HogHearse

IFCW thank you. Would never have thought that. So no heat!

George yes absolutely. Thought about that after reading what I typed. I was getting ahead of myself. I'm assuming the jaws are frozen. I need to remember to take one thing at a time. But being from Cleveland Ohio, salt capitol of the world, and being a tech for 16 years I would bet my paycheck that the jaws are frozen. Getting ready to see what breaks loose here in a bit. The post vise seems to work fine. Just no tension. I'll take some more pics in a bit to show what I'm working with. Looks like there is a coil spring around the bolt. Doesn't seem to be doing anything. So I'm not too sure. I have a bunch of leaf packs laying around waiting for a purpose! Hopefully this will be one lol

Shoot George. I just reread your response. Are you saying that the jaws are attached to the screw? So if the screw moves the jaws will follow? I thought the screw could be removed separately from the jaws

Talking about the reed

Thanks ifcw and Frosty. Yes that's the secret sauce. Thought mechanics were the only ones who knew about that. 

I have it soaking right now. Unfortunately not submerged. I plan on making a spreader. I have a couple rippers from a box blade that I think will squeeze in between the jaws. If they do I'm going to drill and tap the first one and just notch the second. I'll screw 2 bolts in the tap and slowly tighten until the jaws begin to move. Going to try not to use any heat but that's always an option. 

I'm assuming there's bearings on the front and rear side of the screw? If there are then heating is not really an option imo. Hopefully this 'spreader' will work. Fingers crossed

So here is the bench vise that I found buried and a post vise I found at a garage sale this morning on my way back. Paid 75 for the post vise. Any feedback on how to mount or what to look for as far as operation is concerned would be appreciated. I did notice there was no spring in between the 2 arms if that makes any sense. The reed vise is frozen so going to fabricate a tool to separate

Thomas that's crazy. You should post a video of it lol

Frosty they can be. As long as the wind is in your face, and you have the right repayment, the hogs will never know. Love technology. I'm using a thermal imaging scope that's mounted on top of my rifle. 

TP not sure if I'm there yet skill wise but definitely on my list. Had a chance to go out on a hunt where they use dogs to find and hold the hogs while you grab their back legs and stick them in the heart. Pretty wild time.

Thank you. They are really handy. But I think I'm all out of them. 

Controlling the hogs is almost impossible, actually I think it is. People are making a lot of money off them selling hunts and their meat. In Europe fetal hog is a delicacy. Feel bad for the farmers though. But it is a blast shooting and trapping them (no pun intended)

There's nothing like stalking up to a boar in complete darkness and taking him out. It's really hard to explain that adrenaline rush

Lol

Lol. The mini donkey will lug you around. 

I met him at the blade show in Brennan a month ago

Is he a younger guy who does a lot of tooling and hammers?

Ahhh. I need to start thinking outside the box and seeing the bigger picture. And yes bringing a metal detector would be awesome. I just need an assistant to carry lol. When I hunt I run and gun. Not good at sitting in one spot. I've found some pretty cool things. A few cool ones were a double side axe. It doesn't have any markings on it that I can find. I rehung it and it rides in the bed of my truck at all times. Another item was a shoe cobble. It's cool figuring out what was going on in the area where I find things. 

I'm not big on selling things. All of the old stuff that I collect is all put to use. There's something about the holding history in your hands and the stories they have. 

I was given a cooking apparatus for the back of an RV that stored a barbeque grill and a cabinet. The whole unit probably weight 400-500 pounds. That piece was the base for where the bbq sat. Then I just cut some brackets from another plate and welded the eyes for my tong holder. Welded some flat bar for the hammer holder. Pretty straight forward. Love Frankenstein builds. 

And yes there is potential there for other uses. For now it's my portable tong holder. Got sick of putting them in buckets

And yes a swage is definitely on my list for next piece of equipment. I'll find one eventually. Also a leg vise. 

I was hog hunting the other night and was walking through the woods when I tripped over something. So I look and notice it wasn't a root or stump. 35 min later after digging and digging I found a 9'long rail road track and a diamond....a reed 3c bench vise. It's a monster. Well over 100 pounds. After I get back I'll clean it up and take some pics. Super excited

Ok awesome. I'll look into it. Appreciate the info!

Yes sir. That makes sense regarding the 6' distance. Going to have to rearrange some things. The more and more I forge the more I realize the importance of efficiency and keeping the piece as hot as possible. Appreciate that advice. 

The table that I use for my tongs doubles as my punch hole for making the bottle openers. The holes were already in the piece of steel that I salvaged, I just had to enlarge one for the final step. Thought it looked like an owl so I painted it lol.

