What did you do in the shop today?

[natkova]

I call vise as third hand.

 

29 minutes ago, Frosty said:

A leg vise spring is one of the easiest repair parts to make, all a leg vise needs is something to tip the mobile jaw past the tipping point and it'll open itself. Do you have the mounting plate, bail and wedges? IF that is that is how yours mounts. 

When I made mine I fretted over it for days and it only took an hour to make start to finish. The trickiest part was finding stock that fit inside the bail. Pulling the tabs and arcing it were EZ PZ. I spent more time making the wedges, red. Mine takes two wedges one from each direction and I paint components that bear watching red. Being the first I over arched the spring, it doesn't really need to push the jaw all the way open but it doesn't seem to hurt.

Frosty The Lucky.

Your leg of vise look bend to much toward person operating vise.

 

[alexandr]

19 hours ago, Frosty said:

I thought that delivery was delayed for Covid or geo-political reasons Alex. If you air freighted them, they came over the pole and probably stopped in Anchorage to refuel on the way to Seattle, about a 4 hour truck ride from Kenai. Not that anybody air freights direct from Europe to Alaska except in extreme cases but it's kind of fun to think those beautiful chandeliers sat on the ground here for an hour or so on their way south only to be shipped by truck back up.

Jer !

Of the cargo airlines flying from Russia, only DHL remained. But they have a very high cost of transportation and many restrictions. Previously, they flew through Europe, now, due to sanctions, through Dubai. These chandeliers are sent on a regular passenger plane. Wide-body liners have large cargo compartments, and they are transported there.

[Frosty]

A lot of air freight goes space available on passenger planes, Alex. Sometimes a passenger plane has all the seats and passenger equipment taken down and stowed so the rest of the plane can carry cargo. The airlines used to make those changes on the airport aprons but with hijackings and such it's all moved into hangars. We used to sit at the end of the runways and watch the activity with binoculars, now you can't get close enough to see much.

At night we'd park lined up with the middle of the runway and lay on the hood of the car leaning against the windshield with the stereo playing and watch planes take off. It was a thrill having that giant machine roar over maybe 150' overhead. They've fenced the entire airport, you can't even sit on the far side of the road that runs around either end. No more laying watching jumbo jets taking off and landing overhead. 

Just because the leg isn't bent enough to effect anything, Nat. It's the light duty mobile vise in my shop, not a display piece. Green and gold are my shop colors and helps prevent my tools from growing legs and going home with someone else. 

Frosty The Lucky.

 

[natkova]

I think it affect it lile bit it make vise shorter.

 

[Frosty]

[JHCC]

Well, finished painting the yarn shop sign. Couple of days to dry completely, and it’ll be pulling the customers in like nobody’s business!

[Shainarue]

Love it John!
 

[Frosty]

I believe you're right John. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Looks really good John, should be an attention getter.

[BillyBones]

Wright Patterson AFB is in my backyard. Watching planes used to be a big thing here but since they moved the fighter wing out and only have 5 cargo planes there now, not so much. Although about a year ago i was out on my back porch when 3 F-16s took off, about the time they were over my house they turned nose up and hit the throttle. It was loud and pretty cool to see. But i have seen an SR-71 come in, the space shuttle was piggy backed in once, and WPAFB is still one of the maintenance  and refueling stops for the AF-1 planes. 

[Indish Ironworks]

Dang, that's a nice sign!

[Rojo Pedro]

Very nice sign. Could it spin a tall tale?..

A-10s for me. My office is directly under the landing pattern at Davis Monthan AFB. Especially when the air show is in town I get the free show daily

[Don Shears]

On 1/28/2023 at 7:27 PM, Frosty said:

Do you have a piece of angle iron say 1/4" x 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" a 6" or so long? If you cut one side flange off for about 6" and separate it from the rest with a 90* cut. This will fit between your vise jaws and you can put your bar for your project Oh say an elephant head between the vise jaw and the cut down angle iron and clamp it tight in the vise. 

After you do your basic preform forging on a head you can clamp the stock between this tool and vise jaw with the head laying on the angle iron above the vise. This provides more than enough support for eye and nostril punching, lip and tooth chiseling, etc.

