What did you do in the shop today?

[JHCC]

Considering how many times a 2lb spool can be refilled from a 25lb spool, I’ll have plenty of opportunity to practice!

[Daswulf]

Pretty much all week, in the evenings I have, I've been cleaning and organizing the mess that is my shop. I've barely made a dent but it is a big improvement. I can actually see my forge lol.

Will have a visitor sunday and have a couple fall/Christmas shows coming up so I need the space to teach and get busy with stuff. 

Haven't had any forge/art time in a while. Looking very forward to it. 

Got my hefty vise lightly mounted. Needs bigger bolts installed. Usable tho. 

[Les L]

I got started on the stand for my new anvil yesterday. Didn't have time to finish and install the leg braces with shelf, had to stop and make a gumbo for the wife, but I think I'm going to use it some as is in case I need to make adjustments to the height or the angle of the legs before I add it and the base plates.

 

[BillyBones]

22 hours ago, CrazyGoatLady said:

just been a very long strange year. 

Yes, yes indeed it has been a long strange year.

 

[Daswulf]

Les, just be cautious and sure your welds will hold up on what's there. The cross bracing is a structural thing. 

[Les L]

Das, that’s great advice and thanks for your concern, I’ve been a certified welder for the last 45 years, so I’m not worried about it falling apart during the testing period. I worked with it some this morning and am happy with it so I plan to finish it tomorrow, if someone else doesn’t come up with too long of a list of “I needs” for me. 

[Daswulf]

Haha I know the feeling. 

[Les L]

Das, I think we all have it in common, but that’s why we love them. This morning I was asked what I was going to do today, I said going fire up the forge and make the items you requested, went out to the shop at 8:30, 1 1/2 hr later my phone was ringing with “ I need “ , 2:50 finished with today’s list. Needless to say I didn’t get much done, but did get to test the new anvil, and stand, which was the main goal. 

[Daswulf]

I'm still working on the list..... 

 

[Frosty]

You'll still have things on the list at your funeral.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Daswulf]

Atleast then I won't have to worry about them any more. 

I even try to do things she hasn't thought of yet, but that just seems to give her time to think of more. 

I did do more firewood than she intended me to since we'll probably have rain the next few days and the cold weather is upon us. 

 

[Les L]

Yes, I figured that out years ago, I just try to keep my head above the water, keep the list short, and the heat in the forge instead of on me. I’m not afraid to tell them tomorrow hasn’t got here yet. 
Frosty, thanks to you and all others for advice on mounting anvils. My tripod stand and mounting it with silicone has brought my soderfors to a quite thump, except for a slight ring from the horn and heel, I haven’t worked on either yet to see how loud, but the main body is quite. 

Das, I think we’re in the same boat! You think our wives are sisters, and didn’t tell us, or maybe it is just a common trait?

[BillyBones]

Les, we are all married to the same woman just with a different name. I am lucky though i am off work on the days my wife has to work so i get a good few hours home alone with nothing on my schedule. 

Speaking of wives, i tried a new way of making candle holders today. This is my proof of concept that i will give to the wife. Few bugs to work out. Was going to use a piece of 1/2" square for the base, split ends, drawn out and scrolled around but burnt off one of the legs. So i switched to the 3/4" flat. 

[Frosty]

I think it's probably a girl thing, Deb always has more for the list and tells me "you can do X!" in a tone like it's a reward. This winter I'm pretty happy I remembered to call our fire wood supplier before the snow was completely off the ground. Had to wait till the ground thawed enough to not sink a pickup to the axles but the wood's been in the shed, cut stacked and drying all summer. I literally just dragged a full sled of firewood to the house and up the front steps and it is so dry and light it was EASY!  Not to mention it lights easily and makes good heat from smaller fires. 

That's a pretty nice candle stick Billy, a little refinement and I think they'd sell well, especially this time of year. Just brainstorming here, not really suggesting things.

I'm thinking the candle holder could use more rounded corners and or perhaps a tapered the center slot. Maybe a flared top edge. Something to soften it unless I wanted an industrial look. Of course industrial look is good, I LIKE the industrial look.

Dishing the drip pan wouldn't hurt perhaps leave low spots like the pour spout on a coffee carafe over the feet so wax could drip artistically. 

The feet I don't know, I'm not good at feet 

All in all like it now.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

[Les L]

Billy, I agree with Frosty that it’s a good looking piece, but needs a little more work on the holder and plate to really bring it over the top. 
Frosty, I’ve got all my wood stacked at the house also, about 40 pieces that we’ll use sitting around the fire pit roasting weenies and marsh mellows with the grandson, but we have several cords cut and stacked at the hunting camp ready to sit around the fire and tell stories. 

[Daswulf]

Being that I just supplement the ng heat with wood I'm usually a last minute guy cutting up fallen or dead standing late in the season. There's usually enough around the property that itll last. Its on her during the day to get the wood burner going and maintain it. Out of curiosity when she says she is freezing I go and look at the thermostat and it is usually over 68 or70°f lol.    

