Goods Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 Thanks for the input. I was planning on ordering handles at lunch today, but life conspired against me. I’ll try to get out of work early enough to order this afternoon. How fast did they turn your order around? David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 Nothing wrong with recommendations, just with posting (A) links to commercial sites and (B) sales listings that aren't in the Tailgating section or that don't conform to its rules. Thus, you can say, "I got this from eBay" or "Amazon sells this" or even post an image of the item in question, but things like THIS COMMERCIAL LINK are unacceptable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GolFisHunt Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 No shop time this weekend because of minor surgery on my right middle finger. The bulky wrap came of this morning. Still did not seem a good idea to do any hammering. I was able to put together a wooden mallet and anvil saddle this morning. Last week I had my first welding lesson. Thanks again, Jim. After a few test beads, I welded up this vise mounted bending jig. Hoping to fire up the forge later this week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picker77 Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 2 hours ago, Goods said: How fast did they turn your order around? I think it was four day in my hands from Fedex. They shipped the same day I called them. I"m a small customer, I only ordered four, all in curly maple. Two in the fancy grades, and a couple in standard grade, plus some of their special maple stain. REALLY nice wood, even the standard grades, can't wait to use it. Nice folks and very knowledgeable. It's best to call them and do the order on the phone. Most of their business appears to be in gunstocks in wood of all kinds, I think tomahawk handles is just a sideline. But since they do custom profiled gunstocks for a zillion different kinds of rifles, they likely have a good array of duplicating routers and milling machinery. Their website is pretty informative but they don't do "shopping cart" type sales online, which I kind of liked - actually working with a human. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 Lets see: Saturday trash to the transfer station then scrapyard for an hour or two: some 1/2" sq stock, shortened steel milk crate for the sledge heads on the shelf in the smithy, just a foot or so of corroded 3/8" sq stock and a welding tank to subdivide into a dishing form, bell and gas forge shells. My friend picked up appx 20' of nice steel cable to weld up. Finer strand than we usually see without being too fine...We gave up counting after 5 propane tanks in the piles---we had been discussing that some folks would spend US$40+ getting a propane tank to build a forge from when they were selling for 20 cents a pound at the scrapyard... Then back to the smithy where I worked on further consolidation of my billet and my friend was working on a 5160 knife. I showed him how to use my screw press to get a nice crisp ricasso section and he used my swing arm fuller to make the offsets for the tang. (I'm going to borrow the use of his grinder this week to clean up my billet for a "what's going on" etch.) Sunday I got up at my usual time and went out to the shop for tools and mounted 3 swords in my study---on the sides of book shelves. I have a couple more to mount; but things like sabre guards make them more difficult. The 1913 Patton I'll probably forge holders for and mount it over the closet doors. Then church and then a couple of hours trying to get the commercial door lock/handle mounted on the steel door of the shop, then back to church for the holiday concert my wife was playing in. Way too much food afterwards. Not a bad birthday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les L Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 Happy birthday TP, sounds like you were able to spend some time doing what you wanted to do on your birthday, I never get that opportunity because my wife and daughters try to schedule all my time for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 22 hours ago, CrazyGoatLady said: Simple, yet effective. Nice when something as simple as a can will do the job It is a good solution but in this case I can't help but think. "Have a problem? Go to the can, John." Yeah, I know it's a cheap shot but what are friends for? I just saw Yesterday was your Birthday Thomas, a belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY! A high school buddy of mine picked up a sword at a surplus store and hung it dramatically over his headboard. Well, Feb 9, 1971 @ 6:01 am. comes the Sylmar earthquake and his sword partially falls off the hooks. The guard stayed so it swung down and sliced into his pillow. Yeah, we'd really sharpened it up. My cavalry sabre fell too but it was sheathed and in the closet and nobody was in enough trouble to have to sleep in the closet. If one of us kids made enough of a pest of ourself, one of Mother's favorite mock threats was to make us sleep in the closet for a week. The other had to sit in a chair and watch the closet door whether we'd done anything or not. It was a general principle thing. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les L Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 I like how he set down and contemplated on a solution while drinking his soda. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 What are friends for? Providing empty cans.... Saturday was going to be MY day and it mostly was. Our trash transfer place is next door to my favorite scrapyard---no problem getting me to take the trash out! I didn't mention that I was going back to the forge when an old family friend drove up. He had some cooking tools he needed modified to work his chicharrones kettle at the matanza planned for this holiday season. Standard kitchen tools, (save for the shovel!), he just wanted them to curve to match the curve of the kettle---of course he didn't bring the kettle, sigh, so I did my best to make them what he thought was the correct curvature. I also used my beverly shear to trim off the point on the shovel and curve it too. (I used a wagon tyre to form it on as I didn't have any curve that shallow in my swage block.) That used up my late afternoon to dark forge time. He later called and wants to set up another go at it; so I guess he will bring the CAST IRON POT this time! No money involved; of course when I go to build my carport addition and need the telephone poles picked up and dropped in their holes I expect they will be there with their manipulator---4WD forklift. