carburetor. I got one off another junked tractor along with some other goodies, like an electric starter. The machine has 2 belts. One runs from the motor shaft to the variable speed pulley and the other goes from the variable speed pulley to the transmission. The transmission changes direction only and runs a chain drive to the back axle. pic 1- 1976 Viking tractor, I think it was sold by Eaton's or Sears. pic 2- Tiers are in good shape. pic 3- This is what I found. Someone had put the wrong belt on and the belt got eaten in the variable speed pulley. The belt at the bottom runs the blades. pic 4- back axle assembly as it came off. Lots of rust and grease so old it had turned into a jelly like substance, same with the transmission, too. pic 5- Axle after clean-up and new grease in the differential. pic 6- Underside of machine. Notice the lack of rust on the body. The only rust has be sanded off and painted black. I would have loved to take the main pulley off the motor, but I need to make a puller first. I hope you found this interesting. Christopher

I just had my first burn barrel tonight and I soaked it with a hose before I came in. I'll bet I get the same results as you. Christopher

I recently got an old lawn tractor for free. It needed a few parts. After I got it running I went to buy a new belt for the drive train and was told that ordinary "V" belts wont work on a lawn tractor. What I needed was a "fractional horsepower" belt. Much stronger than ordinary "V" belts. The guy at the auto parts store said an ordinary "V" belt would disintegrate in about 5 minuets. I have since found 2 such belts, but the first was too small and the second one is too big. Seems getting the right belt is going to be the trick and I will have to take my tractor to a small engine type shop to get the right one. The darn thing has a variable speed pulley on it too. Much like the drive train of a snow mobile. The tractor is 31 years old so I might have to redesign the belt system if I can't find the right belt. I would also like to point out that on certain machines a flat belt is better than a "V" belt because it will slip if the machine becomes jammed. I am currently building a drive for a mini lathe and I read how if you have positive drive, like chain drive for instance, then parts and tools can explode in your face if something went wrong and the tool became jammed and so it's a good idea to have some form of slippage so if the machine becomes jammed, the belt just slips and things don't get so ugly. Christopher

That is just the thing! A real step-saver. My wife is up for a power wheelchair, too. Her shoulder has turned bad and she hasn't been able to wheel herself for about a year now. I'm sure your new find will make a big difference. Christopher

What about motor oil, like 30 weight? Isn't that better than peanut oil? What would be the best oil to use? Christopher

If it was me, I would make my own leather belt. They are not that hard to make. I make leather stropping belts for my belt grinder. The hardest thing you have to do is find the heavy hide. In the old days they use to use buffalo hide for big belts, like the ones that run from a traction engine to a combine. The joint is made by making matching tapers on each end of the belt. This should be done in such a way that when the belt ends are glued together the thickness remains the same through the joint. A 2 to 3 inch lap is good, made by sanding the ends. A jig would help a lot. Glue together with contact cement. put first coat of glue on both surfaces and let it dry completely to get a good bight on the leather. Apply a second coat of glue and let it tack up, then slip the belt on the machine and make the bond. Hammer the bond gently to help set the glue. If the radius of your pulleys is tight, then join the belt over a larger pulley to help give the joint a pre-bent disposition. Once the joint is glued, let it cure for a day or two before using it for the first time. I think I explained it right, but I must be off to the Doc. Ask if you don't understand any part of this. Christopher

Look in the blueprints for a "Horse shoe nail spoon". try it in the search engine too. "Nail hooks" seem like a good idea. "Leaf key rings" as well. Christopher

That looks real good, Sam! Nice size. Christopher

It's better to keep your mouth closed and have people think your an idiot, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. LeViAtHaN = 9 posts irnsrgn = 850+ posts Who do you think is more popular on this forum? LeViAtHaN, if it was my forum I would boot you out for stirring the pot like that. Decorum prohibits me from telling you what I think of you. Dale, I hope you choose to ignore this newcomer and keep posting. I like me mates from down under. Christopher

Television is mass media. As a business it has to make money. In order to make money, shows are designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator. Shows such as this will not appeal to persons with more intellect because they will not be able to stand the rhetoric. As people age, they learn. It is in human nature to learn. So persons who are older tend to learn from life's lessons. Thus they no longer are part of the lowest common denominator. Very few TV shows are directed to the intellectual crowd. When I was a kid I couldn't get enough of Gilligan's Island. My mom said it was an awful show and stopped me from watching it. She told me of the corporate formula for making tripe, money making shows and how it was trash and it would rot my brain. I never understood her. Seemed like a laugh riot to me and I liked the characters. I just couldn't understand her point of view. I do now. Now that there has been enough water under my own bridge I understand all too clearly. Not long ago I saw an episode of GI. When I saw it was coming on I was excited to see my old favorite show, but was disappointed by what I saw. The show was the same, but I am different now. Sad and confused I turned off the show after only 10 minutes. I rather would like to keep my fond memories intact. Mom was right. If you are watching a show and you find it stupid, you just expanded your mind and didn't know it. Christopher

I use to like that show but when they make mistakes that I can point out I find it frustrating. I'm better off not watching it. Christopher

I'm not sure if affluence is the only criteria you should be thinking of. You should also give thought to the tourist trade. Affluent tourists are looking for something unusual for a souvenir. Remember the 3 secrets to success, "Location, Location, Location" Just the same, a bad location can kill an otherwise good idea. Here's an idea for you. Go partners with a restauranteur. Someone who wants to open a lunch counter or a coffee shop. Call the place "The Old Forge" and decorate the place with rustic old iron plows, tools and wagon wheels and forge made accents. The other side of the room is your hand forged items for sale area. If you ran the whole thing then you might find that the two angles of business would bail each other out from slow times.

