January 26, 20188 yr Mr. Stitch, Your reverse twist jig/concept is really clever. Ingenious even. Could you please post a few more pictures of the device. Showing different angles and, especially, the attachment details. Also, pictures of the implement in action. I have spatial problems together with other miner incipient brain damage. Our family neuro surgeon has recommended a brain by-pass procedure to help the problem. Thanks, SLAG.
January 26, 20188 yr Hanging by the axe making feeling: made an axe drift and a portable hole for the drift. The drift was forged from an old railway wagon axle - ~2" dia and the starting stock was 3' long. I cut it to size only after forging the handle part of the drift. The second picture shows the bigger half resting on the 450lbs anvil (not bragging, just. size reference ) Bests: Gergely
January 26, 20188 yr 9 hours ago, ausfire said: Stitch that is a fine piece of engineering. So the shifter on the right is fixed and the left one slides, is that right? Perhaps you could post a pic of the connection to the square bar. I do a lot of reverse twists on pokers and it's always tricky to get them symmetrical. I once considered mounting two vices side by side on the bench to achieve similar results, but your method is ingenious. 3 hours ago, SLAG said: Mr. Stitch, Your reverse twist jig/concept is really clever. Ingenious even. Could you please post a few more pictures of the device. Showing different angles and, especially, the attachment details. Also, pictures of the implement in action. I have spatial problems together with other miner incipient brain damage. Our family neuro surgeon has recommended a brain by-pass procedure to help the problem. Thanks, SLAG. Hey guys, Thanks! Wasn't my idea, I just modified someone else's design adapted H.F. cheap adjustable wrenches and pry bar. I bought the clamps from Mcmaster. I welded two old wrenches together head to head for the twisting wrench. It sure helps out when you need speed and symmetry. The torch and cool method make a cleaner twist however.
January 26, 20188 yr 19 hours ago, Daswulf said: Minimal progress with too much effort on the new stake anvil. A power hammer would be nice. Het Das, My power hammer is sitting still. Come on over and use it!
January 26, 20188 yr That would make this go a lot faster. This is really one of those hammer therapy projects. I appreciate the invite. We should meet some time. Where abouts are you in ne Ohio? I'm still unsure exactly how I want to shape the hammer head as the anvil part. I'm close to being ready to pein the post to the hammer. I think I'll forge the spike first.
January 26, 20188 yr 44 minutes ago, Daswulf said: Where abouts are you in ne Ohio? He’s 15 minutes from me. If that doesn’t keep you away, I don’t know what will.
January 27, 20188 yr Finished up the claw hammer and did my best to take some glamour shots of it. The handle’s got a very pretty curl in the right light which of course I wasn’t able to capture. I counter sunk a rare earth magnet in the end of the handle to help retrieve dropped nails.
January 27, 20188 yr Sweet hammer Ben. A little more progress on the stump anvil. Lots of heating and hammering to move that 4140.
January 27, 20188 yr 22 hours ago, Daswulf said: A little more progress on the stump anvil. Lots of heating and hammering to move that 4140. Thanks Das. This stump anvil looks like a brutal amount of work to me. I don’t suppose you’ve enlisted a striker?
January 27, 20188 yr Bolt tongs I made a few months back. Todays project: scroll tongs. Tripod with trammel hook I made for a buddy. That hook turned out better than I expected for a first run.
January 27, 20188 yr Today I started on a miscellaneous animal head to get a bit of forge welding practice. The metal decided it was a dragon, and so I let it begin to take rough form. Didn't get a great weld, and was at risk of burning the horns off, so stopped working the face and started on the rest of the bar. At that stage, it could have become a fire poker, but as I have a gas fire and no need for yet another poker, it quickly became a coat hook. The hook was slightly like a tail, one thing led to another, and some primitive style wings were born....
January 27, 20188 yr Nice coat hook JAV! I dig the lateral hooks/wings. very creative! You just need some black screws (or a magic marker works in a pinch). Or you could try some of these ideas:
January 27, 20188 yr Past by a good friend of my (owner of construction factory) today, to finalise the plan of action regarding his welding compliance and certification. Leave with about 500lbs of different pieces of mild steel of his ‘scrap pile’ . Just enough for fire pokes, twisted baskets, simple knifes, wall anchors and so one. Drive through the next CL- address and pick up a second vice (50 dollares) for the shop to be able to give smithy workshops for more then one participants, and end up in the local hardware shop to buy a decent CO meter to monitor the emission in the shop at full action. After preparation and set up a didactic model I’m finally ready to give my first decent workshop/hammer-in in the studio. Wish me luck. Cheers, Hans
January 28, 20188 yr Got quite a lot done on the treadle hammer. Lots of cutting and welding. Particularly on the pivot: The pivot was originally turned 180°, but after careful consideration and calculations of moment arms, leverage, acceleration, and impact force, I decided to flip it around. Okay, so I welded it on backwards. Big deal.
January 28, 20188 yr 12 hours ago, Daswulf said: No striker Ben. Just me and between a 4lb & 6lb hammer. That's brutal stuff; make sure you stretch before and after and take frequent breaks. If I were closer, I'd strike for you.
January 28, 20188 yr Thanks Snuffy, I don't push things when working with heavier stock or hammers. Probably why the slow progress. I Want to hurry up and get it done but I also listen to my body. One funny thing is that a few times I was having back arm or other pains and forging actually seemed to make them go away. It's pretty rare I get sore from forging. Being a hobby I can take breaks and rarely have deadlines. My day job, not so much. It would be nice to have a partner in the forge to work with. A striker goes a long way on larger projects.
January 28, 20188 yr Having a striker that you’re well acquainted with is tough to beat. There are those times that you need a heavy blow at an angle that couldn’t be achieved with a power hammer or a press. There’s a small blacksmith competition in New Mexico in May and I’ll be working with a striker I’ve not worked with before. Luckily he’s not too far away and we’ll have some time to practice before then.
January 28, 20188 yr @JHCC That happens more often then one could imagine... There are some seams around the pivot that are pretty nice - you're really getting better continously. If you don't mind though I think when you welded the long seam holding together the angle iron and the base plate you either welded it too fast or with too low amperage. Also a bit more surface cleaning can help a lot. @Origins of Iron I like that tripod and trammel very much! I only had short time in the shop. Was fighting with a 1,5 kg / 3,3 lbs piece of 1045 trying to make it into a bearded axe. Not even halfway there but so far I got this time. My coal is so poor quality now that it makes everything very painful, finally I lost my patience and let it be. Also one of my main power hammer tools got broken. Been less nervous Today, hopefully I can continue, repair and make new tools. On monday I'm getting better coal, too. Bests: Gergely
January 28, 20188 yr I have had a few friends not familiar with forging strike for me after some quick lessons. It was more for fun really. I will say having someone familiar with it is Much better. good thing you have some time. You can get in good rythem when you can " read" each other on what's going on and the striker understands the leads direction.
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