What did you do in the shop today?

[Donal Harris]

Great Man o’ War and angel. The angel I may copy if you don’t mind. Your dog looks like he is ready for you to stop playing in the shop and give him/her some attention  

I agree about the leaves. Chisel is too sharp.  

[Les L]

DHarris, you’re more than welcome to copy the angel.  I don’t have the imagination that most of the people on here have and copy their ideas all the time. Your right about the dog, he was letting me know it was his supper time and I wasn’t paying attention to him. 

[ThomasPowers]

Dax, do you have a brass brush to give those leaves a golden shine like fall?

I went to the scrapyard and didn't find much: 4' of 10?" wide Bandsaw Blade, a couple of milkcrates, some eyebolts, some 1/2" sq stock.  I did see some old wagon parts; but they had been crushed in a car already, grr. some 1/8" sq stock (I use it for teaching the very young or weak to do an S hook rather than the 1/4" sq stock.)

Spent the afternoon cleaning up some old tools to give to the grandsons---first use of my slow speed wirebrush using SHOP POWER!  I expect that the tools will have a rough life with the "under 13 crowd" and so I picked out good quality used ones to send for the starter kit.  Flea market and scrapyard finds.

[Chad J.]

Last couple of days I made a set of chopsticks, a couple s hooks, parts of a new set of fire pit tongs, a spoon for a utensil set I've wanted to make,  started on the fork, the first of several dishing forms from old bearings, a chef's knife I just need to clean up some hammer marks,  and cleaned up the hot shop a bit.  I don't have ADD and focus issues at all...

Anyway here are some pictures.  I still haven't managed a forge weld, so the baskets are chisel cut. 

 

[Dax Hewitt]

Thomas, that's a good idea. I will give it a try on the Mk2 version's. 

[BillyBones]

Made some more chain this weekend, 11 links on this one add it to my other and it will be 27. Another candle holder for my daughter, and a BBQ fork for a co-worker. 

Been making chain with a set of wompy jaw tongs and rivet tongs. Kind of a pain to hold onto so i also made me a set of togs that hold the links better. There is a 3/8" groove running long wise also. 

Wow, what i difference when you can hold so much better. 

[JHCC]

What do I keep saying? If you can’t hold it, you can’t hit it!

[Jobtiel1]

Good tongs make working so much easier, when I forged my first hatchets without proper tongs they ended up all kinds of warped. Now with proper axe eye tongs it makes working them straight so much easier.

Don't forget proper tongs!

~Jobtiel

[swedefiddle]

Billy,

Made some more chain this weekend, 11 links on this one add it to my other and it will be 27.

You must understand Chain math by now. 1+1=3, 3+3=7, 7+7=15, 15+15=31. Just basic arithmetic. If your fire is correct, you don't need Flux. Some people think Flux is glue, more is gooder.

Merry Almost, Neil

 

[Dax Hewitt]

Tongs completely illude me. I know the theory of making them and I have made some on a course but can I make any in my own shop? No. 

I keep twisting the Jaws when I try to offset the boss. I'm sure it will come in time but it's very frustrating. 

[Frazer]

Dax, that will happen sometimes. Heat them up, put the boss in a vise, grab a twisting wrench and twist the jaw back where it's supposed to be. EZPZ.

Nice chain billy! I finished my first chain project recently. I might have gotten a little carried away. I ended up with 47 links, 5 rings, a hook and a toggle.

Your welds look much nicer than some of mine. Those are also some very nice tongs. As it gets longer and longer it becomes quite unwieldy so being able to hold a link firmly (and keep the others out of the way) becomes more and more important. It quickly got to the point were I had my anvil between me and the forge so I could work on a link while the rest of the chain was laying on the forge pan.

What size stock are you using?

[ThomasPowers]

Spent time Sunday choosing and cleaning up some more tools to go to the grandkids; also took some scrap wax and old natural fiber rope scraps and made fire starters from them.  A friend had never seen that done; funny as he heats his house with a wood burning stove too. (His chimney has 2 right angle bends in it; he finally got around to demounting it and cleaning it out. The horizontal section had just a couple of sq inches passage!)

Still having pain from my teeth removal; but back at work anyway.

[SinDoc]

Got the shed cleaned out a bit and made room to start forging again as I can finally get more gas. I have really been wanting to make a rose for the lady retiring at work who has been probably one of my biggest supporters since I started as well as a hammer. No idea where I am going to get a chunk of metal big enough for a hammer though.

