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What did you do in the shop today?


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Hans.. When I was in the Army, 30 some years ago, I was stationed in Butzbach Germany. It was here that I was first introduced to the wonderful German bratwurst. Shortly after my first one, I got caught twice sneaking off post to go to an Imbiss stand to get myself a brat... I cleaned a lot of latrines and was stuck on KP duty for a long time because of this compulsion... Hence, I became known as the Bratwurst bandit, for a while. :D

I still love them, especially roasted on the BBQ. When I am in Germany , my first stop, is always the nearest imbiss stand.

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32 minutes ago, HammerMonkey said:

Hans.. When I was in the Army, 30 some years ago, I was stationed in Butzbach Germany. It was here that I was first introduced to the wonderful German bratwurst. Shortly after my first one, I got caught twice sneaking off post to go to an Imbiss stand to get myself a brat... I cleaned a lot of latrines and was stuck on KP duty for a long time because of this compulsion... Hence, I became known as the Bratwurst bandit, for a while. :D

I still love them, especially roasted on the BBQ. When I am in Germany , my first stop, is always the nearest imbiss stand.

But you kept getting caught! You must've been the wurst burglar on base.

Das: I know it's too late unless your bosh springs more leaks but there's a trick used by folk who own or service float planes for sealing a leaky float. All of them leak a little and it's normal check out procedure to pump the water out. However if one is  particularly leaky the trick is to put a shop vac on the pump fitting and paint the sealant on while the float is at low pressure, call it a partial vacuum. It sucks the sealant into any hole and that's it. Done, tight as s drum.

I wish I'd remembered sooner, a little tape on the water tank for a gasket, piece of plywood and a vacuum cleaner and end of leaks.

Sorry man but I'm blaming the tree.

Frosty The Lucky.
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 I know: we are easily confused. 

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28 minutes ago, Frosty said:

However if one is  particularly leaky the trick is to put a shop vac on the pump fitting and paint the sealant on while the float is at low pressure, call it a partial vacuum. It sucks the sealant into any hole and that's it. Done, tight as s drum.

I already sealed up the outside with some silicone, but I haven’t yet checked it out for leaks. If there are any, I may give this a try. Thanks!

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Yeah, you look like twins of some kind alright. Now I'm thankful my memory sucks maybe the image will fade. I'm out of mental floss. :P

I've got my fingers crossed you don't need to seal anything else and hope it does the trick with silicone calk. There is special FAA approved float sealant of course but the stuff is expensive.

Frosty The Lucky.

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1 hour ago, JHCC said:

I know: we are easily confused. 

Twins ? ;)

Regarding the Bratwurst. your all welcome to taste. Let me know.

2 hours ago, HammerMonkey said:

I became known as the Bratwurst bandit, for a while. :D

Another identity -added to your multible personality :o welcome to my table.

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The grain looks pretty big like it was heated to long or quenched at to high a temperature or to hot in your final forging sequences.

 

Better off it broke.. im saying this from over 30 + years of experience as it would have happened sooner or later if used hard..

 

The grain when hardened should look smooth like a pearl..

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On 4/23/2018 at 6:16 PM, Daswulf said:

Awe man... Looks like it was going to be a nice one. Sorry. I've been there, learned that, and could even possibly do it again. 

I've had a couple small warps before and managed to straighten them. But, I saw them right out of the oil and was able to just lean on them a little and we were good.

This one I didn't notice anything out of the oil, but I think I set it down before it cooled enough and it just took off. Then like an idiot I tried to straighten it cold....

On 4/23/2018 at 6:19 PM, jlpservicesinc said:

The grain looks pretty big like it was heated to long or quenched at to high a temperature or to hot in your final forging sequences.

Better off it broke.. im saying this from over 30 + years of experience as it would have happened sooner or later if used hard..

The grain when hardened should look smooth like a pearl..

Probably quenched to hot in all honesty. Thanks for that. Pretty much why I posted the grain pictures to learn if I was doing something wrong.

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On 4/23/2018 at 2:06 PM, snake hands jimmy said:

Just finished this little letter opener. 1/4 mild. This is my first blacksmithing project 

Not bad Jimmy, how's it work?  Practice up on tapers like Das suggests a nice finial scroll really dresses things up. Proportions are important too. Next time try a little heavier stock, I like starting folks out with 3/8" sq or 1/2" rnd. They are almost exactly the same volume per inch. It'll stay hot longer and give you more time to work it without being very heavy work.

All in all pretty good first go. Keep it up, you'll be giving lessons before you  know it. 

Frosty The Lucky.

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After a frustrating time with a small pendant at my first time forging again in over a week I decided to revamp my scrolling pliers made from old needle nose pliers. They worked, now they will work better getting into tighter spots and being more rounded. 

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Nice job on the needle nose pliers, Das. I need to do that with some of mine. Adding that tight little end on the scrolls is tricky and I always seem to cross up the ends of the pliers. Maybe they are el cheapo ones and a lot smaller than  the pair you have modified.  I'll try what you have done - the tempering looks like you have the tips pretty hard. Not too brittle?

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I finally started with the dirt-y work on my sideblast JABOD. And forgot to put in the tueyre, it seems! :D

Looking at the frame it seems a bit odd shaped... Was I going to build the other side blast wall against the raised part? And if so, what's the point in doing that? Who knows. It must've been the idea of the century back when I slapped the frame together last August.

The ground is still frozen here, so I mixed some bentonite with ash and wood shavings . Made a nice enough mix. Maybe. The mix felt like it was up to specs when squeezed and broken in hand, but once I started compacting the stuff I was in for a muddy ordeal. Probably too much water in total mass.

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Made a dirt tamper, too. Took a whole of five minutes to make, and it shows in professional quality smoothed finish... Don't worry, I wouldn't allow anyone to handle it without gloves.

Noob tip: smoothing and dressing the tamper's work face makes a big difference on efficiency and gives some clue on what to do when you start dressing a hammer for the first time.

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10 hours ago, Daswulf said:

...I decided to revamp my scrolling pliers made from old needle nose pliers.

Das, did you forge the tips on the needle nose pliers or just grind them to shape? I have an old set of pliers that I want to modify like this...

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5 hours ago, ausfire said:

Not too brittle?

Time will tell. A lot of times tips of needle nose will bend on me so I'm trying a little harder. I heated them to a medium red then quenched then was still a little worried they might break so I drew it back a bit. I did risk putting a thinner piece of metal just back from the tip and squeezed and they didn't break. Might have been pointless but I figured I'd give it a shot since I can find cheap needle nose pliers at the fleamarket for .25-.50 cents all the time.  

These are smaller needle nose. 

1 hour ago, HammerMonkey said:

did you forge the tips on the needle nose pliers or just grind them to shape?

Just ground them down to shape. I have a pneumatic angle grinder that takes 3" roloc discs that I use a lot and makes easy work of the small stuff. You could use a 4 1/2" grinder with flap wheels too, just be careful.

 

TC2, that's a Very nice knife. Well done! 

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