Plow Bolt Die

[macbruce]

Me and a friend of mine, Jerry, were doing some fireplace surrounds and needed a texture that was hammered but not not too aggressive, and this is what JR came up with.........Using plow bolts as the "peens'' he plug welded the threaded ends into a drilled 3/4 plate with a laid out pattern, then it was welded to the boss of the die. The textured piece is 3/8 x 3''..............It saves a lot of elbow grease....mb

[monstermetal]

nice looking texture.. I did something similar but I think I like yours better...

[Timothy Miller]

very cool

[Nakedanvil - Grant Sarver]

Pretty cool Bruce. That's one sort of job I love doing in a 50LB Little Giant. Just the right power so every hit penetrates the same and so you can stand on the pedal and yard the material through. Not a fun job on a bigger hammer where you have to try to modulate the power just right.

[macbruce]

Pretty cool Bruce. That's one sort of job I love doing in a 50LB Little Giant. Just the right power so every hit penetrates the same and so you can stand on the pedal and yard the material through. Not a fun job on a bigger hammer where you have to try to modulate the power just right.

I am able to use em on either my 250 or my 110. The smaller hammer has more finesse for gentle texture and of course the larger has, well you know..........The die is about 3 x5 with 14 studs, It requires a lot of force to get them to penatrate, so more often than not I use the 250.............the sample is the 250...mb

[Mainely,Bob]

I find it ironic that when blacksmithing was in it`s heyday most smiths went to great lengths to make their work smooth and as free of hammer tracks as possible. Now folks want items that look like the apprentice drank a pot of coffee and then went at it like it was a timed event.

Excellent approach to creating the "texture" look there MB. Did you have the bolts hanging around in house or was it something you had used in the past and knew it would work then went and bought more?
This and the use of files to make feather texture are two of my favorite PH texture dies so far.

[macbruce]

I find it ironic that when blacksmithing was in it`s heyday most smiths went to great lengths to make their work smooth and as free of hammer tracks as possible. Now folks want items that look like the apprentice drank a pot of coffee and then went at it like it was a timed event.

Excellent approach to creating the "texture" look there MB. Did you have the bolts hanging around in house or was it something you had used in the past and knew it would work then went and bought more?
This and the use of files to make feather texture are two of my favorite PH texture dies so far.

A fair amount of smiths still flatten and file to achieve their finishes, but they most likely aren't doing modern architectural fire place surrounds and such........
My friend who came up with the die had like a 5gal bucket of em.......His scrounging skills are even more tenacious than mine......and I'm no slouch at that. I still got a coffee can full....
Form follows function with texture and all other dies, I also have a set with very deep, wide grooves for doing tree bark. They being an apple and the plow bolt dies an orange.......
I remember those feather dies and they were great!.........mb

[Nakedanvil - Grant Sarver]

Yeah, that's a pretty big die. Ya must be doing that cold, right?

[ThomasPowers]

I've seen similar made by welding ball bearings to a paddle. I like yours better as it's a bit more restrained.

[macbruce]

Yeah, that's a pretty big die. Ya must be doing that cold, right?

Cold? I'd need a 700lb hammer to do that cold.......The piece in the hammer was a bit misleading I guess.........