Anvilfolk Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 Hi all, My father-in-law has been amazing in finding me an anvil and just generally being an awesome person. I would like to repay him by forging him some tools that he might actually use instead of a random iron piece. He is a construction worker, but I honestly have very little clue what tools they have that one could forge. For now I would like to avoid hardening and tempering until I am sure it won't shatter. Does anyone have any tips? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremy k Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 Construction worker is a pretty general term, your request may be facilitated, if a more precise type of "construction worker" is determined - by that meaning - wood, stone, metal etc, - A more specific typoe of work he does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anvilfolk Posted July 30, 2012 Author Share Posted July 30, 2012 My bad - that just reveals how little I know :) Thanks for the heads-up! He builds houses pretty much from the ground up. Putting up the foundation, walls, insulation, windows, gates, finishing up the walls, floors, indoors, outdoors, driveways... etc. Perhaps not electricity or plumbing, but I am not entirely sure. Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 Does he build them of wood or brick or block or stone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anvilfolk Posted July 30, 2012 Author Share Posted July 30, 2012 Ugh, I'm sorry - I understand what you mean now. I think mostly brick & mortar! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramsberg Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 A few pry bars of various sizes would be a good idea. Leave them soft as in don't quench them, let them cool slowly after forging. They will eventually bend, but by that time you should be advanced enough in your blacksmithing to make proper heat treated ones. There is a lot that can be done to make a custom hand forged pry bar work and look bettern then an off the shelf one. Caleb Ramsby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfootnampa Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 A heavy punch/nail set is useful. I like one about 8" to 10" long and 5/8" to 3/4" diameter tapered to about 3/16" on the setting end and with the corners rounded on the striking end. I use them to set larger nails up to 16 penny or so. The heavy diameter and longer length makes them a better tool than can normally be bought at the hardware stores. Old pry bar stock is excellent for these and no heat treatment is necessary. Grind a dead flat end with slightly softened corners for the set. They work good for lots of places where you want to apply hammer force in tight quarters. I have several so that I can keep one handy to each work area (truck, shop, smithy). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swedefiddle Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 Look in the bottom of his tool chest or work-bench, find his broken tools and repair them. When you redo a nail pulling bar, make the radius bigger than it was, better for pulling longer nails. Leave the tools soft, better they think they are strong and can bend steel, than fall off a roof or a ceiling joist when something breaks suddenly!!!!!!! I make bars for a friend that makes boat docks. I make a bar that looks like a Shepards Hook with about a 4" + radius, 60" long. it is the only thing for pulling 8-12" spikes. One of the guys dropped it over-board, he was told to put the diving gear on and go get it. Hard lesson to not drop tools!!! Neil Gustafson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anvilfolk Posted July 31, 2012 Author Share Posted July 31, 2012 Leave the tools soft, better they think they are strong and can bend steel, than fall off a roof or a ceiling joist when something breaks suddenly!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHA, that's good one! :lol: Thanks for all the suggestions, they're great and very doable! I'll definitely use them! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Gaddis Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 When making tools one of the qualities that is required is heat treatment techniques. As an experiment with son in law we took 5160 spring steel and worked it several ways ...in oil...in water...in air....for the quenching. Now this was a 15/16 rod with a slight crook on the end like a prybar. The water quenched snap broke, the oil stayed true and could lift a bulldozer track, the air cooled was about like the prybar you get at Hoover Freight. Quite usable in most situations though. We then took each and re-heated to way-red hot...above magnetic and cooled them in the gas forge with the doorsclosed and other bricks placed around the openings. Thenext morning you could easily drill the metal and witha shop hammer leave markes all over the metal. Maybe it was softer than the A36 I use most times. Point being...since you are learning all this new stuff try to include some shop heat treatment techniques so that you can build the tools you will be using. You family and you yourself will appreciate it. Heat treating tools that are to be used hot need not be heat treated. Carry on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 A large tough chisel is still a good tool---one that he can clean away excess mortar after it's set; or dress a concrete slab that has a bit of slop on it or "argue" with a protruding brick. I'd definitely differentially harden it with the edge hard and the shaft tough as it should see use as a prybar too. One thing to do is to *ask* if he's had a hankering for a custom tool and if necessary work through several iterations to get it just right! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anvilfolk Posted July 31, 2012 Author Share Posted July 31, 2012 All great suggestions! I'm familiar with the process of heat treating and a lot of my tools such as punches have been hardened and tempered. The only problem is that the blacksmiths I trained under only used EN9, whose carbon content was maybe .4 or .45 or something like that, and I've been having trouble finding carbon steel around here. No matter, you have convinced me to search again and perform the experiments that David Gaddis suggests :) I assume you didn't heat the piece back up for tempering, David? Thomas Powers: thanks - that's another one I think I might have material for! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elemental Metal Creations Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 One handy item is a pry bar about 2 ft (60cm) long with one end bent like a ? that will just fit the thickness of the most common size of framing timber use in construction. Here in the US it 2in. This is a great tool for taking the twist out of lumber when framing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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