What did you do in the shop today?

[Glenn]

The problems of having two anvils, and not two hammers.

[ThomasPowers]

John if you are sticking to it perhaps you should look into cleaning it!

Sharing the smithy I run into the problem of going to the anvil and the *wrong* hammer is staged on it...I generally say "Any hammer in a storm" and use it for that heat.   (I do this a lot teaching as I've had a number of students tell me that the difference between their work and mine is due to my hammer; so using their hammer to correct the issues demonstrates that it's not the hammer it's the skills that they need to learn!)

[Gandalfgreen]

Question if I wanted to have tools to make certain impressions in steel for say more sculpting purposes. do those tools need to be hardened?  sorry for posting here not quite sure where to ask and lots of traffic here.

[Goods]

Gandalf, could you elaborate on you question?

Again not today, but last week. I liked the form of my little 10oz hammer I made two weeks ago, so I decided to make a bigger version.

This one is right at 1.5lbs. I planned on working on a 3lb version at our hammer in on Saturday with the aid of a power hammer, but wanted to make a hardie for one of the shop anvils with an odd size hardie hole first.
 

Well, I fought both of our power hammers the whole time. Couldn’t keep the dies top or bottom in the 50#, but on the 25# only had to tighten the top die every heat, so most of the work was done on it. (It was a little undersized of 2” 52100.) Finished the hardie and called it a day. I spent the rest of what time was left hanging out with the other smiths.

Sorry, hardie pictures aren’t the best, left them at the shop in the poor lighting…

[Gandalfgreen]

I was looking into making a couple different animal heads or full animals and I wondered if I made tools to say imprint eyes or different features on an animal say scales feathers or even lines on something. could I make almost like a stamping tool create the indent to specific shape or create lines on a surface with little more precision. I know on normal stamping it works because stamp is hard steel and metal being stamped is softer. just was not sure if I would have to finish these tools say like I would a chisel or punch.

 

love the hardy tool that's on my list of projects.

[Goods]

You’re tools for that type of hot work don’t  have to be hardened, but they won’t last to long out of mild. If your going to put a lot of work into shaping them, I’d use something pretty tough, coil spring or maybe some rail road clips. Both of those materials can be hardened and tempered easily, but will last fairly long if you keep you work hot and the tool cool with only normalization.

David

[Gandalfgreen]

thankyou David 

[George N. M.]

A clean and orderly shop is a sign of a disordered mind.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[swedefiddle]

Good Morning Gandalf,

Hot working Tools mean S-7 or H-13 material. They are for working Hot Material and not deform. Coil Spring will work for a little while, then deform. For Repousse' Tooling, I make them from Exhaust Valves. If the Valves don't deform in a running Engine, they won't deform using them to shape whatever. When I am rebuilding Engines, I throw the old Valves in a 5 gal bucket. Inventory for repousse' tools. Exhaust valves have to be stainless or stallite (non-magnetic), Intake valves are attracted to a magnet.

Don't think about it too hard, K.I.S.S.

Neil

[Jobtiel1]

Forged this small hatchet from 25mm square construction steel today! The bit is a piece of old knife file forge welded in. On the backside the weld is nearly invisible, on the front you can still see the weld line a bit. Overall I'm very happy with the profile and the weld!

~Jobtiel

[Frosty]

Looks pretty darn good Jakob. It will make a better working hatchet if you grind a little curve to the edge like you see in factory made axes. All in all a nice job. I'll be looking forward to seeing it finished.

Frosty The Lucky.

[ThomasPowers]

GG; what he said; after using high alloy tools, S-7 or H-13, you will be spoiled for life.  Trickier to make but they last a lot longer---just be careful to NOT quench them, let them air cool during use.  (A lot of us have the "Hit, Hit, Hit, QUENCH, Hit, Hit, Hit QUENCH; programmed into our hands from using tools made from coil spring; but you have to break that habit with high alloy tooling!)

As these alloys tend to be more expensive; making your first set from coil spring and replacing them as they wear out/deform with the high alloy steels can be a good idea---shows you what tools you use the most too!   Punches and chisels are particularly suited for S7 and H13; it's not needed for hammers and fullers and swages---generally. (If you were doing industrial sized production runs I'd make all the tooling from H-13!)

I use valve stems for some tooling---also beware of sodium filled valves!!!!!!!!

[Jobtiel1]

Thanks Frosty! I'm looking forward to finishing it too! First I have to finish the filing on the drawknife for selling, after that I'm going to start filing the hatchet to finish. I'm definitely going to add a curve, I have to research a bit on what the ideal curves for this profile look like.

I'm really happy that I finally made a working axe. Been a long term goal to make my own axe. Now I'm thinking about selling them!

~Jobtiel

[JHCC]

33 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

hammers and fullers and swages

Oh, my!

For repousse and chasing, much depends on whether you're planning to do hot work in steel or cold work in brass, copper, etc (I gather it's possible to do cold work in steel as well, but with more frequent annealing). I've been told garage door spring is good for the smaller tools, which is good, because I've got a TON of that. Well, several pounds, anyway.

