JNewman

I have to admit I am getting grumpier with things like that as well, I recently dropped a basket of product on the floor and exclaimed loudly I am going elsewhere when I got attitude after poor service. I then called the store manager to complain after I had got my stuff elsewhere and cooled down. BUT much as it's fun to complain about the current generation and how this generation of kids. The store clerk I got the attitude from after being sent on 2 wild goose chases through the store (second from her) was a woman in her late 50s. I often find that the teenagers who have part time jobs are more helpful in that while they MAY not have as much knowledge they do often know what they do have in the store and will TRY to help. I find I am using my local hardware store more and more for misc. items, I may pay slightly more but I am in and out in minutes as opposed to MUCH longer in the big box store. I walk in the store and usually there is someone right there asking if they can help as soon as you walk in the door. They also keep my tax # on file so it is much easier at check out.

Glad to hear you are enjoying the blocks guys. In the US get them from the Kaynes at Blacksmith Depot. When I first started producing the blocks I sold them direct to the US but the paper work to ship them individually over the border was a killer. So I met the Kaynes at Quad State several years ago and they have been carrying them ever since for American customers.

Those halon extinguishers are amazing. About 20 years ago I was working for a construction company. One of the foremen cam into the office and we were talking when someone came in to say the foreman's truck was on fire. The engine had caught on fire, we emptied a couple of 10lb fire extinguishers and a 20lb one as wel,l the fire was still burning away. Someone brought out a small halon extinguisher that was in the office for the computers it knocked the fire out almost instantly.

I have been paying around $1.50/lb for 4340 from EMJ. BUT that is for round bar not cut from plate. Is your Beaudry big enough to rough them out or maybe you could buy 4" pieces of 12" round and saw cut it square.

One of our OABA smiths here used to work in Stelco's Blacksmith shop and bought a bunch of big tongs for scrap prices which he sold at our meetings. He donated the largest pair, a pair of 16" v bit tongs to the auction at Caniron in Hamilton.

For those that are not self employed, and are thinking "he's ripping people off". I have worked all week and I have probably less than 8 hours of billable time so far this week and I underquoted the job I finished in the first 6 hours of the week so they were for free, so I am at less than $20/hr this week.

You mean people charge that little???? Forging time is $100/hr. 5 minute COD jobs are $240/hr. Go grab a coffee and come back in half an hour. Perceived value and all. 5 minute jobs for friends and neighbours are free.

Too late jobs done. I spent longer researching than it took to do 2 of them. Turns out he only needed about .045" on the dia. Material was .015 under 4" he needed 4" finished size.

Thanks Grant, since I posted here I received a reply from the Copper Development Association who tells me that alloy is not recommended for hot forging, so I was was wondering about doing it cold. My customer is concerned about cracking but I don't think that should be a problem have you forged red brass cold?

Does anyone know if SAE 4 836 leaded red brass is forgeable? I have a customer who has a piece of 4" round that he needs upset only about .060". Looks like I should have a copy of the ASTM copper forging handbook. If anyone has a copy of that and can give me a definitive answer I would appreciate it. The finished part is going in a turbine so he would not like to give it a try.

I made a dedicated pair of tongs for my touchmark stamp. They have an integral ring on the reins, the stamp stays in the tongs, I didn't get around to making a pair for my smaller stamp and I think it got swept up by my daughter.

I would call them, often a second stamp is much cheaper. Making the master is the most expensive part of making the stamp if they are using a conventional engraver. I bought a stamp a few years ago, the first one was around $120 a second smaller one was only $40. No point is paying for two setups. You may find that you use that stamp for smaller items. Now that you have the layout you can figure out how big you want it before ordering.

7/16" radius corner dies are working really well after this job is done and I have some time I am going to make them 1/2" I just wish they were a little wider 1/2" off each side takes them down to a 2 1/2" flat. Before I increase the radius I am going to clean up the face of the bottom die because I have been C cutting the ends of bars and my shoes are a little heavy.

Thanks Phil I don't know what is up with this size.

While it would work I am not sure WHY you would do it unless you have the capability of pouring 1000lb of aluminum in one shot and do not have the capability to do it in iron. If you tried pouring it in small pours you would have cold shuts between each pour and it would have no strength. If you are going to send out your pattern to a foundry an iron casting is going to be cheaper as well as being stronger. You then have all the bearing caps, flywheel, shaft, ram, guides and arms to fabricate or cast as well as all the machining. However you could buy a rebuilt Little Giant hammer for less than what the frame pattern is worth.

