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I Forge Iron

Tire Iron Hardie Hot Cut For Pritchell


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Been thinking about making a hardie hot cut for the pritchell ever since I saw Gary Huston's video about making one for a hole in a rr track anvil.

Here is what i came out like, not too bad.

I did a vid about it. I still haven't strapped my anvil down yet but doesn't move that much with downward strikes. It is actually recessed in the stump about an inch. Anyway it came out OK not really like I intended.

 

 

Here's the video that got me thinking about it.

 

 

 

 

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Does it turn a lot when you're using it?  I know even when I'm using a poorly fitting hardie in the actual hardie hole, a little excessive movement can be a little nuisance for me.

  All in all though, pretty cool idea, would probably do good for all kinds of RR anvil tooling.

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update: The nut wouldn't come off but it had about 1/16" of vertical play in it. Didn't affect the use of it at all, once you hit it would seat down nicely. So in my infinite wisdom I tried to "fix" it. And i screwed it up. I got it back to being usable but I want to make another one. Black oxide nuts are ok to forge correct?

I should have just left it alone....

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Yeah, the oil quenched nuts (black) are fine to forge. Once you get it reasonably tight, cool the cut and bring the nut up to near red. Driving them together then will make an interference fit, the shaft will be a few thousandths larger than the hole. When the nut cools it'll be TIGHT.

Frosty the Connected.

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  • 3 years later...

The OP mentions making one for a hole in his rr track anvil, so most likely has no square hardy hole. 

Some anvils could easily handle it as long as you Are cutting Hot, not overly sized metal with it. But really why bother if you have a hardy hole to make a hot cut for. Just saying, I have seen many old anvil heels broke off or the faceplate broken off At the hardy hole as well. And that was Meant to hold a hardy tool. 

Either abuse or defective anvil construction. 

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Yeah, I was just a noob, still am I guess compared to most here. I made it out of what I had with what skills I had just to get a quick hot cut for the small stuff I use.

Actually turned out better than I expected.  Doesn't make any sense to hot cut when the piece is cold so I don't ;)

Anyway, still use it regularly, no problems works great.

Thanks for commenting.

Carry on.

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Actually I made it for my American Star anvil. Its 160+lb and pretty thick at the heel. Gary Huston is the one that made it for the rr track. The link to his video is Iin the original post. 

When I made this I didn't have any stock big enough to make one for my Hardy hole. So when I saw his video I figure I could pull that off. I figured people use the pritchel to punch holes etc. It should hold up to some light hot cutting. Especially since it has a big nut sitting on the top of the anvil to help disperse energy and no pressure pushing from the inside of the hole, like some Hardy tools I've seen.

Like you mentioned earlier, I think busted anvils are caused from abuse(exteme cold work) or defects. I got a good deal on an old anvil because the entire heel was broke off. Looks like it broke off on part of the forge weld. Still weighed 99lbs can't remember the brand.

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  • 2 years later...

A little bit of necromancy here I know, but I have questions about the tire iron video. Is forming the cutting edge out of the tire iron cup ok? To me, it looks risky. What prevents the edge from splitting open? I guess it would be ok if you forge weld the two sides together (assuming that can be done); but, I don’t think he did that. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

hey. I did try to forge weld the cup. Not sure if it it took because I'm not the greatest at forge welding, especially back then. As for it splitting open, it never has and I still use it on small stock. I have had to reshape the edge a few times and it looks fine to me.  If it did split or anything I would probably electrically weld it. I'm sure you probably know this but just for clarity, the thing to really remember about this sort of tool is to make sure your work piece is at proper cutting heat and to stop hitting it when its not, I've never had a problem with it. Of course ymmv, I was just seeing what I could make with free junk I had laying around.

thanks for checking out the video and asking the question.

Edited by Mod30
Remove excessive quote.
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