DH; this one?  It's a set of RR rail moving tongs.

For some odd reason I keep running across old RR stuff at the scrap yard!---like the oddball spike puller:

I'm off to the scrapyard!

I find spike mauls pretty regularly but the oddest hammer ive found is this pick/hammer and it takes a double bit axe eye handle, 

TW, it might be a mining tool with the hammer end for driving the small spikes of mine rail tracks.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

I didn’t think about that George! That’s a good idea! 
I’ve been scratching my brain on what a pick/hammer would be needed for

Scrapyard was open; picked up a small sledge head, some chainsaw and bike chain, a small good condition C clamp and a rusted up 12" rigid pipe wrench with a bent handle.  Spent time in the shop cleaning it up and getting it to work again.  May be a gift to the grandkids, or I may give them one in better shape and throw that one on the pile.  Also a flat galvanized "chicken feed/water" pan and a small  metal tin with lid, both for flux use/storage.

I finally took the time to make a new stand for my post vise yesterday/today. It’s pretty basic, but it’s the first stand to utilize the goesinta’s in the shop floor. Probably not it’s permanent location, but it’s pretty solid (even with this goesinta being a little crooked).

I’ve still got a lot of work before the hammer-in here next weekend…

Keep it fun, 

David

That’s a pretty cool idea Goods! 

I haven’t seen anyone with sockets In the floor before, that seems like it would come in handy for changing setups for different projects 

Welp. My forge chimney finally collapsed after 7 years. It was a 10" dia. Stack made from 6" and 4" galvy flat assembleable sections put together from lowes.  Coal smoke was pretty rough on it but for what it was 7 years wasn't bad. I'd love to get solid stainless pipe but worst case I'll do the same and expect about 7 years out of it. 

On 12/26/2021 at 6:20 PM, TWISTEDWILLOW said:

frog/crawdad gig

I stood my crumbling stack back up and it still draws enough to fire it up. Just to play with the idea out I forged a couple gig spikes out of 1/8" round bar from political style sign posts.

First was a little clunky. Second was more refined but could use a bigger barb. Both got poked repeatedly in and pulled out of cardboard to see if it would mess up the barb and if it would hold a bit. Not bad really. Both stabbed in fine.  Barbs didn't bend or break. I'm thinking it might hold better in frog skin. 

Worked the material down and square and made the point that will be the barb.

Made the bend over the edge of the anvil and at this point got it hot again and wire brushed and fluxed. 

Missed a picture in here but closed the gap and at a few welding heats tapped it tight avoiding hitting the tip area of the barb. Just tapping at the edge of the anvil with the stock slightly raised. Each heat after hammering a light brushing and re fluxed. Obviously you lose heat fast with the small material. 

Anyway this could be refined with a little more practice then off to a double or triple pronged piece. Or these individual barbs could be attached to a socket made from pipe. 

that was a fun quick little play time. 

Twisted, I wonder if that pick/hammer could be a reshaped pick? And this is a “real” clinker, or half of one anyway.  It isn’t as irritating as it might otherwise be since my grate is a little over an inch tall.  The clinker falls below the level of the grate.  If I had a proper bullet grate it would be even better. Which would be good since finding better coal doesn’t seem to be an option.  This clinker was from burning a little over a 5 gallon bucket of coal.

I finished assembling the hook.  Very crude.   I got the holes way out of alignment.  I am blaming that on poor lighting.  I work outside and the halogen lamp I use leaves me having to deal with a lot of shadows and unnatural lighting.  But really I should have been able to get them closer than that. I have it soaking in diluted muriatic acid to etch.  I checked it this morning prior to work and saw it needed more time.  Leaving it for another 8-10 hours is sort of scary, but we’ll see if it survives the day unattended.

 

Lol Nice clinker DHarris!
Id call that hook rustic not crude, I like it! 

14 hours ago, Daswulf said:

Stack made from 6" and 4" galvy flat assembleable sections put together from lowes

Das, if you have a Menards close by they carry 10" and 12" galvy pipe. 

Started working on my first touchmark! I really should have annealed before starting because my needle files will barely scratch this stuff. 

Das,  For our woodstove I found 1 section of stainless at the scrapyard. Put it in the lowest part of the chimney as that gets the hottest and so degrades the fastest.

Stone County Ironworks used to hang their biggest clinkers on the wall of the shop, with their firepots they got doughnuts; so easy to hang.

DH; I don't think that is reshaped as the one I have that is similar is definitely a commercial one.  I may have to go through an old catalog or two to find an example---when the cold weather hits.

I totally missed that hammer. That looks like what we used to call a coal pick or coal hammer. You would use the pick to split the coal at the seam then break the pieces with the hammer part. The one we used when i was a kid took a mattock or pick style handle though. 

I don’t even remember where I found it now, it’s been several years since I drug it home,

I haven’t ever seen another tool like it that takes that style of handle

Quick experiment to see if I could slice a 5” long piece of 1/2” annealed S7 bar lengthwise on the horizontal bandsaw:

Answer: Yes. The bar got a little warm to touch, but not enough to air harden.

Since my plan is to make a new touchmark with this, I wanted it to remain annealed and therefore soft enough to file. I’ll harden and temper it after the design is cut. 

Darn right that got "warm," John! 

Stand it on edge and ease into it slowly with the feed. That saw has 5" vertical capacity doesn't it? If your blade is dull and wants to wander, back off on the feed more and let it wear through while you wait for new blades to arrive.

Frosty The Lucky.

I think the vertical capacity is only 4”; I’ll double check. I’ve been having a lot of trouble with the cut wandering even with a sharp blade, but I think I’m starting to get a handle on adjusting the blade guides.  Maybe I’ll try with another piece. 

Make an angle adaptor to fit in the vise to slope the stock and lower the vertical height. Lean it back at the top.

We spent a lot of time and posts getting that saw's guides adjusted didn't we? Is there ANY play in one of the guide rolls? Just a little is all it takes.

Frosty The Lucky.

Billy, nearest Menards is in the next state over but it is just a 30 minute drive from my work. Ill see if I can get out there or see what other plumbing supply places might have to offer close by.

Thomas, it actually got paper thin  in spots on the upper section outside.  The lower section inside the shop is bad too but still in one piece. Ill be replacing the whole thing tho. 

How about heating and air places?

30 minutes ago, Frosty said:

We spent a lot of time and posts getting that saw's guides adjusted didn't we?

We talked about it, but I never really got the hang of it before. 

Ill have to poke around at any of those as well Lee. Good suggestion. 

Billy Bones. the MC marked spikes were for the experimental Space Train and were marked for meteoric content.....

 

JHCC, when I had my shop we would set the part in the vise with a riser on one end to angle the part enough to lessen the swept area of the blade.  Also getting blades with a big tooth pitch help.