What did you do in the shop today?

[JHCC]

They migrate earlier and earlier every year.

[Rojo Pedro]

Made a couple key chain / pendants and what will be a center punch out of a piece of sucker rod. Had fun but very hot and humid today

[CrazyGoatLady]

Such good work everyone. I wish I could follow with something good. Had sort of a frustrating evening at the forge. Worked on three different projects, and none turned out very well. I made a couple of door handles for the chicken tractors. One came out alright, but the other, I broke off one of the end pieces. Forged it too thin I think. I tried to make a tealight candle holder out of a horseshoe.  I fiddled with it for a long time, but it just wasn't right. I need to see if I can find examples to look at. Trying to keep the integrity of the nail fullers and make it look good wasn't so easy. But no time is wasted when your building skill. Just wish everything would have turned out better. I will try again tomorrow though

[George N. M.]

Dear CGL,

I just had an idea about a candle holder from a horse shoe which keeps intact the nail fuller:  Curl up one end in a spiral with one caulk drawn out and pointed up as a picket to place the candle.  Then, curve the shoe, with the nail fuller gradually in the opposite direction and make a reverse spiral at the other end.  This just popped into my head when I read your post and may or may not be what you have in mind or find pleasing.  Feel free to use the idea if you care to.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[alexandr]

Getting ready for the winter. I warm the roof.

[CrazyGoatLady]

George N.M., thank you for that idea. That sounds perfect. I appreciate it. Working around those fullers is tough I'll post the results when I get to work again

[ThomasPowers]

I finally took a day of the move/job search and had a couple of friends over to work at the forge yesterday.  I had picked up a LARGE timing chain at the scrapyard and thought we would try billetizing it a bit. My friend cut and folded and welded  and put a handle on it so we had 3 appx 4" long pieces.  His friend who was a new smith we ran through first welding in my coal forge; hes deploying to Africa soon and we wanted to be sure he got done with his project before he leaves...

I welded up really well and we decided to use it as welded rather than twisting, folding, etc.. My Friend/student was second after we cleaned the fire & grate.  Got it welded up and then it was my turn.  I did some rough shaping of iyt after welding it up till I noticed my focus was waning---metal building, high 90's, welding fire---we got in around 6 hours of forging.

Hopefully they will remember to send me the pictures.  (Kind of funny after all the agonizing and dithering about chimneys around here---my forge just has a 10"dia x 10' long piece of spiral seemed duct going up at a steep angle through a hole in the wall (was a hole for a wood stove chimney when the wall was the roof of a friend's house.) I've partially wrapped a piece of sheetmetal that I can slide up on the pipe or lower to the forge with the front open. Drafts great---sings when we have a lot of flame.  Total cost was under US$10, total time was around 10 minutes.

Of course my shop is a metal building and detached from the house so no fire worries.

[Frosty]

22 hours ago, Chris The Curious said:

Not sure I understand what you mean here, Frosty.

You'll find out when you give forging copper a try. There's a trick but it won't make much sense till you run into the issue. It works better to have the problem then solve it. This time anyway.

Frosty The Lucky.

[JHCC]

Modified one of my tool racks to add file storage to the interior. Election sign wire is a wonderful thing. 

[Chris C]

54 minutes ago, Frosty said:

You'll find out when you give forging copper a try.

Do you mean putting it in the forge and heating it..........or by "forging", do you mean hammering copper?

20 minutes ago, JHCC said:

Election sign wire

I've never heard that term before.  Is that the back and forth wavy wire on your stand?

[JHCC]

Yes, it's the heavy wire that supports those signs that sprout in people's yards and along the roads for a month or so before elections. I took three sections (each about six feet long) and made them serpentine with the help of a bending fork, bent them to fit where I wanted them to go in the stand, and spot-welded them into place.

(Discussions of how and where to get election sign wire are considered acceptable violations of the "no politics" rule on IFI. Bipartisan collection is encouraged.)

[Chris C]

The election signs candidates use around here aren't even as thick a cross section as coat hangers, so that wouldn't work for me.  I just make a multi-tiered lazy-Suzanne carousel for my files.  I've a ton of them in all different sizes for all my different hobby and shop interests, so one like you built would be of little use to me.

 

Chris

[HojPoj]

For a minute there I thought those were the springs from a bed frame (or futon).

Got to do a little forging today, didn't realize I pulled out 3/8 round instead of the preferred 5/16, threw my measurements off and I had a dickens of a time getting the eyes to appear reasonable.  A couple rebar openers, and not pictured is a bigger slot punch than I had to make starting the eyes easier for next time.

Also, did my last pair of Ken's custom Iron tongs, and welded up a pair of rail spike tongs (from big nippers and a couple chain links).  Have someone in the local guild to thank for that last one.

