Thanks, George! Honestly, I've never heard of a super quench before. I've always just quenched my spike knives in water and draw back to straw color with no issues and it gave me a decently hard edge for garbage steel. I looked up what it is and apperently its salt, water and dawn? What is your recipe for super quench? Thank you for mentioning that. Can't believe I've gone 5 years in blacksmithing without hearing about a superquench lol 

Jet-Dry or the like can be substituted for Shakelee Basic I.

Super quench can harden mild steel to a point where is will almost skate a file, not quite but almost.  I saw Ribb Gunter demonstrate it years ago when he forged a chisel out of 1/2" mild steel, quenched it in super quench, and then used it to cut off a piece of the original stock.  It doesn't replace good steel but it gets the most out of nild/low carbon steel.

I think it would give your hawks a better edge than oil.  Experiment and find out.  When I make RR spike knives I use it. 

BTW, no tempering Because it doesn't get that brittle to require tempering.

It was invented, IIRC, to replace a very caustic and dangerous quench medium they were using at Sandia National Labratory, NM with something safer.

Good luck.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand." 

PS The wetting agent (Shaklee Basic 1, Jetdry, etc.) is there to minimize the skin of steam bubbles that form on the surface of the hot steel and insulate it and slows down the cooling. The sound of a quench is much higher in /Super Quench.  WAter or oil give a hissing sound.  Super quench is more of a shriek, probably because of smaller bubbles forming and collapsing.'

GNM

Ok. I'll try that. Lucky for me I have all the stuff to make it right under my kitchen sink lol. I'm planning on trying my hand at a few more hawks or spikes tonight if I get time. I'll post pics and results if I do. 

WFF

White Fox, if you really want to do a semi-scientific comparison make 2 coupons of the same size of the same steel, maybe 3/4" x 1/4" x 3", and quench one in oil and one in super quench.  And keep track of which is which.  First, try seeing how easily a file will cut them.  That will tell you comparitive hardness.  Then, put them in a vice and try to break or bend them over.  Whether they break or bend will tell you abour relative toughness.  Finally, if they break examine the grain size and structure on the broken edge.  Finer is better.  That will give you some more emperical measurements and comparisons between the 2 mediums.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Alright. I'll do that next time I'm at the shop. I did make the medium and it makes the file skate across the tomahawk like with a regular knife.  Unfortionately the hawk turned out pretty terribly. The head is crooked, the handles cracked and the bevel is too sharp. That one goes to the scrap bin lol. Hopefully I'll have better luck on my next couple attempts. It is my first rr spike hawk after all. I'm hoping to get a bit more of a beard on my next couple. Also my drift is deformed and not the right shape. I'll probably make a new one soon. Drifts are always pretty difficult for me to make lol. Is there a difference in using a round drift and a tear drop drift? I could probably use my hammer drift. They are only going to be throwing hawks anyway. 

Cheers!

WFF

I should point out that Robb Gunter's original recipe for superquench calls for 32 ounces of *original* blue Dawn dish soap, but nowadays all the Dawn you can get is concentrated, and this makes a difference to the formula (this was pointed out by Robb himself at a recent NMABA meeting where he did the same little demo that George mentioned).  So you might have to experiment a bit.  I made mine with about 24 ounces of concentrated Dawn Ultra and it works well.

At our NMABA meeting, Robb gave the recipe with the original Dawn amount listed, but stating that one should use 10 ounces of JetDry and that one should modify it if all one can find is the concentrated Dawn:

• 5 gal water
• 5 pounds table salt
• 32 ounces original blue Dawn dish soap
• 10 ounces JetDry

Ain't much, but made a few bars to serve as tong and hammer racks. Tabs on the end, punch and simple twists for aesthetic pleasure...and also because that square stock got a good brine soak when the ocean came to see us last January.

Do it that way Billy. If you add some Jet Dry to the soda solution it will help it penetrate smaller spaces.

Frosty The Lucky.

Already done, wish i would have known about the jet dry thing. I disassembled it, sprayed it down thoroughly, let it dry then a good coat of oil over the whole thing.  

Over the summer i obtained another post vice. I am thinking of retiring this one, well relocating it and not using as much, and start using the "new" one. The stationary jaw has been repaired though and it sits just a smidge above the movable jaw. I really bought becuase the screw box is in excellent condition. 