I finally got around to digging out the other set of flat dies because I have a job to do where I have to taper a bunch of flat bars on edge drawing them out without edging them. The edges did not line up but I found another top die that did line up. The faces met in one corner with a significant gap opposite and I planned on machining the top die to match the bottom. I then decided I should take the time to true up the bottom die before machining the top one. Turned out the bottom die was out of parallel by about 3/32". After surfacing it and making it parallel the dies met pretty well, there was a small gap on the front probably about .015", I can live with this for now especially as the parts are tapered. I ground a 7/16" radius on the edges this evening and will be trying them out in the morning.

Thanks Larry I am going to bookmark their page for future reference. I have the go ahead to use imperial sizes and I am sure shipping and customs brokerage on only 4 lengths of bar would be prohibitively expensive for this job but I may need metric material in the future. I checked their website and 48mm wide material is not normal, I guess this may be undersized stock, I have been offered stock that was rolled undersize in the past for a cheap price.

I am making some teeth for a mixer. The mixer was apparently made in Europe, the replacement teeth made in China. I have been told that delivery takes far too long so that is why they want them made in Canada. There is a section of unforged steel on the tooth which measures .6"x1.9" . This comes out to roughly 15mmx48mm is this a standard size? I would have thought that 15mmx50mm would be the standard size? This is just curiosity as I have been given the go ahead to use 5/8"x2" as I cannot get metric stock economically nor does the pricing justify forging the parent stock down to the sample size.

My shop name is Newman Forge & Pattern Inc. I do forging and patternmaking in my shop. If I were starting the shop today I would probably not put forge or pattern in the name, as it can be limiting. I once got a bit of a negative reaction from a foundry owner at a foundry association meeting because drop forging shops often compete for work with foundries. I sometimes wonder if when cold calling a new customer for pattern or fixture work and they hear forge there are immediate assumptions made as to what I do that rule me out as a supplier. I also have seen companies that evolve into businesses that have nothing to do with their names and it can be confusing to potential customers.

I just looked up lubrication in the yellow pages, went to an industrial place in there and bought 10 gallons of quenching oil. It is the right stuff and was cheaper than most of the alternatives. I have beeen using the ame oil for 10 years or so.

I often add oxygen to my forge fire, but only when lighting it. I light my torch hit the coal with the flame then turn off the fuel gas and hit the oxygen lever on the torch. Coal forge running in about 2-3 minutes.

I built a pair of tote type boxes similar to many pictured above just before I took a course at Touchstone several years ago. One thing I did on my boxes was make the handle high enough that I can put my tongs straddling the handle when I am forging. An unexpected benefit of the higher handle is that it is a nice height for sitting. Obviously if you plan on sitting on the handle it needs to be sturdy.

When I machined a new top key for the Massey I made a fixture for my mill vice to hold it on an angle while I machined the taper. I then fit it with bluing and a file to get it exact. I don't understand how you can have the taper off if you blued it in. I was having a problem with my sow block coming loose when I did high forgings putting a lot of side load on the dies. I put a center pin under the sowblock on Grant and John N's recommendation as well I ground quite a bit off the very end of the key because it had upset from being driven in. Since then I have had no problems with the sow block coming loose either.

Making patterns I often need templates, on bigger templates I often start with a piece of thin plywood or masonite cut roughly to shape. I then glue on pieces of poster board to match the shape. oft White glue sets up quite quickly and cutting with scissors is easy. It is often easier to use a lot of little pieces of the paper glued together rather than trying to use big pieces. This method is probably more accurate than you need for most railings. The 1/8" thick masonite is available with the shiny side painted is cheap and is really handy for making all sorts of templates, the only problem with it is that it burns and doesn't stand up well if it gets damp.

Last time I spoke with Tom Latane he was using wood to forge with on a day to day basis, using charcoal for more critical work. I would say the method he described to me was the most direct method you could use. He just feeds wood in the side of his forge fire like you would feed in green coal, the wood on the edge of the fire turns to charcoal. It sounds like Glenn's method is the same.