Kendrick

Is there anywhere someone can buy ore? I'd love to get some for a historical project I have in mind.

I got lucky and picked up a rivet forge with a Champion blower for $60 recently. The forge pan is a bit bent up and all the bolts need replaced but all in all it's sound. The blower turned stiff and squalled when moved. I poured tool oil in it until it was running out the seams and cranked it slowly for a couple of minutes. Now it is going smooth and quiet and blows like a champ. However, before I crank away on it, is there anything else I should do to the blower to ensure longevity? Also, it is dangerously side heavy towards the blower. I have already had it go over a couple of times and luckily nothing broke. For now it's stored on its side. I have thought of clamping weights to the legs opposite the blower. Any other ideas? Thanks, Kendrick

The Tinker's Fire.

I know it's been a long time since I started this, but it's been a cold winter and I haven't been in the shop near as much as I'd like. We have a warm day a while back and I tried another weld like the one I was having problems with. The two things I did different were being far more liberal with the Borax and I used about 1/4 the air I had been and let it heat a lot slower. The weld came out much better. The only problem I had was a small (1/8") crack at the back edge that didn't take, the rest was rock solid. I imagine that's just a lack of experience at work there. Thanks!

I always keep safety glasses and earplugs in the shop. (and use them!) But I grant you, a full face shield is now on my short list of supplies. I wired my wire wheel and disk sander up to a speed control with a foot switch so at least the power gets cut instantly. Apparently I need to dial the speed down a bit when running the wire wheel. Frosty, I know what you are saying about the plane or rotation. I always stand a bit off to the side, which is why it got my shoulder instead on my neck. I guess I need to get the hang of working from the side. That will take some getting used to! Thanks for the concerns and the advice. You guys come up with solutions I don't always see.

Yeah, I figure a dime sized bruise is a small price to pay for that. For some reason I don't think my safety glasses would have held up to that!

While working in the shop a cross that tried to kill me. The wire wheel caught it and threw it back at me. It had enough force left after bouncing off my shoulder to stick in the high density plywood set on my rafters! So much for things always getting throw away.

George, You are certainly in our thoughts. Since we live just down the road, don't hesitate to give me a call if you need anything.

That's priceless!

I'm not sure that this is true anymore where I live. 20# tanks cost around $11 to fill and the cheapest I can find to fill my 40# tank is $26. So I am loosing $4 per fill at the cheap place. It's $29 at the place right by my house which is where I usually go to avoid driving across a town populated with lunatics with a propane tank.

Awesome! I need to have your wife talk to my wife.

When the local scrap man greets you with "What ya looking for today." When your wife goes "We're not stopping for that," when you drive past "junk" set by the road.

Great job on those. Thanks for the blueprint too.

Junk. I think that is by far my biggest collection. Scraps of old shafting, springs, brass plates and so on. I just hope to turn it into not-junk someday. I, too, have 4 vises in a small shop. :)

A coworker of mine's father retired from the railroad a long time ago. (He's 94) He said they would just score the top of the rail and drop it across another rail section and it would break off. Not sure how they scored it, though.

I can't recommend what to buy but I will say what not to. I bought one of the Tool Shop ones from Menards. It works and has lasted a while but it is out of balance and vibrates like you wouldn't believe.

Thanks for the kind replies, guys. They were a hit and I have requests for more now!

Well, I'll try again. I tried to say that was awesome when you first posted the pic. Which, by the way, it's still awesome! For some reason my computer hiccuped or something and it didn't post. Better late than never?

Just finished these tonight. I am fairly satisfied with the results but I think I need a lot more work on making the cups for the candles. Shaping the pipe was a pain. I tried to rivet them on with the stem but resorted to the welder to make them solid. That, I think was my biggest irk. Since it's a Yankee style exchange I'm curious to see if the get stolen any.

I have made forge welds in my forge in the past without a lot of problems. Even doing it in the propane forge I could at least get a tack even if it wasn't a solid weld. Tonight I tried and couldn't get even an attempt at tacking, much less a weld. Everything seemed the same as when I have done it before, but no-go. The only thing that comes to mind is the fact that last weekend I did some cutting and grinding without watching where things were going and I got a nice coat of aluminum dust in my coal barrel. Am I being superstitious thinking that the two may be connected?

I have rebuilt the hinges and braces for our attic pull down. All the light fixtures I have replaced in the house have forged brackets. I didn't like the cheap tin ones in the store so I made ones you could hang off of. Not to mention that store-bought doesn't fit right in our old house! Keeper clips for bicycles that kept getting slack chains. Lots of camping hardware!

I got my variable speed blower for my coal forge done It's a sewing machine motor attached to a small cooling fan. It works great! The only complaint I have is that the pedal slides around alot. I'll have to fix that.

I finally finished my hammer rack that I started some time ago. Not had enough time in the shop to get it done! I'm proud of it in the fact that it is all hand done. I made a point of not using any power tools. It's attached with forged 3" spikes I drove in with a sledge.

I got ahold of a small squirrel-cage fan that was an electrical enclosure cooling fan (about 3 in fan). I'm in the process of putting a sewing machine motor on it so I can control it from stop to fast with the foot switch. Some hand dryers use small blower fans like that too. Can't think of what else I've tore apart that had good, small fans at the moment.

It's not just the government. I am an electronics tech for a large printer. We get the whole, "I know it doesn't make sense but that's what we have to do," bit all the time. About 60% of my job is trying to idiot-proof the world. Of course as the reputation of the plant goes down in the community the grade of idiot goes up by an equal amount. At work my biggest mistake is wrongly thinking people running the machines have a clue.