ptree

Drill or punch an access hole then cut with a jewlers saw.

I got a 1996 S-10 pick-up for a blacksmithing vehicle to take to demos etc. I also had a great day with kids and wife.

I get saw blades from work, made in Japan, that are carbide tipped. They harden nicely in oil. I have asked but the engineer considers the steel to be a trade secret.

Merry Christmas to all.

John N, Vogt had been originally formed around 1860 as Sulzer Vogt, and Henry Vogt bought out Sulzer. Then he sold off his elevator Biz to Otis Elevator and used the $$$ to move uphill from the nearby Ohio River. in 1903 when he built the first shops at 10th and Ormsby in what then was the south of Louisville KY, he had been getting flooded by the Ohio at the previous location every few years. The new location was in the farm land then south of Louisville, but now is considered downtown:) The up hill location was just far enough, as the great 1937 had its high water mark just inside the front gates. The Front office building had the basement flooded an a couple of inches inside the first floor, but the vital factories were high and dry. In fact the only powerhouse dry in Louisville was the VOGT powerhouse, and electrical lines were rigged to power a bread bakery and a hosipital nearby, making the only electricity in Louisville. The Ohio river is now dammed at the Falls of the Ohio at Louisville, and floodwalls built higher than the 1937 flood, the highest in occupied history at Louisville. The Ohio is about a mile wide at downtown Louisville. The Ohio actually flows somewhat UNDER Louisville moving thru the silt sand and gravel. Many of the high rise buildings use cold water extracted from the underground flow to cool the buildings. We had to auger down and pour back up for every crane way column and we had many many overhead cranes several of 150 tons.

Yep Fabreeka, I am both dislexic and was "Pre-Coffee" :) The Fabreeka I has experience with was under 5000# and up closed die hammers. I have even seen it pulled from service and resold for reuse. The urathane conveyor belt I used is about 1/4" thick, pretty hard, and has held up well, and the free price for the scrap was quite good:) Our hammers at VOGT had a unique installation issue as the shop location was on an alluvial plain of sorts, in an ancient oxbow bend of the mighty Ohio river. We had river silt and pebbles to small boulders down about 90'. Then a roughly 2 by 3 mile hunk of flat limestone floating on some more silt. We had to run concrete down to rock using augers to dig and displacing the water with concrete. Once up to say 20' from floor we made a massive concrete pad then 12" square timber cribbing for the sub plate and then anvil. The wood would compress with time and occasionally(20-30 years) had to be replaced. Talk about a job, on the 25,000# Erie, First remove the 6" steam header and condensate lines, unbolt and pull the cylinder, then the side bolsters, then the sow block, then the anvil has to be lifted. Our overhead crane was too small for the anvil, so a railroad crane was used to lift the anvil, then the subplate and finally the cribbing. Messy, what with all the grease and oil and dirty water.

Since most sand is silica, it tends to be fairly sharp grained untill used say as casting sand where the grains break down further. I would offer that rouge has probably been around since man found iron oxide dirt. Rouge contains Ferric Oxide, and is and has been common in jewerly work. I would also assume Pumice has been known for centuries as a coupound.

Heavy urathane conveyer belt. The best hammer mat is "Fabrika" Mat made in Germany for the purpose. Very Very expensive, but works and lasts. My 70# homebuilt hammer sits on a scrap of urathane conveyor belting and has since 2002.

Guten Morgan Daniel, from Southern Indiana. The tongs and bottom block look very nice. In the mid 70's I spent 28 months in Hanau au Main. I have many memories of visits to Frankfurt au Main. Merry christmas

Welcome home Brother and thank you for your service. I have found forging to be theraputic having suffered a little. BUT seek help from the VA and others if you find it closing in. Ptree from S. Indiana, who a long time ago once wore a few stripes.

Welcome to the site. I am in Floyds Knobs Indiana, a member of the Indiana Blacksmithing association, and Prior service:) We meet in southern Indiana on the last Saturday of every month at one of our groups shops. No December meeting, but next will be in Paoli Indiana on the last Saturday of the month. That would be about a 2 hour drive from Knox. Private message me for more info if you are interested, and you can find us on the net just look ofr the Indiana Blacksmithing association, and we are the sattalite group, The Southernj Indiana Meteroite Mashers.

I use and have for about 15 years ATF. Low pour point, and very stable viscosity across a wide temp range. It has an excellent extreme pressure and antiwear package and is cheap. My main blowers are Cannady Otto's and hold oil well till you overfill. I cnage yearly and they work fine. My little demo blower is a Buffalo sheet metal rivet forge blower that was pretty rough turning when i got it. It is a total loss system designed for a squirt of oil every so often and a consumable item when used in the old days. Mine now has a drip oiler, uses maybe 3 tablespoon full in a days demo'ing and now is turning as slick as snot. I have a catch pan under and the oil is collected. ATF for that one as well.

Very nice. Having striking at a demo really draws the crowd:) My team has been doing demos with three strikers and a tong man. When we get three sledges going the crowd flowes to us. Unfortunatly, the long heats for 3" square stock allow then to drift away:( We were joking that we need 3 billets and 3 teams of strikers to keep the crowd pleased.

