What did you do in the shop today?

[JHCC]

I could only grab an hour in the shop, so I riveted a couple of pieces of the sign bracket together. 

Just barely had enough O2 for the torch to finish the rivets, and ran out literally as I was heating the vertical for my touchmark. Time to get another cylinder. 

[Frosty]

2 hours ago, DHarris said:

I think it may have been caused by my anvil and stump falling over on me

You dropped an ANVIL on yourself! Good GRIEF MAN, you're lucky to be alive. I hope you use you bed time to think about better ways to move heavy things. It's easy to have things go wrong, I know I rigged things all the time and dropped many a load learning. Happily nobody and I mean NOBODY is allowed under a load I'm moving. 

I like your walking stick but don't make it too weapon like legal eagles might notice and take exception.

My better half, Deb has been doing a lot of traveling and camping in her new RV and worried about walking one of the dachshunds. Bear aren't the only thing willing to go after a 15lb morsel. Feral dogs are the biggest threat.

A couple of friends who have dogs an RV and similar concerns discovered and bought a "Hike and Strike" we checked them out and I gifted one to Deb for Christmas last year. It's a nice walking stick that extends to about 60", has twin points in a rubber cap on the bottom and a button on top. Slip the safety guard off the button (oh OKAY Trigger) and it will make a REALLY FRIGHTENING electric arc between the harp points and turns into a taser. 

Just hearing it tends to scare curious critters away instantly, they don't take a closer or second look, they just turn and leave. in haste.

I am SO glad I got that for Deb, it helps her walk, is serious protection ad doesn't LOOK like a weapon. And yes Hike and Strike is built to use as a good old fashioned club in case.

Get well quick, do the therapy and DON'T DO THAT AGAIN!

Frosty The Lucky.

 

[lary]

Wow DHarris sorry to hear you got banged up so badly.

Started drawing out a claw hammer into what will be a handled punch..

And finished a couple of double hooks..

[Pat Masterson]

Wow Dharris that is terrifying. Very lucky. Hope you’re back to 100% soon. 

[Anachronist58]

As said above: Wow Dharris!

Had a 157 pounder fall on me a while back, albeit less dramatically.

Take care and heal well.

Robert Taylor

[BillyBones]

DHarris, that is a scary situation for sure. Glad it turned out ok and we are not ringing the anvil. 

Thanks for Vulcans Grill thread. I had to make muffins for work today. Lost my recipe then remembered i posted it here a while back. Mandarin orange ginger muffins... oh so tasty. 

[jlpservicesinc]

On 11/14/2021 at 5:57 PM, BillyBones said:

Plug welds, that makes sense. I would be on my 4th trying to set rivets before i thought of that. 

Keep doing what your doing..  The rivets on this look great.. I love everything about it. 

[Glenn]

Rivets can be intimidating at first.  You want to get them exactly right, but are not sure how.  After 25 rivets you start to catch on, then figure out it is several not so hard heavy hammer hits that work better and a lighter weight hammer for setting the rivet.  After 100 rivets or more it is why was this so difficult when I started?

To avoid a flat side on the rivet, create a slight depression in some metal to receive one side of the rivet while you hammer a head onto the other side.  You can counter sink a hole into the metal usually on the unseen side, so the rivet lays flat if need be.  Rivets are not just for thin metal as they use rivets to hold ships and bridges together.  Next step is to use rivets to hold tongs together. (grin)

[JHCC]

One thing I learned setting the two rivets for the sign bracket project was: "It would have been worth it to move all my mobile shop gear out of the way and do the riveting on the anvil, rather than on a cast iron ASO sitting on my torch cutting cart."

Another thing I learned was that the hammer I was using did not have its head properly secured to the handle. Fortunately, no one else was there to learn this with me.

[Glenn]

To make the river, you are rounding over the end of the metal.

For many rivets, you can use a sledge hammer head to back up the rivet.  Depending on the project, the sledge hammer head can be hand held.  

[Donal Harris]

Did a bit of shaping to the beak and got the feathers ready to split and shape. 
 

Sanded it down. Will put layout fluid on tomorrow to work out the mouth and eyes. 
 

The feathers along the top of the head I am expecting to give me problems. They sure did with the clay anyway. 
 

It is down to 1.66 lbs now. 

