July 27, 20169 yr Have stumbled upon some 3", 3.5", 4" and some 5.75" 4140. What to do with it. Most of it is 4'-10' long. All round but one 4' by 6" round tube. Wall is about 2"2.5"thick.
July 27, 20169 yr Don't know about you, but the 3" diameter rod would be awesome hammer head stock for me. The 4" stuff would be interesting for striking sledges, but I'd be a bit worried about being able to punch through it with my small equipment. The 5 3/4" sounds like great post anvil or even Sea Robin style anvil (unless you always wanted to make a tire hammer...)
July 27, 20169 yr lets see: the 3" diameter is about 2 pounds an inch; the 3.5", 2.73 pounds per inch. the 4" 3.57 pounds/inch and the 5.75 is about 7.37 pounds per inch of length. I would make a couple of nice ancient-early industrial revolution anvils from the large one---cube it (Got a friend with a press? weld a spike on the bottom and heat treat. (Now Steve Parker didn't weld a spike on the one I got from him; he forged it down from the 5"+ stock!!! I expect mere mortals would do better welding the spike on with proper pre and post heat, rod, etc, and so on,...
July 27, 20169 yr Author I am on the same page,. Also I am hoping when Brent Bailey comes to our PBA fall conference we might play with the 5 plus stocks for something.
July 27, 20169 yr Yeah, stake anvil was my first idea, too. But also PH die stock - you have to carve, forge or mill a bit, but still... I know my new dies was made from ~4" 4140 (actually 100mm dia 42CrMo4 but it's the same). And great score!! Bests Gergely
July 27, 20169 yr Author To start forging some of the bigger stuff I was going to use my log splitter. Only type of a press I have. I also have some stock down to 1 and 5/8th inch.
July 28, 20169 yr What to make depends on what machinery you have available to use. Slice off chunks and make bench blocks, dapping blocks, and other tooling. Hammers from the smaller diameters, power hammer parts, stake anvils, etc... The heavy wall tube is interesting., Being a machinist I see a lot of uses from blackpowder cannons to axles, But those require a lathe, and milling machine.
July 28, 20169 yr Author Biggun's I was thinking cannon barrel but know you have to be extra careful with how you plug the end.
July 28, 20169 yr I was thinking of boring out the smaller ones, not plugging the big one. Blackpowder also has a different pressure curve than smokeless. It is more of a push than a sharp spike. A threaded plug, or proper welding would do it. A big bore also requires more powder $$$, so unless you are chunking soda cans down range it is kind of overkill. My Dad made scale models of historical cannons that could be shot.
July 28, 20169 yr 49 minutes ago, BIGGUNDOCTOR said: I was thinking of boring out the smaller ones, not plugging the big one. Blackpowder also has a different pressure curve than smokeless. It is more of a push than a sharp spike. A threaded plug, or proper welding would do it. A big bore also requires more powder $$$, so unless you are chunking soda cans down range it is kind of overkill. My Dad made scale models of historical cannons that could be shot. I used to shoot with a guy who was a machinist. He bored out a piece of heavy wall "pipe", then machined a plug and heated the "pipe"/ froze the plug, to get an interference fit between the two. He'd also machined both to leave a V groove that he welded to guarantee they wouldn't come apart. I'm sure there were more details to the build, but I can't remember them at this point any longer. Not having the tools or experience at the time I really didn't pay all that close of attention. The result was a "beer can mortar". 2 table spoons of black powder would lob a sand filled beer/soda can a couple hundred yards. I will say everyone enjoyed both shooting it, and emptying out the ammo "containers".
July 29, 20169 yr Author A beer can is about the size of the bore on the tube. Bad thing is I will have to start drinking from cans!! My beer comes in bottles. Will get some pics tomorrow. My father in law and I built a small cannon out of one of the tilt cylinders from my skid loader. So this one should be fun.
July 29, 20169 yr During the second world war, the a group of British Naval scientists who were part of the Department of Miscellaneous Weapons Development, developed a weapon to be used against German dive bombers. When they went to demonstrate it to Winston Churchill, they found no one had provided them with any ammo to shoot from it. Being a smooth bore "mortar" it could fair a variety of different items and the team found that their lunch time beer would fit and could be fired. Impressed after seeing the demonstration using the beer bottles, Winston Churchill ordered it into production. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holman_Projector
July 29, 20169 yr On 7/26/2016 at 9:02 PM, matto said: Have stumbled upon some 3", 3.5", 4" and some 5.75" 4140. What to do with it. Most of it is 4'-10' long. All round but one 4' by 6" round tube. Wall is about 2"2.5"thick. If you're feeling like shipping any, I'll buy some 3" or 3.5" from ya That 5 3/4" would make a mighty fine block anvil. Power hammer dies are always an option. That's all I've got off the top of my head though.
July 29, 20169 yr 1 hour ago, SLAG said: DSW, Outstanding! Great reference, great read. SLAG. This book talks all bout their contributions to the war. It's a fascinating read. They made so many discoveries. I believe the book may be out of print, but Amazon showed a number of copies for sale. Also I found a site with the archived text of the book as well. https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Weapons-World-War-Ballantine/dp/B0006WSNTM?ie=UTF8&ref_=asap_bc https://archive.org/stream/secretwar193945007234mbp/secretwar193945007234mbp_djvu.txt
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