What did you do in the shop today?

[Ted Ewert]

13 hours ago, JHCC said:

Now I’m thinking ball-and-claw….

I spent a lot of time thinking of different ways to attach the ball. The main obstacle for me with forging around the bearing is heating the bearing to the point where it changes color. How do you then restore that bright shiny surface?

I don't have the polishing expertise or equipment, so I opted for a cold attachment.

I'm sure that the knife makers here would have no problem with it.

 

[pnut]

15 hours ago, Ted Ewert said:

I made a simple door knocker using a large ball bearing. I made the socket out of 1" round stock, which I drilled out and peened into shape. 

Is the ball just pressure fit into the socket hot? 

Pnut 

I see you answered the question already. I needed to hit refresh..... sorry. 

 

[BillyBones]

16 hours ago, jlpservicesinc said:

Ok, What are you actually trying to make? 

Nuts. They are decorative nuts for the top of the spindles on my deck railing. 

Definately going with the hinge kind of scarf rather that the but weld kind. My problem was not making the scarf long enough. Tried again with the scarf going 3/4 or better of the inside diameter and it is much better. The weld blended much better than any so far. 

[George N. M.]

Ted, I was thinking that you could weld a threaded piece to the back of the ball and then drill and tap a hole in the back of the socket to thread the ball into (using loctite or epoxy on the threads).  Or, you could also drill and thread a hole into the ball.

Polishing is pretty easy even if you don't have a bench grinder to use with cloth wheels.  You can put the piece in vise and use an electric drill with either a wire wheel (will leave scratches), or cloth wheels with various grades (grits) of polishing compounds.  Even if you don't have a drill you can do it by hand with fine grades of emery cloth.  IIRC the finest grade is called crocus cloth.  It takes some time and elbow grease but it works.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[jlpservicesinc]

I'm guessing you don't have the right sized stock to just cut off a section and punch the hole? 

On Large nuts like this you can make a long narrow tapered kind of deal and then spiral this around a rod 1/2 the desired hole size.. 

Then take off the rod and forge weld.  The center hole will  get larger  as the nut gets flatter and the seams usually will blend very well. 

Since it is spiraled around the rod the likelihood of splitting the weld seam is minimized. 

[BillyBones]

Jennifer, thanks for the tip. no i do not have the stock just to cut and punch. I only need 7 nuts total so i figured it would not be this difficult to make them, or at least this difficult for me to figure out how to make them. Should have just bit the bullet and bought a piece of steel but hey, i did get a great learning experience from this. 

[pnut]

I don't have a copy to hand but I think Practical Blacksmithing in Four Volumes has a section on forging nuts. I'd have to check to be certain though. 

Pnut

[Are John]

Slow and steady progress on that first pair of tongs, also gave edges of the anvil abit of a smoothing off.

[Ted Ewert]

George, threading did occur to me. However, I can't drill a hole in a ball bearing without normalizing it first, which then gets back to the finish. If it was a mild steel ball threading would have worked great.

The application also doesn't warrant a lot of strength. The small impact pushes the bearing back against the socket, which provides ample support. The epoxy merely keeps the bearing in place.

 

Nice progress John. Tongs are a great way to improve your skills.

[JHCC]

Looks good, Are John.

53 minutes ago, Ted Ewert said:

I can't drill a hole in a ball bearing without normalizing it first

Have you considered a carbide-tipped drill bit and a slow feed speed?

[Frosty]

Nice knocker Ted, well done.

I was thinking silver solder to secure the bearing ball maybe one of the really low temp ones wouldn't effect the color. Polishing doesn't require a lot of equipment, I do small things with my Dremel, you typically see Dremel sets and accessories at yard/garage/etc. sales  all the darned time. I think the last new thing I bought were tube of cut off disks. I'd have to collect and count them to k now how many polishing compounds I've picked up in the past. Dremel and stuff is off my buy list unless I see something really cool I don't have already.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Ted Ewert]

I've had a Dremel tool for years, very handy. Never done any polishing with it though. I use it mostly to grind the corn off my foot. 

A carbide drill bit would probably work, but then I'd probably have to get carbide tap too. My wallet's feeling lighter just thinking about it. 

