JNewman

Sorry to hear as well. Another option to keep going would be induction or an Oxy propane torch. Both are more expensive, induction as capital and torches as an ongoing expense. The torches allow you to heat things that would fit in a coal forge but will not fit in a typical gas forge. You might contact people at Herforshire College to see if they have any information.

I need to replace my old quenching oil the stuff I have is about 14-15 years old and it is either degraded or not a fast enough oil for what I need it to do. Polymer quenchants have the advantage of less or no smoke, reduced fire dangers and the quench speed is adjustable by varying the mix ratio. The disadvantages I can think of are having to monitor the mix ratio regularly and the possibility of biological contamination. Anyone know of other problems? I will primarily be using the oil or polymer for quenching 20-50 pcs at a time every few weeks and then for use making shop tools probably once or twice a week. So it will be sitting around unused for days and sometimes weeks at a time. Does anyone have experience with how much time it is going to maintain the polymer and if I am likely to have problems? do NOT enter a million blank lines in your post

Very nice block. It has a lot of features I have never seen on another block

I would agree that a tapered flatter is a better tool for compound tapers than the fried egg tool. It does tend to flatten a taper as Allen states. I should probably make some but In most cases just holding a regular flatter diagonally works for a compound taper. Things like a blade that come to a feather edge are an exception. The tool I do have would be more useful if it were square rather than round.

While i would not test chisels that way myself these days, when much of this was done the shop probably did not have testing equipment or temperature controlled furnaces for heat treat. Better to find in your shop that you had not hardened the chisel hard enough or conversely too hard, than having a customer return the chisel later on upset because the tool was too soft or too hard.

I have a flatter just as you describe for occasional use on a compound taper. As Jim mentions it is harder on the top dies and the top gets beat up much faster. Mine is round so unless the part is small you need a small step over. For most things I feel the standard flatter is better but it is a nice tool to have kicking around.

Thanks Will. That looks like a good quick change setup but more involved to make new coils rather than simpler. I am going to stop today to see if I can pick up fittings to adapt the metric to 1/4" flare.

Looks like I am going to have to buy some 5/16 tubing and some metric flare nuts.

Good point. Anyone know of any conductive quick connect fittings ?

Well I finally got around to joining the induction club. I need to make some smaller and larger coils than came with the machine which is about 1.5" id I bought 1/4" and 3/16 copper but it looks like I should have got 5/16 instead of the 1/4" That being said has anyone tried quick connect fittings like these on their induction unit ?http://www.wattscanada.ca/pages/whatsnew/qc_fittings.asp They look like they would work well both as quicker to change not needing to flare the pipe and not needing extra nuts for every coil.

I have an 8" vise that weighs close to 200lb but about 25 years ago when my wife and I were looking for our first house one of the houses we looked at had what was at least a 10" vise in the garage. Many years later I knocked on the door cash in my pocket and asked if they wanted to sell the vise. Unfortunately the owner had gotten rid of it and could not remember where. I kicked myself at the time for not going sooner.

They are just to stop torch cutting or welding sparks from getting into your boots. The idea is to have a smoothish surface that won't catch the sparks like your laces and boot tongue will. Many of the foundries I go to the spats they use are the silver heat resistant ones but are much more expensive and are not really needed in the blacksmith shop.

I mostly wear steel toed shoes as they are much lighter than boots but the spats are a necessity when torch cutting as they don't protect the tops of my feet as well as boots. I have a pair of boots sitting here in my office with metatarsal guards to wear when I have heavy forging to do. Heavy pieces or tools that get spit out of the hammer invariably land behind the steel cap on steel toes

Go into the welding supply and ask for spats. Just like the fashion accessory from many years ago. They cover the laces etc. and keep out drops when torch cutting etc.

1/8' sounds a little thin for something as big as a jewellery box in terms of getting the bronze to run. An easy way to add to your walls and bottom and to add draft to the inside would be to make a wooden plug that is slightly smaller than the inside of the box with draft on the plug. Sand a radius on all the outside corners of the plug then using paste wax wax up your plug. Do at least 2 coats polishing between coats after it dries for 15 minutes or so. Then place a couple of small shims in the bottom of your box the thickness you want to increase the bottom by. Mix up a big batch of bondo and apply it to the outside of your plug which you then squish into the box. There is a bit of a knack to avoiding bubbles. When the bondo gets to the rubbery stage (NOT BEFORE) trim all the extra that squeezed out and spilled on the outside of the box. The sanded corners on the plug apply all your fillets all at once

