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It followed me home


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Well mate, I havent the foggiest?
It has a multiple geared chain drive and a paddle that changes the direction back and forth. I bought it at an auctioneer that got it amongst repo'd stuff and they did not know either(whoever made that contraption was a bright fellow)
In conclusion you can bath me if I know! :D

Ian

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Visited a local small scrapyard one hamlet over and picked up some stuff: RR spike driving hammer head in good condition. A wagon wheel hub band-WI, a section of wagon tire-WI, a 3/4" x 7.5' WI rod with the ends bent around and welded to make loops, 3 1.5" x 1/4" x 8' straps---the steel I actually needed for my project, a 3' section of mine rail.

I over paid: US$15 for the lot but it was about 1/2 of what I was going to spend just buying the strap I needed for a project new and I want to encourage the owner to continue to let bearded old smiths wander the yard digging through the piles...

Funny thing there was a set of log tongs in great condition in the dirt under the edge of one of the piles; quite heavy duty and there was just a recent discussion on making them...The local mountains used to be forrested until they were all clear cut for mining timbers and fuel.

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I gathered the following in one stop...and with my wife in the pickup!

I had talked to the fellow who sold me this about 4 month ago and he had a Square Wheel grinder that I was interested in from this same pile. Though he wanted new price and my sheckles were few at the time. The story goes the guy I bought this from got it all from a guy who owed him money...must have been a lot of money. The grinder was gone from the mix when I got time and money to stop and shop. However, I did load the following....

The Craftsman buffer is brand new. There is still the protective coating on the threads.

The Tom Tongs - one wolf jaw and one scrolling tongs have seen little to no use.

The handle material is varried, but that will make some projects fun.

The steel is what I stopped for. I didn't realize there were so many blades already cut out. I have only made a handfull of blades and they were just to see if I could...seems like I will have to at least but these together!

The brass is a bonus!

The anvil is a bonus and FOR SALE! I guess it is an Austrian anvil, but other than that I don't know a thing about it. I got that info from IFI on the Anvils thread.

I left behind two forges, one coal rivet and a NC Tool knife forge. I trully couldn't talk myself into either. The guy has them for sale and if you are interested and in the MT area, send me a note and I will send you the fellows phone number.

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I gathered the following in one stop...and with my wife in the pickup!

I had talked to the fellow who sold me this about 4 month ago and he had a Square Wheel grinder that I was interested in from this same pile. Though he wanted new price and my sheckles were few at the time. The story goes the guy I bought this from got it all from a guy who owed him money...must have been a lot of money. The grinder was gone from the mix when I got time and money to stop and shop. However, I did load the following....

The Craftsman buffer is brand new. There is still the protective coating on the threads.

The Tom Tongs - one wolf jaw and one scrolling tongs have seen little to no use.

The handle material is varried, but that will make some projects fun.

The steel is what I stopped for. I didn't realize there were so many blades already cut out. I have only made a handfull of blades and they were just to see if I could...seems like I will have to at least but these together!

The brass is a bonus!

The anvil is a bonus and FOR SALE! I guess it is an Austrian anvil, but other than that I don't know a thing about it. I got that info from IFI on the Anvils thread.

I left behind two forges, one coal rivet and a NC Tool knife forge. I trully couldn't talk myself into either. The guy has them for sale and if you are interested and in the MT area, send me a note and I will send you the fellows phone number.


Wow, that's an awesome haul John. Talk about one-stop shopping! Congrats.
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So Saturday I took the trash to the "transfer station"---one of the joys of living in the country---and I brought along a billet, welded 2 folds and 320 layer knife progression to talk with the fellow stuck out there running the place.

We talked a bit and then he told me I could scrounge the "metal" pile anytime I wanted! Came home with another WI hub band and a 2' piece of 3/4" WI with a sq bolt head on one end as well as some misc round stock.

Then I went to the scrapyard next door and picked up a set of log tongs, some chainsaw blades and an old brake drum that was the correct diameter for a circle I wanted to bend. (Take a big stump and lag down the brake drum through the lug holes to the stump and then put in a hefty lag bolt as a stop and you have a bender! Of course I had to stake the stump down when I was working 2"x3/8" strap!)

