What did you do in the shop today?

[ThomasPowers]

Generally the real fine grades of abrasive paper can be found at auto repair stores as it is used for paint work on cars.

Didn't do much on Saturday; besides moving the 3 powerhammers and finding a 4th one. (The tow truck driver has a 50#'r LG that his FiL used to sharpen plow points with.  Just like anvils---soon as you get one they start showing up all over the place!) I've started hitting all the nust and bolts on my 2 hammer with penetrating oil.  Giving them some soak time before I start disassembly. (A lot like the high alloy steels that need soak time before working on them!

Also we did a prosthetic leg for a truncated postvise a friend was buying to make a travel vise from. I'd suggested a removable pipe with a solid rod center cross drilled with a spring clip.

Sunday, after church, I redid the mounting bracket for the new (to me) 6"+ postvise. I don't know which previous owner decided that the arc welder was the fix for all his issues; but I reckon he will get extremely long forging times in the after life with the ambient being so warm and all! Reworking a 6"+ vise is a whole lot more work than tossing a 4"'r around.  I was sore going to bed so I had a bit of  OTC muscle relaxant, a very hot shower and piled the down comforters high and feel pretty good today.

Saturday I also let a couple of my friends go through the sale buckets; I need to pay off the deal; but they at least got first pick and I don't think US$10 is a bad price for tongs and swages.

Next weekend I hope to sell off 4 postvises and get enough room to start cleaning up the 248# PW for sale.

[jlpservicesinc]

On 1/27/2020 at 1:21 AM, Shoshinjoe said:

This was xxxxxx hard for me and took a lot longer than I thought it would.  But I learned so much about what order I should probably do things.  Steel is 5160

Those types of things like pitch forks, and such can be tough to make.. You did well.. did you weld the socket too? 

[MacLeod]

On 1/27/2020 at 1:21 AM, Shoshinjoe said:

This was xxxxxx hard for me and took a lot longer than I thought it would.  But I learned so much about what order I should probably do things.  Steel is 5160

That’s great. Proper blacksmithing I’d say. It looks fantastic- thanks for sharing the steps.

On 1/27/2020 at 10:34 AM, ThomasPowers said:

Sunday, after church....

Oh man do you ever stop Thomas?! I too avoid sitting down till late evening but that’s because  it’s so difficult to stand up afterwards. 

[ThomasPowers]

That's why Sunday after church works well; we have a lunch at church and then I have 3-4 hours I can play before I lose the light. I enjoy having friends and students over like Saturday; but I tend to not get a lot done on my projects as I'm helping with theirs. 

Propane is the bestest for punctuated work sessions!  Light the forge when you open the smithy and then start setting up and by the time you are ready it is ready.  When you have to go in; just turn it off and walk away---or you can use it for annealing.

 

[Snodganistan]

Maybe not terribly exciting, but very exciting for me.  Figured out my t-burner issues, got my anvil attached to a level stump, and finished my very first project ever, these tongs, made from a rusted and broken pair of horseshoe nippers.  

[ThomasPowers]

Sand the reins and adjust them for your grip and you will find that forging is more pleasant.

[BillyBones]

Started dressing my "new" hammer. Heat treating went well, hopefully, probably blow apart first time i hit something with it with my luck. 

A friend who makes bows asked if i could make him some arrow heads, never made any before. Here is the 4 i made. A bit wonky and need some work, practice makes perfect though, right? 

[Virusds]

I started work on a knife for my cousin. All i did was cut a leaf spring down to size and did a little stock removal with my angle grinder. The rest will have two wait till Friday wjen my new propane forge will be here. Not really interesting but thought i might participate.  

[jlpservicesinc]

Getting your new propane forge is very interesting..   That is really exciting.  You able to sleep before friday?    I couldn't sleep for 3 days while my Refflinghaus anvil was in transit.. Or when the Drill press I wanted the guy finally called me and said he'd sell it..    I was so nerved up someone else might drop in and buy it.. Or the time..     

Billy thin the shafts more and create the socket with part of it on the flat to create a shouldler.  Taper or fan back from there..  the  Socket will be much better and you won't have to distort it as much to get the same results. 

I like the hammer..   I own 2 straight peens.. 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

2 hours ago, BillyBones said:

make him some arrow heads,

You might want to look at this thread.

 

[pnut]

4 hours ago, Virusds said:

The rest will have two wait till Friday wjen my new propane forge will be here.

What type of forge are you getting? Some are not safe to use because they come with unrigidized ceramic blanket. If it needs rigidized it will also need a hardfacing and a kiln wash. If you get your forge and it needs to be rigidized please don't get overzealous and decide you just can't wait. Unrigidized ceramic blanket will shed fibers into the air and you'll breathe them in which can cause lung problems. People here can walk you through the process of making it a safe and efficient tool. 

Pnut

[Shoshinjoe]

On 1/27/2020 at 10:37 AM, jlpservicesinc said:

Those types of things like pitch forks, and such can be tough to make.. You did well.. did you weld the socket too? 

Thank you.  Unfortunately the socket didn’t go quite to plan so it’s not welded.  Next time I will try to keep a bit more material for the socket so it wraps all the way and I can forge it.

And MacLeod  thank you too

I started work on this custom cleaver today for a customer...

