Get any snow Thomas? The weather reports look like NM should be pretty well covered, maybe not the south part, still. 

Besides cooking a Christmas feast and getting a new clevis pin driven into the receiver on the snow plow my Christmas was pretty laid back. I got a set of ceramic non-stick cookware to replace most of my old cookware. It is so nice to be able to fry without floating it in oil/grease. 

I have to finish plowing, hopefully we won't get dumped on because of it. I'll have to keep my fingers crossed a piece of brush or block of snow or ? ? ? doesn't pull the clip pin from one of the clevis pins AGAIN. When they lose the clip pin the clevis vibrates out, the plow drops on that side and I get to get another and fight it back in. <sigh> I have to think of something better but it's so out of the way it's hard to access, there isn't enough room to crawl under it even. 

Anyway, been a nice Christmas, even the plow cooperated re-pinning it. AND I have some yummy leftovers! 

Life doesn't get much better.

Frosty The Lucky.

Frosty; how about old fashioned cotter pins?  Can you take some baling wire and wire the ends of the clips together? 

As for snow; it's 57 degF  right now with a high of 65 degF expected.  Thursday we may get 0.06" of precip, 40% chance. Next Sunday the low will be 19 degF; but the high is still around 47 degF.

We're just below the center of the state and down in the valley; snow is something we read about for the higher mountainous regions! (Mainly to the north and west.)  Funny to see all the old farmers paying rapt attention to the ski reports in the cafe----but they know that snow for skiing equates to water for farming in the spring and summer.

It’s 72 degf on the front porch this morning here, unusual weather for this time of year but we’re all enjoying it while it lasts

Cotter pins work but they're a major job getting out to drop the receivers. They receiver are really low to the ground so without the plow they hit curbs, parking blocks, etc. It's a direct slam to the truck frame and tends to bend up the receivers. 

The clevis rotates due to vibration and they seemed to prefer aiming the bent tab up and in so you can't get pliers on it and there's no room to use a sharp chisel or end nips. 

I tried a bolt but getting a wrench on both ends to engage the fiberlock nut is laughable. 

Same for wrapping the end of the clip pin with wire, too hard for fat stiff old me to get too. I've considered putting a small hose clamp on the end but haven't had luck holding it and the driver in that position. This time I'm just going to drive the clip pin in past the detent so the finger ring part is over the clevis. 

Frosty The Lucky.

Explosive bolts?

I'm probably already on a watch list. I'll keep the idea in reserve . . . somewhere.

Frosty The Lucky.

If it is dry enough to do it, try just a tab of duct tape over the open end of the pin and pinched tight to atleast discourage it from catching on anything and poping out. 

Some sort of ramps to get easier access?

Clevis pin thralls?

If I'm pulling anything with a chain hooked hooked to a link I always duct tape it there. Had a real puckering experience pulling a jeep rolling chassis up a hill and the hook coming off the link. Luckily God took the wheel when it let loose and it turned away from the gas meter then went across the road and then into my neighbors driveway then turned again missing their minivan and then stopped at a little stump before possibly barreling through their yard fence. 

Duck taping the finger ring so stuff can't get in! Great idea Das, thank you! Getting the clip pins out is easy if I have to use a speed bar to tap them out from behind. 

Maybe use fiberglass reinforced strapping tape so a particularly aggressive stick can't poke through.

MAN I wish I'd mentioned this here years ago, I've been buying clevis pins for this plow for years, it loses a couple a season easy. 

Woo HOO light at the end of the driveway!

That's a scary story alright Das. We used to tow and winch rigs all the time as part of the job. If possible I always use a clevis shackle if. We never towed fast enough for vibration to be an issue and a screw clevis tightened the with a 24" pipe wrench rarely comes loose. 

Frosty The Lucky.

I Should get a proper sized clevis for my chain, everything I have is too big or small. (Kind of just what I've acquired over the years at auctions or what not.  I should do that haha. I try to always keep some good quality duct tape on hand just in case. My favorite lately is the gorilla brand. That stuff is thick and sticks really good. That cheap duct tape will barely stick to itself. 

