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What did you do in the shop today?


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Think of the vibration as a sine wave moving along the length of your hammer, from the head down to the handle.  Since the hammer is of a fairly stable construction (very stable in your case) with all parts tightly bonded and struck in the same place, during impact the typical vibration of the hammer should be also in a fairly consistent pattern along its length.  If you are still picturing the sine wave you can see that there are locations of large amplitude of vibration and ones of relatively minor vibration (for the major resonance of the hammer, not the minor harmonics).  The node that Thomas mentions is the location of a minor amount of vibration (where the amplitude of vibration approaches zero).  This is a good place to locate your handle, as when the hammer strikes an object your hammer will not "buzz" with the vibration created, potentially hurting your hand.  This is also a critical element of good sword and pole arm design.

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Only thing I would add is the term "standing wave" to that explanation.  But the concept of designing an item with the vibration nodes dealt with is one of the key ones in explaining why a sword is not just a "big knife" . (And you can often tell if a sword was made by someone who actually knows how to make them or only thinks they know how to make them that way---weight is another good indicator and an easier one to ask about...)

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5 minutes ago, JHCC said:

Oddly enough, this is also a critical element of proper placement of doorstops and of the "sweet spot" on a baseball bat. 

Being from Hungary I wasn't sure that the baseball bat analogy would fly, otherwise I would certainly have used it  ;).

 

1 minute ago, ThomasPowers said:

Only thing I would add is the term "standing wave" to that explanation.  

That is the term I was searching for... Thanks for reminding me.

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Thank you all for clearing this up. Now I can understand the problem. Finding solution for it is an other thing.

JHCC: Funnily enough I know even less about cricket than baseball bats. - But I got the concept through the sword, polearm and hammer picture. Nicely put, Latticino!

Bests:

Gergely

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3 minutes ago, Gergely said:

JHCC: Funnily enough I know even less about cricket than baseball bats.

My first encounter with the existence of cricket bats was a sentence in C. S. Lewis's Prince Caspian: "Trumpkin was wringing his empty hand as you do after a 'sting' from a cricket-bat." Not being English or (at that tender age) knowing anything about their indigenous sports, I imagined some chimerical cross between an insect and a flying rodent, possessed of both wings and a sting. Which, frankly, was pretty terrifying.

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:D

 

As for the actual topic :) :

- started to forge some bigger flower heads for a commission job

- made a ball fuller power hammer tool from a 1 1/4" bearing ball

- almost finished another PH spring tool, but the bend left undone

- the new small combined grinder arrived so made a stand for it, and had some testing fun after adjusting/assembling the machine

- kept wondering how fast my coal lessens...

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Started on a stone chisel set for a stone Mason that works for me during the winter. He doesn't know I'm making them for him.  

First piece of the set is hammered outhe of semi trailer Spring steel.    Still alot of work to do. Any ideas for different types of chisels to complete the set? 

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2 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

single point, bush hammer---sort of depends on what type of work he does on what type of stone---which you didn't mention... As I recall Weygers covers tone chisels in The Complete Modern Blacksmith...as well as the woodcarving ones...

Sorry TP, he builds walls, flowerbeds, walkways and  chimneys. I have the complete modern blacksmith. I made the first chisel from memory of his description. I'll make a bush and single point as well.   

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I haven't been around much lately, but figured i would share a little... i hammered out a couple knives, (well 1 knife & 2 knife shaped objects) finally finished my belt grinder, ground the knives, and was working on a kydex sheath when a buddy of mine stopped by with his coworker. A little chatting and i ended up making a kydex holster for one of his pistols. I have been wanting to try a holster, so i gave it a shot. He is very happy with it.... here are the knives i finished and holster i made yesterday.... the tanto blade is 01 (now my edc) and the other 2 are tong dies off a drilling rig. They seemed to harden well, but still mystery steel.

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Finished painting and clear coating a Shepard's hook plant holder. Made it from 1/2" sq, all I have to do is rivet it together- was planning on using 1/8" rivets. So far I've spent almost 2 hours fighting brass and steel, and have yet to come out with a single rivet. Not sure yet what I'm doing wrong, Im doing the same thing I have to make 1/4 and 3/8 rivets, this thin stuff is killing me slowly 

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Brass is annealed. Not working it hot. The steel doesn't care if I work it cold or hot, no luck either way. I drilled through a piece of mild steel with an 1/8 hole, but once I get a head on either the steel or brass I can't get it out, it's stuck and I have to drill it out. Tried drilling through 2 pieces of plate next to each other in the vise too- I just can't get anything made

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15 minutes ago, Donniev said:

Brass is annealed. Not working it hot. The steel doesn't care if I work it cold or hot, no luck either way. I drilled through a piece of mild steel with an 1/8 hole, but once I get a head on either the steel or brass I can't get it out, it's stuck and I have to drill it out. Tried drilling through 2 pieces of plate next to each other in the vise too- I just can't get anything made

Have you looked at his thread, there area number of split rivet makers illustrated.

Alan

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2 hours ago, Donniev said:

Brass is annealed. Not working it hot. The steel doesn't care if I work it cold or hot, no luck either way. I drilled through a piece of mild steel with an 1/8 hole, but once I get a head on either the steel or brass I can't get it out, it's stuck and I have to drill it out. Tried drilling through 2 pieces of plate next to each other in the vise too- I just can't get anything made

Copper alloys work harden abruptly and become brittle. Drive them as far as you can with the first three 3 blows, blow 4 is risky, 5 is almost guaranteed failure. Pure copper is an exception you can work it quite a bit without annealing but any of it's alloys are a PITA to work physically. You should try spinning the stuff for real lessons in how to work it and how dramatically it fails.

Do NOT play pitty pat with brass, bronze, etc. 

Frosty The Lucky.

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Hulled some brush, broke a wheelbarrow, Lit the forge and made a couple letter openers. The first one i don't like, but it allowed me to make the second one better. My block brush came today, and I have to say, those things eat scale. They're great. I finally found a blower replacement, and that came a few days ago, and so am working on getting that hooked up.

                                                                                                                                     Littleblacksmith

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Put a new wire wheel on the slow speed grinder and wire brushed 3 cubical hooks and two chili peppers.

Fired up the propane forge and experimented till I got a handle I could use on my S1 slitting chisel---I had a pair of tongs that fit the holder indentation perfectly and were a permanent fixture using a tong ring; but in one class one of the lightning strikers ended up hitting the tongs instead of the chisel several times with a sledgehammer and broke the tongs... 

Worked on another Idea I had till I decided it wasn't a good one---SISO  (like GIGO only Scrap In; Scrap Out)

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3 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

 lightning strikers

Just love that term.

Got out to the shop today for a bit.  Forged up a Cable Damascus billet, third one ever and first forged completely in my residential pressure natural gas forge, all hand hammered with no striker.  Worked great, with no chance of burning out wires, but took a bit longer than usual as I was attempting to forge the 1.25" cable to a 1" x 1" billet size.  Did the whole forge ends, untwist and flux, heat and twist very tight, then forge weld, twist again, draw out to rectangle, cut in three, forge weld sections and twist one last time process.  Does cable decarb...?  Wanted to use this billet for an integral chefs knife, so plan on forging pretty thin.

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