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What did you do in the shop today?


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yes. looks like it would make a fine cone mandrel.

                                                                                                                                                           Littleblacksmith 

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The big issues with scrap in the USA are twofold: one is liability issues. If someone gets hurt going through the scrap they can sue the scrapyard for obscene amounts of money.  This tends to limit the number of scrapyards that will allow "outsiders" into the yards. (Especially as their insurance may forbid such access.)

The second is that offshore owners have bought a lot of the scrapyards outright during the construction boom in China and so everything is already owned and can't be legally resold.  (There used to a scrapyard south of where I attended college in a small town in Arkansas and on a visit years later it was now a clean and empty field.  They told me that someone came in and offered them over a million dollars for just the steel and the owner decided he was retired!)

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14 hours ago, JHCC said:

Glad it worked out. On the next one, try forging it up as well as across, so that it’s coaxial with the hammer face. That will make it easier to aim the punch. Nice looking crosses. 

Thanks for the advice. The next one will be lined up better.

9 hours ago, Glenn said:

Figure out what rivet size you use most for tongs. Make that size punch on the end of the hammer. 

I have enough hammers to make a few different sizes. This one is mainly for punching holes in wall hooks and the starting hole for bottle openers.

12 hours ago, littleblacksmith said:

Ausfire- Was that a cone mandrel I saw in your scrap pile?

I guess it could be used for a cone mandrel, but I have no idea what it is. I saved it because it was an interesting shape. I'll get another picture that shows it better.

4 hours ago, Daswulf said:

Tried out a tea light holder with parts I'm willing to send to a friend so i don't waste his time. 1/4" plate stock. Tried several ideas with the handle but this is what I ended up with. 

Das, nice candle holders. The handle is not welded on?? Forged from one piece?

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9 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

I like to punch undersize and run a drill through the hole to true it up for tongs.  Not needed for tenons you will be riveting for grill and gate work.

I run my tapers for tongs on the outside to inner.. This keeps the tongs joint tighter for a longer period of time as there is a taper on both sides as well as the rivet heads to support the pivot/jaw area.. 

if I need a straight hole through I just drift it to size.. 

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3 hours ago, Jim Coke said:

I have made a few . They make great presents . No welds I chunk of 12g.  No need for 1/4 stock. 

You's gots a plasma... . ;)   Nice work.. 

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I made this gaff hook, I often fish in the harbor and I've lost a handful of nice fish just because my old gaff hook was a little bit too short and that was on high tide, with this I can safely bring them in even during low tide (I'm 5'7/1,73 for comparison), another fun fact, I had promised myself to be home by 12 in the evening when I started this but my friend showed up to the smithy one thing led to another and I finished driving the pin through the handle sometime around 5 in the morning, safe to say I had a good long sleep after that day

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On 2/11/2018 at 9:37 AM, littleblacksmith said:

Ausfire- Was that a cone mandrel I saw in your scrap pile?

Here's a better picture of the object in question. It could probably work as a cone mandrel, although I would have little use for one so big. The smaller thing (?) leaning against it could be useful though. Hammer is there to indicate size.

The other two pics show a couple of weird objects that turned up in the scrap. The first one is very heavy, as though it were solid steel. I think sand blasted and polished it would make a great base for a lamp.

The other one appears to be made of brass. Perhaps a heating coil of some kind. Could make a good garden art caterpillar.

Any ideas what they are?

 

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cone mandril2.JPG

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I wish I was in Australia.... There are so many things there I could use haha. My stock pile fits in a 5 gallon bucket at the moment.

NY state scrap yards won't let anything out once it comes in, and the one near me in PA keeps telling me to talk to one of the 4 owners who are never there. There is a steel supplier near me, but they only deal in structural steel. I can get some nice square/round/flat stock, but it is all mild steel. Good for some things, not so good for others.

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Aus, no idea what that upper one could be but it almost looks like a fitting on top so just be careful with what "could" be inside. The lower looks like some kind of radiator or cooler and looks like it would be an awesome caterpillar. 

Sfeile, what Thomas said, also body shops can often have leaf and coil springs for picking. Old farms often have some good scrap hanging around. Machine and fab shops often have a lot of good forgable stock in many sizes and types. I have many times gone to estate auctions on farms or older places that had piles of "scrap" ( some large, some smaller) that could be had cheap if you are willing to haul it home. Also re-stores and the like often have some usable stock in different forms. 

It's out there. Just gotta keep your eyes open. 

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4 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

Got any mechanics in your neck of the woods? 

I got a couple pieces of leaf spring from the one downtown. The guy I got the brake disks from has some stuff he said I can go through, I just have to get down there to look.

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Dang Aus, those are some cool shapes you get to work with. Maybe you need to start exporting "Vintage Certified Australian Scrap Metal" hahaha!

Do you have any contact with Andrew Whitehead -Scrapartoz? I haven't seen him post recently, but I know he does some really big pieces and may need some more inventory.

There is even a sculpture forum now sculpture.net that you may be able to move some on. I wonder if we could get a group rate on an airline so all of us could come down there and raid your scrap pile :D 

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Well I botched the heat treat on the post anvil. Hammer head unknown, post 4140, and horn was torsion bar welded on. From the looks it cracked 2/3 into the torsion bar horn. The rest leaves minor divots with a ball pien and file barely bites in. Never heard or felt the crack and I did go more aggressively with the water quench then I had originally planned. Live and learn. Think I could have gone about that way better!

I'm going to try to regrind in a horn where it broke off for a shorter one.

Happy fun times with mystery metal. And mixed metal guesstimate quench. I think Thomas's idea of a block anvil is more wise ;) I'll salvage this mess. 

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After mounting in the stump and running over it with a da sander with 150 grit I played with a ball bearing on it. The hammer head part is anywhere from 60% down to about 40%. The center 4140 part is close to around 90% and there is just no testing the horn area now. 

I will still salvage this as much as I can. I'm thinking I was a bit off on the hammer head spark test. And I was deffinately stupid with the quench. 

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17 hours ago, BIGGUNDOCTOR said:

Do you have any contact with Andrew Whitehead -Scrapartoz? I haven't seen him post recently, but I know he does some really big pieces and may need some more inventory.

I haven't seen much of Andrew's work lately either. Perhaps he's hard at work making another of his masterpieces. I should tell him that there's a whole lot of scrap here for the taking, but it's still a fair drive for him from central Queensland. I think he's a bit like me - more scrap than he could ever use. I spent the last two afternoons trying to sort out that pile and put the good pieces under cover. Took the drop saw up and cut usable pieces out of a lot of the old ag machinery and wrought iron lengths. I have a big pile ready for the dump.

Not sure the airlines would appreciate a scrap trip! Take-off weight might be a problem!

And Das, that scorpion is coming along well. What are you using for the sting? I use the handle end of a flat file for mine'. Sharpened and curved forward.

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