Something that can save you a lot of time if these are patterns you have to cut a parting on is to make up a follow board for the pattern. Good pattern equipment can make a huge difference in moulding time. None of my foundry customers will take a loose pattern with an offset parting without a follow board cutting in a parting just takes too long. I would avoid plastercine on any draw faces bondo is much better even on one offs. But make sure you don't leave any backdraft. Using a pre made box with no draft is going to make your moulding much more difficult. Try to add some draft to your box. Use a sanding block and some sandpaper to add a little draft. Fillets in inside corners and rads on outside corners of the pattern also help with mouldability. A rule of thumb is not to try to draw anything that is deeper than it is across To thicken up the bottom of a box I would be more inclined to use thin plywood but even several layers of bristol board would be better than plastercine if you want it flat.

I suspect the big tanks are for filling up with fuel in the US. Fuel prices are pretty high in Quebec.

I hope you did not fix the Wilton Vise but returned it. Rejecting the inferior quality rather than accepting it is the only way we have of expressing our displeasure that actually matters to the bean counters making these sort of decisions. You returning it for being inferior then the retailer returning it to the manufacturer costs both of them money.

Rockstar makes some good points. I have the privilege of having a retired industrial blacksmith stop by my shop fairly regularly. I have taken him to a few local blacksmith meetings as well. The thing he is always commenting about is "they don't have the tools" he made similar comments about my shop years ago. An apprentice learning this trade would have access to good tongs, hammers, cutting tools etc. both to use and as study pieces to make the ones he would eventually make. Tongs are one thing that it is much easier to make a pair when you have a pair that is the same as you need right in front of you. How many here have gone through the make a tool to make a tool to make a tool to actually make the project you are making. If tool smithing is not your interest there is nothing wrong with skipping some of those steps just as an apprentice or journeyman would have access to some of those intermediate tools.

The first forge welds I did were done with charcoal. There were centuries of forge welding done with charcoal before coal was being regularly used. Coal is generally cheaper and does last longer but charcoal is quite capable of forge welding.

Hammers, hardies, drifts, stakes, punches are all good uses for 4140. It will not harden hard enough for a good knife and is not good for thin cutting tools but is a good steel for many blacksmith tools. I use 4140 or 4340 for most of the tools I use under the power hammer. $.50/lb is a good price. I am paying $1cdn to $1.20/lb buying 1/2 a ton to a ton at a time.

It was for a steel mill. They use it for ripping slag out something. I think the blast furnace.

Here is a hook I made several years ago. Not very decorative but was a workout and profitable. I started with 2.5" square and upset a section in the middle of the bar to close to 4" square so that it would maintain the 2.5" section when bent. This was done by hand lifting the bar and slamming down on a piece of 4" plate on the floor. The drawing out and punching was done on a 100lb shop built air hammer, Bending of the hook was done hot with an 8 ton hydraulic press and with a sledge. I bent the link hot on a hossfeld using the bending die shown in the photo.

My pattern shop building has a line shaft still installed. The main shaft is about 60' long, there are also 2 small ones that ran off the main shaft. There are no longer any machines hooked up to the shaft. It has a large electric motor to drive it. It is great to see your shop setup and wonderful to see all the machines being used rather than scrapped. Here one employee brings you under Health and Safety rules. I know the lack of guarding on your belts would be a big issue and personally I would guard many of the belts if it were my personal shop and as I have employees I would have to guard them all. I hear what you are saying about the some of the overkill on safety rules and it would be nice if safety inspectors had more practical experience and the leeway allowed to use common sense. Many of the rules are getting extreme. I have customers who had to guard belts that were 2 feet up that were only accessible by ladder or manlift. However Workplace deaths and maiming used to be a much more common thing, It used to be a very common thing for woodworkers or machinists to be missing fingers or even significant parts of their hands. My Dad was an electrician in a steel mill, in 2 years his gang of electricians lost 4 men to workplace deaths including one who he chased with a fire extinguisher till the other burning electrician died. My Dad was nearly crushed by a machine when someone cut his lock off the disconnect and turned on the machine. Government regulations have prevented the needless loss of many lives and limbs. It only takes a moment of inattention to be hurt or killed with powered machinery.

A local smith did a couple of episodes of a show on History "Metal Masters" that came out before "Forged in Fire" . There were a few episodes but I guess it was not Dramatic enough as it was not picked up.