So this week I've been at a horse show in Tyler Texas. I needed to bring my equipment in order to fulfill bottle opener and keychain orders. While packing I didn't feel like loading up the coal forge, so my mind started turning. 

I found an old cast iron skillet that I never use and an empty propane torch bottle. Equipped with a generator and a hair drying I came up with a mini fire breathing dragon lol. All criticism welcome. I was able to forge out 25 openers and 5 keychains. Not to shabby. Definitely going to keep it. Oh and the stand for my forge.....I found in the woods on the property. It's a walker\toilet. A fine piece of equipment. 

Hope y'all enjoy. Show me all of y'all's portable forges! Not pictured is the grate. 

Understood

Ya no doubt. I appreciate that. I need to always keep that in the front of my mind. ALWAYS! It seems like a really nice community here. Can't wait to know people better. 

Yes I definitely respect what can happen when working with metal, just sometimes I ignore it because of laziness\wanting to get the job done fast. 

I made a trade with someone for their 12 inch 3 phase grinder in exchange I would build them a deer hoist to mount in the truck hitch that swivels and has an electric winch. I made a poor weld at the base of the hoist. Looking back it really wasn't that bad, it's I'm kind of a perfectionist. I didn't want to grind it down because then it would look like I grounded it down, I know makes no sense lol. I decided I would cut it off and redo it. So that's what I did, but the catch is at the angle of where the cut needed to be my 4 1\2 in disk wouldn't make it through the 2x2x1\4 square tube. So out came the 7-1\2 inch disc installed on the 4 1\2 inch grinder. That's when I told my fiancē to stay in the garage because I shouldn't be doing this. The next day, after the er visit, I looked at the specs of the 7-1/2 blade, Max from was 8500 and my grinder is 11500. Again I never thought to look at that before it happened. I then proceeded to oxy acty cut it and I did, but not before my fiancē came out and caught me. She was not happy about me doing that after what just happened. 

Nodebt is always happens when we least expect it to. Well.... Most of the time

Frosty I gotcha. I'm glad you pointed that out. Will do my best to remember that. All very good advice you gave. Unfortunately I still think I'm invincible a lot of times. The funny thing is that I told my fiancē to stay in the garage with me because I'm about to do something I shouldn't be doing. And BAM! I need to start listening to my gut rather than 'it won't happen to me.' Also when I went to the specialist the next day they told me I need surgery to have my finger repaired, but I didn't have insurance and they wanted 30k up front before they'd do the surgery. So I didn't have it done and now I get to live with limited mobility in my middle finger. I think about that EVERY SINGLE DAY. 'If I only....' But it was my choice to make the poor decisions and to not have insurance. No one to blame but me. Hopefully I've learned from this!  Thanks again for the feedback and tips. Oh and I promise no more bloody pics. Sorry about that.

31 minutes ago, Irondragon ForgeClay Works said:

I completely forgot about...

Its all good. Thank you. Hopefully this is better

28 minutes ago, Irondragon ForgeClay Works said:

Might check out Balcones Forge, central TX.

Ok awesome. I'll check them out. I appreciate the feedback!

18 minutes ago, arkie said:

Try the Houston Area Blacksmith Association,

They are having a forging meeting today in Magnolia...

Shoot that's ok. Wouldn't be able to make it due to working a horse show in Tyler Texas. I'll definitely look them up. I do a lot of hunting in the magnolia area. Thank you very much

Looking for any smiths in the Katy Texas area that would like to hammer some things. I'm very new to smithing and really hope to find someone to show me the ropes. Up until now I'm self\YouTube taught and I feel like I'm kinda stuck in my progression. I'm not afraid to work. I don't mind putting in my 'dues' ie sweeping, fetching coffee, green horn work. I just want to learn from someone with experience. Thanks y'all for your time. 

9 hours ago, arkie said:

HogHearse...

I like your horsehead bottle openers; simpler than the ones I make...I just stole your idea, BTW, LOL

That hand injury....ARGHHHHH!!!!  I hope you heal up well.  That should encourage anyone to use a guard on their grinders and wear safety glasses.  I have a picture in my files of a guy who had a wheel explode and about 1/2 of the wheel hit him in the face right along his nose and between the eyes...I don't think a face shield would have prevented that.

I used to goose hunt around Katy in the rice fields...back before it turned into a mini-Houston.  "The times they are a' changin'"

 

I appreciate it. Have any pictures of yours? When I moved here I had a few buddies from Ohio tell me that they would smack the geese there. After I told them what it's like now they were in shock. All I did was duck, horse and turnkey hunt in Ohio. But when I found out about the hog problem here I switched. Haven't even thought about duck hunting lol. These hogs keep me busy year round. Plus they are great eating. 

