May 30, 20197 yr JHCC, 2 hours ago, JHCC said: One modification I’m going to make on the next one is to texture one side of the rod with a cross peen before I curl it into a spiral. I’ve had a couple of instances of the reins slipping a bit, and I think that will help. Glenn, a long time back, suggested using the thread of a bolt to texture the edges of iron leaves to fashion the toothed edges of those leaves. It can be used to enhance the gripof your very clever tong clips. A large screw would make diagonal indentations. Just a thought, SLAG. p.s. Thanks for your information.
May 30, 20197 yr Author Hmm...I think I have some long bolts that might work.... 36 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said: I just use a piece of pipe mounted vertically in my vise I've dropped a rod into the pritchell hole of my anvil and used that with good success. The trick is to pull the end of the bottom coil, so that as the spring straightens, it drops down rather than riding up.
May 30, 20197 yr Chris: How are you holding up in the storms? I want to know more about John's recumbent elephant sized spring he has out back, how he got it home and why. Uncoiling spring is easy and entertaining but you really need a helper to either remove and drop the coil on the spindle or have hold of the clamp and be ready to run. The first time we tried it at a club meeting we tried uncoiling an entire 6' overhead door spring. There wasn't enough cleared path in front of the shop door. Were we to dry it again we'd move to an abandoned road and use a tow vehicle. Maybe run it between 3-4 vertical rollers to help straighten it. That was I'm thinking 15 years ago and we haven't run out of stock. Frosty The Lucky.
May 30, 20197 yr Author The pile is the size of a recumbent elephant, not the spring (nor, for that matter, the shop).
May 30, 20197 yr 1 hour ago, Frosty said: Chris: How are you holding up in the storms? Well hi there, Mr. Frosty. We've missed you this past week. Ran off to have a face lift??? The tornado that went through Norman, OK headed right at our house at 4am.................lifted off the ground 1/4 mile from our house (because we were praying) and landed 1/4 mile beyond our house. We were in the storm shelter in our garage floor. The only damage at our place was a few limb tips laying on the ground the next morning. Oklahoma has been suffering extensive flooding and water rescues are up drastically. At our house, all is well. I just keep my head down and keep working on knife making projects. But thanks for asking. Also, thanks for the comments on uncoiling garage door springs. Looks like one or two would make for a good source for blacksmithing projects for me to practice on.
May 30, 20197 yr That's good to hear Chris. All the folk in harms way haven't been far from my thoughts and prayers. Believe me, one garage door spring will last you a LONG time, it's handy stock. I'm off to nap now, having a mug like mine lifted is just exhausting. Frosty The Lucky.
May 30, 20197 yr I have it on good authority that Frosty is recovering from having accidentally bitten himself on his nose. Hopefully he won't be reduced to wearing a silver one like Strawn did in Cat Ballou. Perhaps we can crowdfund him a drone/coffee mug hybrid. (Perhaps I can: move, change my name and undergo plastic surgery before he next visits the lower lower 48....Anybody want to wear an Aloha shirt and lederhosen at Quad-State???) Pretty much everyone drops off for a bit from time to time for reasons ranging from travel to computer issues to alien abductions (the grey ones are easier to grab than the green ones!) I'm just glad when some of the folks climb back on!
May 30, 20197 yr Well, Thomas, I for one am glad he's back. He always gives me solid advice.................not that others don't, but he most always puts it in a way my feeble brain understands.
May 30, 20197 yr I worked the Patch in OK during the early 1980's and bought my first smithing stuff when I was wandering through OK; (and I thought the prices were high back then!)
May 30, 20197 yr Don't blame you for leaving. I've been here all my life (with the exception of "free room and board" for 4 years with the military) and have wished only to leave. I'm a "mountains" kind of guy. Spent 27 years as a professional photographer, backpacking to do my work. 99% of it in NM, CO, WY, and MT. Only thing keeping me in Oklahoma is all the "anchors" that would make it too hard/costly to make the move..................plus the fact I'm gettin' too old to shovel the amount of snow I could 50 years ago!
May 30, 20197 yr Followed my work: OK to AR to OH to NM to MX, My Mother was born near Altus on a farm without electricity or running water---but they had a gas stove from a local well. I was born in NW AR and keep boomeranging back, I own 13 acres of Family land back there. However the last 15 years in NM has made the lack of ice storms and chiggers/mosquitos play heavily on where to retire too, that and I have a paid off house out here.
May 30, 20197 yr I love Northern NM and Southwestern CO. Beautiful country.............it's where my heart lives. Just can't afford for my body to join it!
May 30, 20197 yr Lift my own mug?! Peasants. Good thing I have enough nose to spare. Frosty The Lucky.
May 31, 20197 yr Author And the "two eyes made out of coal" thing is why he invented the Frosty T burner.
May 31, 20197 yr Author One thing I can assure you of, however, is that this particular tong clip was NOT forged in the fires of Mount Doom.
May 31, 20197 yr Here is a clever style of crimping tong clip that a friend of mine showed me (his, not mine, I have yet to set aside time to make one myself). I think it needs a bit more refinement, but even as shown it crimps down pretty well and releases with a flick on the outside arm. Needless to say this is two pieces that slide with a square tennon/socket style joint.
May 31, 20197 yr 1 hour ago, ThomasPowers said: Everybody is outsourcing these days; will the new tariffs affect them? The SLAG says, You betcha!! And our president is fixing to tariff, (that is, tax, folks). all Mexican imports. (that will be 5% to start.) SLAG.
May 31, 20197 yr Author No politics on the forum, folks. Let’s get back to other fields of non sequitur.
June 1, 20197 yr 8 hours ago, ThomasPowers said: I forgot you generally use a carrot.. Carefully picked carrot every one. Frosty The Lucky.
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