Thank you so much, irnsrgn! I couldn't have solved so many problems so fast without your guidance. I appreciate your assistance more than I can express. It's a privilege to know you. Christopher

That's good, Glenn. I'm glad to hear it. I got lots of scrap wood. Got around to putting my new fire pot together today. See what you think of this now. Seems big to me. Could be made smaller with clay. I think I'll make the hood removable so on good days I can take it off and also to store it away. Christopher

irnsrgn said a couple of things that stuck in my head. One was that my stock was probably too thin, the other was that the sides should be sloped at 20 degrees and the front and back sloped at 35 degrees. My new fire pot will be made of 1/4 inch steel plate. I got it from a friend who was dismantling some big "I" beams. The stock I got is long bits about 4.5 to 5 inches wide. To save on gas for the torch I cut out the pieces as shown below. now they are all ground up and flattened out and I will weld them together to make the 4 sides, then weld the sides together to form the fire pot. This will make the steel part of the fire pot just over 4 inches deep. The top 1 inch will be made up of clay. I also have bricks to make the sides taller for some uses. This is where I am at right now. Due to the fact that I am welding the parts together to make the various sides I was wondering if there is any advantage to making the side parts rounded. Weld then together on a slight curve. This would give the fire pot a rounder shape rather than square. what do you experts think of that? Christopher

I've cut stock with a vice and a big chisel and hammer. Clamp the stock where you want the cut and lay the chisel along side the surface of the vice and give it a good whack. Don't try cutting the whole 1" surface at once, but rather start cutting at an angle. Wear safety gear. 3 or 4 good whacks will cut through with a sharp chisel. Faster and cheaper than a grinder, but brute force is a tricky thing to wield and you could hurt yourself so don't try it if you are unsure of your aim with a hammer. I use to cut the heads off bolts the same way when taking apart car and truck suspensions. when all else failed, the chisel never let me down. Helps to use heavy gloves, like welding gloves, to help stop vibration from the chisel getting to your hand. When I was doing a lot of this sort of cutting I would make a handle for the chisel, I would get a solid rubber ball and drill a hole through it small enough to make a tight fit on the chisel and this would cut the vibrations too. Christopher

Nope. I think I'll make a parade float out of it. Neat link to the mower races! No mow racin' for me. Christopher

This followed me home. It's 31 years old, but looks hardly used. Only needs a carbatootie. Christopher

It reads like a children's book for adults. What a wonderful inspiration you followed. It makes me want to come over and sit in your shop. I feel very much the same way, and I've only had my current shop for 8 years. I'll bet, if I (or someone) was to draw pictures to go with your poem, I bet you would find a publisher interested. I would change the title a bit and call it "The Blacksmith Who Sat Down" with a subtitle of "Why I like to sit in my shop". Other than that I wouldn't change a word. I can picture the drawings in my head. In any case, I really enjoyed it. Christopher

That's super, Glen! Very informative. Thanks for taking the time to work that out. Rain for three days now and it looks like more today. I need it to be dry outside before I resume experimentation. Thanks, Daryl, for the tip on where to find coal in these parts. I'll do that. I'm always learning. Christopher

Supper cool, Glenn! The perfect night to do something new. Come to think of it, my wife got her hair cut today and her and her mom were gardening in the rain. How often does that happen? I can honestly say once in a blue moon. Time for me to do the dishes and the laundry and make the bed! Christopher

I guess I was lucky enough to take auto class when they still taught you how to fix part and rebuild them, like brake master cylinders and other parts now replaced rather than fixed. I tinker on my own vehicles to keep them running and I wouldn't own a new car I couldn't work on myself. I really like this article and have read it twice so far and will read it again with a dictionary and my thesaurus by my side. Some statements rang so true to me, I want to frame them on the wall so as to never forget them. That whole part about "doing a good job just for the pride in doing a good job" and "for the job's sake" was as if I had written it myself. To do a job the right way and not the wrong way and hang the time required. When I first moved here to Saskatchewan I took a job as a carpet cleaner for a while. I use to clean carpets for Eaton's years ago. This new outfit was so bad at cleaning carpets and more interested in volume business that I had to quit. Those guys are rip off artists who drag the machine over the customers carpet once and then explain to the customer that the dirt left behind would never come out. Argue till they were blue in the face for half an hour. Would have been faster for them to run the machine over the carpet a few more times. I took pride in my work and would do a job right so the customer was satisfied. I only did 3 or 4 jobs a day while the other guys did 6 or 7 and as many as 9 jobs a day. I can't abide poor workmanship at all. Thanks for pointing to this excellent article, irnsrgn. Christopher

Thank you so much for having patience with me. Here I thought I was going to build the perfect forge the first time, and now I understand that it's a learning device. I will take your advice and build up the edge and add to the fire pot to get it to the right height. You said the fire pot is small. Is it too small, I'm wondering. Well, I'm going to rebuild it again. Maybe third time lucky. Christopher

I spent today, so far, building a new fire pot. So lets see what you think of this. I am still going to cut out the back of the rim for long stock. I still have to replace the clay that chipped out while hammering things. Thanks for the tip on the side draft units, guys. I have an idea of how I can make an insert to change it to a side draft. Christopher