What did you do in the shop today?

[BillyBones]

I myself learned many years ago the value of the phrase "Yes dear".

A while back ago, when i could still post photos, i posted about a bow i was making. It broke a coupe weeks ago and got tossed in the fire. 

Found out i got a new grandbaby on the way. That will be #7. Or is it 8? 

[jlpservicesinc]

I did a bunch of things today.. Trimmed 2 horses,  then got a call about straightening a drive shaft for a hay tether which the guy bent. (no pics.).  Ideally when something like this is bent cold, it should be straightened cold but after several failed attempts both with the 50ton press and then using the swedge block and 16lb sledge I decided it would best be done in the forge..   It was a DOM tube with side wings.. So with only heating 1 side I was able to not distort the tube ID much shrinking or stretching where it needed it without collapsing the tubing somewhere else..   No fit up model so did the best I could and sent it on it's way..   It did fit.. so whether it lasts or not.. Whos to say. 


Then finished up wedging myself into the back slot of a Manlift to pull a hydraulic hose.  Spent 3hrs stuck in there cleaning out years of debris consisting of leaves, stones and dust in an oil sludge.. Which I then burned in the forge. 

It solidified in 3 good sized clinkers . 

the manlift swivel I was told has been leaking so it needs a rebuild but upon inspection and purchase it was flowing oil in a serious fashion and it turned out one of the hose ends rusted apart and it was completely off the machine just flooding the inside gallery.   Got the hose out and the fitting off the swivel so will get a new hose made. 

One step at a time. 

into the beast..

[BackwoodsBeast]

Yesterday was quite a learning experience. I made my 2nd blade, and love the way it turned out. This was my first heat treat as well, so I followed instructions I've read on here (for W-2). Did 2 thermal cycles, soaked for 5mins and quenched in parks 50. My heart sank when I heard some cracking, but luckily it was just the clay (I went for a hamon). I had gotten a slight warp in the tang because I only quenched the blade, so that was a mistake not to be repeated. I managed to get it out by clamping it to a piece of angle iron during the temper.

After grinding and hand sanding up to 3000 grit, I did close to 10 etches, each about 1-2mins, wiping it down with windex each time to get a deep etch. Now it looks even better than I had hoped. And I honestly don't think I've ever learned so much in one day. And after all of this was done, I proceeded to chop a 2x4 to test my heat treat. And to my surprise, the edge held up as if I didn't even hit anything.

 

[ThomasPowers]

Billy, just remember; every grandchild deserves a complete blacksmithing set up when you pass on.  I'm holding steady at 8 and looking for a couple more 100# anvils as the big shop anvils are too much for a young-in to lug around while they are in their start up years.

[natkova]

I made two chiesl.

 

 

[Frosty]

15 hours ago, BillyBones said:

Found out i got a new grandbaby on the way. That will be #7. Or is it 8? 

Congrats Billy! Another someone to spoil and get even with your kids. You're not asking US how many grand kids you have are you?

Jennifer: Been there done that drill rigs always leak hyd. fluid and it's almost impossible to clean out the belly pan on a track carrier without dropping the skid plates which are usually bent up. 

Every now and then a new guy who of course knows a LOT more than the guys who've been operating and working on the rigs does the LOGICAL thing and tightens all the fittings so they don't leak. Unfortunately when the fluid warms up the male fittings expand and split the female fittings so the irritating pre-warm drips and not rig wide hydraulic fluid fountains. 

Worse is when someone does some welding on a rig without soaking the belly pan down good with water. I kept the hose running within reach. A couple sparks in oil soaked leaves sticks and who knows what else makes for a cheery fire in no time at all. A couple rigs were completely burned out rusting hulks in sight of the highway. They happened before my time and I'm happy to say I didn't add to the monuments.

I'm sooooo glad I don't have to crawl into cramped oil soaked spaces anymore. 

My hat's off to you.

Frosty The Lucky.

[jlpservicesinc]

Thanks Frosty..   I have bruises up both outside thighs, both forearms and it brings me back to having so much respect for the guys doing this type of work for a living.. 

The area in there is so cramped for a tool change I have to wiggle back out..    

The design was not serviceable by standards today..  I think at the factory or even at a service area they would pull the motor to have an access port.. 

Anyhow, big respect for people who do this kind of work. 

How tight would you go with the fittings?  These are both captured orings both ends. 

 

[Frosty]

Believe me we always tried to limp the rig to a pick up point and send it to a shop. 

Great ask me THAT, it's been a good 30 years since I changed out a hyd hose. IIRC finger tight and about 1/2 turn + a little. They made a little squeak that stopped abruptly when they were right. Turning smoothly . . . squee/ It's not loud and if you oil the O ring doesn't happen. You can feel it too but it's really subtle. You only have to get it as right as possible a couple hundred or maybe a thousand times to know how hard to pull. There are torque specs listed in the CME manual.    ! I'd sure like to get whoever wrote those into the belly pan of a TereFlex 110 under a CME 75 and show me how. 

We operated in extreme temperatures so the differential between morning start up cold, say -5 and lower, to split fittings hot around 200f.+ is pretty extreme. Getting it just right isn't as critical places where the temp change isn't so great.

Some of the State's rigs had to have close to a mile of hoses and thousands of fittings. I always felt that was unnecessary and most could've been replaced with steel pipe. I was laughed at and told that would make the rigs too heavy. Show them that an equal length of larger capacity steel pipe and fittings weighs less than hose and fittings didn't mean a thing. I was an operator not an engineer. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Omnislug]

Made a super sucker flue for the forge yesterday. Cutting the opening for my stove pipe and forging its ring today. My last one was made from a tin bucket cut close to one of these. It rusted over the winter and neglect from my being laid up from the crash.  Can't wait to try it out!

