Andrew Collington Posted August 27, 2017 Share Posted August 27, 2017 I went to a car boot sale today (non-uk friends; it's like a garage sale but people rock up in their cars/vans and sell stuff out the back of them) for the first time in forever, and my wife scored me 28 or so rasps for £10 and myself found some really heavy-duty spanners all for a tenner, as well as a few other bits and bobs. Got the rasps so I can practice something like knife making (whether they'll be viable metal for it I don't know, but it's more just for practice and to learn) and had every intention to reshape the spanners in some way… but they're pretty big and something I'm not likely to get again so don't feel I have the heart (or arm strength!!) to hammer these out in any way. But still; I was happy with my haul today from the local area and just wanted to share my joy. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 Awesome score on the wrenches! I'd be happy finding those as well. They would be great to use as bars to add coat hooks to and hang them on the wall. Many other uses as well. Good luck with the rasps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 Sweet score Andrew. Wrenches like those make great animal sculptures, check out Das. Ausfire, and the other scrap critters here. Please forgive me ScrapAus I can't remember your webhandle. I'm sure it'll come to me just after my time to edit expires. You can test the files by heating one to critical and oil quenching it, then give the tang a rap on something hard. If it snaps it'll make a knife. Normalize or anneal it before you start working it though it'll be brittle as glass as quenched. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 Scrapartoz? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 12 minutes ago, Daswulf said: Scrapartoz? YES, that's the guy. My memory sucks sometimes. You guys wrench critters ROCK! Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 Somehow, those wrenches say "Chair" to me.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 Wish they were 3 the same length as I was thinking " end table" with the table top fitting in the open end---you can forge the bottom jaw out to make it hold the top with 2 screws per wrench...(and size the opening as they would probably not be the same size...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted August 30, 2017 Share Posted August 30, 2017 Some awesome scorpion claws with those spanners. Or spanner lizards of course. The angled one in the middle would make great feet for a perching bird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted August 30, 2017 Share Posted August 30, 2017 I have never seen a wrench with the head at almost a right angle to the handle....3rd from the left. As to the rasps, and files. If they are still sharp I would not make knives out of them, but use them for what they are. Old rasps can be used to hot rasp steel. The problem I see with rasp knives is that the teeth are cut so deep that they are perfect stress risers, and can cause breakage when quenching, or using. As told to me by the materials guy at Nicholson file company, Rasps and wood files are a lower grade of steel than the machinist files because wood and hooves are softer than steel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Collington Posted August 30, 2017 Author Share Posted August 30, 2017 You guys are so creative! To be able to look at some spanners and come up with critters, chairs, tables - it's great! Have loved looking around and seeing things like the rabbit/hare you created, @Daswulf, or the dancing figure from @ausfire... and that horse sculpture @scrapartoz created? Wow! Can't imagine how heavy that thing was to move. I'm sure there's a lot more posted up that I haven't seen yet (it's a shame there seem to be a lot of pictures missing; I get the impression there was a big file loss at some point). The spanners for me are going to be tucked away somewhere in my garage until I feel I have any kind of skill level to do them justice - and I'll certainly be taking inspiration from all the great stuff posted on this forum. I certainly take your point with the rasps, though, @BIGGUNDOCTOR. I have already pulled out a couple of the less rusted ones to keep as-is. But I was going to use the others more as a practice for getting some technique down, shaping, quenching, etc. They just seemed like a good stock size and shape to practice turning it into a knife, and if I really mess up when trying out different things then I'm not out any decent steel that cost me a bit more money. (Though I saw someone had turned a rasp into a snake, which I may like to give a go.) Incidentally, it looks like that 3rd spanner from the left may be a bulldozer spanner. It's got the same code (3041400) and Staffordshire Knot (visible in the pic) as the one listed here: http://ozwrenches.com/ihc.htm#43 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted September 1, 2017 Share Posted September 1, 2017 That logo is the one for International Harvester Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted September 2, 2017 Share Posted September 2, 2017 Andrew, That spanner on the right would make a great moose. It's the same profile (upright head) as the one I used in my attempt to forge one of those critters. There's challenge for you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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