BIGGUNDOCTOR

An ice cube is even better, and can be shaped.

Mine has not been lined since the late 70's when my Dad bought it. Just avoid any sudden temp shocks.

What kind of chisel work are you doing?

I believe I still have the brochures from when Mare Island Naval Shipyard sold off their forge shop. I saw the hammers running during a family day years ago with my Dad who was a nuclear pipe prepping instructor the last 10 years he worked there. Very impressive. If I remember right they all went very inexpensively as the moving costs were so high.

I will have to dig to find it, but I had a tech manual that showed the forge used in a military mobile machine shop. It was a Buffalo brand, and the the top was a clamshell design that closed over the top when not being used as the hood IIRC That is a neat link Charles. Interesting that the vise is a bench style and not a post type.

The other issue is shrinkage of the weld bead. As it cools it shrinks and pulls the two pieces together. Size of bead, thickness of the items being welded, alloy (stainless is really squirrely), all affect the outcome. Peening the welds will spread them out and help to flatten things backout. I have seen that done by old school body and fender guys to keep a car panel straight. For sheet I liked .023" bare wire with a gas.

Magnesium is like that. Mill it, chop it, weld it with no problems, but start to saw it and you have to watch the chips as they can start on fire.

Depends on how it was done. Do they have documentation on how it was welded? If not, be leery.

Nugg3t, my m-715 is all original, but will need some work. It has 28,000 original miles. Many of the fire department ones out West were converted to Chevy 350's. The ones I see today are getting 5.9 Cummins dropped into them. Mine has the original Tornado OHC 6, 5:87 gears , Dana 60 front and Dana 70 rear. Even has the OD green paint.

My question is how it is used for a ladder pattern? I usually see the billet itself ground out in that fashion, then flattened out.

As to copper you may need the part to be hotter than brass as it has a higher melting temp, and also conducts heat extremely well.

Smoggy, both the Germans and the Swiss made sawback bayonets. Many of the German ones seen today have had the saw ground off as they were deemed cruel and unusual . But as a sapper's tool they provided a long saw. The ones I have seen are all push cut and have a crosscut tooth. C.Baum, yes, we call that field dressing the game. For in the field I would check out the site I posted above as they have some good information regarding using saws in the field. Myself I would think a longer folding type blade would be best as it would allow a longer stroke and reduce the time and effort need to do the task. A thin blade will also take less effort to use as less material is being removed by the blade.

The biggest issue I have with some new wheels are that they have those multi-piece plastic inserts so they will go on many different shank sizes. They do not always run true. And who says that you are putting a new wheel on? I have swapped out wheels to put wire wheels on, different grits, etc.. When they go back on they don't always run true again. At work I am constantly dressing the wheel to remove grooves, rounded corners, aluminum....... It is in a place where anyone can use it and it gets abused. I have brought this up before, but I need to do it again. Some of the mechanics are also the worst about messing the wheel up.. I try to educate them, but they don't listen most of the time.

Jobs like that are great for a horizontal mill and a slitting type cutter as they are a lot stronger than an endmill, and you can really hog a cut.

A maker here in the States for fume extraction is Smog Hog, and I saw a lot of their units at welding shop auctions. Some had a large main unit with long hose arms that you could position near your working area. Even if the ventilation system is not period correct it could just be easily explained as to why it is there and the bad conditions that the workers in the past had to endure if they wanted to stay employed. Maybe also mention life spans for workers back then. Even some big fans pushing the fumes towards the window - if it opens would help a lot.