Jump to content
I Forge Iron

A silent helper


Recommended Posts

For years I managed to avoid forging one of these.

12FB449E-DDBF-43A9-9187-29A96D72E403_1_201_a.thumb.jpeg.33c7f39debdd7a77da4f642492a3bd40.jpeg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was inspired by the tripod appearing in Plate VII of L'Art du Serrurier by Henri Duhamel Du Monceau (1767). The book is available free here (the link leads to the Plate).

The tripod is forge welded.

Instead of having hooks for the trammel, simple lines  are sufficiently strong to hold material. These lines are eyeballed and readily cut with a hot chisel. Numerous lines make for precise adjustments.

It holds long bars and can be used, with a weight, as a holdown.

21608F3D-1ADD-42C5-9ED3-CA99422F91EF_1_201_a.thumb.jpeg.57c231956305b1214b2444b83f095b2f.jpeg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is light, easy to make and quite useful. It uses very little real estate and easily disappears in a corner. And it is silent

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice Yves, an excellent "silent helper." I like the name, the best kind of helper. It's an elegantly simple and clean design, an all round good tool. I have helpers I adapted from scrapped road work sign holders but yours gives me a few ideas.

With the shaft being square you could chisel lines on all four sides but offset. Say each side being half the distance as the one on the next side. Using inches: 1/2", 1/4", 1/8" and 1/16". Don't say anything yet, NO, you don't have to measure anything but 1/2", just set your chisel between the marks you made on the last side.

Yeah, I know that'd be a silly level of precision but two increments maybe?

Frosty The Lucky.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Or make it like the old colonial candle holders where there is a spring loaded holder with infinite adjustable height. (As shown in "Antique Iron. Survey of American and English forms, fifteenth through nineteenth centuries" Herbert, Peter and Nancy Schiffer; pages 246-248)  Probably not as stout but won't rattle loose in use either.

Me I have a piece of chain hanging from a horizontal rod in my roof truss and a S hook I can  place to get close enough vertically.  The chain can slide on the rod to get various positioning WRT the forge as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My adjustable stands are similar. Forge welded legs, a set screw to hold the round rod adjustable member level with my anvil face and a similar weight system to act as a hold down. The top part is a roller that I made. I have 3 and need one more. The square at the top is a forge welded collar welded to the 3/4" black pipe. Here lives the set screw. The rectangular mass at the bottom is a solid piece of 1-1/4" with two forged tenons. The bottom tenon is threaded to attach the legs, the top one slides in the 3/4" black pipe and is forge welded as well. The bracket at the top is a piece of 1/4"x 1" with two right angle bends and two twists in the center to create a centered tab for the cleft weld. 

stand1small.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Personally I like my iron flat on my anvil and an adjustable stand with a wing nut is easy to set. Recognize that I use my stands the same way with a number of hardies, all of which are different heights. "Level" is particularly important when separating the mass and starting the right angle face when making tenon's.

Not meaning it isn't a nice tool and fun to make. And it doesn't mean that you couldn't make it work. With a concrete floor, you could make knotches to match level with each tool. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...