June 27, 20188 yr Cool adjustable firepot. I imagine you will end up using it primarily in its smaller settings, unless you end up doing a lot of large-scale forging. Good find on the Champion 400, too. Let us know how they work out!
June 28, 20188 yr The Norton has arrived home! I'm happy now - and feeling small near her Bests: Gergely
June 28, 20188 yr Watch out for head thwappage using that beast! (My screwpress has a toroid with dependent handles that I slip foam pipe insulation on.)
June 28, 20188 yr That looks great, now the work starts as you get to find just how capable they are you find you need lots of tooling, fun and rewarding, but lots of work:P
June 28, 20188 yr Thanks Gents! Thomas: Yepp, was thinking of that when walked head first into the arm. I'll install it a bit higher so it turns over my head. Ian: Glad to see you around! Yeah, it's cool to have something new to think about And also lots to learn - this is a new world to me. Das - that's job nr1: this is a lightweight stand from a grinder. It has the height but nothing else. I got the 3/4" plate which will be the surface but have to think about the legs and overall design. Bests: Gergely
June 28, 20188 yr The real surprise is when you are intently fiddling with the set up and it starts winding down on it's own...thwap!
June 28, 20188 yr Unfortunately I have empirical evidence that my head is NOT harder than concrete! (n=2 so far...).
June 28, 20188 yr Beautiful press Gergel, I'm envious. I did manage a bit of a deal today. No idea what I'm going to do with it but I found a huge chunk of 4140 (3.25" by about 3 feet) at my favorite steel supplier today. They normally only carry structural steel. I have the manager some bottle openers before and he usually hold me up. He sold it to me at their regular price for A36. Also got some bronze for knife pins and another project, some dimensional bar stock, a portable Hardy hole, and a load of large Jack hammer bits. I'd appreciate some ideas on what to do with this 4140. Remember I have no press or power hammer.
June 28, 20188 yr An inch-and-a-half slice of 3.25” diameter round is going to weigh just over 3.5 lbs, which is a decent weight for a hammer blank. Sounds like good sell-or-trade material for Quad-State or NEB. If we’re able to meet up in a couple of weeks and you’d like to try to make one into a hammer, I’d be happy to strike for you. The collar on those breaker bits is a great head start for making hardy tools: (As forged, before heat treatment and grinding.)
June 28, 20188 yr If I have the time to make the top and bottom fullers as well as the drift we can go for it. Great idea, thanks for the offer.
June 30, 20187 yr On 6/24/2018 at 7:21 PM, Frosty said: A bit much for the wood mallet maybe but great on the rest. Copper and brass hammers are also used where sparks might cause problems, say the gun powder works, fuel tank farm, etc. I have a copper hammer that I use for the last few hammer blows to shear off hot stock on the cutting hardy. The copper head won't damage my cut off hardy and no need to worry about the hardy damaging my hammer. It works super great for that. I read about it somewhere and decided to give it a try - works like a dream.
June 30, 20187 yr They work great for that but not why they're still made commercially. I forgot to mention things like tapping hardened steel parts loose or in place. Frosty The Lucky.
June 30, 20187 yr Frosty, mine is an old one probably from the early 1900's so it's soft copper and works great.
July 1, 20187 yr Soft copper for now. With use it will work harden. Easy enough to anneal it back to soft though. The more bronze colored ones may be marked BerCo, or similar. Those are beryllium copper tools and they are super expensive. I have some pliers made from it that I picked up at a garage sale for cheap. Pretty much any tool from a screwdriver to axes and sledgehammers are made from it, and used in hazardous locations where non sparking tools are need like refineries, grain silos, explosives, etc..
July 1, 20187 yr You aren't kidding about expensive. When I was an ironworker I had a set of beryllium spud wrenches and a sleever bar. Somebody decided they needed them more than I did and relieved me of them one day. I was not impressed. The last place I worked they did hydrocarbon testing and had a full set of large wrenches, an 8 pound sledge, a few pry bars, pipe wrenches, and some other assorted tools. Not a cheap setup at all.
July 1, 20187 yr I just have to say I love all of the knowledge I find in these threads. Thanks for the copper hammer education.
July 2, 20187 yr An assortment of steel bar stock followed me home courtesy of ID. just got to decied what to earmark it for now!
July 4, 20187 yr This water tank followed me home today when I went to visit my mentor he had askes his landlord if I could have it Think it might be a bit big for a gas forge . I think I will turn it into two light weight portable forges. It almost seems like it is meant to be the hole on the bottom and the legs are all just the right size to fit the pipe that I have already from my old bottom blast.
July 5, 20187 yr That is true I think you would need a bigger shop than mine as it would eat up alot of space.
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