What did you do in the shop today?

[tjdaggett]

13 hours ago, wirerabbit said:

got that milestone out of the way.

Excellent way to think of it. 

[ThomasPowers]

Higher carbon steels burn at a lower temp than quite mild steels or low carbon wrought iron.  Quenching higher carbon steels in water is often a learning experience of a negative fashion.

Why we suggest not working with HC steels until you get the basics under your control.

[Chad J.]

Ok, just a quick question on the water and HC steel front, 5160.  I have gone to cut off excess material on blades a couple times and it would keep bending just shy of shearing off.  At these couple instances I quenched only the portion I wanted to cut.  It worked beautifully and I went back to working the steel in the forge.   Can this compromise the rest of the steel along where I cut or does the reheating and working alleviate the stress?  

[ThomasPowers]

If the quenching has created cracks then it's compromised; if it didn't, then it's fine. So many variables go into that question! (Alloy, type of quenchant, temperature of item, crossection/size of item, temperature of quenchant, how it's quenched, agitation,...)  If what you are doing with the material you are using works then it's probably OK.

 

[Chad J.]

Thanks Thomas, it is kinda hard for me to explain since I'm still getting started.   The allot is 5160, and I'm using cool water.   I'm not submerging the whole piece just the part I'm trying to cut up to where I had been trying to do an anvil cut. then I just whack it with the hammer.  The rest of the piece I'm working on stays at temperature.  I hadn't seen any cracks due to this but in my lack of experience I may have overlooked something and wanted to ask. 

[ThomasPowers]

So a "partial" or localized quench and not a full quench.  Done correctly it should not be a problem, the cut a notch and cool with a tea kettle and snap it method has a history to it.  It becomes polemical with fancier alloys and more quenching.

[Chad J.]

Thanks again Thomas,  I didn't want to develops a bad habit that would bite me in the hiney later. 

 

Spelling was too bad

[Arthur210]

Made progress on my new anvil stand. Legs and welded to the plate, though I want to add some support webbing between the legs and the sides of the plate. Still quite a bit of work yet before it is finished, but it was too tempting to put the anvil on it. 

[alexandr]

[JHCC]

Very pretty. Nice dacha, too. 

[Frosty]

Your iron work is always lovely, a well built log home is as well. Thank you Alexandr, I should make an album of your work for inspiration.

Frosty The Lucky. 

[alexandr]

Guys, thanks!

[JHCC]

Made a “bending saddle” as shown in “Werk und Werkzeug des Kunstschmieds”:

Although mine is welded up from some bits of angle iron:

Also slit the belt I glued up a couple of days ago into 2” strips, cutting freehand on a knife clamped in my vise. They came out a bit uneven, so I think I’m going to make some kind of guide to cut them at precisely 2”. 

And finally made a test piece for a commission for a friend. Starting stock was 7/8” round. 

[Frosty]

I like it John, I'll be looking forward to your report of how effective the bending saddle is. 

You might want to check out some of the tools used to hand cut leather straps. 

I cut grinding belts fro the fabric side but it dulls the blades and fast, regardless. Happily I've retired my 2" x 48" and don't have issues finding 2" x 72" belts. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[JHCC]

I just put a purchase request in at HGR for two boxes of 14“ x 103“ ceramic 80 grit belts, five per box.Once I get them cut down to 2” x 90”, they will be less than a dollar each.

I’m also thinking about making a die to cut the offcuts down into discs for the angle grinder (with a backing pad, of course). 

1 hour ago, Frosty said:

I'll be looking forward to your report of how effective the bending saddle is.

I did a quick test with some cold 1/4” square. It was startlingly effective. 

[Frosty]

You can do the same in: a swage, gap in vise jaws or over the hardy hole. They look more limited though and can mar the stock. Try some thicker stock, say 1/2"+ you'll be really impressed. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[JHCC]

Made some more bending tools: a big scrolling wrench and two sets of adjustable bending forks:

Also welded up a slitting jig for making 2” belts:

And cut down two belts that I had inadvertently made about 10” too long. 

[Arthur210]

Welded the support webbing under the plate of my new anvil stand, as well as the front and back plates.

The welds may not be the cleanest (I am not an experienced welder and I use flux core), but they will hold.

[DennisCA]

Finally got the tongs done, not that happy with them but I guess the first pair are never gonna be the best:

The rivet is an M8 bolt, all I had, shoulda been a bit longer. I had it in the forge to burn of the zinc coating first. I think I could turn some nice rivet blanks on the lathe from bigger M10 bolts in the future, turn off the threads and turn the bolt head round.

Also found some spring steel (a whole bunch, 8mm ish) and I made a chisel and punch from it.

On to the next pair of toongs soon, perhaps some hooks in between. For the next pair I will use thicker material, 10mm plate I think.

[JHCC]

Burning zinc isn’t recommended; too much zinc oxide fumes can make you very sick. If you want a good lathe project, turn yourself rivet headers in a couple of different sizes to forge your rivets from round stock. 

[DennisCA]

I fully aware of the dangers of burning zinc fumes, comes with welding territory to be aware of that. Which is why I burned it off in the forge first when it was safely away from me and the noxious fumes were carried off by the chimney and wind. I actually mentioned that part in order to show I did it safely and didn't just use a galvanized bolt straight off and exposed myself to zinc fumes.

[JHCC]

Understood. Still, an overnight soak in strong white vinegar is just as effective, more environmentally friendly, and safer. 

 Regardless, those are very nice tongs, especially for your first pair. 

[DennisCA]

Thanks, and that's true but I resorted to an M8 bolt as a last minute solution because I found I lacked suitable round stock to make a rivet.

I do have a lot of bolts, hence the idea of maybe using them in the future, turning would also remove the zinc, the metal was easy to shape. Making a rivet set is also a project on the list, but I figured it's better to make from tool steel and my material stock is mainy mild steel or cast steel and junk.

[JHCC]

Sounds like now would be a good time to put a bunch of bolts into the vinegar, so they’ll be ready when you need them. 

[ThomasPowers]

Automotive spring should be available and make a good rivet set.  (I was at the scrapyard Saturday and they had a coil of 1.5" diameter spring stock that I was coveting.)

I don't know if I would use harder steel for the rivets.  If I had to replace something, replacing the rivet is a whole lot easier than forging the tongs!  If you are shearing your rivets, then the tongs need to be redesigned.

John, we always called that bending saddle a "ski jump"; I've got one that was found as a cut piece of 1.5" plate and just added the hardy stem to it, very handy for freehanding curves and scrolls as you can control how much curve is induced.  Mine works on both sides, one steep and the other shallow.

Saturday I went and blew my allowance on steel at the scrapyard in the morning and forged some 7/16" rod into strap stock for the second set of candle holders for my chandelier project.  Unloaded my pickup.

Sunday I worked cold, measured and cut the straps and marked the bends and hole with a center punch.  Plannished the bobeches and wire brushed them bright. Broke the punch in my large benchmount Whitney punch. I will punch and drift the holes on the straps hot. (Well within the capacity of the punch, and the strap was not hard as I sheared them with a bench shear with no problem.  Old punch I guess, hard life in a smithy!)

I also swept the chimney for the house's wood stove---only in the 80's this week so time to prepare for winter!