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I will be firing up my forge for the third time this weekend and I plan to make a hold down tool that will allow me to work without bothering my neighbor when I need to punch a hole.  I am planning to use a piece of 3/4  x 18" drill stem for this piece.  This piece is hollow and that got me wondering if it was OK to use.

 

I plan to use tongs to avoid any hot gasses that might flow through the piece.  

 

Does anyone have any advice for working with hollow stock?

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You asked:Does anyone have any advice for working with hollow stock?

Safety note:

When quenching a pipe or hollow stock make sure you do not aim the open 

end of the pipe in your direction.  :o 

I have seen water and steam shoot out the end of pipe stock when quenching. 

Be Safe and have fun in the process!

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I do not feel the above warnings are descriptive enough.

 

Hollow pipe can be dangerous as it can become a steam cannon. Not just allowing the steam to build up and release but release under great pressure and force. Always plug the end and KEEP it pointed in a safe direction. 

 

Tire lug wrenches are good stock to work with for many projects.

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Pipe won't make a good hold fast even if you can bend it smoothly. Tire irons are really cheap at garage/yard sales and most spring shops just haul old springs to the scrap yard. Visit with a box of donuts and you probably won't ever pay for an old spring.

 

Make it so the shank protrudes all the way through the anvil, sometimes the easiest way to release it will be with a tap from the bottom though in almost all situations a tap on the back works just fine.

 

Be sure to get steel that fits the pritchel hole with a little space, most hold fasts aren't used in the hardy though there are situations. I have a couple hold fasts for the hardy if I'm doing something that requires a really hard, solid hold on the work but I rarely use one.

 

Another way to bend pipe without kinking it is to slide a piece of cable through it, position the pipe on the form and pull till it's where you want it. If you don't have a winch and a couple snatch blocks a pickup truck will to the trick but you have to have a helper.

 

Making pipe hot enough to hand bend is deep enough in the danger zone a person is probably better off just buying one. You just ain't lived till you've seen a glob of boiling water hit the ceiling hard enough to break a fire/explosion light fixture. That was a worst case situation in High school but it was awesomely frightening and amazingly nobody got burned.

 

Be safe, there just aren't enough blacksmiths out there to be flash boiling them

 

Frosty The Lucky.

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I'm no expert, but it seems to me that hollow pipe would not be the best choice for a hold down. I have found that plain ordinary rebar works pretty well. Just find a piece that suits the pritchel hole on your anvil and away you go.

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I hope you got the message… hold down/holdfast, hollow stock…. no good.   Use solid stock.  In that diameter you can certainly get away with mild steel if that is all you can find.  Having struggled with holdfasts in the past, my recommendations are as follows:

 

As Frosty suggests, the stock used should be a close fit for your pritchel hole.  Make it just enough smaller that it slips easily into the hole.  

 

I always suggest that the cross section in the arched region should be forged down to something closer to rectagonal/oval in section rather than leaving it round.  It will resist bending better.

 

When you view the relationship between the pad section that actually contacts the stock that is being held, and the shank that protrudes through the hole, the angel should be slightly more acute than 90 degrees.  In my experience 90 degrees or more than 90 degrees seriously compromises the clamping ability of the holdfast.

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I am guessing that the drill stem has a small diameter hole for blowing out the hole being drilled, if so as Eddie mentioned makeing monkey tools sounds really good, with this pilot hole making some square ones might be a good idea.

Forgive my ignorance, but what is a monkey tool?  

 

I visited your web site, by the way.  You have a very nice selection of small scale items.  

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