alexandr Posted September 18, 2020 Share Posted September 18, 2020 22 hours ago, ThomasPowers said: So they can daydream of warm sun and hot days sitting in front of a nice fire on a cold winter's night! The client lives on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, in a palm grove. I don't think it's cold there in winter. She really wanted a palm tree on the fireplace screen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted September 18, 2020 Share Posted September 18, 2020 Funny that she has a fireplace at all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natkova Posted September 18, 2020 Share Posted September 18, 2020 Thomas i didnt carred much because i dudnt had materials to forge with, and i choose this, to be honest this was thickest part i have ever forged. It was a litle bit smallwr than two.inches, i hardy hold it withh "tongs". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunk_c Posted September 19, 2020 Share Posted September 19, 2020 New anvil just mounted. Got myself a cheap Accaiao 66lb cast steel anvil to go with my ancient saddle backed Dudley. Quality was as expected but even though the horn was not cast symmetrically I got a nice flat hard face and no holes in the casting anywhere. Stripped of the blue paint and applied some rust preventer (wish I had just oiled it, went a bit too black). Dressed the edges and hardy hole. I mounted it to a hardwood base using lag bolts through the holes in the feet (tidy). Put a magnet under the tail to reduce the ringing. Seems like it will do the trick! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dax Hewitt Posted September 19, 2020 Share Posted September 19, 2020 Finally got a break from work and got the forge fired up for the second time this year. The plan was a fat ball holder for the garden. Unfortunately my forge welds didn't take, 2 did but 2 came off. I don't think I got it hot enough, the steel was nice and clean and when it broke apart there were inclusions or anything nasty. Mk2 was coiling 6mm round bar round some 2 inch round bar then stretching it out and put a hook on the end. The coils are not as symmetrical as I wanted but it works. Finally one of the ladies at work wanted a hook with an eye on the other end to extend a door retainer in her house. I had some nice 6mm stainless bar so I used that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted September 19, 2020 Share Posted September 19, 2020 If you have problems with loops being symmetrical, use a spacer to forge against when you forge the loops. Here, mild steel 6mm or 1/4 inch round bar can be bent cold by hand. For the circle at the end of the bar, make a couple of practice circles to be sure to get the length correct. Measure down the bar that length and bend it 90 degrees. Then form your circle using the measured length. This should center the circle at the end of the bar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natkova Posted September 19, 2020 Share Posted September 19, 2020 Glen in construction working you can bend cold steel to 8 mm.. This tooling is used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dax Hewitt Posted September 20, 2020 Share Posted September 20, 2020 Hi Glen. She wanted it making that way rather than the central loop, apparently it will sit better with what she already has in place. On the bird feeder I tried cold bending it round my former but it was impossible to get a tight consistent wrap so I went back to heating it. Where I went wrong was stretching the coil out before I did the tighter spiral on the bottom and I did it too short. Mk3 will be better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted September 20, 2020 Share Posted September 20, 2020 Then you need to reduce the size of the pipe (die) to allow for spring back when bending cold. Another way is to bend, measure the spring back, and include it into the design (grin). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkBait Posted September 20, 2020 Share Posted September 20, 2020 Went and hacked a huge stump out of my twin's back yard and hauled it home to have somewhere nice and stable to bolt my 30 lb stretch of rail. We had to hack out about a quarter of it to bring the weight down to a manageable 400-ish lbs before loading it into the truck. I bolted two 3 foot lengths of 4x4 to the bottom to level it, which conveniently brought it up to right about the perfect height. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frazer Posted September 20, 2020 Share Posted September 20, 2020 SharkBait (broo-ha-ha), to get the most out of your piece of track as an anvil, it is generally recommended to mount it vertically to maximize the amount of mass under your piece/hammer. I have also seen people grind all sorts of things (ie. fuller, hot cut, mini horn, etc.) into the web and feet of the track, which can help with the lack of a hardie hole for your bottom tools. That step in the stump that was taken out for weight reduction looks like it would be perfect for remounting it vertically while keeping the height about the same. It also frees up that top surface for mounting a vise or anything else you might find handy to have near your anvil. Just a suggestion. Jealdi shows a simple way that he mounted his in his post here. Anyway, welcome aboard! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted September 20, 2020 Share Posted September 20, 2020 Welcome, Brother SharkBait! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DennisCA Posted September 20, 2020 Share Posted September 20, 2020 Worked 4 hours (time went fast, I was surprised) and all I got done was drawing out two reins for a pair of tongs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted September 20, 2020 Share Posted September 20, 2020 Time flies when you're having fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natkova Posted September 20, 2020 Share Posted September 20, 2020 Why cuting stump? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted September 20, 2020 Share Posted September 20, 2020 Not much shop time today, but I did get some handles on the two hammerheads I got at yesterday’s barn sale. Converted one of them to a cross peen, and will use the other for hitting chisels and punches. (Already had the handles, cheap from the industrial surplus place.) Also, this was from last week, but still a good lesson: cold shuts in bending wrenches WILL come back to haunt you. 4 hours ago, Daswulf said: Time flies when you're having fun. And if you're a frog, Time’s fun when you’re having flies! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkBait Posted September 20, 2020 Share Posted September 20, 2020 4 hours ago, natkova said: Why cutting stump? I needed something to fasten my rail to and my brother had had a tree fall down in his back yard and he still needed to get rid of the stump. I went over to pick it up but it was not going to fit in my Corolla so we tried to load it into his truck but it was too heavy for two of us. We were curious so we hoisted it on his engine pull and it was nearly 600 lbs. We figured that was probably too much for me to easily move around if I needed to. And there was a part that was a little rough from when the tree came down so we hacked that part down so that it would fit the rail but was a more manageable weight. Engine pull said it was around 400 lbs. We called it good and loaded the truck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted September 20, 2020 Share Posted September 20, 2020 1 hour ago, JHCC said: cold shuts in bending wrenches WILL come back to haunt you. V it out, weld it up, little grinding and you're back in business. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted September 20, 2020 Share Posted September 20, 2020 True enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted September 20, 2020 Share Posted September 20, 2020 Update: went to straighten it out to V it, and it snapped right across. I’m trying to remember if this is one I made from a rail anchor. It certainly has a LOT of stress cracking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natkova Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 Ok shark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
careful_eugene Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 I made 2 bottle openers (on Sunday), one from an old spanner and one from a shear-stud although I think the hole in the shear stud is too large. I also started a double candle holder from a trimmed off piece of UC that I found in the scrap bin at work, not sure how it's going to turn out yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 Out here in the hot and dry there are often a lot of fire restrictions if you want to go camping. I prefer oil lanterns as camp lights; but prefer to be allowed to camp even more so. So I've been working on a LED votive chandelier to use as a camp light for SCA events. I went through 4 prototypes before getting one that my wife liked, I liked and was fairly simple to forge, (and 3 more protoypes on how to mount the candle holder). The main ring is a hub band from a wooden wagon wheel with the candle holders clipping onto it. The wire helix to hold the LED votive was made from election sign frame, (we get a crop every year and a bumper crop every 4 years and this year is bumper crop time!!!! (Note; these are harvested AFTER the elections from the public right away with no signage associated---abandoned to wreck the highway mowing machines! Also found at the scrapyard and with permission in the dumpster behind the local party headquarters.) Still to go: adding the suspension chains and perhaps a second tier with a smaller ring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
671jungle Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 been busy with the shop build. Loves dad has experience framing and building so the in-laws came to town to help/take over the build. I have learned a lot from him during this but it has been tough. His communication skills and stubbornness rival my own. I am Grateful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 Just as long as it's a smithy and not a "spouse trap". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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