What did you do in the shop today?

[Les L]

I’ve been on the road the last couple of weeks, but I’ve been looking at all the projects that everyone has been posting and wanted to tell everyone congratulations on the great work. 
I had a chance to fire up the forge today and started out making a couple of tools from some e clips I was given. First time working with them and found out that it’s some tough material, then made a flower and J hook for my wife. 

[JHCC]

Spent a lot of time cleaning and reorganizing the shop, with limited success. However, I did make some time to add a guard to the wire brush.

This is supported at the back by a hinge bolted to a vertical post (itself welded onto the main frame ) and on the side by resting on the grinder motor.

The hinge swings out of the way for ease of changing the wheel. By the most amazing coincidence, the guard is below the level of the belt grinder’s table, so they don’t get in each other’s way.

The guard was in a box of random stuff I picked up at the industrial surplus place a few years ago and wisely did not get rid of!

[Duckwalk]

Picked up this rivet forge on the cheap. Started getting parts forged out for it (and tools to get those parts made) recently to try and get this up and running for my travel / "history adjacent" demonstration forge. The blower was a little tough to get going physically but tightening down all the set screws took the play out of it and chainsaw oil lubed it up just fine. Looking forward to finishing this one. The butcher tool was forged out of an old garage door spring. Despite all the warnings, i went ahead and hardened it in water then tempered it back to purple. I used it to cut out the webbing left behind by rough drilling the shape of the grate / tuyere plate. 

 

 

 

[George N. M.]

Looks good.  The blower sounds a little rough, probably lash in the gears, but it windmills fine which, to me, incicates a good, usable blower.

Once you get it all connected up make sure you have provision for an ash dump.  This can often be made from a plumbing T, mounted sideways with the air coming in the bottom of the T and out one side of the top with the ash dump being the other side of the top with a sdrwed on cap to be removed when dumping.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Duckwalk]

Im looking forward to finishing it. I've built lots of solid fuel forges which makes me familiar with the design. I will be posting more pictures when i get closer to finishing it. The gears look good. I suspect the rattling is due to me only finger tightening the blower to the arm. its just vibration. 

Edited March 28, 2023 by Mod30
Remove excessive quote.

[jlpservicesinc]

Sorry to hear about Hofi..  Time goes by so fast.  He brought a lot of information into the lime light. 

Hammer designs, anvil designs..   Pretty cool. 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

I made a spoon for a trade item at our upcoming BOA meeting. Made out of an old horse shoe. It is the first spoon (flux) I have ever made. Kinda rough, had to fold the center front cleat and forge weld it to have enough material for the spoon part. Should have started with new stock, but the Holland mini swage block worked like a champ. The shiny part is from the camera flash.

 

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sails. ~ Semper Paratus

[JHCC]

I was supposed to do a zoom demo for my SIBs mentee, but our scheduling fell apart at the last moment. Disappointing, but I did get some stuff figured out about camera setup and lighting, which should come in handy next time. 

So instead, I took a few minutes and finished the extension handle for the extension handle of my Hossfeld. More details HERE.

[Michael]

Local friend hurt their back so I went and helped out Saturday. Shaping 3/4 by 1 1/2 bar into railing on the power hammer (Anyang equivalent).Bottom die to flatten widen and round one side of the bar. Just rough shaping to help out. Also straightened some work on the hydraulic press, easier with two sets of arms and eyes.

A couple of youths were in the shared space for art class, my friend saw "the spark" in the older one's eyes and (with parental permission) proceeded to show basic pointing and twisting skills to the two. Nice little encouragement in the craft and fun to watch them teach while doing grunt work in the background.

I learn so much helping out pros!

[JHCC]

A spark in the eye?!? Wear safety glasses!!

[BillyBones]

Put a fuel pump in my truck. 

25 years i spent working on cars and this problem had me lost. A while back ago my traction control and my stabilitrak shut off on my way home from work one night. Next day i get in my truck and everything is working fine. A week or so later and it happens again. Got out my scanner, no codes found. Next day all was fine. Then i developed a cold start issue. First time i would start the truck in the day it had an extended crank. Still no codes, so off to the old shop to get some help from the guys i used t o work with. Their scanner being a lot more advanced than mine identified a steering angle sensor code and an engine miss. Yay something to go on. Put the truck up on the rack and got the steering fixed, put some new plugs and wires in the truck and a week later same problem. Also picked up a bit of a hard shift and a system to lean code. So i went for the MAF sensor, then took apart the throttle body cleaned it all up, still no help. Ended up being some sort of valve inside the fuel pump was allowing fuel to drain back. So while i had good pressure it would fluxuate at times, cause an engine miss, which shut down my traction control and stabilitrak. 

