I love traditional work, and have carved my niche in the community as that guy. I feel toolmaking, however, is a race to the finish line, and anything goes, as long as it doesn't cause a murder. We had a hammer-in a couple weeks ago and I made a set of heading blocks for the Museum/learning centre. I dropped a chunk of 3/4 x4 flatbar off at the waterjet guy's shop, the next morning I picked up 4 pieces, 4 x 4 inch with 1 inch, 15/16, 7/8 and 13/16 square holes blasted thru the middle. Total cost of plate and holes, forty dollars US. I was easily able to donate the blocks to the museum after welding them up. If I had chisled and and filed my way thru 4 blocks, I would have been resentful. Part of maturity is knowing where to pick your battles. I feel great about using the waterjet guy for dumb flat work, and burning calories on more challenging battlefronts. The first two heading blocks I made, I drilled, milled, and filed. went way over forty bucks in time. I can say I worked thru them, I guess that's worth something.

That's good to know. I've never been around water jets, but I've always been curious about the cost. Thanks for the info.

I found my pics of an example of a leaf spring hardy that may help you. This one is all forged, but it could be cut and ground.

I wanted to move this thread back to the first page as there is another thread - Upset helper - that will be using this information.