9 hours ago, Another FrankenBurner said:

edge of the anvil and over the trunk.  It is a wonderful tool.

Great looking tool. I work alone and this build has been on my mind for some time.

Them burrs are something else. Had a number of them lodged into my hands when i built my first burner. Can totally tell if a lodged foreign object is metal or not by the weird almost shock-like pain. Similar to biting on foil.

Rotary tools usually throw debris in a pattern, think of sparks from a grinder.  First, stay out of the pattern.  Close fitting safety glasses with an additional layer of goggles or a full face shield add a extra level of protection.  There will always be the bounce effect and some debris getting under a face shield, but you can greatly reduce the risk of injury.  

Don't forget to thoroughly brush out your hair BEFORE removing the goggles!  I had one in my hair drop into my eye later.  Luckily I was able to remove it with one of the scary strong disk drive magnets before it could embed, just a little scratching...

I also lack the dexterity for left handed burr work.  Good idea though.  I am going to give it a try anyway.  Makes me want for a counterclockwise rotary tool.

I was worried about bringing it in the house on my clothes as it tends to get everywhere.  I had not thought about cleaning out my hair.  Thank you for that tip.  

9 minutes ago, Another FrankenBurner said:

Makes me want for a counterclockwise rotary tool.

Heck, reversed rotary tools would be easy to make.............................only problem is the billions of $$$ it would take to make all the "reverse" bits to go in'em!

I have been involved with certain shop projects where my wife made me strip on the patio and turned the hose on me before she would let me in the house. 

I think every smith should have one of those scary strong magnets in the med kit. Another thing that helps me a lot is a lighted magnifier on an arm to help me remove slivers from my hands---also SHARP pointed tweezers.  (I like my needles from my insulin pump resevoirs for "excavation work" on splinters and slivers.) 

Hello All,

This is my guillotine tool, I have never seen one like it before. It has worked great for me for over 10 years. I have had to re-weld a few things over the years but it has taken a heck of a beating in that time. Over the years I have added to the tooling that fit the frame. I can also just use the top tool with this design and have the metal resting on the flat plate at the bottom of the frame. 

Have a good one,

W

I am looking for advice on the dies of my new guillotine tool.  They are 4140.  I would like to harden them for durability.  I don't want to go striking with a hardened hammer face.  What heat treat is recommended?  Should I leave them normalized and rely on the toughness of the metal or should I harden them and come up with a mild steel hammer to strike with?  

Hello,

I weld on a mild steel striking surface, it keeps the top of your dies from mushrooming, and is replaceable if needs must. I also have a mild steel hammer I use for punches and chisels. So I would say either option would work. 

I only heat treated my butcher tool do to the the fine edge.  I leave all others as forged, a few of them are just mild steel and have held up for many years. 

Have a good one,

W

What alloys do you usually forge in those dies?  High alloy steels with high hot hardness may need a different heat treat than 1005 for instance.

I got home today and have been thinking about making a guillotine for the last three weeks.  As always I find the inspiration on iforgeiron!  Another great thread!   I earlier this evening located a leaf spring I took off a van about 12 years ago and excavated it.  The other one can’t be far away so this one is going to make a prototype, the kind where I’ll make as many mistakes as possible in order to learn the maximum amount from the experience.  I have a nice lump of dry ash wood I got from the sawmill last year and want to make a wee foot stool with a steel tenoned base.   A guillotine will help with the joints and I have a couple of fancy dies in mind.  Thanks for all the tips.
 

There, I’ve said it now so I’m going to have to do it.  

I said guillotine out loud to my old french anvil earlier, she’s excited about it too.

I was also very impressed with the tidiness of the workshops in the photos on this thread.  Puts me and my wee hovel to shame.

 

I will typically forge A36 and 1018 with these dies.  

Thank you for mentioning that.  I would not have thought about that.  

I do play with some spring steels and 4140.  No S7 or h13.  

On 1/20/2020 at 8:40 AM, Steven NY said:

I weld on a mild steel striking surface, it keeps the top of your dies from mushrooming, and is replaceable if needs must.

Are the top dies two pieces? A striking surface attached with a retaining pin to the working face of the die. That's a great idea. 

Pnut

I do hope you explained to your French Anvil that you qualify as a sans-culotte and so will make use of the guillotine but not be fodder for it.

Punt,

Yes they are, the idea being if I mess up a die or it does not do what I want I waste less steel. It also allows me to replace the striking section while maintain the dies. After thousands of hits it really takes a beating. The top section can also and is made of different steel than the dies. 

Have a great day,

W

On 1/24/2020 at 3:23 PM, ThomasPowers said:

sans-culotte

I look up to the sans-culotte

Well, after cutting up rust leaf springs and cutting up some plate to make a frame which took all of yesterday, including head scratching time, I changed my approach today.  I went for something that suits the small stock I mainly use and cobbled this together using an old square profile caravan axle.  I suppose what I really mean is I went for something more suited to my ability! 

It’s not pretty but I can turn the dies 90 degrees in it which will come in handy. I had to do a silly shaped hardy peg for Anvilina’s silly shaped hardy hole but it doesn’t go anywhere when I leather it. 
 

Apart from work on my sons dirt bike I did nothing else today, Mrs MacLeod’s to do list grows longer

Great idea using square dies, may have to build another Guillotine myself.

1 hour ago, Irondragon Forge & Clay said:

 

Great idea using square dies, may have to build another Guillotine myself.

 

To be honest, it’s more of a happy coincidence  from an easier to make(for me) design rather than much forethought  and planning.  Handy for marking lines on my pokers before twisting(with v shaped dies) will save messing about the grinder, and twice as fast as a chisel- in theory!  Won’t take long for you to make one of these.