[ThomasPowers]

Really low carbon steels---or some of the "deep draw steels" can be great for repousse as they don't work harden as fast.   John, have you seen "Heroic Armor of the Italian Renaissance: Filippo Negroli and his Contemporaries"  amazing 3D repousse and then you read the description and they were doing it in medium carbon steel!

[JHCC]

Yes, I have; the negative advertising was particularly amusing!

[Pat Masterson]

Really nice Jobtiel. 
 

Going to start the profiling on this hammer into an axe project. Very small but I still like it. 
 

 

[ThomasPowers]

Kindling hatchet---every wood stove needs one!  (Though my wife prefers using a froe and I forged a froe for one set of the grandkids as it was time they start learning how to build fires; but I didn't think they were safe yet with a hatchet.)

[M.J.Lampert]

On 11/12/2021 at 3:03 PM, Gandalfgreen said:

first day of pounding metal solo and it was amazing. started off just some half inch round bar and ended up with what I will call a coat hook and a letter opener.

GG as long as YOU know what it is for the first while (and still) I've showed stuff to my family and they never could guess what it was

3 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

GG; what he said; after using high alloy tools, S-7 or H-13, you will be spoiled for life.  Trickier to make but they last a lot longer---just be careful to NOT quench them, let them air cool during use.  (A lot of us have the "Hit, Hit, Hit, QUENCH, Hit, Hit, Hit QUENCH; programmed into our hands from using tools made from coil spring; but you have to break that habit with high alloy tooling!)

I keep forgetting to fill the water tank so my pattern is more a Hit, Hit, Hit, Hit, Hit, Hit, Hit, Grind, Hit, Hit, Hit, Hit, Hit, Grind

M.J.Lampert

[M.J.Lampert]

set up a press with a 10ton porta power ram and air powered foot peddle i need to see what the inches per seconds is but I find it ok. Now to go and make some tooling for it and a more permanent mount system than the bungie straps 

also a coil spring hot cut chisel i made and a drift that needs some more work 

got between 3-4" of snow yesterday was -12C(10.4F)last night and out of the negatives now so who knows if it'll stay

M.J.Lampert

 

[Pat Masterson]

Would you mind giving some more details on the press build? I SO BADLY want a press as a power hammer just really isn’t realistic for me. I saw a guy on YouTube turn a log splitter into a press. Worked pretty well but what you’ve got there looks like something I might be able to build. 

Edited November 16, 2021 by Mod30
Excessive quoting

[ThomasPowers]

69 degF right now; but cold weather is moving in; the high is supposed to be 50 degF on Thursday!

Is that a 2 way system or do you need to add retraction springs as well?

[M.J.Lampert]

35 minutes ago, Pat Masterson said:

Would you mind giving some more details on the press build?

it was a press we bought from Princess Auto and then cut off and replaces the top tube to put the 10ton porta power ram then we went through a dozen leaking hoses to find some hose to use between the control and the ram if you can weld you could build it as its just channel, flat bar, angle iron some round stock and nuts, bolts washers. 

also pat when you quote unless it is important delete the pictures as well as extra text 

34 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

Is that a 2 way system or do you need to add retraction springs as well?

no it is a single acting cylinder(spring inside to return when pressure is released) I possibly need to have springs for tooling return though unsure how I am going to do that 100% but it was a steal at 230 and my fathers also pitching in. the foot pedal was about 250 if i remember correctly and there are many tools that can be put with it(rams, jaws, retraction cylenders etc.. very useful for repairs

M.J.Lampert

(prices in CAD)

[Gandalfgreen]

thanks for all the info everyone I really apreciate it. 

[Donal Harris]

I have been pretty much flat on my back for the past two weeks. I think it may have been caused by my anvil and stump falling over on me as I was trying to drag it from the truck bed. I slipped and it was coming over. I barely managed to shift the horn to fall between my right arm and upper chest. As we it and I were going down, the horn was looking for my sternum. 
 

Two docs and 5 chiropractor visits later, I am Ok except for a “stinger” in my left shoulder. Haven’t forged for more than two weeks. 
 

Today I did this. It will be a woodpecker or AKA The Thrush Muffler logo. I did a rough shape out using modeling clay. The piece below it is what once was a failed, small WI hammer project. Now that I have sort of rehearsed moving the bits around, I believe I can get there. The bottom is looking at the bird head from the top. I may need to weld a little more WI to the sides to bulk it up. 
 

It will be the head of a walking stick. Should prove useful if a dog or some other varmint comes at me. The stick itself will be bois d’arc. The feathers on the back of the head are spring steel and will be pointy. The beak is also spring steel and will likewise be pointy. It will be just shy of 2 lbs I believe. 

Some may see it as being an icon which has been co-opted by the Peckerwoods, but it has nothing at all to do with them or any other similar organizations.