[Jobtiel1]

Finished some filing and sanding on the drawknife and hatchet. Tomorrow I will harden and temper the hatchet, thinking about tempering to dark straw to keep the edge nice and hard, since the whole body is mild. Before I can harden and temper the draw knife I will need a bigger quench tank. I will normalise it in preparation.

~Jobtiel

 

[CrazyGoatLady]

Not today, but recently. I bought myself a scythe and I needed to peen the blade. I haven't made a stump for the jig yet so the pritchel hole in my anvil worked a treat

[BillyBones]

CGL, nice to see ya! Aint seen ya around in bit, hope all is good. 

On 11/17/2021 at 2:46 PM, jlpservicesinc said:

Keep doing what your doing.. 

I think you may have that aimed at the wrong person, that is JHCC making the sign hanger. But i do agree, its looking nice.

[jlpservicesinc]

Billybones I was talking to you..  I really like the bracket you made with the 3 hooks.. 

I made something similar back in 1990..  

Wish I had a photo.. Nearly the same design..

Here are a couple..  The first 1 was my first real paying job for others besides the carpenter guy.  My first outside job.. 

This second set was a disaster.  The guy submitted a drawing with super fine wires with really short handles.. He bent/broke 1 of the handles in a months time.  Not sure what he was trying to do.. Learned a valuable lesson with this 1. 

[Rojo Pedro]

I finished my straight peen. 2lbs-2oz.

started with 4” of 1-3/4” round 1045. Quenched in water and tempered to dark bronze/peacock with a red hot drift.

Made the handle from a piece of broken sledge handle

Seems to work good but I wish I had centered the eye a little more front to back. Cant wait to forge with it.

I added some progress pictures for fun  

 

this is the punch  and drift I used to get to my eye drift. Both made from S7 pill punches acquired from Larry Z.

this is my eye drift made from a jack hammer bit. May not be tapered enough, will see how the handle holds up.

I think the heat treat came out perfect

I beat in this 1/2” mild rod cold and it left no marks what so ever. Super happy

 

Thanks for looking

[JHCC]

Nice looking hammer, RP. 

4 hours ago, BillyBones said:

I think you may have that aimed at the wrong person, that is JHCC making the sign hanger. But i do agree, its looking nice.

Thanks for the compliment (however misguided), and I agree with Jennifer!

[ThomasPowers]

Looks like I'm going to have 4 or 5 folks over early next week to do some pattern welding, I've got a bunch of drive chain for them to practice on.  This will help lighten up my coal bin.  As only 1 person can weld at a time in the coal forge the others will be encouraged to help rearrange the forge shop now that there is power: Little stuff like move the coal bin outside and put the hammer rack against the wall in it's place, move a couple of powerhammers and the 1" steel slab the LG will go on; etc.   Pity that I will have to be coaching the fellow trying to weld; I'll probably have to move my shop stool over by the forge to stay out of the way of the folks moving stuff!

[Jobtiel1]

Making minions out of your students seems worthwhile Thomas, especially to rearrange your whole shop.

Today I finished hardening and tempering of the hatchet I was busy with, as wel as fitting the handle, I consider it done! Tried it out and it's a really good splitter! Final weight is about half a kilogram, which I believe is a bit more than a pound. I plan making a few to sell soon.

~Jobtiel

[BillyBones]

Thanks. That is actually the second one i made. i could not get the curve to look right in the first one then i figured out my holes were off center. 

 

[CrazyGoatLady]

8 hours ago, BillyBones said:

CGL, nice to see ya! Aint seen ya around in bit, hope all is good. 

Thank you friend. I'm good, just been a very long strange year. 

[Gandalfgreen]

excellent work everyone really like the hammers. hopefully get a shot to make a dog head hammer sunday. was to tired on my day off this week to do any hammering. ooo did I want to mentally was ready physically my body said nope.

[ThomasPowers]

Off for  a week; I hope to spend some time in my shop!

[JHCC]

Started welding up the sign bracket:

Which unfortunately meant running out of welding wire. However, I made a crank to rewind my small spool from the big spool. With the right hand cranking, the left hand tensioning and guiding, and the left shin keeping the wire from coming off the big spool too fast, it went very well.

[Daswulf]

Coming along nicely John. 

That winder makes me think of when I was younger and worked weekends at a tackle shop repairing fishing reels for extra money. They had a fishing line winder that would probably have made nice neatly wound work of that wire onto the smaller spool. They Are probably pretty pricey tho.