Practical blacksmithing

[billyO]

2nd use of smithing to fix my truck.  (First was hinge for tailgate.)  This time, wheel cylinder on rear drum failed and lost one of the two actuator piston(?), and apparently these don't fail and they don't come in a wheel kit or brake kit.  The local parts store said they may be able to get something on Monday, so instead of waiting, I thought, I can make one of those in a couple of hours... and I was right. 

Original with header plate I made

Original and new one after 2 hours of forging/rinding/filing

Specs on each

[Frosty]

Atta boy!

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Glenn]

That is what it means to be a blacksmith, make the thing.

[Stephen Olivo]

awesome.  I am glad to see that others are thinking this way.

[colorblind72]

That is indeed practical blacksmithing.

Way to go.

[Rashelle]

It's a well deserved feeling of pride and accomplishment when one acts on the feeling that "I can do this" and is proven right. I've done a couple repairs on a friend of mines vehicle myself using skills/tools from blacskmithing and I feel you have earned well deserved bragging rights. I volunteer at a national historic site and occasionally get people who think that there is no application for this in the modern hi-tech world. Despite the fact that hi tech is based on low tech.

 

I'm long winded at times apparently, what I'm saying is cool and good job!

[Dan C]

That's good stuff!  I'm getting a 55 1st series Chevy truck back on the road.  So far I've used the forge & anvil to modify brackets and then re-forge a new shifter linkage for the transmission after doing a disc brake conversion and the old no longer fit.  I'd be dead in the water if it wasn't for smithing and welding (or paying someone else thru the nose)

 

Dan

 

 

[bigfootnampa]

I was just at the store and noticed some drop hitch bars that were forged from one piece of heavy wall square tube instead of being welded.  This is something most smiths could do!  The tube end was smashed flat and drilled for the ball bolt!   These had slightly higher tongue and trailer weight ratings than the welded versions did!  I think a punched and drifted version would be stronger yet.  The design would be real handy for those light duty trailers for garden tractors and 4 wheelers too!

[Jim Coke]

Greetings Bill,

 

Great repair...   I spent 32 years in the auto related business and owned my own shop for 20 years... Funny story...  I had a customer call me and said he needed a emergency brake on his truck.. It was real bad and he needed help quick.. I told him I would send my tow truck but he said he would get the truck to me....   In he came a smoking ...  He was a carpenter and had fashioned a brake pad out of a 2x4...  Just goes to show the more skills we have the more that is possible... 

 

Carry on      Jim

[billyO]

Thanks, all! Looking back on it, it was a fun process, from thinking about it to doing it.  I hope I don't get cocky now.  :unsure:

[Dan C]

Good to know we'll be prepared for armageddon or the zombie apocalypse :D  In my case it's essential as I have an older vehicle, that's already harder to get parts for, which is very customized.  It is a lot of fun and something you can take pride from.  I get a kick when the autoparts store asks the make & model to look up in their computer.

[billyO]

Another type of 'practical' blacksmithing, but first a little backstory:  I came home from work Wednesday and my front gate was wide open.  Now I'll admit that in the past year, I have forgotten to lock the gate a couple of times, but I can't ever remember not closing the gate.  After parking and walking back to close the gate I saw that the lock was in the middle of the chain hanging on the pole, and sure enough there was the cut link. Hopefully it goes without saying, but I started looking around the property to see what was missing, went into the house, and right on the corner of the counter was my digital camera, right where I left it.  So was the stereo, computer, fishing rods, various hand tools, etc.  Went out to the shop, and almost tripped over one of the caps to my oxy/acetylene outfit in the yard and saw a welding handbook and pad of notes next to it.  Got to the shop/garage and sure enough, my entire oxy/acetylene outfit, caps to cover my head, cutting goggles and auto darkening welding helmet were gone.  Odd thing was, they took it out the hard (but perhaps quicker) way, and they didn't take anything else that would have had equal if not more value and easier to take/load into a vehicle, so that tells me they were doing an inventory, planning on coming back.  I spent a couple hours driving to various stores looking for a more stout chain, but, finding nothing big enough NOT to get bolt cutters around, I realized I had the means to do this.  Fired up the forge and made a new lock.  No bolt cutters getting through this, I'll wager.      

 

U is 1/2" x 2" and bolt is 1/2" x 1".

 

As I was finishing up, hot and sweaty and kinda angry that I had to spend time on this project as well as others to secure the property better, I saw a practice piece of different ways to do hands, and had a thought.... (that's the lone cap in the background)

 

...this is out of 1"square, I could flex the index finger into the palm and wrist to 90 degrees, draw the arm out to 1" x 1/2", punch/drift another hole for the padlock and use this as the bolt for a greeting when they come back for the rest.  (and I'm wondering if the middle finger a common enough sight that it's not offensive to the IFI population.  If not, I'll post a picture, cause that was kinda fun! B)

[Rich Hale]

Keep in mind that a battery powered saw will go right through that or the hinge  pins,,,,,unless the pins can be unbolted!

Nice work and it may just make then drive right on down the road.

