For me one of the best things about being a blacksmith is the ability to make tools you want.  My boss is retiring and the company got him a large 16-inch wood lathe as a retirement gift.  I wanted to give him something from me so I decided to make him a large roughing gouge. I used some 1/4 inch 5160.  Forged out a tang got the roll started in a swage block and rolled it up on the anvil face.  Its 1-3/4 inside the flutes.  I turned a handle out of a chunk of cherry and used a cutting shoe from a drill rig sampler for the ferrule.  Our company is a drilling and engineering company so using a company artifact so to speak adds some mojo.  I quenched in hot veggie oil and tempered the edge to not quite straw while burning in the tang.  Cuts pretty good these large chisels are great to tuck under your arm while you are getting a large irregular chunk round for safety.

Nice work!  Bet he'll be pleased with it.

Nice gouge Matt, well done.

Would that have been an AW split spoon sampler? That'd just be a WILD guess of course. It looks WAY small for NW and certainly not a continuous. Driven SPTs before? . . .Who,  ME? (shhhhhhh folk  think I'm a respectable guy  now) <wink>

Frosty The Lucky.

1. Frosty you have a keen eye, AWJ split spoon for sampling.   I was tempted to touch it with the file while on the lathe, but all those cobble score make it real, I just shined it with a cork belt.  Thanks.

 

 

 

Well, a guy can't spend 20 years doing geotech drilling without some images sticking. Do you guys run safety or down hole hammers? I've never even watched a sandline operation in person.

I agree, the score marks tell the story, the recipient will get it immediately.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

We run the CME auto hammers (CHain driven drop hammers).  I haven't seen a rope and cathead use in many years though the rigs still come with the cathead.

 

 

We replaced our Mobile B-61 on a FN 110 Nodwell with a CME-75 on a TF 110 in 1982. Ours was one of the test rigs for the auto hammer they retrofitted it.

We'd start running rod with the cat head once the sand lines were used because it was a lot faster and had better feel. If you're running out with the end of a 25' string you want the guy on the controls to have good feel. Nothing can slap you into the ground like a string bouncing.

We drove casing with the auto hammer and samplers with the cathead. I guess the guys change the weights out to sample now. I think the cat head scares them, probably smarter than we were.

Did you know Hank Knoble the CME factory rep? Sometimes he'd fly up after we'd come in from the field just to see how the rig worked. Of course he'd have a meeting with the head guys but then he'd come hang out in the shop with me and we'd brainstorm over beers after work.

That's what I loved about CME, they marketed to the report writers and bean counters but designed with the guys who used the equipment. I was surprised how little input they were interested in from the maintenance shop. He'd collect the service and repair records but wasn't very interested in their ideas for making better drills.

Frosty The Lucky.

Momatt, 

Nice job on both the gouge and the handle. A real class act, your boss will be pleased. 

Peter 

That's a very thoughtful gift for a woodturner, nicely done. 

I like the look of it!  As an old turner though I would NEVER tuck a gouge under my arm... Especially while roughing!  

bigfootnampa, seconded.

Actually whenever there's risk of high enery catches, such as when roughing or working on the outer circumference of large, heavy bowl blanks,
I just pinch the handle horizontally between two fingers, so that if it snags, the tool goes flying without breaking any of my fingers. It very rarely snags, tho.

If you ever feel you need to resist the handle lifting, then the solution is not to hold harder, it is to sharpen the tool, spin the blank faster and ride the bevel.
The weight of the handle alone should be enough force.

Tucking is something you can do for comfort with a treadle lathe.

Edited March 20, 201511 yr by Stefflus