Everything Mac Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 So me and a buddy of mine had a mini forge in last week. We wanted to have a crack at some tooling and I had some steel ideal for the job. We decided to do it out in the garden so the little 100 lb Fisher really earned its keep. The poor girl took a real hammering and at some point a miss strike took a small chunk out of the edge. A bit annoying but it's not worth crying over spilt milk. My ghetto forge was doing a grand job heating up the EN19 (4140 equivalent I believe) We were too busy having fun to take many pictures but we made the following: From left to right - a drift made from old pry bar, two Brent Bailey style slitting punches which worked very well on the 30mm round EN19 to the far right. We switched over to my large anvil to hammer the drift through. We were both very happy with how the slit punches worked. They went through without any issues what so ever. And the drift did an admirable job of creating an eye. The entire session was a learning experience for both of use as we haven't made tooling like this before. It was clearly much easier with one of us being a striker but I think we will both be having another go alone in the future. We slit and drifted a hole in each end of the bar I had before cutting it in half to make a tool for each of us. I had a 45 degree chisel I want to use for making lines in bars and my mate made a slot punch. Thanks for looking All the best Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jumbojak Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 That looks like it was a lot of fun. Very nice tooling too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Ivan Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 Sounds like my kind of day! Nice job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 Sounds like a fine day Andy. Nice tools and fun making them, what could be better? Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForgeMan32 Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 It's addictive. Makes you think of what you can forge next Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forging Carver Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 Nice! Once I find myself a striker and a good deal on H13, I hope to do the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickOHH Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 Looks like you guys were havin some fun, super grattifing making your own tools now to use them to make even more! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Everything Mac Posted February 24, 2016 Author Share Posted February 24, 2016 We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves Nick, that's for sure. And yes it was very gratifying to make our own tooling. Like I say neither of us had made top tools before so it was a bit of fun for sure. Ok they might not be the prettiest things in the world but they certainly worked, and we will most definitely be making more in the future. The slitting punches we made were perhaps a bit thin, next time I'd make them with a steeper profile. We started off a hammer on 2" bar and it was a real mission. They went through in the end but would heat up quite quickly and were bending after a while which was frustrating. No such issues on the smaller eyes though. I've got some H13 that I might try and forge into a slitter but it's at least 1 1/4" diameter so I'm not looking forward to it at all. All the best Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ethan the blacksmith Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 looks very productive. also, im sure everyone knows this, but forging h13 is a nightmare! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navaja Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 Nice work & useful tools. On my "to make" list....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForgeMan32 Posted February 26, 2016 Share Posted February 26, 2016 Yes h13 is like hitting cold steel lol. You have to rely on your heat to do the work and a power hammer really helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odblacksmith Posted February 26, 2016 Share Posted February 26, 2016 Very nice tooling.Looks like fun,its hard to find a sucker...ahem i mean striker where i am located. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Everything Mac Posted February 27, 2016 Author Share Posted February 27, 2016 4 hours ago, odblacksmith said: Very nice tooling.Looks like fun,its hard to find a sucker...ahem i mean striker where i am located. I normally struggle as well. My buddy lives a 5hr drive from me but happened to be coming up my way for something else so decided to pop by and stay the night. We took it in turns to strike with a fairly short handled 7lb sledge. It wasn't too taxing on day one but on day two we were both knackered. Punching through the 2" bar was ab absolute chore. All the best Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickOHH Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 8 hours ago, Everything Mac said: Punching through the 2" bar was ab absolute chore. All the best Andy Now try to do it by yourself and that won't have seemed so bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Everything Mac Posted February 27, 2016 Author Share Posted February 27, 2016 6 hours ago, NickOHH said: Now try to do it by yourself and that won't have seemed so bad. Lol. We need power hammers eh! All the best Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SJS Posted March 4, 2016 Share Posted March 4, 2016 I love striking, but never have the time because of my job. I'm self employed and my boss is a jerk;-) he works me to death... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Ivan Posted March 4, 2016 Share Posted March 4, 2016 32 minutes ago, SJS said: I love striking, but never have the time because of my job. I'm self employed and my boss is a jerk;-) he works me to death... I'm in the same boat. My boss likes to work me 12-14 hours a day 7 days a week. "Gotta pay the bills" is what he tells me....what a stickler. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natenaaron Posted March 4, 2016 Share Posted March 4, 2016 Those are nice tools. I am envious of your free time. I have Three bosses. One understands the meaning of contract time. The other two can be real butt busters. I've been trying to get fired for years but when you sleep with one, and the couch sucks you do what you must. The third boss is me and well I can't seem to get fired there either. Darn my parents for instilling a strong work ethic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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