Frosty, Shana;

I just couldn't visualize Frosty's description of the vice tool. In the IRON MENAGERIE by the Guild of Metalsmiths, the introduction has various tools illustrated including a vice clamp/support. I'm hoping this is what Frosty's referring to.

Don

 

 

[ThomasPowers]

Way long ago my boyscout troop visited WrightPat and we camped at the end of the runway that the SAC wing of B52s came in at around 5 am.  LOUD++++++++; (and loaded for "Bear" in those years.)

[arkie]

Don, here is another version of a tool support clamped in a vise.  John Switzer on Black Bear forge uses one like this:

In this video, go to 8:23 where he is working on a long horn steer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7-r8p1saIk

Also, pictures of one I made like his.

[Don Shears]

Arkie;

Thank you.

Now seeing the pics you've loaded, and going back to Frosty's description, things have gone 'CLICK'. 

The use of angle iron now also makes sense; not everyone has access to heavy bar stock and a power or band saw (nor the desire and/or arm endurance for a long hacksaw cut.)

Regarding aircraft and airfields, when I lived in Winnipeg Manitoba during the early 1980's, the Minnesota and North Dakota Air National Guard would bring F-4F's (or G's IIRC) and F-106's to the City's Airport for exercises. When doing full afterburner take offs from the south end of the main runway the 106's were LOUD!!!, but the F-4's made indoor conversation impossible, even with windows and doors closed. At that time I lived a little over a half mile from the south end of the main runway.

 

[Shainarue]

On 1/28/2023 at 6:27 PM, Frosty said:

Do you have a piece of angle iron say 1/4" x 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" a 6" or so long? If you cut one side flange off for about 6" and separate it from the rest with a 90* cut.

I'm with Don - also having trouble conceptualizing what Frosty is describing. I even tried it with paper. 
Folded a 6" piece of paper in half to look like 1.5" x 1.5" angle iron. Then cut 6" off one side - at which point there's nothing left to 'separate from the rest' so I assumed you actually meant just shy of 6". So I cut just shy of 6" into one side and then cut 90* over - which indeed separated it from the rest. So I have a little piece of 0.75 x 5.75" paper and a piece of 'angle iron' paper with one side about 1/2 its original width with a little tab at the end of the original width.

Using my fingers to imagine the vice jaws, I tried various ways of clamping that piece of angle iron and none of them so far have resulted in a way that would allow a block (pencil in my case) to both clamp in the vice AND rest on the angle iron. 

I WAS able to make it work by assuming you meant 90* BEND instead of cut (and still cutting just shy of the full length).

So I made a 4.5"long paper angle iron. Cut a strip about 4" along the length of one side, then bent that 4" strip down. Then bent the tab up. Here's a pick in paper - with the 4" strip between my knees as it would be in the vice jaws:

 

 

[Frosty]

I used one of those one time and when I wanted one in my shop couldn't remember how it looked, we'd been flooded with cool tools, ideas and short try outs. So I made what I thought was close and it worked. I welded a couple rests on it so it'd sort of stay in the vise. And no, I don't think it's as good a version as the one above but it's fast and easy to make, under 10 minutes if you use a power saw.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

[JHCC]

So, the long side that clamps in the vise goes on the side of the workpiece TOWARDS the smith?

[Frosty]

If that's the way you cut the flange off, it can go either way. I wasn't going to cut another one for the pic. A piece of pasteboard would've been a better model too. At least didn't have to go out and hunt it down in the shop. If I'm lucky I won't have to.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Charles R. Stevens]

[Frosty]

Must be nice to have a car hoist in your shop! Nice looking bumper.

Frosty The Lucky.

[BillyBones]

Charles, i will admit, that makes me kinda jealous. Cant place it though, i know it is not a Rotary, they have yellow arms, Pitbull maybe? 

[alexandr]

Made a small order for the local basketball club. And a little bit of fluff. (мелочевка)

[George N. M.]

Is the little bit of fluff a coat rack for hats and coats?

Too much is never enough.

Thanks.

GNM