 

 

 
 

[Anachronist58]

HojPoj - love those chain link bits on your spike tongs!

Robert Taylor

[JHCC]

Now that’s a clever idea. 

[JHCC]

Cut up some four-pound blocks of 4140 to sell at Quad-State. 

[Chris C]

Since I don't have a forge to make a draw knife yet, I decided to remove the bark from my Anvil stump with a Machete today.  It works pretty durned good as a draw knife.  Not my preference, but it worked.  I've been rolling the stump around on the floor and removing the bark with nice diagonally pulled slices.   It's hot here today and the "humidility" is brutal, so it's been a real trial.  Bet I've lost 10 pounds in sweat!  I'd like to get past all the stringy wood fibers down to the real meat of the stump, but I'm not sure if I can accomplish that with just the Machete.    But the stump will dry out a lot faster this way.  I've got the ends properly treated, so I'm not too concerned about splitting, but I'm anxious to make two adjustable bands to go around circumference.   If nothing else, it will make the stump look more traditional.........to my eye, at least.

 

Chris

[Daswulf]

On 9/1/2019 at 8:14 PM, HojPoj said:

For a minute there I thought those were the springs from a bed frame (or futon)

That would probably work as well with some tweaking. 

Nice hooks. And I gatta make some spike tongs like that. Nice work. 

[GrumpyBiker]

Began cleaning up the little anvil I picked up this weekend.

I glass beaded the sides to see if there were any manufacturers marks.

I didn’t find any.

[jlpservicesinc]

Grumpy,  I'm a little bummed you cleaned up that anvil.  it looks like it was an early one piece anvil.  Now most of the marks are gone.  Glad you took a before photo. 

Love to know if the face was hardened and to what depth. 

[GrumpyBiker]

I hear you, I have only one anvil I won’t touch/ alter or repair.

My Alsop circa 1790

Nothing that old having done that much work will be touched. 

That one I preserver. The others, are tools that while I cherish I also put to work after a serious clean up as I couldn’t care less about any resale value!

These are some of the items I will die with.

[Dax Hewitt]

Not blacksmith related but could be interesting to you guys.  I overhauled this Air blower, the customer installed it and it set on fire after 9 hours running. Cause of the fire was the drive belts slipping (fit by the customer) until they set on fire. 

Was the slippage an instalation problem or did I set the clearances wrong so it started to get tight when heated up. 

I stripped it today with the customers principal engineer and though there is slight scuffing on the end plate its not damaged enough to cause it to sieze so I'm off the hook. 

It's mostly cast iron but the shafts and sheet metal from the guard will be going in my to be forged pile. 

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

I would think the blower itself could be saved. Would make an interesting forge blower.

[Frosty]

Dax: That's a "Root's" blower and has to be clean internally or they tend to seize up. Not being a "transparent" pump aor or water can't pass through it unless it's turning and if something stops the output it WILL stop the blower/pump. If it's a gas it just builds pressure till it over powers the motor if it's a liquid things tend to break. Burning up your belts is as good a result from a seized Root's as I now of. If you've ever seen a dragster blow the: "bug catcher" (super charger's intake scoop on top of the "blower")  the blower and the intake manifold is typically the result of stuck intake valves. Usually a broken cam though if over revved enough the lifters can bend. 

Anyway, when the blower on a dragster is blocked and blows it or pieces are typically launched a good 30+m. straight up. It's awesome, roaring like 2,000+HP then a sputter and a BANG, fire ball debris raining from the skys. Hopefully the driver doesn't lose control and turn the racer into scattered debris. Modern rear engine dragsters have saved a LOT of drivers from eating blower parts in the face. Still they miss out on driving VERY FAST through a tunnel of fire. The exhaust pipes are just to the side in front of you, the flames bend back and surround the driver. Very cool ride.

Sorry, long ramble but a look inside of a Root's blower brings back lots of memories. 

clean that baby up shiny, replace the bearings / bushings, etc. and it's a wonderful mover.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

[BillyBones]

You still get some nice blow back and flames in the cockpit of a funny car. I remember my dad telling me that you have never lived till doin 160mph, the engine blows and you get sprayed with hot oil covering your face shield, blind going down the track. Good times. 

Fun fact, the super charger or blower was originally designed from the blower used to circulate air in mine shafts. 

Fun fact #2, When "Big Daddy" Don Garlits broke 200mph the engine was a factory big block hemi with a blower strapped on. If memory serves it was dual 4's and a blower but no other mods. Well of course the manifold but the rotating assembly was all stock. 

Ok last one, Fun Fact #3, the super charger on the "Sanp-on" top fueler takes more horse power to turn than most cars on the road today put out.