1st attempt - self designed pritchel tool

[Eddie Mullins]

Decided to give a go at a tool to provide a helping hand holding punches for me. Made out of 1/4" round, no measurements taken, just went to it. I'm not perfectly satisfied with the design just yet, but it is functional and am well satisfied with the effort and the learning's from it.

 

[Jim Coke]

Greetings Ed.

 

We have all been on a quest to so to say BUILD A BETTER MOUSETRAP.  You have a great head and will do well in blacksmithing but your idea as you will find out is quite cumbersome and limited...  You will find its more trouble to make work than its worth...  Keep on thinking

 

Jim

[Eddie Mullins]

Hmm, I can't decide if that was a compliment or not LOL ,
 
I'm 40, but only 3 months into my metal working / smithing journey so I see each attempt at anything as a good learning if nothing else, if it works great, if not I got time at the forge, practice, and a base to learn from. The building of the tool I found not to be trouble but enjoyable, and I have less than $0.50  in materials so its a pretty cheap lesson if it ends up in the scrap pile : ). I'm actually planning a guillotine, but not set on the design yet, this was just a fun lil project I thought might spark some ideas (or provide amusement) for others.

[Jim Coke]

Greetings again Ed,

 

That was a compliment,    You ought to see my pile of it was a good idea at the time...   Once I set out to make a better set of tongs... Well now it sets in the pile .. And I have been at it for 40 years... 

 

Forge on

 

Jim

[ThomasPowers]

Way down in the pile, I bet...

 

Now as to that new tool:  it might be better to use larger stock to prevent bounce and sway of the tool it holds under the kind and gentle influence of the hammer. You may also want to have it sit in the hardy to prevent it from rotating around the hole while in use.

 

However if it's a low usage tool it might suit you fine as it is.  If you use it a LOT you will be thinking up how to deal with your issues with it and probably go through several variations.  I firmly believe that toolmaking is an  iterative process!  *Expect* to remake tools making them better for *YOU* each time.  (I have great difficulty with new students getting them to realize that the designs they buy in the store are not generally the *best* ones but the cheapest to make and sell that will do the work and when they do their own tools they can make them to suit themselves and their working habits.)

 

Now sometimes this will come aback and bite you---every once in a while you will grab a nasty piece of bedraggled scrap to make a quick and dirty one use tool only to find that your first go at it was so perfect that it gets used for years and sits on your tool rack laughing at you while it scratches it's "fleas and mange"  (I'm not a big fan of remaking tools that work; got too long a list of projects as it is!)

[VaughnT]

Very neat idea and a good execution.  I wouldn't have thought of it.

 

Like Thomas mentioned, it will want to rotate in the pritchel but it's an easy fix to get it working in the hardy hole.  All you have to do is spread the bars a bit so that they sit tight in the opposite corners of the square hole.  Fits AND prevents spinning.

 

I use this all the time on hardy tools because it's easier and faster to weld on a loop of 1/4" round stock than it is to find 1-1/8" stock for my hardy.... or draw thick material down to size.

[Charles R. Stevens]

Just thinking out loud...
...a hardy tool base, with a square punched hole indexing a square shaft with a shoulder and a light spring, just enugh to lift the punch so you can move the material in place...
But hey what you have works, and it's certainly not an emarasmant to look at ( don't see any "fleas and mange") but it dose inspire others.

[David Gaddis]

That tool must go!

It's usage removes the reason for fellowship. Now your visitors and friends must resort to holding cold beverages and such.

 

What a shame. Putting people out of work.

 

Carry on

[Eddie Mullins]

Thanks for the feedback, all more food for thought and good info.

 

I don't know if you can tell the scale of things in my pictures, but my anvil is quite small, only 70 lbs, it was local, in great shape and priced right so its serving me well as my first, but it does not provide much work space. Thats one reason I went with the pritchel, I have another idea or 2 to make some changes and will post the results when I get time to try them out. I've gotten a little distracted with knife making and scrolls.... and a few ideas for a foot or spring operated hardy hold down. I'm trying to decide if its best to have a third hand to hold the punch or to hold the work (I have made a traditional hold fast but its not quite performing as I want for different stocks and shapes). Heck I may use a hold down for the stock , the tool for the punch, then I can hammer with one hand and scratch my head with the other . :lol:

 

So much to learn and do and try and sooo little time.....

[Pault17]

welcome to the disease/addiction.  I like the tool and will have to try it out, but I would make it fit the hardy, just so's it won't spin around too much.  I usually don't have many "helpers" around so I have to make my own.  I have a simple L-shaped bar as long as my anvil, with a little hook at the end to keep things from slipping off, that fits my pritchel and lets me hold long things on the anvil without having a third hand.

[Backwoods Blacksmith]

Well, that should work.  Good idea.  The more you do the more ideas you get.  Carry on and have fun

[Frosty]

Not bad Eddie, not bad a'tall a'tall. part of what Jim was talking about is you're a problem solver and willing to take a slash at new things. This one will benefit from development but you had the idea and it "works". That this particular incarnation may end up as parts of something else or resting under the less than perfect experiment pile wouldn't surprise me at all. the idea is sound the execution is a good departure point.

 

I'm thinking it's a well done (put a gold star on this page of your journal) even if it has a boat load of problems, none are insoluble.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Sam Salvati]

Well done! creative tool! A very good solution to the problem as you see it, very cool.

[Steve Sells]

you did well finding a good solution to  being cursed by only habing 2 hands. ;)

[rockstar.esq]

I think it's cool and has a certain grace to it's curves.  It's got me thinking of how I could take a magnetic base and use it for the tool holder part.  Seems like it'd be pretty cool to have a rebounding arm to hold struck tools like a helper would.