I forged and arc welded rings for the ends of "tow" chains so I can use a shackle. I used stock that would barely clear the chain and often made them egg shape that way I could control how stresses and impacts effected the weld. 

Gorilla tape is everywhere. It's getting hard to find the old kind, the new "duct tape" is pretty low quality stuff, too many knock off manufacturers. <sigh>

Frosty The Lucky.

I was just getting ready to fire up the forge to try my new wolf jaw tongs out, and I remembered I hadn’t cleaned out the fire pot after I shut down on Christmas Eve, so I thought I’d dump the ash gate out and check the fire pot for clinkers before starting…

That’s one solid piece!? Lol I’ve always got one or two but never bigger than half dollar coin, I’m not sure if I accidentally got some dirt in the forge the other day or what, but the crazy thing is the last project I did was a fire poker with a forge welded tip, so I dunno how I ever got the fire that hot lol,

 

 

 

Congrats.. That is a doozy..  Very nicely done.. 

TW, that clinker mass appears to have some bits of gravel or stone in it.  Your coal may have some pieces of non-combustible rock in it.  I once had some coal that had probably 10-15% limestone in it that I had to pick out.  I suspect that it was picked up by a loader from a coal pile that wasn't on a concrete slab.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

TW, if you were using flux for the forge weld that hay have aided in that bigger than usual clinker clump. 

As for still getting heat, air must have still been getting through for the hot coal above it. Usually the issue is with clinker blocking the air. 

Preserve it and give it to a kid telling them its a dragon booger lol.

Nice. How are you going to finish them, clear, colored, paint, BLO, or? Hmmm, forged stand, shadow box or frame?

Frosty The Lucky.

On the backside of Das's post.. Or clinker spitting..  The edges of the clinker stay hot enough to get picked up but the airstream and spit it onto the metal.. 

One of the reasons to crank the blower more slowly when forge welding, so they say.. 

Lol, thanks jlp,

George I’ve been using this same batch of coal for awhile and this never happened before 

Daswulf, I was using flux, and I’ll admit I’m still trying to tune in on how much to use so I have kinda been going a little overboard with it, I didn’t know that it could cause clinkers though! I just learned something new! 
 

Jerry, I dunno yet, I hadn’t thought about what to do with it lol, 

Well on another note, I just got done trying out the wolf jaw tongs on a new project I’d never attempted before,

tongs worked great! project on the other hand was a dud…

I had some leftover 3/8” round setting there from the other day, so I thought I’d play with it,

I decided to make a frog/crawdad gig! 

I failed miserably but I did learn some lessons lol, 

I recently I have been making cookout forks so I thought A gig wouldn’t be much different… boy was I wrong lol,

first off ive never made anything with a socket before, so lesson one I learned is you need stock bigger then 3/8” round, 

second lesson I learned was when trying to weld something as small as a barb on the end of the tine that I need to bring it up to temp slowly, 

the first barb worked out great, but the second barb I got so how it was sparkling on the tip but the part I needed to weld wasn’t hot enough,

I cut it off an retried but that weld failed to, so 2 hrs for a piece of scrap metal but I know more now then I did two hrs ago, so imma call it a partial win lol, 

Make your barbs like Jennifer made the hook on the fire poker. Just don't forge it so thin and no need to weld the fold. Frogs and crawfish aren't as hard to hook and pull as a log. Hmmm?

Either upset or fagot weld the socket end before you spread it. It's just like an arrow or spear socket, just adjusted for the stick.

Frosty The Lucky.

I got to try out my rebuilt forge today. Lit on the first try. Heated the steel just fine. But found it to be a little smaller than it was before. I made the pizza knife I had been wanting to make. I knew there would be no way I could get any holes drilled so I Punched a hole on each end. And again I had a heck of a time getting the punches out of the steel. Is there some kind of trick to poking holes in steel and getting the punch back out? I'm going to be in some serious pain tomorrow. My elbow is already throbbing and it's only been about 5 hours. Here's a picture just straight from the forge. It's going to be a couple weeks before it's usable on food. 