5 hours ago, Irondragon ForgeClay Works said:

Welcome from the Ozark mountains. All I can say is ouch. Hope you heal up and get back on track, looks like you have a handle on things. There are some very good YouTube video's listed in reference material section. https://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/174-reference-materials/

Some I follow are jlpservices (Jennifer is a member) and even though I have been hammering on hot steel for 30+ years, I always learn something from her video's. Even an old dog can learn new tricks.

Thank you. I really appreciate it. That's awesome. I'll look into those. 

3 hours ago, Frosty said:

Welcome aboard Hoghearse, glad to have  you. Uh yeah, disk grinder injuries . . .  That looks like it really smarts, glad you weren't injured worse. We have a saying around here that we aren't going to believe a thing unless we see the pics. I believe! I think that's more than enough pics of bloody carnage to convince anyone.

I appreciate that sir. Yes I do. A lot of them. I work with Hunter jumper horses so these things have been a huge hit. And you're right, it could have been a lot worse. I'm grateful that nothing else happened. Here's a little hint....

And I'm sorry for all the late replies. I had another order of 10 bottle openers that I had to knock out for tomorrow. I'm whooped. Y'all have a good night!

12 hours ago, Frazer said:

OOOF, a little warning there bud! I'm just scrolling along thinkin', "that's a nice little horsey bottle open-o-my-gosh".

Anyway, nice work. Exploding wheels are no joke. I've had a piece of shrapnel fly right by my head.

Ya sorry about that. Should've given a warning. Grinders do not mess around. I knew what I was doing was dangerous and the inevitable happened. I appreciate the compliment. It's cool to see the opener getting better each time. Always room for improvement!

12 hours ago, Nodebt said:

  Welcome.  Very graphic.  Did the grinder have a gaurd or did it ricochet?  Gloves?  We have a safety forum section.  Also, down the road when you feel more comfotable here, please post something to this thread:

https://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/3577-story-behind-your-screen-name/

 

No grinder did not have a guard. I knew going in it was sketchy but did it anyways. Definitely learned a lesson. No gloves. I'm not sure they would have helped much. I'm a firm believer in gloves can do more harm than good. Only time I wear them is when I pull a piece out of the forge that I can't bear to handle. I'll look into that. Thank you!

11 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

Buying used tools I find that so often the guards have been removed that when I found 3 different guards at the scrapyard I bought them on spec!  I'm getting too old to heal well and decided that I could learn to use them with a guard.  I had a Cousin that used to live around Katy on one of the lakes; now in Bartlesville OK IIRC.

 Nice looking anvil, is your horse head key ring also a bottle opener?  I've found that to be an "extra" that helps sales.

I just moved there a year ago. It's very congested. About to move out to the country here soon. I got that anvil from an estate sale for $350. Needed a little tlc but it's working great. Wish the face was a little wider. No it's not. I was worried I didn't have enough material to stretch it out further. I'm going to try it on my next run. 

11 hours ago, George N. M. said:

Welcome aboard from 7500' in SE Wyoming.  Glad to have you.

Is Katy, TX named after the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad?  I know there is a RR museum in your town.

On your horse head bottle openers have you tried putting on ears, either by just with a chisel mark or cutting and lifting the ear?

Glad you are healing up.  Power tools have to be respected if a person wants to avoid spilling precious bodily fluids and even then accidents can happen.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Thank you. I have no idea. Only been here for a year and about to be moving again. Yes I take a chisel to do the ear. That's the best method I've found so far. 

What's up everyone. Just wanted to introduce myself. I'm jack and 37 from Katy Texas. Decided to give blacksmithing about 6 months ago. I went and bought an anvil, coal forge and some tongs from an estate sale. 

Ever since my first hammer strike and seeing the sparks I was hooked. YouTube and self taught. But 3 months ago I had a bad injury involving an angle grinder. I was building a hitch Mount deer hoist for a trade and the wheel exploded. 18 stiches and a partially cut tendon. It didn't stop me. The next day my fiancē found me in the garage welding up some cowboy card holders. I have 80% of hand movent. Started hammering again 2 months ago. Slowing getting my strength back. 

I'm very green with the smithing. I take one project at a time. First was the leaf and now is the horse head bottle opener. Started to make some tongs but the demand for the bottle openers is really high since I work in the industry. 

Anyways sorry for the rant. Just excited to learn and keep progressing in blacksmithing. Thanks for reading. 

Jack