[ThomasPowers]

Truck axle?  Reforge an existing hammer to customize it?  Talk with a local machine shop about buying drops?  Find a scrapped fork lift tine?

[Frazer]

Start small with a hammer. My first one was under a half a pound, but that's pretty light to do much with. 1# is still manageable and will be more useful. Then you work your way up from there in weights. So far I'm maxed out at 2# since that's all I'm really willing to attempt work by myself by hand.

I get my 4140 stock as drops from a steel supply near me.

Sometimes you can find hammer blanks for a couple bucks at garage sales. Some of the blanks even have the eye punched for you!

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

I buy used hammer heads missing handle at yard sales, junk shops, swap meets, flea markets ect.. 

usually I find them for next to nothing because people don’t wanna put the effort into putting a new handle in them

[BillyBones]

Swedefiddle, my other has 15, so 11+15=27. Just a small sprinkling of flux is all. As far as welding those tongs may be my best welding job yet. If you look close you can see the scarf on the reign on the left but i got it blended purty good if i say so myself.

Frazer, 3/8". I got a couple miles of it in 20' sticks that i found in my barn when i moved in. It is galvinzed so i have to cut it, soak it, then use it after the coating is stripped. I need to find me a larger container so i can strip longer pieces. As of right now 6" is about as long as i can do. 

Dax, i have a few sets that the boss is not offset on. I will make a goose neck then bend them into alignment along with the reigns. My problem with making the boss is to thin or not uniform and straight.

Sindoc, my first hammer, the one i use everyday, started as a piece of 4140 1 1/2" square by 8" long. Cut to the length i wanted, cut a diagonal for the pien, punched the eye hole and heat treat was the only forging. I started by drilling a hole for the eye, that way i knew it would stay straight and i aint going to lie, i got lucky with heat treating. It is just a couple ounces shy of 3#. 

[jlpservicesinc]

Not my nicest handle but beefy. 

 

5/16" round and 3/8" sq for shaft.

Mighty cold in the trailer.

Wanted to make this poker as a Christmas present for the neighbor for when they are out at the firepit.

 

 

[ThomasPowers]

Handles are expensive and many folks have never been taught how to choose a good handle and mount it.  (I tend to use a farrier's rasp for shaping to fit the eye.)  I have a couple of steel milk crates; one for axes and hatchets, one for sledges and one for hammer heads. (Picks are in a pile elsewhere).  I keep finding them at the scrapyard and 20 UScents a pound is quite reasonable to get a "perfect eye" to start with.  You can find some weird ones in the scrap stream too: eg

 RR spike puller

 

BB: pvc pipe with a cap on one end.  Just remember the fumes will rust stuff near by and temperature and acid strength controls how fast it works.  Might be cheaper and easier to just buy new hot rolled stock.

[Frazer]

9 minutes ago, BillyBones said:

4140 1 1/2" square by 8" long

Are you sure it was 8" long? That works out to a starting weight of just over 5#s.

Jennifer, beautiful as always.

[Dax Hewitt]

Frazer my tongs are way beyond straitening in a vice, each attempt is better than the last though so it's only a matter of time when I can recover a pair. 

On the subject of hammers, my go to is a 2lbs cross peen for lighter (most) of my work and a 3lbs cross peen if I want to move bigger or tougher stuff. 

The chisel I made is 7/8's medium carbon round bar, the 2lbs was hard going but the 3 brought it down fast. 

[Frazer]

Tongs can be tricky; you'll get the hang of it.

I switch between 2 and 3 pounds, but my 3# rounding hammer is my "go-to". I use a 4# hammer for punching, but not for general forging.

[BillyBones]

Yep, i whacked off a bit before i made the hammer ( i think 2" but it was a while ago so may have been more and i am to lazy to go out and measure it), plus what i whacked off for the pein, forge scale, grinding, and eye i think the final weight was 2# 14oz. 

[SinDoc]

I watched a couple videos on lunch on how to forge a hammer with no power tools (power hammer/press) and it doesn't look *terribly* difficult. I just need to get/make a large enough drift, make a punch large enough and possibly buy a guillotine tool lol.

[Chimaera]

While no forging recently,  I made a few arrowheads- one stone, one wood, and one aluminum. I need to make another aluminum one, since this one did not turn out. They are proofs of concept for a Damascus or mokume necklace.

I also managed to screw up the whole wiring on my workbench- there’s a short circuit somewhere, so I’m currently running an extension cord from the house. I’ve started to tear it apart to find the short and fix it, but I’m a little low on time at the moment.