George N. M. Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 Aaamax, I usually don't use hoof rasps because of this issue even though they are decent steel. I have always liked, but never made, Thomas Powers' "rasple snakes" where he drew them out into a snake shape and the teeth were the scales and he added a stack of loose bottle caps on the tang as a rattle. Iconic New Mexico piece. G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 Gazz, this is an 8 Axis Cincinnati Monoset Cutter and tool grinder. It will grind pretty much anything you can think of that is round or if you have the correct shaped collets to hold it. This will make drill bits from carbide, HSS, or drill rod, solid rods or rotary burrs, or milling machine bits, or if you have a horizontal milling machine will make the cutters. I will make engravers bits, round or square punches for punch machines. Ideally the material that the work is being done on is pre-hardened and will be a finished item directly from the machine. I say this loosely since using any heat-treatable material will work, but not having to heat treat, then regrind is a better use of time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyBones Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 Jennifer, i am kind of jealous of that machine. I would love to have that as well as a surface grinder and a mill, but alas i have nowhere that i can put them or a power source. Tool maker is kind of a misnomer as well even though it is the job title. We actually buy most of our tooling now. What i will be doing a lot of is is making things like tool holders and fixtures. Or modifying tools, like making flat bottom drills from standard drills, taps, and such things. We use very, very few HSS tools anymore and it is more economical just to buy carbide inserts, as well as they hold tolerance much better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluerooster Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 BillyO, that's an awesome widget. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 Billy, it's a pretty easy machine to be envious of. It can make just about any cutter from scratch. It's all choices.. If I did not start the school building I could have retired and lived comfortably. Until the school is finished and running it's just quicksand with time and money. Sucks everything out of sight. it sounds like you can do milling and surface grinding at work.. Knowing what I know now, I'd not build anything and just teach at the available places. So, just use the machines at work.. I own milling machine, Blanchard grinder, surface grinder, metal lathe, and now this cutter/maker. In reality all this stuff owns me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted May 3 Share Posted May 3 11 hours ago, aaamax said: this is something I wrestle with a lot. To forge the file as is, or to first grind the teeth off? it depends what you are after and your skill set. This is farriers rasp for the edge. forged to shape and forged welded. The compass is rasp for the tips. Welded.. The pattern in the rasp I wanted to be there when this tomahawk was finished.. The wrought iron filled the teeth of the rasp on both sides.. This leaves a very interesting pattern with no doubts as to the edge material. The last photo was a 20min knife forging demo for someone who would go on to win Forged in Fire this past season We were talking about how and way and just how fast it is a few years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goods Posted May 4 Share Posted May 4 You are alway a hard act to follow! (and I truly enjoy seeing your work.) Tonight I got a good start on a pair of box jaw tongs: Sized for 1” x 1/4”. Made from 3/4” sucker rod. 7” length for the flat side and 7-1/2” with a little of the taper from the rod end on the box side. My first attempt at these and there was a lot of file work to get to this point and more needed. These are going to be a door prize at our next hammer-in. If it was for my shop I’d just rivet them up, adjust and call it done… (I’m going to have to spend time making more tongs for myself one of these days! Especially these, it’s a common size for me to use!) Keep it fun, David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted May 4 Share Posted May 4 Billy O that turned out great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted May 4 Share Posted May 4 Thanks David, I try to keep it interesting.. I love, love, love your tongs. On smaller sizes it's a good idea to leave a relief section just in front of the jaw boss vs upturned lip. If I'm doing knife work or the like then this design of full jaw is my preference. But for general work, having that relief in front of the jaw pivot allows to hold stock 90 to the tongs for upsetting and such. I prefer full jaw side lips if I"m only drawing and want maximum control. The full side lip tongs are also much harder to forge cleanly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyVee Posted May 4 Share Posted May 4 (edited) I haven't done much forging on my new anvil yet, I'm still making tools to go with it. Today I cut and welded up a Mark Aspery style "smoosh-o-matic" guillotine tool and a set of butcher dies for it. (the cut-and-pasted image looks stretched, but if you click on it it expands to the right aspect ratio) Edited May 4 by TommyVee comment on image distortion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GhostTownForge Posted May 4 Share Posted May 4 It looks nice. I still need to make one of those for my anvil. What steel did you use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyVee Posted May 4 Share Posted May 4 The butcher dies are made from ordinary 1" mild steel square bar that I will harden somewhat with superquench. The person who showed me the design does exactly that and