[Virusds]

Dont worry pnut i made sure it was rigidized. Its literally the cheapest forge on amazon and will prob not get up to forge welding heat but it has good reviews and i have confidence if will at least alow md to do some forging while its raining/freezing cold out side. Because until now ive heen forging in a homade charcoal forge that i made from a cast iron sink, gravle and sand. And i use my shop vac as a forge blower.  

[ThomasPowers]

When I spent 90 days in Germany on a business trip; I bought an original renaissance quarrel point  found by a metal detectorist.  He thought I was odd as I picked out the one that was more weathered---the grain of the real wrought iron showed how it had been forged! Much more important to me than having a pretty surface.

David Starley of the Royal Armouries at Leeds presented on medieval/renaissance arrow heads at the 37th annual International Congress of Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo.  Hopefully the proceedings have been published by now almost 20 years later.  The item I found most interesting was that he had found no evidence of case hardening or intentionally using higher carbon materials for the arrow heads.  All were plain wrought iron.

[pnut]

59 minutes ago, Virusds said:

. Because until now ive heen forging in a homade charcoal forge

Charcoal forges have been used far longer than any other fuel. I still use a homemade charcoal forge. It does anything you need it to. If you plan on using your gas forge indoors be aware that CO poisoning can happen if not properly ventilated.

Pnut

[Virusds]

Ya i might be able to convince my dad to let me use it in the garage but i think im just gonna make a little roof and set it up under that. And Take it down when its to rainy, cold, snowy. Thats the nice think about this forge. It has a handle and is pretty light, granted its also pretty small. But it should defiantly work for what i intend to use it for.

[ThomasPowers]

I took an old gas grill cart and removed the grill and bolted a piece of sheet metal across the gap and bolted my propane forge to that. Now I can wheel it around and it holds the propane tank too!   If it had to live outside I could probably work out a way to leave the grill body in place and use it as a weather cover when I wasn't forging.

[Virusds]

Thats real cool. Ill have to see if i can find a way to do that.

[ThomasPowers]

I'm all about the cheap and available!

[JHCC]

I did the same thing with my first gas forge stand, using a gas grill rescued from someone's trash on garbage day. Recently replaced it with a welded steel cart that works the same, but is a bit more robust (the original cart was pretty rusted out).

[Virusds]

Well i currently dont have a broken gas grill or a non blocken one that i can bolt a forge to. But i do have an old char coal bbq that i tried to turn to a charcoal forge and failed. Do u think that would work if i just bolted the forge insidd of it and ran the propane hose through the hole in it and set the tank on the little shelf sorta rhing an alot of bbqs? I dint have a picture and im currently working on school (im homeschooled) and visiting this website every one in a while (don't worry I'm allowed to) so i cant go outside and get one

[JHCC]

Sounds like an option. Worth a try.

[ThomasPowers]

If you want a portable weather resistant forge mount I think the gas grill would work better.   Have you asked around to see if anyone has an old gas grill they would donate to the cause?

Any social organizations you participate in?   You might want to review the TPAAAT on this site. Just talking with folks after church I have run into tons---yes literally tons---of blacksmithing equipment; some of it even FREE!

My recent big deal included 5 post vises, a 248# anvil, 3 powerhammers, multiple coal forges and blowers, tongs, swages, a cone, etc. How it happened:  Our local Community Theater was asked to move their prop storage to a different location.  The director talked with someone they knew that had an old building being used for storage. They were interested; but the building was full of stuff already including a pile of blacksmithing stuff that had been there for 25-30+ years and never been used.  The Director goes to the same Church as I do and knows that I am a smith and asked me if I was interested in old smithing stuff.  "SURE! LETS GO! NOW!!!!!"  Well they then talked to the owner and suggested that I might be willing to buy and move "all that junk". As he was getting on in years and knew it would be used; we were able to come to a deal. I brought in a smithing friend to help cover the cost---he wanted the 50# LG and the first Saturday after the handshake we cleared the storage building of smithing stuff, the second Saturday we picked up the 3 powerhammers at a different location. (And found out that the tow truck driver we hired to move stuff had a 50# LG himself---another unknown  local smithing contact!)

All from talking with folks I meet along my daily activities.

[Virusds]

Thats really cool. The only problem with that is that i live in the country by a highway and i cant really ask around with like people that like near me cuz we are like 5 miles from and so u cant really walk anywhere and my farm and i only go into town for certain things throughout the week and we don't stay in town for any more rime that we need to. And the only neighbors we have are our grandparents, who i actually got my first anvil from, and some friends from church who's dad is actually a blacksmith too. So i always look at our local youth ranch and at garage sales but that is all i'm limiting to. But thanks for the advise when it comes to asking people at church. I might go ahead and do that, i mean i know that some of the older guys there used to to some blacksmithing when they were younger so they might have something lying around.  

[ThomasPowers]

The heart of the TPAAAT is to talk with EVERYONE.  I found a very nice anvil talking with a lady in her 90's and my big anvil was found talking with a young guy selling greasy used car parts at a fleamarket. When you start limiting yourself to "people who might have an anvil"  you usually limit yourself to the more expensive ones too.  (Few ladies in their 90's need an anvil; they may have one for sentimental reasons and be happy to see it go to someone who will USE IT.  Lots of men in their 30's, 40's, 50's may think they will get around to using it someday and so want more to turn it loose.)