I lined my coal forge with refractory cement!  Maybe if it warms up a bit I may fire the old girl up! I like the idea of a coal forge as it is much quieter than my propane forge! Both have the strong suits! Someday I will get a vent hood made over coal forge. I will wait till I retire and relocate for that!

On 2/6/2018 at 4:13 AM, ausfire said:

Also had a hunt around in the scrap some hammers to make a dog head hammer. Found about 30 claw hammers. I reckon four of those would make the most awesome nippers for a giant scorpion. 

I went looking last night as well for some junky claw hammers. Found maybe one that I "might" use. The rest are all too nice and old to butcher. I have a bunch of nice old ones on the wall too. Some from my own ancestors from around the 1800's I believe. 

I like your ideas to use them on. I'll be on the lookout once fleamarket season is here. 

Continued grinding on my latest post anvil after some work on an octopus. 

Maxwell Edison????

Das, that post anvil is a thing of great beauty. I'm wondering if you have shares in a grinding disc company.

Bang! Bang!

lol, no Aus, but I buy the cheap bulk packs from Harbor Freight. Pretty sure I've only used 2 or 3 on it so far. Other then that I have used 3" grinder discs, 6"DA paper, and other sanding supplies on occasion from work when they are no longer good for the task there. Funny enough I pick the best ones up off the floor from what other guys at work pitch out. No longer good for paint and auto body needs but great for beasting on some home metal projects. 

almost too good to beat on it 

And it's not even done yet.   I still need to harden it too which will be a bit scary. 

What's your plan for heat treating it?

The last one I water quenched and it turned out great. This one is bigger and my main concern is getting the whole area up to heat. I can build up my fire with some bricks so it should work out. 

Yes, definitely going to need a long soak in the forge. What do you do for tempering?

I didn't temper the last one since it didn't seem to need it. I was a bit cautious on the last one and believe it didn't get hard enough to chip but is hard enough not to leave hammer marks easily so I was content with that.  Granted I have not had a hard mis strike on edge but I did use it pretty hard for what it is. I'll see how hard this gets and decide from there. There are a couple ways I could go about it. One being just quenching the top half or so and letting the residue heat from the rest of it run a temper.  That may be the way I go. This is a mystery steel that spark tested medium to higher carbon so it's a guess. I don't have any more to test since I used the whole hammer head. Just have to see how it goes. 

Do you have a wood stove? Do double duty and heat it while you heat the house...

Good idea but won't work in my case. 

Cabinet handles and started a fire screen.  

Hey Das,

You should have a bunch of worn out sanding disks after making that fine looking post anvil... Here's what I do with them...

Great for deburring stock.

 

Thanks for the idea Stitch. I like it. 

Two flap grinding disks, mounted back to back? Evidently, one spins the wrong direction then. Has that caused any issues?

I’d be concerned about the grinding flaps lifting and catching/grabbing the work out of your hand.

Got together with @Lou L and did a little leaf-making workshop. Fun was had. 

3 hours ago, Shady McGrady said:

Two flap grinding disks, mounted back to back? Evidently, one spins the wrong direction then. Has that caused any issues?

I’d be concerned about the grinding flaps lifting and catching/grabbing the work out of your hand.

Hey Shady, Good eye! The worst one spins backwards and is not used except as a spacer. Just using it rather than tossing it.

Although I did try it once just to see and it didn't cause any problems. Not that I'd recommend it.

 

Hey @JHCC, That Treadle hammer is looking great... How about a nice little helving hammer for your next project? 

Or this one.... Lol!

 

Very quiet at today's demo (monsoonal rain keeps visitors away)  so took the opportunity to try forging one of the aforementioned dog's head hammers. Absolutely no use of course, but one way of amusing oneself on a wet day.  I think I might just grind the nose back and make it into a texturing hammer. At least it will be useful.

And what am I going to do with all the other claw hammers I found? There has to be a creative use for them. I reckon they look more like dogs heads with the claw part upright and the hole (filled in) as the nose and the face as the neck. Hmmm. Perhaps with a dog spike body ... something to ponder on.

One tourist who did happen by the forge today commented that I had too much time on my hands.

 

2 hours ago, ausfire said:

And what am I going to do with all the other claw hammers I found?

Cut the claws off and you can forge the heads into adze blades, makes a nice little bowl/carving adze.

3 hours ago, ausfire said:

And what am I going to do with all the other claw hammers I found?

54 minutes ago, Judson Yaggy said:

Cut the claws off and you can forge the heads into adze blades, makes a nice little bowl/carving adze.

Cut ONE claw off and forge the other into a punch.

OR

Weld them up into a footstool and sell it to someone who owns a Wharton Esherick hammer handle chair.