has a good dozen sets of dies superquenched that way, and says they have served him well for years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goods Posted May 4 Share Posted May 4 That’s kind of funny. I tend to make a fair number of blacksmith knives from salvaged 52100 and 5160 forged down to 1’ x 1/4”. Every time I’m making them I tell myself I need to make box jaw tongs to simplify some of my stress in the starting process… Keep it fun, David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaamax Posted May 5 Share Posted May 5 On 5/4/2024 at 1:33 AM, jlpservicesinc said: it depends what you are after and your skill set. wow, some serious skills their on display. Impressive. The drawknife looks to have a Hamon line, yes? How did you develop that, or did I not catch that it had wrought for the spine? did you grind off the teeth on that one first? I see no left over artifacts, so clean. The 20 min blade as well seems so clean at the edge. How was that acomplished? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lary Posted May 5 Share Posted May 5 Punched and drifted a piece of Hyster fork yesterday afternoon. Another hammer and tennis elbow in the making. (Just kidding I feel fine this morning.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted May 5 Share Posted May 5 On the draw knife no Hamon, all the items are wrought iron with welded steel rasp. All the items are finished by hand with no electric equipment used. Files and sandpaper and scrapers. as to how, lots of experience. I don't grind off the teeth.. When I first started45+ years ago I would grind them off. but stopped doing that many years ago now. Here is my video channel.. There are a few on forging knife blades. The videos are pretty old now.. Started the channel when I came out of retirement.. There will be new videos once the school building is finished. https://www.youtube.com/@jlpservicesinc1452/videos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyBones Posted May 5 Share Posted May 5 PAY ATTENTION. That is the lesson of the day. My poor hands have taken an absolute beating over this past week. I was doing a bit of clean up with a wire wheel and not paying enough attention (it is worse than it looks). Last weekend, same hand i burned pretty good becuase i caught a drift as i drove it out of an ax eye, my other hand has a 3/4" deep, 1/4" round puncture in the web between my thumb and forefinger. Some days i wonder if it were worth to get out of bed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted May 5 Share Posted May 5 Good GRIEF Billy! Are you trying for the most the painful types of minor injury or something? Please don't try for more painful ones! I've been there, some days would've been better to stay in bed alright. Please share if you figure out how to tell in advance! Take care and let your injuries heal for a while before getting back to the hazardous stuff. I've found that compensating for an injury too often puts another appendage at higher risk. Like walking on a bum leg puts more stress on the other so you end up with two bum legs. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George N. M. Posted May 5 Share Posted May 5 Billy, in the steel mills and mines I have worked in it was always said that the two most dangerous types of guys to work around were the newbies and the old timers. The noobs because they didn't get know what was dangerous and how to avoid getting injured and the old guys because they had worked there so long they had gotten careless because "they hadn't been killed yet." I hope you are not becoming part of the second group. G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted May 5 Share Posted May 5 A flight instructor friend used to say the first year after soloing a pilot is safest, then for a period of about 3 years you see the most wrecks. They know enough to be dangerous but haven't learned their limits. I don't recall the saying but we used to talk about examples in the news. My Father used to sum it up with the saying, "Familiarity breeds contempt." Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted May 5 Share Posted May 5 Ouch! Billy. Don't get down to the bones like the name. I can tend to cringe at some things I catch myself doing or see others doing and either stop or warn them. Sometimes simple things you typically do can go without the care or protection you should use. I really try to catch it early or remember to start with it but sometimes it takes an injury or brush with it to remind me. Safe habits are the best. I don't heal as quick as I used to. Heal up and try to remember safe practices First next time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rojo Pedro Posted May 5 Share Posted May 5 Yes we should all take a lesson - hope it heals quick. I need to join the site ‘I don’t forge iron’ as once again, no forging involved. really like how it turned out though lots of room to improve. Back side. I left some copper to create a mounting hole and some little feet to keep it proud from the wall. I think it looks cool in reverse in this photo. Thanks for looking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted May 5 Share Posted May 5 Cool sun Rojo. Nice work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 Very cool sun.. Nice work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goods Posted May 6 Share Posted May 6 I finished up the tongs I started the other day: And I also stared upsetting some 2-1/2” shaft to make another sledge for the IBA conference. I think I’m at the limit of my power hammer, this is going to take quite a few heats!: 4 heats down and it’s upset by about 1-1/5” (I lost a bunch to scale on my last one, so starting with 11lbs I’m hoping to end up at 8lbs…) Keep it fun, David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.