Hondo, do a few taps then cool the punch and repeat. The more whacks and the more the punch gets heated up the harder it is to get out.  There is also "punch lube" explained here somewhere on ifi. Also you can sprinkle a little coal dust fines or charcoal fines in the hole to help. Or after you dip the punch in water to cool (if you can depending on the punch steel) dip it straight into the fines/dust (charcoal or coal) and continue the process. 

TW, the flux creates a bit of clinker and helps regular clinker bond to the kind of big clinker you have. It forms a glassy clinkery blob. 

For the gig, Frostys advice is good. Also get the straight diameter of the tines then make a short spike at the end then fold and do like a faggot weld just being careful of the short spike that will be the prong. Once welded then you can spike the end also again being careful of the prong. If the prong gets tight to the prong you can use a sharper chisel to coax it away from the prong while hot. 

Sorry if my explanation isn't the best. I'm having a harder time explaining what I mean but could demonstrate better. I'm in rochester ny with Elizabeths family at the moment and far from my forge.   

TW, here is how I have made sockets for arrowheads, spear heads, tools, etc.:   1) figure out what size shaft you will use.  Then, calculate how wide the "fan" will need to be, e.g. if a 1" shaft, you will need the fan to be 3.14" wide. 2) calculate how thick you want the edge of the socket.  If you want the edge to be 1/16th inch (.0625") thick multiply that by the width (3.14") and that will give you the area of the edge of the socket, .19625 square inches.  Take the square root of that and that will give you the square stock you need to spread out for that size socket.  In this case, .443 inches.  Round that up to allow for loss of metal due to scale and you get 1/2" square stock to start with. 2) decide how long you need your socket to be.  Let's say 4".  Mark 4" from the end of the 1/2" square bar.  3) start drawing it out into a fan shape with the 4" mark being the center of the base of the fan.  Keep the edges of the fan straight.  4) as you are spreading the fan use a compass or divider to maintain a 4" distance from the mark all across the fan.  The edge of the fan will be a curve with a constant 4" radius to the mark.  5) once you have the fan made do any edge adjusting you need to with a file or grinder.  6) gently start to curve the socket.  Use a swage block if you have one starting with the widest curve.  You will need to use more gentle blows near the edge and harder blows near the base of the socket near the 4" mark because the metal is thicker the closer you get to the mark.  Use decreasing size curves on the swage block.  Once you are past 180 degrees you can start using outside blows on the anvil. 7) once you have closed up the socket align it with the rest of the stock which will be used to make the pointy end(s).

If you want you can weld the seam of the socket.

It is probably easier to do this than to describe it.  I have found that the trick is to start with the correct size stock for the thickness and diameter of the shaft that will have to fit the socket.  It does involve math but that is easier than wasting time and steel on trial and error.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

No forging today, but did manage to get an idea out of my head and into some sketches. 

Starting to think that time spent designing can be just as beneficial as forging, in its own way. 

3 hours ago, Frosty said:

Frogs and crawfish aren't as hard to hook and pull as a log. Hmmm?

You ain’t seen the bull frogs we got here in eastern Oklahoma!!!! 

lol, okay maybe they’re not really that big, 

4 hours ago, Frosty said:

and no need to weld the fold

Honestly I dont know how Gigs were supposed to be made, I was just kinda shooting in the dark,

I was just guessing the barbs were forge welded, same goes for why I forged the tines so small,

I probably need to watch someone else make one to give me a better idea on how to do it, 
 

11 hours ago, Daswulf said:

use a sharper chisel to coax it away from the prong. 

That’s what I did that on the first barb, that came out good, 

 

10 hours ago, George N. M. said:

TW, here is how I have made sockets for arrowheads, spear heads,

Thanks for the info George! This was the first time I’d ever tried something with a socket, I’ve never made a spear or arrowhead before but I might give that a go after I get gigs down,