What did you do in the shop today?

[JHCC]

Clever idea, Das. 

[jlpservicesinc]

On 12/4/2017 at 10:12 PM, littleblacksmith said:

as promised pictures of the hammer we made, and some pictures of a trivet I made

Very nice..    Did you punch the legs and ring with square holes or round?

 

Also  be sure  to keep in mind the handle position and handle weight need to be taken into consideration when mounted on the web between feet as this can make the trivet side heavy and slightly unstable,   this can be offset with putting the handle in line with a leg/foot or make the opposite leg/foot a little heavier for proper balance..  Heart trivets usually plenty of weight at the offset side.. 

Otherwise you nailed it..   Excellent work on all your projects.. Really making me want to be a better smith myself.. One of the highest compliments I know how to give.. 

 

  The level of work you are producing is awesome.. Congrats to you Sir..  I know there is a love for blacksmithing as your dedication to learning and practice says it all..  

[Bounty Forge]

On 12/4/2017 at 10:12 PM, littleblacksmith said:

I will have to pick up a scotch brite disc, I have never used one. is there different "grits"? if so what would you recommend Gergely?

as promised pictures of the hammer we made,  some pictures of a trivet I made

The next hammers we do together should go a lot quicker now that we know a bit about each other's style. I just can't wait to finally swing it and see how it works.

I like the damascas cross peen a lot. I like the style of the hammer mixed with the damascas and the dark handle....it looks sharp! Everything else looks good too.

[Daswulf]

On 12/5/2017 at 6:19 AM, JustAnotherBiker said:

Any more luck with your chrome removal?

The test pieces are still soaking in the permanganate right now. Didn't mess with it yesterday. I've been reading that I may need to heat the solution. May get back to it tonight. And I'm sure breaks in the chrome or a scuffed/ scratched surface would help. 

[ThomasPowers]

Bounty Forge: about 316 stainless you said "It's not hardened in any way...not quite sure how to go about it without any ferrous materials in it"   

Say what?  It's mainly iron; over 60%, depending on the alloy mix.   You may have gotten confused looking at a spec that didn't explicitly state " Balance Iron" on it but a quick addition would show that the alloying elements did NOT add up to 100!

[Ranchmanben]

15 hours ago, Latticino said:

Lovely sets of bolt tongs. Really like the fine details of offsetting and flared ends on the reins. Any chance there is a video out somewhere that shows this process?

Thank you sir. I haven’t found a video yet for this exact style but then again, I haven’t seen many bolt tongs like these. The closest I’ve seen is a YouTube video of Chris Madrid making a pair. I learned a couple thing from there and some tricks from other videos but is mainly been trial and error. I suppose I could try making a video but it would probably involve too much cussing and not enough instruction, I’m not a very good teacher. 

[Bounty Forge]

On 12/5/2017 at 1:22 PM, ThomasPowers said:

Bounty Forge: about 316 stainless you said "It's not hardened in any way...not quite sure how to go about it without any ferrous materials in it" 

You are right, I got my wording mixed up. I meant that it is not magnetic. I read up on Austenitic and Martenitic types of stainless when the idea came about to forge a stainless hammer. From everything I read, all 300 grades are austenitic; meaning they are not magnetic. The presence of magnetism is what allows martenitic grades of stainless to be hardened...something about the crystal structure. Once I read that only martenetic stainless can be hardened, I quit looking into austenitic and was crossing my fingers that the stainless stock I could get my hands on was hardenable.

Now that I know it's actually austenitic I need to read up on it more. I also got some 316 grade tubing that I flattened and turned into a bangle. It didn't really work that great and started to pit up. One piece actually crumbled once it got a little orange. After that I really didn't think the hammer was going to happen, but it did. It didn't really feel any different from steel except that it dissipates heat a little faster. Looking into 312, it is used for dissimilar steel welding and is also known as a universal alloy steel. It's so close to 316, but maybe that made all the difference....and maybe we got lucky. We were just hoping that if it wasn't forgeable it would become clear in the beginning instead of the end.

Passivation was suggested to clean it up, and after reading up on it, it sounds like the right way to go. Do you know anything more about hardening 312 or cleaning it up?

On 12/5/2017 at 12:06 AM, Gergely said:

Stainless finishing #1 rule applies here too: if you want to use something on SS use it only on SS.

I read this and my ears perked up. I have not hear of that rule, can you please explain it a little? After looking into passivation, my guess is that it's got something to do with the whole thin layer of trace metals that adhere to the surface causing oxidation.

[ThomasPowers]

Being magnetic does NOT allow an alloy to be hardened; being magnetic is a sign that it may be hardenable.

The best way to harden 312 is to use a hardenable alloy.

Have you looked into electropolishing of stainless?

[hawk18]

I started with a NC Tool model three, which I think was a Whisper Momma or a present day Whisper Deluxe. The forge and a bucket full of tongs, nail pullers and nippers for $30. From a guy pissed at his ex-brother in law. The first modification was to add a second valve between the burners. This, and a chunk of firebrick, worked better on small pieces. But, the open, shallow design was cumbersome, even with the pass-through door. Probably inefficient too. Enter phase two. 

Cut holes in both ends (sides). 

Add rails and doors and it's now a long skinny two burner forge. I'll add insulation to the original door and keep it closed. Can't wait to give it a try. 

