August 17, 20178 yr I rarely make tools. I really needed this one. I enjoyed it. Made from 1/2" mild steel bar. Length 16". To bend stock up to 7/16". The hole was slit and drifted to receive a 5/16" tenon on the 1/2" leg.
August 17, 20178 yr Interesting I like it... never thought of doing it that way, good job, now I need to use your idea.
August 17, 20178 yr Author Glad you like it. It works. I tried it. As to using my idea, let's face it I am probably using somebody else's idea. That is what we do when we keep in touch : we see the good, the bad, the ugly. I am glad that you see the good in this tool.
August 18, 20178 yr Neat idea. I've made a couple of scrolling wrenches, and I think I'll give this a try. One idea, though (that I'll let you know if it works), is to make the main part of the tool from rectangular stock with the right-angle bend done the hard way; that will require a longer tenon on the inner piece, which will give more resistance to bending.
August 18, 20178 yr Author I planned on forging one from round 5/8" for stock up to 11/16". I'll wait for your experiment. As for the resistance, I bent 5/16" cold with it to try. It was fine. With hot stock I do not think that the tenon would give. But as I said, I'll wait.
August 18, 20178 yr 2 minutes ago, yves said: I'll wait for your experiment. Don't wait too long -- I'm only a hobbyist, and I don't know when I'll be getting back in the forge.
August 18, 20178 yr Author I wish to whatever I were a hobbyist of your level. Ok, I will not wait and try my hand at the 5/8". And by the way, I envy your trailer.
August 18, 20178 yr I think you're confusing me with @jlpservicesinc, of whose trailer I am also in envy.
August 18, 20178 yr Author It's late and I am an old man, better at 4:30 in the morning than 4:30 in the afternoon …
August 18, 20178 yr Very nice design. I'm always looking for unique ways to incorporate different techniques into a project just to keep things fresh. The last fork I made, i used tenoned lugs like you did and it's holding up very well. No looseness at all, and I've used it to bend about 100 5/8" railroad spikes into hooks. I wouldn't worry at all about a peened tenon working loose over the ages. Initially, I just peened them to hold everything in place while I welded them permanently, but the things are rock solid and I've never seen the need to weld them. I need a fork for some smaller stock, so you can expect your notion to be borrowed! Thank you for the inspiring design!
August 18, 20178 yr Greetings All, I have a bunch of bending forks but have a few favorites that are easy to make. The big one is 3/4 stock with 3/4 round bar offset on opposing sides for heavy duty jobs. The others are straight on forks from 1/2 and 3/8 round bar. The 3/8 one slides through the 1/2 for leverage. The straight on ones are great for adjusting scrolls and elements in a gate fence or fireplace screen., Have fun Forge on and make beautiful things Jim
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