Jump to content
I Forge Iron

Hello from Ohio


Recommended Posts

Hi everyone, I'm excited to be here as I'm just getting started in blacksmithing and it seems that here's a ton of great information in these pages. Over the last several months, I've started to put together a modest setup and am in the process of making the necessary tools (tongs/punches, etc.) to get into really making things.

I have a background in sculpture and design, but have never been able to swing a hammer with any grace. I'm working on that now.

I hope that as I start to find my legs in this, I am able to contribute to the site.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome aboard Monstermaker, glad to have you. 

There's your problem right there, if you want to swing a hammer you  need to find your hands NOT your legs. :rolleyes:

What are you lacing for your set up? 

Frosty The Lucky.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Frosty said:

Welcome aboard Monstermaker, glad to have you. 

There's your problem right there, if you want to swing a hammer you  need to find your hands NOT your legs. :rolleyes:

What are you lacing for your set up? 

Frosty The Lucky.

Well, xxxxx You mean I've been doing it wrong all along? Hands, Huh? That explains a LOT! :wacko:

Thanks for the Welcome.

My setup is coming along nicely so far. I bought an old Peter Wright anvil, and 2 hammers - a cheap cross pein and cheap rounding hammer. I've built a gas forge: It's  fabricated steel shell, with fire bricks and 1/2" refractory lining, and a ribbon burner. I bought one pair or wolf jaw tongs that I've used to make v-bit and flat jaw tongs so far. And I've built a 2x72 belt grinder out of mostly scrap from work.

I have a 1 hour lunch break every day, which seems like the biggest waste of time, so I use it for building projects like the forge and grinder. I enjoy that kind of thing.

I'm lacking in hardy tools, which I'll need to address soon. I really need to get a cutoff, and maybe a fuller. I just hate buying things that I know I'll be able to make given enough time and practice.

My local scrapyard has about 50ft of 1045  1.625" round that I can get to 40-50cents a lb depending on who's at the gate. I grabbed a bit of that for future tool making.

Edited by Mod30
Language
Link to comment
Share on other sites

By "cutoff" do you mean a hardy to go in the hardy hole?  I made mine from the broken off end of a jackhammer bit. Just needed to forge the shaft to fit the hardy hole and dress the edge.  Mine is not a fancy alloy, probably 1050, but is easy to dress as needed after teaching a class. (It has enough meat that I can dress it for another decade or two before needing another one.)  A car or truck axle would be a similar alloy and should be easily found.  (Or ask about dull or broken jackhammer bits at a tool rental place like "Hame Despot".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I do mean a hardy to go in the hardy hole. I'll definitely keep an eye out for a jackhammer bit. I have some 1045 that I'll probably try to use to make one, but I've been leary of upsetting the shoulder on my actual anvil since I have no swage block for that. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sounds like you're pretty well set. A "hardy" is a chisel on a shank that fits in the "hardy" hole. There are a couple types hot and cold sometimes butcher or curved like a farrier uses. All the other stuff that fits in the hardy hole are "bottom tools" and go under the work, they're often called hardy tools. Top tools are on a handle and held on top of the work.

I understand not wanting to setting a bottom tool's shoulder in a hardy hole, breaking the heal off my anvil would make me cry probably every tie I thought about it. 

So don't upset into the hardy hole, arc weld the shank to the side of the big hot chisel you forge. Viola, HARDY! Worn jack hammer bits make excellent hardies and other bottom tools. I got a number from the tool rental desk at Home Depot, the first one cost me $5. but was worth it, the second time I stopped by to pick up a couple for guys in the club and a different guy was at the rental counter gave me 8 dull bits. I asked what he wanted for them and he said gone. I told him the other guy charged me $5 and he said, "keep the Home Depot bucket and have a nice day."

I'm pretty sure the first guy looked at the replacement price and gave me a good deal. I don't think he knew they were scrap as far as Home Depot was concerned.

Go for the wide chisel bits they're ready made hardies needing shortening and a shank.

Frosty The Lucky.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The heavy jackhammer bits with the pre-made collar make great hardy tools. Just square the shank below the collar, cut it to length, and make whatever tool you want on top. Here are some of mine:

D5855640-23BD-4AE0-8563-F9FB0E37523D.jpeg

Left to right: leafing tool (since reforged), scroll starter, side-cut hardy, and hot-cut hardy. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We're making a bunch of ball stakes for armour making and using the ends of sucker rod for the shafts as they have a square shaft section for the wrench to turn and an upset bump built in.  Just fit the square shaft to hardy hole size. (It's amusing that every anvil I have has slightly different to way different hardy hole sizes 7/8"-1.5", the Vulcans had 3/4" but I don't keep them...)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

We're making a bunch of ball stakes for armour making and using the ends of sucker rod for the shafts as they have a square shaft section for the wrench to turn and an upset bump built in.  Just fit the square shaft to hardy hole size. (It's amusing that every anvil I have has slightly different to way different hardy hole sizes 7/8"-1.5", the Vulcans had 3/4" but I don't keep them...)

Now are sucker rods an oil field thing? I've never seen them around Ohio.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, but there are plenty to be found in Ohio, especially in the areas of the northwestern, western, and central parts of the state that have historically led in oil and natural gas production.

1 hour ago, ThomasPowers said:

Less weakening.

Yes, an anvil more liable to breakage will not live long, and its owner will not prosper.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...