unkle spike Posted June 14, 2009 Share Posted June 14, 2009 Holding a piece of hot stock between your knees while trying to slit and drift it is NO FUN..... My Pritchel on my anvil is 1/2" so when I was trying to slit and drift a hole in 3/8" round stock it wanted to drive into the hole, and contort to every angle but what I wanted, and it was a bugger to try and hold. So I came up with my version of a solution..... Start with this tool I showed earlier:http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/f7/one-man-spring-loaded-holddown-9731/ I had to add "legs" to it to make it the right height and keep it from turning. And then I built a base specifically for 3/8" round stock, I drilled a hole one 25/64" (one drill size over 3/8") in a piece of 3/8" thick plate. I then took my 4" grinder with a cutter wheel, and scored a line across the center of the hole, then I ran a regular grinding wheel down that slot. You want this to be narrower than the stock, so the edges of the slot "grip" the stock. I put a corresponding slot in the top tool, as I didn't have one that lined up. I centered that plates hole over the pritchel and added the side pieces to keep it square over the pritchel hole. This bottom plate isn't held down, but a tap on the end of it with a hammer brings it back over the hole. It does stay in place pretty well. Then I took a 3/4" drill bit and "counter sunk" the top of the hole so the stock has a "place to go" when you are slitting and drifting. Otherwise I found it left marks on the material from the edges of the smaller hole. The rest is pretty self explainitory, but you center punch the stock on two opposing sides, and slit and drift through these. There are many blue prints on Iforgeiron on slitting and drifting. The last picture is Tank the dog, (just for the Awwwwww factor) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlotte Posted June 14, 2009 Share Posted June 14, 2009 Looks good to me. Is that your ever watchful shop dog? Tank? for anticipated size or favorite sleeping spot? I'm a sucker for pets and dogs more than any other animal. ( I like pygmy goat also Frosty but I don't see many in suburbia) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Ameling Posted June 14, 2009 Share Posted June 14, 2009 Nice solution to a tricky problem. There are pictures/drawings of several other versions in the one Otto Schmirler book Werk und Werkzeug des Kunstschmieds isbn 3-8030-5040-5. Most of the books about Schmirler's work are ... eye-candy. Mostly pictures of the finished work. But this one shows the tools and how to use them. The drawings are in color and very good at showing each piece. And what text there is in the book is in German and English and French. The pictures tell the whole story, but the text can "clarify" some details. This book should be one of the MUST HAVE books on the shelf. But that's just my ... jaded opinion. The slitting/punching tools are on pages 84 to 88. Several for the Vice, and a combo one for the anvil - including a spring loaded bottom plate that spreads apart as your chisel starts to cut through your work piece. It even illustrates slitting/punching/drifting at an angle through your work stock! Plus, on page 77, a great little tool for consistent spacing of punched through holes when making grills/railings. Again, great little tool. It sure helps to have them - when you don't have that "extra pair of hands" about! Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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