Aah but Sir Thomas, we use sledges from 8# to 20# depending on the point in the operation:) The 20# is really more often used as a reaction mass than hammer. Some of the guys started with big hammers and soon found that it was hard to finsh the job. I use a striking hammer from VOGT, made in the 30's I would guess, and not so big, but I can swing it and control it till the job is done:) Has a really nice cross pien for both spreading and texture. We have team members from slim and shorter than me to several rather tall large gentlemen who are very handy when their turn on tongs comes. In the right hand photo, note the guy on the left, he really is that tall:)

We intend to as we have stock for at least 3 more of these. We have also begun deliberation on the project for next year. A bearded dragon made from 4" stock has been bandied about:)

The BFH is a not to subtle play...

My friends and i have founded the Brotherhood of Friendly Hammermen, (BFH) and have been forging split crosses from 3" square stock. Here are a few photo's of the finished crosses. The most recent #5 was set on the sledging anvil still very hot and the setting sun captured by member Steve King.

I have not built an air hammer built have a 30+ year career with machines and lots of valve experience. Those 1/2" hoses go thru a hose barb fitting? check the ID if is probably too small. You don't mention the size of the MAC valve, but it too os probably too small for a 5" cylinder. A hint: look at the air cylinder you intend to use for any project, and see what is the industry standard port size for that bore. So... If the cylinder has 1/2" pipe ports, then you need for everything in the system to be be AT LEAST that big. Want to see if the cylinder is choking for air or binding up by exhaust not getting out? Take the lines off and direct pipe to the down port and use a ball valve, air on it hits hard? got an answer. Most smaller spool valves have Cv factors far smaller than one would expect. Get a catalog and study Cv and what it means and learn about "Full Port" fittings. If exhaust is the only ting binding you up a pair of quick exhaust valces at the cylinder ports will make for scarey fast. Last but not least you need to study "Response time" on that valve. Every valve has a time to shift. While these are electically operated by solenoid, the solenoid is simply a small valve that allows air to then flow to a piston that pushes the spool. Back in the '70s I measured response time on new pnuematic valves in an R&D lab, and the time to send 100psig thru 100' of hard nylon tube of the correct size for the valve was in the 250 to 350 millisecond range for the very fastest valves much longer for more normal.

KenH, crown on a grinder wheel is just like crown on a flat belt pully. If you have a Machineries Manual shows a table for. But in short the high point is dead center in the wheel and there is straight taper in both directions from the center. You can set up you compound if you have one to easily make a 1 degree. The swing 1 degree from center the other way. I use the table in the machineries as they reccomend different crowning for different od pullies, but it is probably not a critical issue.

I work as a Safety guy, and in the trade those are known as BC's. Thats for Birth control, cause you ain't gonna while wearing those:) I supply wrap around safety glasses with intergral side shields that are made from Polycarbonate, have a scratch guard coating and antifog coating, and in boxes of 10 they cost $0.80 each. For grinding we use a strap equiped glasses with a soft rubber gasket, and those are in the $4 to $6 each depending on model.

Looks like the ferrule was not crimped to me as well. I would take it back to the shop that made it, and ask for money back. Plus they need to know.

When you are enjoying your Thanksgiving today, give a thought and prayer for all of "Our Sons and Daughters, Brothers and Sisters, Fathers and Mothers" who are far from home, some in awful places, some who will be in combat this very day. A holiday such as this is very hard when you are far from home,in a place that only wants you dead or gone. Happy Thanksgiving to all

Here is a link to photos of the now empty 7 story machine shop. It was about a city block footprint. Note the wood block floors. In some shots you can see wood planks in the roof metal. Thiose were used when the floor started to fail to keep the concrete from falling on those below until the concrete could be broken out and repoured. Of course this also required moving the machines, and since we could only have a certian weight in any one cell, the moving of many of the bigger machines was " Move it like an Egyptian" Jack it up, place long tubes under the machine and pinch bars and winches to move as much as 82,000#. The second row down second from the left is the 7th flor, and you can see a skylight. Also in the far distance is the enclosure around my old hot testing and steam lab:) This building went up to 3 floors in 1928 with 4 more in 1932. http://www.spwhite.com/archives/2482

Jim Kehler, the Ajax is either an 8" or a 9" depending in the view (We had several). We also had several 9" Nationals and a 10" Ajax, a real moose. The little bumped up end for the splines was done in an automatic 4" that ran locked on and every hit was a bumped up axle. Those shafts being tossed around by the robots are mostly 2.25" in diameter before forging. We forged 5.5" shafts into BIG axles in the 10" For those who view, you can see a real Porterbar, the hot on one end axle forging is moved into the back stop and then the grip slide slammes shut, moving from left to right. Then the tooling slide comes straight towards the operator. Look at 0:044, and that dear friends is an upsetter in operation, with a real porter bar.

Andy, they just pull out after you remove those bolts and only on the full float style, but it will yeid a good hunk of steel. Be aware the steel will be somewhat hard:)