One of these days I might get a chance to build a wood shed and have it ready to go before it gets cold. 

 

Billy I like it but agree on Frostys points. I have seen that sorta candle holder part. I actually have this cheaply made candle holder kicking around my shop that I've thought of using as inspiration.  

[Pat Masterson]

Nice vises Das. I need to order some kind of soft jaws for mine. I bought a brand new Kanca 5” a while back but the jaws on the old ones are always nicely worn and rounded like yours look to be - mine has extremely sharp teeth and edges. I have some thin sheet metal over them for now. On line has aluminum ones that pop on and off but only for a 6”. 
 

Getting ready to get back out there this morning but I figured I’d share yesterdays stuff. Made these three little bottle openers for friends and family from some Damascus I had left over. Not Damascus I made myself unfortunately. I burned one a little and it ended up very thin but they came out ok I guess. And I heat treated the little hatchet from a ball peen. I thought getting the blade perfectly straight with the rest would be pretty “straight” forward - it wasn’t and I decided to leave well enough alone. Going to clean it up and sharpen today. I have a lot of firewood but I have no idea what any of it is - I may just buy a ready made handle and fit it up. Kind of funny though - I’m not a big drinker at all but I made 5 bottle openers total yesterday and well, I had to test them on something…by 11am I had to go in and take an early lunch to get my bearing back lol. 
 

[Daswulf]

Nice openers. 

You could make some jaw covers from angle iron and shape them to what you want. If you design them right you could het them to friction fit. 

[Glenn]

Pat, for soft vise jaws, split a piece of copper pipe the long way and flatten it out.   Different size copper pipe will give you different diameter sizes to fit most any vise.  You can make it what ever length you need.

Another source for soft jaws for a vise is aluminum angle.

[BillyBones]

Nice openers. The little hatchet is coming along nicely i see also.

Thanks for the tips. I also agree with them. Like i said this was just to figure out the process more or less. It actually came out much better than i expected. 

I do need to figure out how to make a pour spout but that is going on a small ladle. A friend at work is big into blackpowder hunting and asked if i could make him a ladle for melting lead to make shot with. 

[Pat Masterson]

Thanks for the tips guys. 
 

Ok hoping someone can tell me what’s going on here. Got these bearings from work - they go on fork lifts and order pickers. Very weird stuff..

1. it cut like butter with angle grinder to open them up but sparked like high carbon

2. the small piece I heated to past magnetic but that seemed to be even at an incredibly low black heat - tried quenching in oil - not very hard - tried quenching in water - kind of hard. 
3.let it normalize once then started forging on it and it just started coming apart like clay at a bright orange

4. thicker piece I thought was the same material but not sure. Also cut like butter but I didn’t quench just started forging and it seems to hold up better. Wasn’t going for an axe but all the sudden it started to look like one so I went with it. 
Anyone know what material this is? 52100 says to quench in oil. I must be doing something wrong. I tried looking them up. Small one said 6307z on it and the number the first large one is in the pics. 
Straightened the little hatchet out a bit and heat treated again. Couldn’t just leave it. Just needs a handle now. 

Also just for everyone’s peace of mind these are USED bearings that are being replaced and would end up in the mechanic scrap load from the warehouse I work at lol. He has no problem with me taking the worn out ones. 

[BillyBones]

Cant say about those bearings but i have had a couple cottage cheese under the hammer. They came from a European manufacture. I have heard of some that are mild steel that is case hardened, the outer race that is. 

Tried that pour spout on a ladle today, not to bad. I havent been in a long time but hunted black powder also so i tried out melting some lead. Works nice. The pic does it justice, it dont look that nice in real life. The handle was a failed project i used, just made a dish on the end of it. 

Finished my parents fire set, well mostly, some filing and a finish coat and it is done. Yes the broom is short and that is becuase my mom likes them that way. I also bought a whole broom, a replacement head was $35 and i could get a whole broom for $10, call me stupid but...

Handle end.

[jlpservicesinc]

Billy bones you have been knocking it out of the park.. 

Love all of the pieces.  

IFCW beautiful dragon.. 

[JHCC]

Nice work, BillyBones!

 Gandalfgreen came over this afternoon, and we made him a doghead hammer. I didn’t get a good photo, but hopefully he can add one of the ones he took. However, I did get a nice shot of him and my son, who joined us to help strike on the last couple of heats. 

[Donal Harris]

Worked on the walking stick head a bit yesterday evening. I still need to finish forming the grin and add the eyes. I used a Dremel cutting wheel on the feather ends. Those look horrid, but some work with files will fix that. 
 

But before I do anything else to it, I should probably punch and drift the eye. 
 

I was a little rusty. Hit my anvil three times with my small Brent Baily hammer. Tore up the hammer face badly. I will have to redress it. Maybe redo the heat treatment while I am at it. The handle seems soft. It dented easily. I will replace it with one of bois d’arc, the king of all handle wood.