Hawk

 

 

Edited December 5, 2017 by hawk18
Extra picture

[Michael Cochran]

Hawk I have plan to do the same kind of modification to my old NC Tool forge when I finally have the time to do it. I also plan on bringing my burner up at an angle like yours since mine are the old right angle style. 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

53 minutes ago, hawk18 said:

I'll add insulation to the original door and keep it closed. Can't wait to give it a try.

Make sure your insulating blanket is sealed by ridgidizing it. Wool fibers floating around in the air is a hazard to your health.

 

[C-1ToolSteel]

Finished up some 3/8" V-bit bolt tongs that I started yesterday. Nowhere near as good as what @Ranchmanben makes, but I'm happy with them.

[Gergely]

9 hours ago, BOUNTY FORGE said:

I read this and my ears perked up. I have not hear of that rule, can you please explain it a little? After looking into passivation, my guess is that it's got something to do with the whole thin layer of trace metals that adhere to the surface causing oxidation.

As far as I know SS is very sensitive to surface contamination. It means that if got your workpiece passivated all right but then apply ie. a Scotch Brite flap disc you used earlier on carbon steel - the stainless probably will rust later where the flap disc hit it. Or you take a freshly bought totally nice SS piece and hammer it cold on the anvil with your normal carbon steel hammer and the surface contamination causes it to rust later.

Hope this helped. Bests:

Gergely

[Daswulf]

More progress on the stake anvil. I started it out way wrong so it's been way more difficult then it should have been. Forging is difficult, a bit of welding and a lot of grinding. More to come tomorrow.  Ugh. I don't know when to quit. 

[ausfire]

Like Little Blacksmith, I too was inspired by Just Another Biker's guitar bottle opener. Had to give it a try after today's demo, but I'm not too thrilled with the result. I think I started with the wrong stock (12mm square bar). Next time I might try something rectangular, maybe 20mm x 6mm. But that's OK; every time you try something new you learn things.

It does open bottles though:

 

[JustAnotherViking]

I'd say your stock size was fine, just a little bit thick in the guitar neck compared to the body.
Much neater than mine at any rate!

 

Now there's an idea..... vaguely guitar like shapes in different dimensions

- bass
- double bass
- cello
- violin

Not everyone would want a guitar!

The bit I struggled with the most was the 'waist' part in the middle of the guitar.. a simple guillotine fuller would speed the process up.

 

I attempted a prototype horse shoe / horse head /hoof pick last night, but my chisel slipped when I was trying to cut in the ear... So next one I'll need to make an eye punch, and be more careful with the chisel.
I'm happy enough with it as a concept bashed out in 20 minutes.

 

[JHCC]

When someone lends you a welder, you weld something!

(In this case, a work/storage table out of a trailer hitch cargo deck and some bed frame angle iron. Note the casters welded to the feet, which make it mobile.)

[Hotshoein4 (Mark)]

@JHCC That'll be super handy around the shop. I like

[JHCC]

Thanks, Mark. It's not quite finished (still have an idea for some tool racks to go on the side), but the basic structure is complete.

Here's a little tip: When throwing together something like this, it's very easy for the feet to get out of whack and not sit flat on the ground. So, I welded on three of the legs, stood the thing upright, clamped the fourth leg in place with its caster touching the floor, and welded that on. The rest of the cart may not be square or level, but at least the feet are all in the same plane!

One other detail -- there are only two critical measurements on the whole thing: the total height is 1-1/2" lower than the height of the anvil, and the bottom shelf has enough clearance for me to store the welder underneath.

[Jasent]

I'm a bit envious.  Check one item off the to-weld list. Looks good jhcc 

[Hotshoein4 (Mark)]

Good tips!!! If I can gather material, I want one at some point 

[C-1ToolSteel]

On 12/6/2017 at 4:07 AM, ausfire said:

Like Little Blacksmith, I too was inspired by Just Another Biker's guitar bottle opener.

A shorter neck and it would look very similar to a weissenborn guitar: To make a standard dreadnought or folk guitar look right, you need to have very sharp, almost 90 degree transitions from body to neck. It is also easy to make the waist to thin and a bunch of other things that make guitars very difficult (and sometimes frustrating) to replicate. Looking forward to what else you guys come up with.

Weissenborn guitar: 

 

[JHCC]

9 minutes ago, Hotshoein4 (Mark) said:

If I can gather material, I want one at some point 

Every bit of material used in this (except the flux-core welding wire) came out of the trash.

[Bounty Forge]

20 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

Being magnetic does NOT allow an alloy to be hardened; being magnetic is a sign that it may be hardenable.

The best way to harden 312 is to use a hardenable alloy.

Have you looked into electropolishing of stainless?

I mean hardenabel in terms of martenitic stainless steel based on what I've read.

Haven't gotten a chance to look into electropolishing yet but I plan on it.

[Bounty Forge]

On 12/6/2017 at 12:26 AM, Gergely said:

As far as I know SS is very sensitive to surface contamination. It means that if got your workpiece passivated all right but then apply ie. a Scotch Brite flap disc you used earlier on carbon steel - the stainless probably will rust later where the flap disc hit it. Or you take a freshly bought totally nice SS piece and hammer it cold on the anvil with your normal carbon steel hammer and the surface contamination causes it to rust later.

Thanks, I had no idea that stainless was so finicky. I guess we'll see how stainless the hammers stays after some use.