Forged my first hot cut and round punch

[Harris Snyder]

I've been lacking these basic tools, so I decided that enough was enough.

 

Hot Cut: (no attempt was made to make it pretty - I have no striker or power hammer, so I was a little tired by the time I got it functional, and I needed to use it right away) I have to say, doing this alone made me glad I have a 4 pound hand sledge. The normal 2.75 lb hammers just weren't cutting it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the round punch (ex masonry drill bit):

 

 

Will be grinding both of these once my belt grinder arrives on monday.

Cheers.

[Dave Hammer]

Nice work Harris!   

 

Your hotcut profile is a great one.   One thing, if you grind (or sand) it to a sharper profile, remember to dull the cutting edge down to about a 64th of an inch (that way, the edge is less likely to dent or fold over when you use it.  I just do this by raking it lightly across a fine (100-120 grit) sanding belt after the grinding is done.

[Harris Snyder]

Thanks, man. Good to know, I'll keep that in mind. Thank you!

[swedefiddle]

Farriers use a piece of triangular Bar, called "the Devil". K.I.S.S. Makes the mark or the cut anywhere you lay it down.

Werks Gudd Two :) :)

 

Neil

[Frosty]

Well done Harris. That is a lot of work single handed. I sharpen my hardies and hot cuts sharp but put a convex bevel on the edge, it makes them much more robust and requires less force to drive through the stock. Slightly blunting works well for the reasons given but I don't do it except for butchers and area section isolation sets.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Harris Snyder]

Thanks Frosty. Yeah, it was a hard day, but I enjoyed it. Like i said I bought a hand sledge two weeks ago for doing this sort of thing. I don't even have the grinder yet, so it's staying like that for the weekend at least. I did use it to cut the 3/4 inch chrome-vanadium alloy steel masonry drill bit that ended up being the punch, and it held up fine.

[Dan C]

Those are good looking tools!  I have the hot cut on my to-do list and it's good information above about it's cutting edge.  Like you, I'll be doing it with a 4 lb hammer though starting from a jack hammer bit should cut down on some of the work. 

 

Frosty - what do you mean by this in regards to blunting?  "I don't do it except for butchers and area section isolation sets"  I'm not following you.

[Frosty]

You don't need a grinder if you first hot rasp it, then draw file it to finish edge before you harden it. hardening will damage the edge but it'll still be close enough to whet stone sharp.

 

If you find a striker you can make yourself a turning hammer ala Brian Brazeal, a turning hammer moves metal so much faster than a flat face. Cross and straight peins are really effective for moving metal in a controlled direction. Any of these will make forging a hardy a joy instead of a chore. Still a lot of work but less than half.

 

Dcraven: by blunting read DAve's post proceeding mine, he lays out the why of it well. For some cutters a blunting is a must, say any for cutting copper alloys, Drill bits, lathe cutters, deburring tools, etc. A very light touch to a fine grinding belt or gentle brush edge on to a sharpening stone to take the as honed edge off the cutter makes for a robust edge that is much less likely to roll when hot.

 

A convex edge is backed by steel even if hit off center. Put your hands together and bend your fingers like a hollow ground bevel and you can see how easy pressure from the side will bend then roll it. Straighten your fingers to a straight bevel and you can see it's stronger but still vulnerable. Now imagine it parting steel, the steel is forced aside all along the final bevel with attendant friction. Lastly bend your fingers out so they're convex to the edge. You'll see the edge is backed by steel at almost any angle of impact. Now imagine it parting steel, the only point of friction is a very small point of the curve, think a tire on the road. It's not only much easier to drive, it absorbs less heat, is stronger and less likely to roll.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Harris Snyder]

Yeah I've been interested in a rounding hammer. I also need a striaight peen, I only have cross peen, ball peel, and more or less flat faces (though all of my hammer faces are slightly convex). How heavy is the typical brazeal hammer. Looks like a good 3 pounds.

[Joe Davidson]

Most brazeal rounding hammers are about 4 to 5 pounds depending on the user

[LastRonin]

I made myself a dual diagonal-pein from a 3# Estwing hammer. one end functions as a crosspein, spin it in my palm and its a straight-pein function, but being 45 degrees offset, it allows an unobstructed view of the workpiece when striking it. I love the way it works for me. My other main hammer is a 4# 'Engineers Hammer' (I believe) that I rounded one of the faces to about a dime sized section on one head and the other side is just dressed to eliminate the sharp edges.

[Harris Snyder]

Oh okay, so they're fairly serious hammers then. Well my current 4 pounder is a bit rounded. It would be a challege for me to make a 5 lb hammer without a striker, but I'll think about it.

 

As for the diagonal pein, I've thought about that myeslf actually. I might just make a fullering tool that doubles as a striaght pein.

[Hyper Iron]

What kind of anvil is that? That's a sweet anvil. And good job on the tools my man. It's more important it works well than for it to look good.

[Harris Snyder]

Funny you mention that, I hate this anvil. It's 70 lbs and the heel is too thin. I also find the large round hole in the heel and the placement of the hardie hole to be obnoxious. But if you want to buy it I'll gladly sell it to you! Haha.

 

No, in all seriousness it would be fine for someone who wanted a portable anvil who didn't mind a bit of ring from a thin heel. It also has some farrier specific features that some people might like. Personally I'd like a heavier, simpler anvil with the traditional hardie/pritchell set up. This one is an NC Tool Co "big face" 70 lb anvil.

 

Thanks for the compliments, they're working well so far! I actually did reheat the hot cut and pretty it up a little bit, so it looks a little better now, works about the same though.