Last thing I got was a gas cylinder. My last visit I had listened while the scrapyard owner was complaining about gas cylinders not being scrappable without the valve stems removed. So this time I went looking for them and found a nice cylinder with a good dishing form base---he sold it to me for $5 and warned me it was an Acetylene cylinder and to take care trying to cut it up---Funny it said 20# CO2 on it and did not have left hand threads or the weight or shape of an Acetylene cylinder. (And cut very nicely with an angle grinder in my shop Saturday evening. Made a bell and a dishing form and my big postvise held it while I removed the valve stem after cutting.)

Anybody know what alloy valve stems were made from? I'm a bit gun shy of the possibility of Be Bronze in scrap.

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I just save up all my scrap brass and copper and trade it for cash, it's safer that way and I get metal of a known alloy for casting. I got spoiled when I started casting silicon bronze. I had no more gas problems and it was like pouring water down a rat hole, just that easy. If I want to cast something other than silicon bronze I go buy it or like if I want to make a traditional tin/copper bronze I can make that with clean copper and tin. There is no use like you say of being in danger of getting hold of some Be Bronze. I was at Goodwill on Saturday and found another Beryllium golf club, a driver. I looked at how nicely it was shaped and thought that with some grinding, sanding and polishing it would make a good stake for some of my silversmithing work but I just don't want to inhale any dust from it, thank you no. I think you're OK though as most seem to be made of red brass.

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With some pins in it, it would be good for bending big radii.

As to the CuBe alloys. If you wear a good respirator , not a dust mask, you are OK. It is an inhalation hazard, so milling it, filing it, turning it, or other chip forming operations are OK. Sanding, or buffing over a long period can possibly lead to problems. We run through literally tons of Be alloys a month at work. The alloys that we use have no more than 2% Be in them, which appears to be the commercial limit. NGK, and Brush Wellman are our suppliers, and have good MSDS info on their sites. I certainly respect it, but I am not scared of it. It is a wonderful alloy with some good applications. Funny that it costs over $21-$23 a pound, yet scrap is on line with brass. Heat treating is usually in the 600-650 range for a couple of hours, depending on the application. To anneal it needs to get up around 1,400-1,600 with an immediate quench. Look in a McMaster Carr catalog sometime for Be tools-lots of ideas for its uses.

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Picked up a breaker box at the fleamarket this morning, brand new Sq D but only 125 amps, no breakers (still in original package) I have a 200 amp box but it's an "off brand" and I may not be able to get a separate drop for the shop the way the electric CoOp is raisng the base rate. So a smaller "name brand" might be able to run off the house meter.

I guess this was driven by having to pull the pickup up to the smithy door and use the headlights to finish off a job last night as the 1 extension cord to the shop can handle lights or the drill and not both...grrrrrr.

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  • 2 weeks later...

18" adjustable 'monkey' wrench. Stamped "Intermediate" on one side, "C.M.&ST. P. RY" on the other side. It has a steel handle fit over the tang.

Is it too big to use as a twisting wrench? Might be nice for larger stuff like 1" square bar. Any idea of the value? I gave $10 for it.

18_inch_Monkey_Wrench.jpg

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18" adjustable 'monkey' wrench. Stamped "Intermediate" on one side, "C.M.&ST. P. RY" on the other side. It has a steel handle fit over the tang.

Is it too big to use as a twisting wrench? Might be nice for larger stuff like 1" square bar. Any idea of the value? I gave $10 for it.




I think that will make a dandy twisting wrench. My personal feelings about worth is, its worth what your willing to pay for it. $10 is a good deal.
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Chicago, Milwaukee, & St. Paul C.M.& St.P.RY. Might check if a RR collector would like to give you a couple of plain ones plus $10 for that one before modifying it.

Seems small for large work, my big twister is about 2' long before the handle was added. (And I'm sure someone has a 4' long one somewhere...) If it's something you need then great!

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