February 24, 20233 yr Thanks Anvil some practice is never bad. So annealing is heating to Tcrit and slowly cooling (by letting cool down in forge or in vermiculite/woodash) Normalizing is heating to Tcrit and cooling in shopair (on anvil or other unflammable object). So better now normilize couple times (2 or3) before hardening and tempering. Nice sculpture rojo
February 24, 20233 yr One question is spiral spring on vise Bigg No to buy it or they all have to be manufactured with leaf spring not coil? If there is coil it mean vise were "fixed" and leaf was lost?
February 24, 20233 yr Natkova I assume your talking about a leg vise, post vise. Yea the leaf spring could have broken or had been lost and the coil could be someone's way of making the vise operational. If anything that's a talking point to get a lower price on it and you could always make that piece. I just saw a great diagram of said vise in another post. So in my opinion if the vise doesn't have any other issues it might be worth buying.
February 25, 20233 yr Hello all, I've been away for a while, thanks to a series of unfortunate events. I'm surprised it's been more than a year, and I haven't been on the site. I haven't been at the forge in that time. The charcoal fire was aggravating my wife's asthma, I had a severe couple of bouts with a pinched nerve, A couple of coronary arteries needed stents. On the positive side I also got another grandson to spoil, more responsibilities at work along with a substantial raise, plus a whole raft of benefits. Anyway, my Wonderful wife bought me a propane forge for Christmas and I can get back to heating and hitting hot metal. I feel like I'm back at square one though. I've missed you guys though, and I look forward to bugging you curmudgeons soon
February 25, 20233 yr Welcome back, Paul. Glad to hear from you again. Comiserations on your medical issues and congratulations on you family addition and advances at work. Can't bug me though, even though I am one of the oldsters I refuse to be a curmudgeon. One of my goals in life is to avoid being an angry old man ("You kids get off my lawn!") or fall into weird politcal or religous opinions. GNM
February 25, 20233 yr Thanks George! I'm kinda looking forward to being the grumpy old guy with a heart of gold. However, I will not be yelling "get off my lawn", as it would be hard to make my lawn worse than it is under the careful care of my brown thumb.
February 25, 20233 yr There are 4 days off in Russia, but I'm back at work. New job. Forged lanterns in the guest house. A couple of years ago I was doing street lighting in the main house. Moved the shoe rack to its place.
February 25, 20233 yr Very nice, as usual, Alexandr. Is that your house or a customer's? Does Russia have the custom of taking off shoes before you enter the main part of the home like they do in Scandinavia? GNM
February 25, 20233 yr 15 minutes ago, George N. M. said: Does Russia have the custom of taking off shoes before you enter the main part of the home like they do in Scandinavia? Thank George ! This is the customer's house. Big estate. I have been working there for several years. It is customary for us to leave shoes right at the door, indoors.
February 25, 20233 yr I'm always reluctant to post after Alexandr. His stuff is simply amazing every time. I'm almost out of round stock and my steel yard is currently closed on Saturdays, which I just found out today... Anyway it's been a blade day. I have several that have been leaning against the wall along with a new arming sword I just started. I think I may start normalizing for a heat treat today. Well, at least the ones that can fit in my oven. The kukri actually started as another xyphos that I messed up the handle.
February 26, 20233 yr Chad your work has come a long ways since you first started visiting here.. Very nicely done.
February 26, 20233 yr Made chipping Hammer , head is made from mild steel , handle is coil spring. Need to be sharpened and cuting edge welded to it
February 26, 20233 yr I yesterday, I finished shaping and sanding the handle as well as the first coat of tung oil on the huge chef knife. Today was another coat. I’m planning on at least three coats and with 24hrs between coats, this is taking forever… At this point, I’m pretty nervous about the sharpening. I’ve got a lot of work in this and it’s turning out pretty good, I really don’t want to mess it up! Keep it fun, David
February 26, 20233 yr On 2/19/2023 at 10:18 PM, Shainarue said: I got some welding work done That's a great looking twisting wrench. On 2/14/2023 at 8:38 PM, Irondragon ForgeClay Works said: I started an anvil hardy fuller that Debi wanted for making the Russian wrapped roses. Finished the fuller. The stem was a little crooked and needed hardening and tempering. Made from 4130 sucker rod end. Hardened just fine in peanut oil and tempered back to blue.
February 27, 20233 yr A friend challenged me to make a knife from a wrench. I just happened to have a 7/8ths laying around and took it as a speed challenge.
February 27, 20233 yr Got a bunch of stuff done. For starters, one of the missing pins for the Hossfeld bender (for which the oxypropane torch came in handy): Made a couple of plant hangers on commission, to fund the next propane purchase: And finished with a honking big scroll in 1/2” x 2-1/4” flat bar: (For scale, that’s a 145 lb. Peter Weight.) Addendum: the combo hold-down/stand came in very handy for holding the plant hooks for punching.
February 27, 20233 yr 6 hours ago, Irondragon ForgeClay Works said: great looking twisting wrench Funny you should mention that. I was using it today to tighten bolts on the post vice, it slipped and smacked me in the face HARD. Wrong tool for the job, totally my fault, but dang! Why do my life lessons have to hurt so danged much?!
February 27, 20233 yr The right tool for the job definitely has its advantages. With tightening bolts, compare an open end wrench, a box end wrench, a 6 point box end wrench, a 12 point socket, and a 6 point socket. Look at the length of the handle for each. You decide which is the right tool for your job.
February 27, 20233 yr Finished banging this out for Lori's Valentine's day gift. Only two weeks late, which is good for my typical timeline. Made from stainless steel, unknown type, half inch round stock to start. Still some tweeking and cleaning to go. For perspective of size, the forklift tine upon which it rests is 6 inches wide.
February 27, 20233 yr Learned the hard way that hinges, especially the un-welded type, are not to be hot riveted...
February 27, 20233 yr 17 hours ago, Shainarue said: it slipped and smacked me in the face HARD. Should have had a hand on Each handle. It is now a two handed tool.
February 28, 20233 yr Chad, those look great! Hope HT goes well! Also, wrench karambit a are a lot of fun, and a good challenge to get the urge right. Goods, that’s a comfy looking handle. The gentleman who recently purchased a fillet knife from me is apparently a prolific prickly pear plant propagator. I know one of the good people on here used to post lots of grafting knives made from bandsaw blade. Does anyone know who that might be? I’d like to talk to them to see their process and what designs worked well for them edit: found them. 671jungle. Unfortunately it looks like they haven’t been on in a while, but I guess we’ll see
February 28, 20233 yr So I completely reorganized the shop area today. I have a good wind block on two sides. And spots to spread a tarp over the top in case of rain. I then lit the forge and and was trying to get back to making leaf key chains. What sucks is I broke two of them at the stem before I quit for the night
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.