February 9, 20224 yr That is not a double flare tool, a single flare works just fine for most things. Double flares are required for high pressure and propane tank pressure doesn't count. You can make a toothless old worn flaring tool work by putting a little bit of sand paper between the tubing and tool. No it's not perfect but it "works." Frosty The Lucky.
February 9, 20224 yr Had 15 minutes this evening quick leaf. Nothing yesterday, basketball season so off to watch the kiddo play again tonight.
February 9, 20224 yr The trade item for our BOA meeting this Saturday is something that cuts. So I made a cute little blacksmith/ladies knife out of an old file. Actually that is the second one I had to make. While forging the first one the tang (handle) snapped off. I have a habit of knocking the stock against the forge when pulling it out of the fire, to knock the coal off before hammering, completely forgot with thin stock there is a possibility of breaking it especially with HC steel. You would think after all these years I would remember that.
February 9, 20224 yr File can be chancy stock in the winter anyway. Even down here contact quenching can be an issue.
February 10, 20224 yr Looks awesome Irondragon! you beat me to posting my trade item for the meeting Saturday, it’s a letter opener, I made it from a piece of drive shaft out of a pole saw, I have no clue what kinda steel it is but it took a lot of heat and was pretty hard to work for some reason, I had figured it was just some mild steel but apparently I was wrong it must be something else, I prolly shoulda done a spark test before messing with it, I forged it to shape then used a paddle wheel to dress it up
February 10, 20224 yr Knifemakers don’t make mistakes; they just make smaller knives. Bunch of little projects in the shop this evening. The biggest was finishing the rescue of a long-abandoned tong-making semi-failure, resulting in a decent pair of pick-up tongs: Made a replacement lucky nail for my daughter: Fitted the handle on the little axe: And played around with a hot-folded sheet metal container: Hardened the chasing tools I’ve been working on, and managed to spill canola oil all over the floor. Oops. Finally, I ran so low on propane that I had to borrow the tank off the oxypropane torch:
February 10, 20224 yr Did a bit more forging and grinding on the small knife. Going to HT and grind the bevels tomorrow. Still haven’t decided if I want a hole in the blade. I will also need to forge weld a bit of extra WI to the handle to build it up. I will be in Indianapolis May 13 - 18. Is there anyone near there whose forge I could visit?
February 10, 20224 yr I am about an hour and a half out of Indianapolis. Always welcome. I have to correct myself. I was calling the parts used to make a double flare "anvils" they are called "dies". Sorry for any confusion. They go into the pipe then the screw part is put on top. The die will fold the end of the pipe down and inside to make a bubble flare. The srcew part is then put in the bubble and pressed down to fold it in. Double flares are also useful when connecting hose to a pipe. The flare of course will hold the pipe better but the double flare will not have the sharp edge that a single flare has. And trust me that edge will cut through a piece of hose in no time. The little black pieces are the dies, the stem goes inside the pipe. There is a divot on the other side not shown for the point of the press to go in. That flaring tool is also upside down.
February 10, 20224 yr Did this last weekend. Super sharp but medium carbon. Fun to make. Yup its the 7/16” , cant find a 10mm…
February 10, 20224 yr Ok 3 different times I thought I figured out how that tool worked…4th times a charm though, pretty sure I got it now - thanks Billy. JHCC is that gas forge homemade?
February 10, 20224 yr Yup, powered by a standard NARB. I didn't do a thread for the build, but there are some decent in-progress photos HERE and HERE.
February 10, 20224 yr John, looks like you are trying to re-invent the electrical outlet box. Bend the corner overlaps to go up and down so it can be mounted to a stud in the wall.... Spilled oil on the floor of the shop? Just shovel it up and replace with a bit more sand/gravel from the local arroyo! I know, a lot harder to do with concrete. I have a spare bag of kitty litter that I have to hand for oil spills on the "clean shop" concrete floor. My wife was going over our policy for the house insurance yesterday; they were seriously messed up on what our house+ actually looked like including a glassed in porch which we don't have, the 24'x30' storage building, (my wife's studio if she ever does anything with it but store stuff in it) and the 20'x60' shop, half with dirt floor all with 10' walls and a peaked roof.
February 10, 20224 yr Lisa is about to open up her own yarn shop, but I have no illusions that this will reduce the overcrowding in her own knitting studio. As for the oil, I mopped up most of it with paper towels, and then got the rest with the dust, scale, and soot that accumulates under my floor mat.
February 10, 20224 yr I’m kinda curious how many here can knit. I can knit. I can only knit scarves really, but my nieces loved them. They were made with a rainbow yarn. I had to quit because it was running my blood pressure up. That kind of surprised me. I took it up because it was supposed to be relaxing.
February 10, 20224 yr Does "knitting" chainmail count? I have a shirt done from 1/4" ID butted rings...OYOH my wife spins, knits, crochets, felts, and acquires massive amounts of fibers.
February 10, 20224 yr New flue complete Today is tool making day. Spiral stairs go in cabin in 2 weeks after I wiil be fabbing a library of iron frame bookcases. Nice weather here in South Mississippi.
February 10, 20224 yr I needed a light duty set of v-bit tongs to hold some really small steel rod and I have some broke hay rake tines. Who knew they would be carbon steel.
February 10, 20224 yr Oh, yeah. My first forged knife was hay rake tine, and it shattered like a lightbulb in a car crusher. Some of them are basically 1095.
February 10, 20224 yr It's pretty well known that the spring hay rack tines are HC steel and that is why a lot of folks make Steels for Flint&Steel sets from them. You wouldn't want them to hang up on a clump and take a set while raking the hay... Remember the Scrapyard Rule: TEST BEFORE USING!
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