[Dan C]

Maybe they'll bring back your OA setup to try and cut it off.  I like your idea for a greeting, though I'd accompany it with a shotgun for more subtle persuasion.

[Frosty]

Sounds to me that it's dog time, just a couple can make bad guys think about finding an easier target. It's not like they're willing to work so making it hard to get through the gate or fence isn't a bad idea. I've made bales from hardened spring steel,more than 1/2" dia. is pretty much bolt cutter proof.

 

If you think they may bring your torch back, making the bale from steel pipe or tubing and filling it with paraffin wax is a marvelous deterrent.

 

A probably better option is hanging motion sensor wildlife cameras so they can get nice portraits of the visitors.

 

Thieves make my badness come out, I really dislike thieves.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Judson Yaggy]

Game cameras.  

[EGreen]

lost my bottles and gauges a few years ago also. they could have cleaned me out . also they took a new auto parts washer. they took the bottles off of the 2 wheel dolly that I had made and left it. sure miss my torch.

[Chinobi]

That's a bummer man, im sorry to hear you got ripped off.  I like your upgraded lock as well, but bear in mind that while the U frame and bolt are beefy enough to foul thieves equipped only with bolt cutters, that padlock is still pretty vulnerable to being cut straight off, whereupon the u-frame just falls off :(

 

unless that's some kind of cut resistant lock or some other black magic...

[billyO]

New/beefier lock has been purchased.  I understand that power tools could get through, but the time and effort that would take would most likely draw notice from the road and neighbors (the gate's by the road).

Re dogs:  Up until a month ago my oldest female husky camped out next to the driveway, but old age took 2 of my 3 dogs in the past 2 months and well, and I can't keep one young husky at home alone (escape artists).  I'm looking at a 4 y/o female resuce this weekend, maybe then I'll have 2 and leave them home occasionally. 

 

The sherrif recommended the motion activated cam as well.  Thinking about it. 

[Cdworks]

Be sure to Lock the cams up tight as well they are a popular stolen item around here

[Dan C]

I like the game camera idea, but how about an electric hot wire on the fence?  That could be fun.

[Frosty]

If you think they'll try a power saw or grinder use pipe and put a piece of hard steel rod in it, the disk or saw blade will only roll the rod and not cut at all. If they're using saws packing fine SS wire in the pipe will jam their saw to the point you may get it as a keepsake.

 

It's fun to think about booby traps but it's just WAY illegal and you have to be willing to live with maybe taking out a neighborhood kid wanting to pet the dog, sniff the flowers or sell Girl Scout Cookies.

 

A stock fence charger is a different thing rigging one to discourage folk from touching things is a workable plan. I helped a friend of mine stretch wire around his back yard. Thieves and general undesirable used to use his yard as a shortcut and good place to drop garbage. When we just stretched wire like a stock fence the bad guys discovered if they hit it at a run it'd just snap for almost zero shock. So, we changed the plan. We hung the wire from screen door springs so they'd stretch, making for really long contact.

 

My buddy said there was lots of screaming and shrieking a couple times the first week and then nobody NOBODY came through his back yard. Not long later he rented a room to a cool guy with a big doberman, very friendly dog unless you weren't supposed to be there. Big dog and electric wire, word got out and no more hassles.

 

One "booby trap" I considered in a place I lived for a while was an air horn with a wax plug and filled yellow food coloring. The idea was when somebody tried to break in the door it'd go off and hose them with food coloring. If you've ever used yellow food coloring you k now it won't wash off and takes a week for a dab to wear off. I figured a good hosing would mark them for quite a while. I never set it up as there was just no way to hide it close enough to be effective. <sigh>

 

The "booby trap" that ended up working wonderfully in that place was a simple vibrator on a bee hive a neighbor asked to put in the field next to the place. The vibrator really agitated the bees and the one on the inside of the door gave them a target. When I braced one of the neighborhood punks about the serious bee welts he was wearing he couldn't figure out how I knew HE was the guy breaking in. Idiot. word got out though.

 

You don't have to be the toughest target out there, just tougher than someone else.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Dan C]

"a vibrator on a bee hive" that's a real good one.  I know at a farm we have permission to hunt at, how much fun it is to back into the hot wire that's there for the cattle.  Pretty good wake up call. 

 

Was thinking about the situation, whoever did it is someone who likely knew exactly what you had and had a specific need as they only took the OA rig and left the book & notepad by accident behind.  I'd keep an eye on craig's list and any new hobbies anyone in the neighborhood might have.  People like that eventually trip up somewhere along the way.

[joshua.M]

we have a huge pile of topsoil/fertilizer in one of our bottom hay fields, it is a byproduct of the horses. It is the only field with access onto our property. I was out hunting groundhogs that have taken up residence in that field and noticed some tire tracks through the deep grass, followed them up to the topsoil pile and there was at least 2 yards gone. I set up a trail cam and and caught him coming in twice but no good shots, so i set up in the treeline with my .22 and waited, he drove in, red ATV and small dump trailer and shovel, I let him get out into the field, walk out of the treeline where he could see me, he stopped the ATV, turned around and left, never came back....

[seldom (dick renker)]

Frosty, I love the way you think.