Refflinghaus Hot Cut 5160 center mild steel wings

[jlpservicesinc]

So I wanted a hot cut that was fitted to the Refflinghaus or the Peddinghaus anvils..  These being German anvils are metric holes.  I like my hardies to fit without a lot of wiggle and should sit pretty still when in use. 

5160 center and shank. mild for the wings or toes.  the shank is not really square it is rounded in the center to match the hardie hole. 

I have a cold one to make next. 

[Old Crew]

Jennifer 

Thank you for showing us such a well made hot cut. It is so well made that it appears to a mass produced item, stamped out en mass by a machine.  I know that this is a tool made by a craftsmen that truly takes pride in the finished product . How much does that cost is supplanted by how well it performs and how clean it looks. Will you need to make another of these for your Refi ?    NO  when your Refi goes to the next generation hopefully for smiths  the beautiful tooling you made for it will service them until they have the skills to make there own replacements!

You asked what I want to make now that I have the basic requirements in place.  On the top of my list was some  hardie tools a couple of different styles.  hot cuts were high on the list.  This one is excellent  and yet the one you made decades past is also well crafted. I doubt that I will be able to make such clean and symmetrical lines. But a hot cut is probably one of my first real projects .

Thanks    

PS : hopefully the hot cut how to video  is out soon!

[Goods]

Jlp, just as in your swage post, can you elaborate on how you how you welded these up? I can’t seem the think of a “simple” way to do the welding of the wing. 

Thanks,

David

[Old Crew]

I second that request !

Thanks

David       also

[jlpservicesinc]

So for this example the  center section is forged from the main stock so the shank is part of the high carbon steel..  This photo shows 2 or 3 heats before the U is welded on.  This photo shows the shank finished and the scarf just starting to be put in on the parent material. 

Then  I make a U shaped piece out of 3/4" Sq in this case  that is long enough to go over to the far side at the base of what I want the wings to be.. I leave a gap at the base of the U about 1.5" long. once the U is tacked solidly onto the center section I cut the bottom or u shape piece off..  Finish up the weld and if need be I will add in round or filler pieces to weld in to smooth the joint and give better appearance.   In this example I forged a good scarf on the U before bending so the weld seem blended in perfectly. 

you can see on the bottom the weld seams some as these are not blended or dressed very well.      At this point the item is wider also as it hasn't been narrowed at all in prep for welding. 

[Old Crew]

JLP

That makes sense to me     mostly.  The shank and cutting edge being one piece makes absolute sense.  The shoulders being a U shape kinda makes sense. Is that so both sides get forge welded together at the same time  ?

Still another David 

[jlpservicesinc]

This is only 1 way of doing this..  It works and is one of the easier ways when by myself and no help..  I can be a little inaccurate and make the corrections once the mild steel toes are welded on. 


Another way is just to make the body out of mild steel, slit a groove and weld in the cutting edge..  

This method is the easiest.. I just get tired of doing things the same all the time and with the increase in width It would have meant starting with about 6 or 7" of 1" Sq to get the needed material. 

I am making a new cold cut hardie now but it's going to be a 4 piece affair with the shank mild steel, 2 mild steel sides and a 5160 core. 

Again, the method up upsetting, slitting a groove and inserting and welding the tool steel in place is the easiest.   5160 in larger sections is a bear to move on your own with hand tools. 

1 minute ago, Old Crew said:

JLP

That makes sense to me     mostly.  The shank and cutting edge being one piece makes absolute sense.  The shoulders being a U shape kinda makes sense. Is that so both sides get forge welded together at the same time  ?

Still another David 

It is so they can be retained while in the fire in the location needed..   Done right I can catch a welding heat on the far side of the U or or away from the bend so I don't need to use anything to hold it in position for welding..  

The hardest part of forge welding is getting both pieces to be at welding temperature at the same time..   The easiest way to acheive this is to have them in complete contact at the same moment..    With using a U it means I can infact weld both sides at the same time where if done as a single bar I would have to weld one side and then weld the bar to the other side.. Each time it would distort some.. 

This way with a U both sides with a good scarf will set into postion and weld at the same time..  The scarf welds can be done with a fuller in the hardie hole for clean up.. Or done over the anvil edge using a straigth peen..  I did the later because I did not want to shrink the shank..  This way I could do the welds dress the scarf..  Do the upsetting or pulling down of the wings and it's pretty much done. 

I personally don't like doing this kind of work be cause I get burnt all the time.  I'd rather start with the right sized bar in this case some 1.25 or 1.5" X 3" 5160 or 4140 or the like or order some other good tool steel and with a sledge hammer person or a power hammer it would be done in a few hours.. 

This took me about 6hrs to finish all by my lonesome between forging, prep, welding, annealing, filing, heat treatment..   6 hours doesn't sound very long until you consider with a sledge guy or power hammer the time is cut in half.  And even if made from mild steel with a tool still cuttting edge welded in would be about 3 hrs.. 

I chose the hard way..   

[Old Crew]

I definitely understand choosing the hard way over the easy way.  I am anal about symmetry  if it is at all possible I want it to be symmetrical .  I was mounting my hammer this weekend. The hammer is bolted to an 1-1/4 ar 500 plate sitting on 1 inch rubber sheet. 2 of my bolts hit rebar. I have a rebar cutting bit and drilled thru 1. The bit broke in the other. I spent 8 hours  painful hours getting the bit out of the hole so that my bolt pattern would be symmetrical .   I won  at great cost of time and some pain. I will post some pics later on my hammer thread.

Point is your hot cut is sexy and symmetrical because of your knowledge and your desire to make it RIGHT even if it is the hard way!

Thank You

 

[jlpservicesinc]

By the way and something to keep in mind is this.. 

Of late I have been working larger stock so having a well fitted hardie is something I like to have..  Large or small stock now I have a "Well fitted" hardie..  ( fitted is more imporant to me vs size). 

The existing hardies were from my Hay Budden anvil with a 1" hardie hole so just moved them into use with the German anvils which the hardie hole is like 25.7mm or like 1. 0625" so they were a little loose. 

The original size of those hardies cutting edges was perfectly adequate up till just before now..    

I don't see a good reason for someone to go to this large of hardie unless they have a need.. 

The others I have worked fine for nearly everything I threw at them and when cutting larger stock a handled hot cut works very well.. Very, very well. 

these larger longer hardies is just me having fun and pushing my envelope..