I only thought of adding Jet Dry to the soda solution while I was about to send the above post. I don't know why I didn't think of it years ago, wetting solutions are made to break surface tension and allow as full contact / penetration as possible. 

It was one of those head slapping moments.

How much is a smidge above? If it's enough to be a problem, heat it up and hammer it into position. Leg vise jaws are pretty ductile you know, look how easy it is to throw one out of alignment by clamping on one side of the jaw. Of course straightening it is as easy as clamping something in the other side.

Frosty The Lucky.

Got my Christmas present hooked up and running. OBM Dominator 2 X 72 w/ 2hp VFD. Had to do a little rewiring of the shop to get the 220 needed.

A couple of works in progress. 

And added a rack to the side of the bench vise stand, to hold bending tools. 

Frosty, around about 1/8" i am guessing. The repair looks as if the stationary jaw had broken off and has been welded back on. The welds are just at the top section of where the screw box goes through the jaw. To realign i was thinking i may have to heat up the bend and give it a good whack with a sledge. I figure i will use it as is for a while and just move grandpa's vise to another location so if i want to use it i still have it available. I also have a couple good size bench vices so i am sure i can figure out some sort of work around.  

I’ve done a couple of successful vise realignments by spot-heating with the oxypropane torch and a little judicious encouragement with a large adjustable wrench. 

That should be doable. The trick is to keep it from bending at the screw pass-through. I think heat is the key to that detail.

Me being me though I've been wondering if it'd be reasonable to make a jaw cover for either the hook or heal jaw so screwing the jaws closed would put the right bending moment on the heal. 

Of course that's just the voices talking. 

My general thinking is the simplest thing that does the job is the better. And the one reasonable voice, (napping right now) was saying torch and hammer time.

Heck, forget the hammer! With the jaws almost closed, hang it upside down, heat the high one and drop it on a concrete slab, if it's not enough lift it a LITTLE higher and repeat. The almost closed hook jaw will prevent you driving the heal too far.

Hmmmm?

Frosty The Lucky.

I have a an old adjustable wrench, that I saved from the scrap yard, and it would not move. It has been sitting on my bench for more than a year, at least. I tried with just WD-40 for weeks, I tried heating it in the forge. So today I was cleaning the bench and just decided to cut the round bars that keep it straight and moving together. I really didn't want to do that but it was give up or cut. But that did the trick, I did have to heat it up in the forge more than once. I already have the same style wrench also saved from the scrap yard. 

Davor, in the future when presented with something that is frozen up use, instead of WD-40, a 50/50 mixture of acetone and automatic transmission fluid.  It is a much beter penetrating medium, and much cheaper.  WD-40 does a number of things OK, one of them penetrating oil, and none really well.  It was originally developed as a water displacement medium for the aerospace industry.  It was the 40th water displacement formula tried, hence, WD-40.

BTW, interesting wrench, I've never seen a double sided one like that.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Cool wrench, I've never seen one either. Ditto George about the ATF / acetone rust breaker. ATF is formulated to reverse and protect from rust. Acetone penetrates like crazy. Good stuff.

Frosty The Lucky.

I have seen something similar but one side of the jaw looked kind of like a basin wrench with the inverted "V".  

Is the wrench in the picture, the same one with new rods threaded? I also have never seen one like it, just so cool when it's opened up are the sides the same size opening?

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s.
Semper Paratus

 

More work on the current railing commission, bending some 3/4” Schedule 40 black pipe on the Hossfeld. When you don’t have the hydraulic attachment and when you’re bending an irregular curve, spot-heating with the oxypropane torch is your friend. 

NB: The heavy wire in the last photo is a piece of election sign wire, bent to match the full-size drawing. Great way to check progress of the curves without setting the drawings on fire. 

George thanks for the advice, never heard that till now.

Irondragon, it’s two wrenches but identical, I just got it to move still have to make a handle and the bars. It is same size on both ends (left and right) when adjusting. The top and bottom part have different incline on the threads so the top travels shorter distance when opening or closing.

Unfortunately no markings on the wrenches.

Found a work around for my offset jaws on that vise. A piece of angle iron on the one that is a bit lower is exactly the right size. So for now that is how it will be. 

Made a Gauge Extension (part #25B1) for the Hossfeld. 

This goes with the Sliding Gauge (part #25B) and the Circle Rod (part #27B93):

(Which itself required a little bit of straightening, accomplished with the oxypropane torch and a bending wrench.)