What did you do in the shop today?

[Daswulf]

Nice Sfeile. What grit did you finish out with. I am thinking you could easily get a finer finish if you wanted too. Profile and handle are great. Simple is fine. 

[sfeile]

Thanks Das. I stopped at 220. The boss liked the look with the little bit of scratch pattern left, so I left it how she liked it. I did hit it on the buffer a bit just to smooth it, but still leave the pattern.

[Charles R. Stevens]

Happy wife...

 

[sfeile]

Very true Charles, very true.

[Daswulf]

Ok I thought it was polished but still had grit scratches. What she wants she gets but it doesn't hurt to tell her that it's better other ways. 

[sfeile]

I was trying for a "satin" kind of finish. Didn't quite get there though. I found a place that I can get scotchbrite belts to fit my 2x42, so that may be a near future purchase. I think that would help in the final stages of the ones I do polish. 

I'm still in the playing stage and figuring out what works well or not so well at my low skill level. Someday I hope to get to a mediocre level. Maybe... Until then I'm just going to have fun beating steel and learning new things.

[JHCC]

Finished welding up the extra mass on the striking anvil/portable hole. 

[sfeile]

There has been a lot of welding on that thing. How many pounds of wire have you gone through so far? Looking good though!

[JHCC]

Since I got the welder, I’ve used about 15 lbs of wire to make this, the treadle hammer, the new forge and bosh, and some other bits and pieces. 

[jlpservicesinc]

What is the largest size spool the welder will hold?    does it have the ability to use a shielding gas? 

[JHCC]

Ten pounds, and yes. However, it’s a loaner, and there’s no gas cylinder with it. In retrospect, I probably could have rented a tank of shielding gas. 

It’s been good to have, and I’ll miss it when I have to give it back. 

[JHCC]

 And that day is not far away: the renovations in the college’s theater building are moving along very quickly,  and they are going to want their welder back when the scene shop reopens. This is why I’m trying to get as many projects done as possible while I still have it. In the mean time, my welding has gotten a lot better:

(Which, considering how bad it was before, isn’t saying much.)

[jlpservicesinc]

16 hours ago, JHCC said:

Ten pounds, and yes. However, it’s a loaner, and there’s no gas cylinder with it. In retrospect, I probably could have rented a tank of shielding gas. 

It’s been good to have, and I’ll miss it when I have to give it back. 

There are a bunch of reasonably priced MIG/MAG machines out there now..

Running gas can speed up the process as there is less clean up..   if you weld primarily inside a shop even with the doors open shielding gas works well..

The reasons i mention this is regular wire is less expensive and since you are pre cleaning everything its extra nice to not have to go back for clean ups.. also when welding items like the bosh there are less weld related defects..   and if the metal is extra dirty running a dual shield wire can offer a really good return..

 

I'd say youve had a bunch of growth and the work shows that..  

I love seeing peoples work as they gain understanding..  

How heavy is your portable striking anvil now..?

 

[JHCC]

I’ll take the bathroom scale out to the shop and weigh it later, but in the meantime, that new top section adds about 45 pounds (9” x 6-3/4” x 2-3/4” (less the volume of the 1-1/2” square hardy hole) x 0.283 lbs/cu. inch).

Before the loaner became available, I had planned to buy one of those inexpensive units you mention. Unfortunately, I didn’t get as much money from selling my concertina as I had originally anticipated, so that idea got shelved.

[JHCC]

By the way, the flat wire brush I picked up a couple of months ago from the industrial surplus place -- the one with 5" long wires -- is absolutely fantastic for getting the slag off the welds.

[ThomasPowers]

I must say that this: "even with the doors open shielding gas works well" depends on the local winds...On the other hand, the common 30mph+ winds do allow one to clean the shop by just blowing the dust up and letting the wind deposit it outside the shop.  When they get over 50 mph it's hard to keep the propane forge burners working right.

[Daswulf]

One of the reasons it's hot and miserable welding in the heat of summer. Can't really have a fan blowing and the shop isn't climate controlled. Makes mixing and spreading putty interesting too. 

[jlpservicesinc]

I dont live in a high wind area unless ive had beans for breakfast.. then the sparks become more of a problem..

[ThomasPowers]

There are a number of things where temps in the 100's degF and Humidity in the single digits cause issues (and vice versa, high humidities and low temps can cause problems too.)

(JLP--you don't have frijoles for breakfast every day?  Do y'all eat scrappile like they do in PA?)

[Daswulf]

My mother would make scrapple for breakfast on occasion. I want a big fan but would eat it. Until my brother went and helped my uncle in Altoona make it, after he told me about it I just don't care to eat it ever again. 

[JHCC]

Just think of it as an edible canister damacus.

[ThomasPowers]

Well put!     Or hotdogs with less grinding....My wife being the daughter of a butcher for a big supermarket chain, and with 11 siblings; well she enjoys eating a lot of stuff  I never had growing up.  Our kids learned early NOT to check what was in any large pot on the stove....Some of the things I tolerate and others I like.

[jlpservicesinc]

Way back when I ate meat, Scrapple would have been on the list.. Spam, etc, etc.. were all fair game.. 

Now,  I really don't even like to eat anything that moves faster than a snail..   

As to the welding... When I am welding i wear all my leathers with a head cap... I eventually purchased a powered respirator hood and wow what a difference.. The blower creates a little bit cooler breaze inside the helmet..  I used to make tuned exhausts and such and I hated getting burnt.. 

[JHCC]

All my gear is borrowed at this point, so I have a choice between two light welding jackets (both slightly too small) and a set of leather sleeves matched with my own leather smithing apron. I usually go with the former, and haven't had any issues with getting burned (other than through some pinholes in the gloves). One good thing about welding with flux core is that I can use my big stand fan to keep cool without blowing away the shielding gas.

[sfeile]

1 hour ago, jlpservicesinc said:

When I am welding i wear all my leathers with a head cap... I eventually purchased a powered respirator hood and wow what a difference..

I worked on a job a few years back that was at an old glass plant. The whole site was covered in sand. Sand holds heat. It was already an average of 98 degrees. I was in leathers for 12 hours a day for 3 months straight air-arcing some equipment apart to be moved to a new location. I was running at 225 amps in enclosed structure pieces baking in the sun. That was a miserable job and I would have really enjoyed one of those hoods. Or at least the cooling hood without the filters.

I did use one with the respirator version at a brick plant. We were tearing out the old feed hoppers and replacing them. Silica dust was everywhere, so you were in a respirator at all times inside.

I have a cooling hood now, without the filters that I took the welding portion off of  and try to use when grinding, but my little compressor doesn't like to keep up with it very well.