May 30, 20224 yr Candle snuffers need to be shined up and a nice handle adds to the product. $5 ain't bad offer though. Did you collect? Frosty The Lucky.
May 30, 20224 yr That is true. This one was mostly just to see if I could. Because she is my wife, I didn’t want to push my luck today!
May 30, 20224 yr Not been in the shop much recently. Today, I started a little cleaning, cut the steel shipping crate frame from my power hammer apart. (It was strange, basic angle iron construction, but sparked like medium carbon steel.) Also re-handled one of my hammers, and made the first cut on a forklift tine to break that into useable stock. Only took the old marvel 26 minutes to cut through it: It was really strange spending so much time out there and never lighting the forge. Keep it fun, David
May 30, 20224 yr i think i can actually call myself a blacksmith now, I made a tool to make a tool to make who knows what in the future a holdfast out of a car coil spring to work on a set of tongs I'm making (no there not the best, but there the first) M.J.Lampert
May 30, 20224 yr The neighbors' cottonwoods are cottoning leaving nice highly flammable "drifts" in my shop. Maintenance: grinding chips or mushrooming on hammers I have acquired. (24 oz Craftsman ballpeen for size.) Finally someone asked me to post a picture of some of the Non-ball ballpeen hammers; so grapped a few that were to hand and...(both commercially made and hand made.)
May 30, 20224 yr More preparation for the chest build, I reprofiled a rabbet plane iron to match the sole perfectly today. And sharpened all the planes and chisels I've acquired from the flea markets. I also (finally) made a nail header today, this has been on the list for a long time, for I've been making a small amount of nails in the vise jaws. Forged from 27 mm hex 4140. I made a couple of nails for the chest body, and still need a couple more for the bottom, as well as some smaller ones for the hinges and maybe the handles. Next step is making the chest lid, it's the most detailed part and if I mess it up I can change the dimensions of the chest a bit to still have enough wood to complete it. ~Jobtiel
May 30, 20224 yr Planned to mow the yard but my Snapper mower said fix a flat first. Usual find the leak a little soapy water and bubbles will show up. Nope must be on the inside sidewall so I took the wheel off. No leak the inside. Humm check the valve stem and sure enough it was leaking so replaced it, no more leak. Billy is not the only one who tears apart lawn mowers.
May 31, 20224 yr Major cleanup of the garage half of the shop. Once again, I can roll everything into the shop half, and Lisa can once again park in the garage half. It’s been a while. I think this may alleviate the concern ThomasPowers expressed about being able to see my floor.
May 31, 20224 yr Good Morning Mr. Lambert Learning to make Tongs, generally means learning the Process. Starting on the near side of the Anvil for the start of the Jaw. 1/4 turn to the LEFT, on the far side of the Anvil, at a 30-45 degree angle to set the Hinge area. 1/4 turn LEFT, on the far side of the Anvil, 90 degrees to the Anvil, to start the REINS. To recap, Left,Left for Right Handed Person Tongs; Right, Right for Left Handed Person Tongs. The second biggest mistake when learning, is to make the set down at the back of the Jaw and the set down for the start of the reins too much set down. This makes the Tongs extremely weak. I am not trying to criticize, I am trying to be helpful. Your Tongs in the picture can still be salvaged, carefully. Neil
May 31, 20224 yr 15 hours ago, Jobtiel1 said: I also (finally) made a nail header today I like it! I started making one last fall an never finished lol 12 hours ago, Irondragon ForgeClay Works said: Billy is not the only one who tears apart lawn mowers You know we’re always hiring at Mid county repair! 9 hours ago, JHCC said: Major cleanup of the garage half of the shop John you just need a bigger shop!….. that way you can go longer periods between cleaning!
May 31, 20224 yr Billy, a bigger shop just means you can accumulate and clutter faster..... Nice nail header Job.
May 31, 20224 yr Thanks guys, I was planning on drawing out the handle a lot more. But it was 4140, and alone it was not nice to draw out. Maybe I'll draw it out further once I have a striker coming over. I have seen a nail header in the Mastermyr find book, which had a short handle as well, so let's call this one "historic" then ;). ~Jobtiel
May 31, 20224 yr 21 hours ago, M.J.Lampert said: set of tongs The edges of your anvil are a bit too sharp for those set downs. Those little nicks/cold shuts may come back and bite you later. Something to consider.
May 31, 20224 yr A tong making point I didn't see in Neil's otherwise fine recap. Make BOTH HALVES AS CLOSE TO IDENTICAL AS REASONABLY POSSIBLE! Don't make a right half then a left half! I make both halves at the same time, one step at a time each. It makes matching them much easier. Frosty The Lucky.
May 31, 20224 yr I make "blanks" from bar stock and split the reins, then I cut off what I don't need for each jaw so that the boss and reins are always identical
May 31, 20224 yr 1 hour ago, Frosty said: Make BOTH HALVES AS CLOSE TO IDENTICAL AS REASONABLY POSSIBLE! Don't make a right half then a left half! Unless you're making asymmetrical tongs, of course.
May 31, 20224 yr 8 hours ago, TWISTEDWILLOW said: You know we’re always hiring at Mid county repair! Now that would be a commute for the ages.
May 31, 20224 yr John; that looks much better! I finished the forging on two rasptle snakes taking pictures for my write up, (and have uploaded them to my laptop.) After lunch I went out and punched a hole in a bunch of bottle caps for their tails. (The tails are annealing in the forge so I can coil the tip to hold the bottle caps on.) I also did some forging on lifting eyes to turn them into dishing forms, mainly bending the stem over so it will sit in a pritchel hole---for the smaller ones and the hardy hole for the larger ones. I also oval'd a smaller one for doing spoons. I have 4 hammers I handled or reset their handle and are soaking the ends in BLO. I used my old belts on my belt grinder to remove mushrooming on some tools and one of my new belts to polish up the rail face for the jewelers anvil I'm making. Finally I did a spark test on the large bar of steel I got to make triphammer dies from: Lots of bursts so it looks like I will need to do HT on them after machining. (The bars came off a large industrial fork lift mast.) 28"x4"x3" and about 40" of 2.5"x6" Not in the shop; but I talked with LG and my triphammer repairs/parts are in the queue! Now to sell a kidney or two...
June 1, 20224 yr I started doing the woodwork for the chest I'm making. This is going to be the lid of the chest. Now it's on to the body of the chest! I'm also trying to make a simple lock for the chest, hopefully that works out as that'll be really cool. I might make a thread in member projects once the whole thing is done. ~Jobtiel
June 2, 20224 yr You are a skilled woodworker as well... (my best friend is a woodworker and we both try talking the other into converting, partly in jest....) Looks like it will be a handsome project.
June 2, 20224 yr Thanks Nodebt, This is my first piece of fine woodworking, I have been talked into trying it out by a friend too, he also gave me my first wooden plane. It went pretty well, maybe due to the fact that my dad's side of the family can be traced back as carpenters for about 300 years, and my surname means carpenter as well, so it runs in the family. My post vise was from my great granddad (a carpenter), and I'm getting a lot of his old planes too next time I'm visiting my Dad (a carpenter). ~Jobtiel
June 2, 20224 yr Wow Jobtiel that woodwork looks great. SHEESH you are a man of many talents!! And please post the entire project in the projects too, it would be nice to see all the parts, pieces and final product. ARMY
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