That is a fine way to end the year Alex. I wish it were easier to see but black scroll work on a black and white background is like that. 

On what day do you observe New Year in Russia?

Frosty The Lucky.

1 hour ago, Frosty said:

On what day do you observe New Year in Russia?

Like everyone else, on the night from December 31 to January 1. There are many church holidays, but I don’t understand them.

There just be more cultures here: folks celebrate Chinese new year and one other I can't recall right now are the big ones, then there are I don't know how many different religious new year observations. 

I was just curious, I never know anymore. 

Frosty The Lucky.

Things are complicated slightly by the fact that the Russian Orthodox Church still calculates its feasts according the Julian calendar, which is currently 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. December 25 on the Julian calendar is January 7 on the Gregorian calendar. 

(Fun fact: while most of Europe changed to the Gregorian calendar in the mid-18th century, the Russian Empire continued to use the Julian calendar as its civil calendar until the 1918 revolution. This causes endless problems for historians of, for example, the Crimean and First World Wars, since the dates of Russian and non-Russian sources differ by almost two weeks.)

Not to mention that the October Revolution happened in November.

There is a great reason to celebrate the New Year twice: January 1st and January 13th.))) 

We could follow a solar or lunar calendar and new year day would be a little or a lot different every year. Comes from the darned planet's orbit being a bit off.

A bit off, Hmmmm. Maybe we should draw up an Iforgeiron calendar, we could celebrate several new years a year!

Frosty The Lucky.

Let's see:  If  I were more observant, and my wife still bothered with Chinese new year, and we moved to Russia . . .

Hmmm, how about we celebrate 365 anniversaries a year and have one Monday every four? That way every four years we could great everybody with, "Late again (place name here)? You're FIRED! or maybe, We're docking your pay! And so on. There could be international contests for the best, Monday greeting. 

Frosty The Lucky.

Merry Christmas everybody.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL and a good DAY!

Frosty The Lucky.

I hope everyone had a good holiday.

My Christmas Day was very productive. We didn't have any family celebrations going on so Ashley and I just did our own things today. I burned a batch of charcoal and got another batch split. I picked up around the yard - just various little things here and there that overall made the yard look a bit messy. And I finished a tool I've been working on.

An adjustable punch holder inspired by the one JHCC made. This is my first time threading & tapping.  I've read and watched a bunch of tips and how to's so I knew to use cutting fluid, and to only progress a little then back off to clear the swarf. I'm sure knowing those two things alone helped my first experience not end in complete failure. However...

I stripped the set screw hole on the handle of my cheap HF set about an inch or two into the cutting. A friend was kind and lent me one he inherited from his grandpa. The set screw hole on that one stripped too. I felt awful but it stripped after just re-tightening once so I'm thinking it might have already been on its way out. I offered to get it repaired but he said he'd take a look at it. I then drilled a new hole in my HF handle and tapped it. I stripped that one after only 2 threads cut. Finally, I grabbed a big pipe wrench to finish the job. That really worked a treat. I finished the threading and went to tap the wingnut.

I'm posting pics as if it's finished but I need to remake the wingnut. I thought I'd try using the drill press rather than take a chance on the chinky HF tap handle. I managed to bore a smooth hole with the tapping bit, lol, wow.

Anyway, this can adjust to hold my thinnest punch up to 5/8". I don't expect to be making any hand tools bigger than that. This should be great for protecting my hand from errant strikes.

Excellent! Keep us posted on how you like it!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. 

Shainaru, i assume you mean either the tap handle or the die handle. Those are usually made of cheap pot metal that come in the sets and they do strip quite easily. For taps you can get some that are really good, i use a ratchet wrench made for taps that has 4 different sizes. For my dies i grind flats on them so i can just use a big wrench. 

I would also suggest a good tap and drill chart that gives percentage of thread. For example a 1/4-20 hole they give a #7 or a 5.5mm drill for the hole, that will give a 75% thread. If you use a #3 drill you will get 50% thread. The #3 hole is a bit bigger and easier to tap. Also keep in mind that you need at least 3 full threads to get a strong fit. 

Tap Magic is the best tapping fluid on the market in my opinion. 

Anyway, got some time to work on my cabinet/shelf thingy the past couple days. Not a lot. Moved the pieces inside and started pre-assembly. Got the frame put together, just have to put in the shelve, disassemble, and deliver. The wife decided she liked it a lot and now i am going to have to go get another 70 BF of lumber and start over. 

Nice Job Billy!!

--Larry

That's really coming along nicely, Billy!

And thank you for the advice. Yes, I was referring to a die handle. I had started to wonder if my die was dull and that was why I kept breaking the set screw holes. But then when I used the pipe wrench it turned without issue. So I'm going with crappy handles.

Good idea on grinding a flat on the dies. My brother recommended hex dies and another thread on here recommended hss. Most of the sets I see available in home improvement stores around here are all carbon steel or "high carbon steel". I've been looking for hex die hss sets and they're surprisingly difficult to find! I can't buy right now anyway but was gonna add to my 'later' list. 

I must have the same set. Crapy holder indeed. Mine came with a nice casting line and feels like aluminium because it is way to light to be steel.

Chinesium 

Super cool punch holder Shainarue and neat idea, looks handy. 

The late Thomas Powers handed off a bunch of scrap material when he was trying to reduce his stock some time ago.   I picked up a tiller blade from him.

Today, inspired by a design I saw in the Ken's Custom Iron catalog, I decided to make an anvil bridge out of it with a beveled edge and little horn.  It is nice medium-to-high carbon steel, and a test coupon hardened very easily.

Here it is ready to be annealed and then finish ground.  I'll weld a hardy shank onto it tomorrow or Sunday.  I'll then harden and temper the working surface.  I think it will make working on pieces with small, split ends easier.

 

I made one like that back in 2017, from leaf spring if memory serves. 

Yes, that's just what I had in mind.  Your decision to make an integral hardy shank is one I should have considered, but it's too late.  I'll weld on a 1" square bar and it should be usable.

I made a bridge a while back as a saddle and held it in place with a long neck hold fast. That let me use it in different positions on the anvil so I could do heavier work without removing it. 

Sorry, no pick and the shop is still pretty iced closed.

Frosty The Lucky.

Another great idea and perhaps my next project

46 minutes ago, TommyVee said:

I'll weld on a 1" square bar and it should be usable.

It could be used in the post vise also.

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

Shanarue, For the longest time, I didn't own a tap handle at all. That's why almost all my taps have a nut swaged on.  I'd take the tap and find a nut with a hole just smaller than the square part, and press it on in the vise.  For round dies, these are quite handy, and made of steel. https://www.mcmaster.com/products/dies/die-adapters~/