I may add that last Wednesday i also had my windsheild wiper transmission linkage seize up. 

What a week.

[LeeJustice]

Steering angle sensor?  What?  Two, three weeks ago I went to change the rear brakes on my 2007 Canyon.  OMG!  What a nightmare.  Last year, I changed the thermostat.  Geez, what would have been a half hour job on my Fairmont was like at least a three hour ordeal.  More and more I prefer my old cars.  And if we ever get EMP'd, I hope to still be rolling.  

[Donniev]

Got some drawer pulls done recently, really fun to make and they don't take a lot of time 

[M.J.Lampert]

funny thing is today I just went and did the plug wires to get rid of a misfire on my car (2000 gmc Jimmy) and some exhaust work last week now to pass my driving test on Monday and I can move on my own (oh, and get some better tires for the summer)

donniev those look very nice

[BillyBones]

There was a time that Cadillac on the Northstar engines used a water cooled alternator. Try convincing a customer that their coolant leak is coming from the alternator. 

Cars and trucks now a days have all these systems integrated and it is amazing what can effect other systems. Had a customer come in with a Ford truck that would not shift. It turned out that he had unplugged the mirror, the kind that has the compass display and the like. That interrupted the signal to his input speed sensor causing his trans to quit shifting. A freind of may dad called me one day with a trans problem after getting his truck jump started. I told him, clear any codes, put a battery charger on it over night. He called me back a couple days later apologizing becuase he did not believe me that it was that simple of a fix. 

That and mostly hybrids is why i went back to work in a machine shop. 

[Scott NC]

  I had a lemon once that shaved a few years off my life trying to find and fix all it's electronic gadgetry when they went bad.

   A friend of mine called electronic car trouble "the ghost in the machine".

[JHCC]

“The more complicated they make the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the works.” — Montgomery Scott

[alexandr]

I'm still working on stair railing.

[George N. M.]

Alexandr, that stair railing is magnificent.  If I saw it in one of the palaces of Peter the Great it would not look out of place.

G

[rich_c]

I like that rivet forge, Duckwalk.  I’m envious.  After using a coal forge this weekend, I want to get one to add to my gas forge.

I made my first thing over the weekend!  It wasn’t my shop, but at an Intro class I took at Broken Hammer Forge in Henderson, MD.  Dave Collier put on a good class and I learned a lot through his instructions and examples, and then practical exercises.  I had a great time.  The forge rake/poker came out decent.  Nails, not so much.  That’ll come with practice.

The motivation from the weekend carried through to today, which had me continue building my back yard set up.  I have the frame for my shop table built, and my Mr Volcano forge will be getting it’s first round of satanite coating tomorrow.

I’m also taking the ABANA Nation Cirriculum Level 1 course online.  Our first meeting (on Zoom) is Tuesday, 11 April.  I bought most of the steel I need through a local supplier.  I just need to source a piece of 4140 for the tool making.  Online distributors are about 2.5 times more expensive compared to local sources.

 

[alexandr]

9 hours ago, George N. M. said:

that stair railing is magnificent. 

Thanks George !

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Alexandr, I love the railing. Is the sword part of the design, it really caught my eye and I like it, especially if it is detachable to use in home defense.

 

 

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sails. ~ Semper Paratus

[Donal Harris]

I haven’t done anything of significance out at the forge lately. Certainly nothing as good as that stair railing. 
 

Mostly I’ve just been piddling with pendants and key chains. Not really forging. The keychain is something everyone should recognize, especially those from the USA. And if you are from the USA and don’t….. Well, you just should know. 
 

The arrowhead looks like copper, but is actually wrought iron. I assume my acid became contaminated and it deposited on the iron. To get it off, I will just use a solution of vinegar and hydrogen peroxide. 

[JHCC]

I kind of like that copper-y look. Before you remove it completely, why don’t you buff it off the high spots and see how that looks?

[George N. M.]

Donal, I like your "Big Red One" pendant.  If you ever get up to the Chicago area don't miss the 1st Infantry Division  Museum in Wheaton, IL, west of Chicago, on the grounds of Cantigny, the estate of Robert McCormick, the owner and publisher of the Chicago Tribune for many years and the artillery commander of the 1ID artillery in WW1.  The museum covers the Division from WW1 through Desert Storm.

I may have to try something similar for the 1st Cavalry Division, my old outfit in Viet Nam.

BTW, why the 3 extra holes in the arrow head?  I can see the middle one for suspending it as a pendant but do you have some kind of elaborate suspension planned which need the other 3 holes?

GNM