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picker77 Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 A few photos of what the Dunlap wood profile looked like as it was delivered. This was the low grade "reject" they sent me to practice on, but even it had better curly grain than I expected - but only on one side, which was why it was rejected, I'm sure. The profile is a pretty good fit, shown dropped into the eye after drifting with a TD1 drift, which the Dunlap profile appears to mimic closely. Had to heat and drift twice because the first time I neglected to take into account how much the eye as going to shrink after I tapped out the drift and let it cool. Hint: a lot. Now on to grinding, cleanup, heat treat, temper, and finally fitting the handle for real. This first effort is 1018 wrapped to a 1084 bit. I hope the bit weld still looks ok after I grind it back and thin it some. Jennifer, I failed to heed your (and Alan's) advice and didn't belly out the inside of the eye before wrapping and welding, so paid the price by fighting the eye some later, finally got it cleaned up straight after some difficulty. Lesson learned. BTW, that TD1 Drift is what my Grandpa used to call "the cat's butt" for a tool. Saves a lot of hassle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 30 minutes ago, Les L said: I like how he set down and contemplated on a solution while drinking his soda. The soda was actually for Lisa: she likes ginger beer when she has an upset stomach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les L Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 TP, is your friend using the old cast iron round bottom “ wash tubs” to cook in? I cook in 5-35 gallon ones and use a “paddle” that just has a bend at the lower end that allows me to go down the sides of the pot and across the bottom. It works on flat bottom pots also. I can send you pictures and measurements if you need them later in the week after I come out of the woods 17 minutes ago, JHCC said: The soda was actually for Lisa I’ll have to remember that one! Picker, can you post a picture of the tool you are using to hold the tomahawk in the vice? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goods Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 Picker77, I just got off the phone with a gentleman at Dunlap. I hope my handles come in as quickly and looks a good as yours! David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 Les, yes it's the old family kettle. I haven't seen it yet; but I expect to pretty soon. The Matanza is a pretty big thing out here. I'd like to have that info when it's convenient. Ginger is a traditional medicine for an upset stomach; hence ginger ale for folks flying who have issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les L Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 TP, I’ll be going home Wednesday evening, if you don’t hear from me by Thursday pm a reminder, because I forget things occasionally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 Likewise! I'm having to learn to relax about remembering minuscule trivia from the 1960's and not remembering what I promised someone last week. Have forge will travel reads the card of a smith A man who does armour he's a dark lord Sith His hammer's for hire, his anvil too His sanity is doubtful,... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picker77 Posted December 17, 2019 Share Posted December 17, 2019 2 hours ago, Les L said: Picker, can you post a picture of the tool you are using to hold the tomahawk in the vice? Les, it's just a pair of standard old knife blade tongs I usually use for beating around on knife blades & billets up to 1/4" thick or so. It works ok for tomahawk blades like this one, up to about 1-1/2" wide. Above that width I'd have to bend the reins in a little to compensate for the larger bite required, which of course would also mean they would no longer close far enough to be useful in their original purpose, lol. You'd be surprised how fast you can lose track of up and down in the heat of forging (pun intended). The twist on the iron wire was just to keep me straight on what's up and what's down on the blade as I was adjusting & drifting it. A hawk eye will likely always want to fit tighter in only one particular direction, and I found that confusing down and up could be a problem while working with this symmetrically shaped blade. If it was more dramatically shaped with a beard, that wouldn't be a problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goods Posted December 17, 2019 Share Posted December 17, 2019 Picker77, that’s one reason I really like the slight beard with the set down. I forge the set down right after forging the eye. For me it serves three purposes. 1) I know the weld is good, 2) I’ve determined the handle direction, and 3) I really like the look (gives the 3~4” competition width with what is to me a graceful curve). Since watching JLP’s hawk video, I now draw the beard before wrapping the eye, so the direction is predetermined. (Thanks Jennifer!) David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conrad.blacksmithing Posted December 17, 2019 Share Posted December 17, 2019 I've been pretty busy lately. Sometimes it seems like life is boring when you aren't busy, but when you're busy it seems like life is too hectic. Yesterday I started an axe that a guy ordered a while ago (no pictures) and forged a little crane with a stand. The decorative side of blacksmithing is very interesting. I really like the figures that Daswulf makes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted December 17, 2019 Share Posted December 17, 2019 Cool crane Conrad. always love seeing others art, forged or welded. A lot of times my stuff is a lot more welding than forging which I absolutely love both but sometimes prefer one over the other. Good to have options. I'm finishing up some "generic "gifts (but hand/home made) for the family. This year the north star ornaments seem to be it per my best half. So this is 12 more started on top of 8? More to do. Ugh haha. Glad they are quick and easyish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les L Posted December 17, 2019 Share Posted December 17, 2019 Thanks Picker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picker77 Posted December 17, 2019 Share Posted December 17, 2019 21 hours ago, picker77 said: Wood is beautiful and the machined profile (according to my Blacksmith Depot TD1 drift) I need to correct a memory blunder re the TD1 tomahawk drift I praised in my initial post: I actually purchased it (along with hammer and mouse drifts) from Amy Pieh at Iron Mountain Forge in Arizona, NOT from Blacksmith Depot as I first stated. My humble apologies to both suppliers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forgingforfun Posted December 18, 2019 Share Posted December 18, 2019 Forged out a wine glass holder sunday, 18 inches round stock I think 1/4 inch , zoom in on flash on fiery image..I see a bear in a forest fire Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Ling Posted December 18, 2019 Author Share Posted December 18, 2019 Been giving quite a few classes. A few of the pictures are from a three day tool making class a father and son from North Dakota came and took a couple weeks ago. The rest are from one day hammer and hot cut classes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goods Posted December 18, 2019 Share Posted December 18, 2019 Glad to hear that you’re still at it and sharing your knowledge and skills with others. I really enjoyed your posts in the past and have missed not seeing your inspirational work! David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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