[CrazyGoatLady]

Billy, congratulations on your impending new arrival! 

natkova, good deal on making some chisels. 

Jennifer, you ain't  afraid to get dirty and get bumpy and bruised. We are kindred spirits. 

Omnislug, your screen name is great haha. Have fun! 

This is my contribution today. Took me awhile to work out the design. But i made some mid-work design changes (accidentally ) and it came out better than what I had thought up

[Chris C]

Got some more work done on my hammer head today.  Feel something like a blind man trying to ride a bicycle through a bunch of traffic cones.   Made my first punch today.  Now I need to get on the grinder with it.  Did the initial bevel on 8 wood carving blades today also.

[CrazyGoatLady]

Sounds like a productive day Chris. You working on the dog's head hammer? 

[Buzzkill]

Nice bottle opener CGL.  The design has a simple elegance that I find quite pleasing to my eye.

[Chris C]

Yep, CGL..  Sure can't afford to buy one and I've got this really nice piece of axle that'll be great for hammer heads.  Sure wish I could afford a power hammer.  This material doesn't like to move, even when it's almost white hot.

[CrazyGoatLady]

Thank you Buzzkill. You made my day with such kind words

Chris, can you get a buddy over to strike for you?

[ThomasPowers]

Let's see; my first powerhammer was a 25# Little Giant I bought for US$75 in Shawnee Oklahoma back in the early 1980's.  Have you revved up the TPAAAT on that wish yet? (I still have the anvil I traded that hammer for.) (Or is that TPATAT?)

[Chris C]

6 hours ago, CrazyGoatLady said:

Chris, can you get a buddy over to strike for you?

"Buddy"?  Don't have buddies.  I'm a loner.    Heck, my brother has only been to my home 2 times in the 21 years I've live here and he only lives 45 minutes away up in Oklahoma City.

Ah, but Thomas, you had the $75.  I just blew my "stash" on my belt grinder.  I've been considering building a Tire hammer, but it would be a slow, slow process because I'd have to do the welding myself and materials would have to be from the scrap yard..................which, as you know makes for slow building.  As poor a welder as I am, I'd have to weld it three times just to make sure it held.

[Chris C]

Oh, I've got a question about that punch.

After I did some belt grinder work on the punch, I noticed it wasn't perfectly straight, so I'll pop it back in the forge tomorrow and get it straightened.  I know to taper the "hammer end" of the punch to combat mushrooming, but should I slightly crown the striking point?

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

I don't like mine crowned just a slight taper, tends to make the tool jump sideways for me.

[Frazer]

Finally built myself a proper forge. My last one worked I suppose, but was on the ground. Which led to long days hunched over and was really hard to get to welding temperatures. Here's a before and after.

 

 

It only ended up being about $75 to put together, and I am very pleased with results. The brake rotor is only dropped in place and bolted to the tuyere, so eventually it can be replaced with something else, it's not a perfect firepot, but it's a heck of a lot better than I had before.

Today was the first day I got to fire it up, so there are a few adjustments I want to make tomorrow (mostly with the volume/sharp edges of the rotor hat), but still. I'm happy.

 

I even made my first hinge, which works as intended. I don't know how to resize the video.... which is obnoxiously large.. Sorry Glenn/everyone, I'll try again after posting.

I'll also throw in a couple of things I made last week.

 

[jlpservicesinc]

Fraser, a prime example of the smith being the main component to any quality work..  Nice forgings.  and great job on the forge build. 

You will run into problems with the entry pipe being at that angle and so low..  dust and such will have a tendency to accumulate at the bottom elbow.  You can go with a straight entry and it will still work.. 

 

[Frazer]

Jennifer, thanks! Doesn't hold a candle to your trailer build! But it was still a fun, and long overdue, project. I'm sure I will make improvements over time as I use it more. I tried to design it  as disassemble-able as possible to accommodate for that.

I definitely hear you on the dust/ash/etc collecting at the elbow, I ended up putting it at that angle since I was worried about not having enough airflow to accommodate the much larger firepot. That chimney isn't welded all the way down the seams, just 4-5" beads spaced out. I decided it wasn't worth the wire since it was already a pretty good fit between the flat surfaces (there's 0.25" of overlap on all the lap welds). Also, since everything is attached to the bottom of the rotor with 6 cap screws there are some gaps at that joint, mostly at the corners. All that is to say I expected that the longer air remained in the chimney, the more would escape. So I wanted to direct it, more or less, right at its target. Admittedly maybe a little too much so.

I did cut the end of the pipe at a ~45° angle so it sits flush with the inside surface of the chimney to hopefully limit the amount of ash that falls straight down into it when the "blower" is turned off (that hairdryer is a champ, it's been running several hours a day almost daily for about a year in less than ideal conditions). I ended up adding the elbow to put the hairdryer closer to me and the power strip so I can switch it on and off easier. Fortunately I can always pop off the elbow and clear out anything that collects at that low point over time. Which I agree is inevitable.

[Frazer]

Sorry, that should be 0.75" of overlap on the lap welds, not 0.25".

[Jaegers Forge and Foundry]

my forge got destroyed in a small tornado that happened in Missouri so im still in the process of cleaning out the old work bench full of rusty tools in my shop that came with the house so i can move in the shop where I can protect my stuff 

[Chris C]

Do an underground..............sort of a Soddy.  Put your forge and anvil on wheels.  That way you can roll them back into the soddy when they aren't being used.  That'll protect them from storms.