Squaring hooks to the wall????

[VaughnT]

Well, I jerry-rigged a vise/clamp gadget to use on my anvil and tried punching the countersinks after the hooks were bent.  Six hooks, twelve countersinks.... and it worked out reasonably well.  It's a two-heat job because you lose so much heat getting the hook into the contraption and cinched down, but the time it takes isn't as bad as the time spent tweaking the hooks like I had been doing.  I'll have to come up with a better vise/clamp contraption, but this one was good enough to get the order finished and out the door.  I've already got a half-dozen ideas on how to fab up something and am hunting for a small machinist's vise I can bolt to a hardy stem....

Now I just need to come up with a way to punch the holes reliably so I don't have to drill them.

[Xaiver]

Sorry, I got lost half way through the thread, but, maybe you will be kind enough to let me toss in my 2 cents. 

Wouldn't it be easier to make a tool for twisting that takes the holes into account? Say a rod with pins to fill the holes and keep them from distorting? 

Then you could just stick the pins in, give it a twist to straighten, and the holes should be fine? 

Not that there is anything wrong with streamlining your making process though. 

[VaughnT]

X, I think the biggest issue is doing a job in such a way that you have to go back and "fix" things at the end.  On top of that, any jig that used locator pins would require that the pins be infinitely adjustable because the countersinks aren't precisely placed since the work is done by hand and eye, or to the tolerances of a worn shilling!  

By the time you dial in the pins to fit the hook and then tweak the hook straight... you might as well just forge the hook so it's not twisted to begin with.

My plan is to find a low-priced machinist's vise that I can bolt to a hardy stem so the jaws are perpendicular to the face of the anvil.  This will allow me to quickly and securely grab the hook with the shank flat on the anvil's face, in the same orientation it would be on the wall.   Just got to find the right vise....

[zombieresponder]

If you want to make such a fixture(quick and dirty way from a machinist): Weld(arc) a small strip of square stock to a plate. Find a couple of bolts that will fit through your punched holes. Then weld a thicker piece of square stock to the same plate, spaced to allow the bolt heads to slide between it and the first piece. Weld a couple more pieces of square stock to the second piece to form a t slot that captures the bolt heads and still allows them to slide. Then locate and weld on your round stock to bend around.

[VaughnT]

Thanks for all the tips and suggestions.  I couldn't figure out a jig that would allow me to bend the nail hooks after the holes were already hammered into shape, so I used some pieces of scrap to weld up a hardy stem for a small vise.

I still have to dress up the hardy stem (including grinding on those nasty beads!), and will probably put a collar around it just for kicks.  The good news is that it holds the hooks in perfect orientation to the anvil face so I can hammer in the divots post-bending.

It takes one heat per countersink, but the nails come out spot on the money every time.  Now I just need to find a source for stainless steel nails and my world will be perfect!

 

 

[anvil]

Way late, but I'd like to add my 2 cents. Eddie Mullins hit it on the mark. For this kind of production and straightening  twist a shaping jig is overkill.

This description takes way longer than to do the job.

 

Tools: hammer, anvil, post vice, "s" shaped twisting wrench made slightly larger than your "frogs eye", square.

Setup: make a layout stick out of flat stock that marks the 4 transitions. First is the length of material you want for the scroll on one end. Next where you want your rt angle bend to be. Third and fourth are where your "frogs eyes" are to be.

Lay your marking jig on the edge of your table. Place as many nails against it as your square can reach. Using your table as a straight edge, place one leg of your square along it and across your nails. Make sure to square up the nail heads as well. Mark with chalk all your reference points from your layout stick. Lightly centerpunch these transition points.

Forging: mark the length you want your scroll to be on your anvil face. Use the heel as your reference point. Draw out all tapers to this length and make your scroll's. 

Punch your frogs eyes.

Make your right angle bend so the light centerpunch mark is center of the bend.

Now to your dilemma

Clamp the leg of your hook with the scroll in your post vice. Scroll down and using your mark one eyeball, look down at the scroll and make sure it is plumb.

If necessary, tap the vertical leg plumb and square using the jaw lines as your reference points.

Now grab your "s" twisting wrench and look down at the frogs eyes. Place the twisting wrench (which nicely fits over yer frogs eye, thus no distortion will happen) over the frogs eye and twist until it is perpendicular tp the line of the jaws.

Hot oil and done. 4 heats ~10-15 minutes max.

You may have a other problem. That is if your two frogs eyes are not in plane. Correct after making in the same way. Clamp your piece in the post vice with scroll pointing down so that the inboard frogs eye is close th the outside edge of the vice. Twist to match the perspective of the scroll. Clamp this frogs eye so your piece is vertical and the other frogs eye is slightly above the face of your vice and twist into plane.

Hope this helps.

 

 

[Frosty]

The little vise set up is a good solution but you can do as well or better with simpler now you have the idea.

My only suggestion at this point is to spread the screw holes a little farther apart for stability. You just never know when someone will hang something really heavy on one, say a fire fighter's turn out coat.

Frosty The Lucky.