I have a really big project coming up and needed some new stock. I do not work on Fridays (4, 10 hour days, cant beat that with a stick) but i do work nights and do not get off work till 2:30 AM. Getting up on Friday it only gives me a couple hours to run into Dayton, get to Alro and buy my stock. So i asked the girl at work who does our purchasing to order me 6 bars of 1/2" square 12' or 16'  long, which ever our supplier carries. 

Now it has been a while since i had to buy new steel and she came back with a quote of no more than $260. . I know the price of steel has gone up but i did not realize that much, oh and all they carry is 12'. So i said yeah i need them regardless, my profit margin on this job is pretty good. She went ahead and ordered them, got the bill and was happy to see that the price was closer to $150. A bit more than my estimated quote but reasonable. 

Now just to go get the 75 or so board feet of hickory. I also have to get this done by Christmas so i am going to be one busy little beaver and may have to take a few vacation days from work, luckily i have about 160 hours built up.  

Not to much beaver, or your costumer will not recieve his wood

Nah, just a few nibbles here and there. 

Finished today, but I've been working on it for a while: 

A dog's head hammer out of 38mm (1 1/2") reo (rebar).

Forgot to weigh the head by itself, but with the handle the total weight is 930g (2lb1oz).

Like a RR spike knife, it's mostly for the "Hey, look! That hammer's made out of reo!", but I really like how it came out. I'm keen to put it through its paces, but if I do another I'm going to draw out the cheeks because I think the shallower eye on this one might mean less support and less spreading of impact through the handle.

Thanks for looking! 

Jono.

I like it also, should move hot steel just fine.

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

Love it, Hefty! Keep us posted on how it works. 

 

On 10/31/2024 at 2:55 AM, JHCC said:

(4) the clamp that holds the bottom blade down is too long and sticks up above where it should, getting in the way of the workpiece.

Fixed it. 

Before:

 After:

That is a strikingly attractive hammer Jono, I like it and will be interested in how it works for you.

Frosty The Lucky.

That is a hefty piece of rebar you started from.

Cool piece.

The clamp looks solid but I don't have a clear idea of how the lower blade connects so I can't say much, John. 

May we have a few more pics of this part of the machine, please? Or heck link me if you already showed us and it slipped my mind?

Frosty

I’d have to take it apart to get a proper picture. For now, suffice it to say that the far end of the blade is steeply beveled, and there’s a matching bevel in the cast iron base. As the clamp pushes the near end of the blade down and in, the bevels at the far end interlock and hold that end down. Does that make sense?

Perfect sense, thank you. 

Frosty The Lucky.

Got about half done that i was planning, par for course i guess. 

One of the end brackets to a shelf/cabinet thing i am making. Would have got both spindles done but i ended up burning the scrolls while welding them on. So i backed up and decided that a collar and rivet, rivet is most aesthetic, would work and most likely be quicker than welding them on then putting on a collar. 

There will be 3 shelves on this one side. This is the end support for the middle one. I actually miss measured and cut the spindle 3" short, so i will put 2 pieces of 1/2" square, one on top and one on bottom with a 1" spacer between. Those 2 will also be just about 4" longer as well. 

Had a couple visitors also. 2 black vultures. While by no means rare they are not very common this far north. Tried to get a pick but can not get it to download. 

I did get a pic of the spindle though

Hello all. It's been a long since posting.

Tried to make a tomahawk from a ball pein hammer. Here's the result. Crumbled when forged.  Cast iron?  I did not really look at it before forging assuming it should have been forged. 

 

It's probably a "modern" mystery alloy. I've had good luck forging old ball peins into various cross, straight, angle, pein forging hammers. I've never tried a punch or hot cut. I don't think anybody casts hammers, closed die forging is the norm from my experience.

How hot were you forging it? 

Frosty The Lucky.

On 3/16/2021 at 1:00 PM, MacLeod said:

Any improvements in aesthetics along the way are all due to the advice given on IFI

If you really want to up your animal head game, I'll suggest checking out Darryl Nelson's animal head cds/dvds.  IIRC he has three, a bear's head, a lynx head, and a ram's head where he also does a full bodied ram.

I've succeeded reforging hangers as well.  Last one I tried was a ball pean from HF into a camp ax.  Couldn't get it to fully harden though.  Today I cleaned my shop a bit and put away the traveling shop for the season after a great final demonstration yesterday. 

Hefty, that hammer will definitely be a conversation starter! I've never seen rebar that big. Looks like it'll do just fine.

Billy, that's a nice decorative spindle. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished set.

The weekly challenge group I'm in on Facebook had a really fun theme this week. He challenged us to make a belt-hook-style blacksmith helper and a tiny hammer. I had just recently seen this type of helping hand and had been meaning to do it. The tiny hammer just makes me happy. I already have a tiny anvil and then I made those tiny tongs (which I still need to re-do). I will eventually have an entire tiny smithy - hahaha - it's the little things.

 

I just joined that group.   I'm going to try and get to that challenge, it looks like it's going to be fun.

Got the other spindle and bottom bar done. Still need the 2 spacers and the other 2 bars. I was going to forge out tennons on the spacers but have since decided to take a piece of stock to work with me today and drill holes through them for rivets. I can do that a lot more accurate on the mill than my drill press. 

 

Finally got the pic of the 2 buzzards at my house to down load, just took a while so here they are as well.

 

Vultures gonna vultch.

Love the miniatures Shaina, well done. I'd NEVER wear a hook like that on my belt, I move around too much and won't wear snaggers. Just the thought gives me the willies! Heck, even if I thought it wasn't a safety hazard my belt isn't close enough to anvil height to work anyway.

Your spindles are really coming along well, Billy!

Vultures vultch? Hmmmm, do Buzzards Buzz John? 

Frosty The Lucky.

Shainaru, i forgot, yes pretty cool miniatures. 

Thanks Frosty.

Just got in from going out to the north 40. There seems to be a dead racoon on my neighbors side of the fence. 

Like i said earlier, they seem to be black vultures, or at least near as i can figure, which while not rare are not common to see here. 

Autum, lots of snails in the workshed

Just missing holes, descaling and a waxcoating to put to usefull use of holding the gardentools up

Kevin, looks like it might have been cast iron. It will do that kind of stuff. Ive been there too in trying to make something into something else to have it all crumble. 

Gewoon, love the snails. 

Lots of nice work going on here. 

 

I'm cool with vultures Billy, you don't see them up hear we have Ravens but I used to see them S. Cal all the time. I know they're territorial and if you don't bother them they'll get comfortable being close to people. 

I love your snail hangers Gewoon. I think they'd look very well in the yard or garden as well as the tool shed. 

Frosty The Lucky.