[Donal Harris]

Polishing something small by hand is super easy. First you want to remove any scale that may be present. Then as George said, progressively finer grits of wet/dry sandpaper: 150, 220, 500, 1000, 2000. You should be able to see your reflection by then.  It is surprisingly quick.

[BsnNFrnt]

After a fairly solid 6 weeks of closely following the ribbon burner steps. 

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

Very nice BsnNFrnt! 

[Are John]

Done some work on the other half of the first set of tongs, must've had a brain fart because the second piece different to the first, probably had a sub-concious slip in youtube videos i've seen regarding methods. Pretty crude looking but they do align despite the differing styles.

This first set is intended to hold some 1/2" square bar to make a better set after.

[Ted Ewert]

Getting the two halves goofed up is a mistake many of us have made. I know I sure have. 

I follow the three left turns method for my set downs to avoid that problem. 

Tongs take some practice to get right.  Each set you make will be a little better than the last. 

[jlpservicesinc]

I often get left loosie, righty tighty messed up..  So turn towards left is counter clockwise for right hand tongs.. And clockwise is left handed tongs.. 

Steeled Wrought iron hammer finished..   Decent corrections from the preform. Which was for a totally different design hammer. 

[Are John]

Also have discovered how much of an obstacle the boss to rein thickness ratios can be. Been fiddling about with them some more so that the reins don't cause the boss halves to have a gap between them.

Beautiful hammer head JLP.

Edited August 29, 2021 by Are John
JLP's post sneaked in before mine.

[Frosty]

Looks pretty good BsnNfrnt, Have you maxed the temp yet? I'd sure like a closer look at the temp picked and maxed. 

I assume that's you grinning in the background, you earned it. Well done!

Are John: That's not bad for a first tong attempt, not bad at all! Getting the proportions right is a learning curve. What I found works well for me is make both halves at the same time. Mark both halves, set the bits, Draw the bits, Set the boss, draw the boss, set the reins, draw the rains. 

Do one step at a time but do it twice. That way you can have the first half right there so you can compare them as you go. 

My personal PITA is matching the rivet holes so my trick is to punch one, then put the two halves together in position and mark the second half through the existing rivet hole. It worked so well the first time I tried it I haven't bothered to get good at doing it the "right" way.

Again, good job, you'll get better fast.

Nice looking hammer Jennifer, I like it.

Frosty The Lucky.

[BsnNFrnt]

Frosty your right about the grinning. Everything I read about ribbon burners has been true, the boarder between tedious and difficult was tested. That was my first light last night and I only gave the prescribed 5 minutes at minimal heat to set the lining. It was already past my bedtime at 9PM, the plan is to bring it up to working temp today. I will have to wait until close to sundown to get some pictures but I will post and welcome the feedback. 

[Frosty]

First fire, too cool! I can't see the individual flames in the pic but it looks to be pretty even. That much heat and color in 5 minutes says a lot about how well you walk that border between tedium and difficulty. I also don't recall you asking many questions during the build either. 

No hurry but I'd like closer pics, maybe one of the flames themselves. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[JHCC]

Having suffered almost complete burnout and after much soul-searching, a friend just quit her job as a clinical psychologist last week and was feeling quite heartbroken. I expressed my sympathy and said that while I couldn’t mend a broken heart, if she needed anything welded, I was here for her. From that conversation came this:

53 minutes ago, Frosty said:

My personal PITA is matching the rivet holes so my trick is to punch one, then put the two halves together in position and mark the second half through the existing rivet hole.

For this task, Judson Yaggy introduced me to the marvels of the transfer punch. 

[BsnNFrnt]

Frosty and any other interested parties, 

I was still in a little of back light, but here it is with 2# of propane and a sliver of the blower port open. 1/4” x2” leaf was getting back bright yellow in about two minutes - for reference. I have a front door that swings down with a 3”x3” opening, I was slipping the stock in through that portal. 

[Frosty]

4 hours ago, JHCC said:

For this task, Judson Yaggy introduced me to the marvels of the transfer punch. 

I use a transfer punches whenever the situation arises. I forget everybody doesn't use the things. It's what I get for choosing a metal spinner, machinist for a Father I guess.

Looks nice and HOT BsnNFrnt. Let the good times ROLL!

Frosty The Lucky.