On 4/7/2021 at 7:02 AM, Nathan Kraft said:

Oh ok. Sorry I just genuinely didn’t know. I

Don't apologize Nathan it was a good question. Nobody took you wrong. I got reminded of the term I couldn't remember when I replied, "grain run out." I knew the term, knew it was there but darned thing was hiding in one of those creapy looking wrinkles in my brain and I couldn't coax it out. 

Next time it comes up I probably won't remember it but I know I'll remember I was reminded. A boy's gotta find as much fun with their TBI as he can or I'd go nuts.

Frosty The Lucky.

Went and filled my propane tank yesterday and had money follow me home when the attendant bought a steak flipper from me, totally didn't expect that.  A coworker gave me a piece of hex shaft.  This should be good for me to learn with.   It's a 5 foot long piece I'm going to test it to see how it heat treats. 

2 hours ago, Chad J. said:

.  A coworker gave me a piece of hex shaft. 

This is by no means definitive but all the hex shaped stock I've encountered, which isn't a lot, has been tool steel of one sort or another. Definitely give it a spark test but I wouldn't be surprised if it sparks like a medium carbon. I'd also suggest hardening a few test coupons in progressively faster quenching mediums and with proper PPE testing with a file then doing a break test to see how fast it needs to be quenched.  Good luck. 

Pnut

We are running a job at work of hex material, 3/4". It is 12L14. Really bites looking at piles and piles of scrap steel that is anywhere from 1/16" diameter to 1", 6"-8" long and not a bit usable, all free machine steel. Occasionaly we will get 1018 or 1030 maybe a bit of 303 stainless but almost all of it is 12L14.  

After a quick search on the internet machine there has already been a discussion of PTO shafts and group agreement comes out as 1040-ish. If the piece is something similar in use to a PTO i would assume that it is something similar in material. I have run into hex lug wrenches also, which has also been discussed and they are 1080 or L-6 typically. Also crow bars are usually hex and i want to say they are also 1080-ish. 

As a side note we are running a job in the CNC department out of a material called Kovar. $20 +/- a pound, a single bar is $400. 

On 4/8/2021 at 8:18 PM, Duncan M said:

I thought that it was a great price too. I was wondering if I would be able to make a table for it, and it's nice to know that you did it. do you have any advice on how to make the table?

 

Duncan,

From what I read on a different form, the blade guides changed a few times over the A7s run, mine has large steel guides, that were very easy to adapt a table to. I will get a pic of what I came up with. It is no work of art but it works for how I use the saw.

Edited April 10, 20215 yr by rustyanchor
Added pics

Scrapyard Saturday: 3' of 3/4" real wrought iron rod, couple smaller pieces that look wrought too. 3 portaband blades---to go with the smaller drain snake I got there previously for pattern welding. (Did the heat-quench-break and nice shatter and grain!)  Thinking of some turkish twist and starting with smaller bars to not have to draw them out so much before twisting.  Some nuts and bolts  A wooden sucker rod end---they make great langets for a pike or halberd. #5 cast iron frying pan. 24 pounds total out, 20 UScents a pound.

BillyBones, why do you say 12L14 is not usable? Because of the little bit of lead it has in it? Plenty of items can be forged from it.

I agree that 12L14 can be forged. I do it all the time. A machine shop I use gave me about 200 feet of it in 3/8 round that had rusted and they didn't want to spend the time to clean it up.

Just picked up this little guy around 70-80 pounds 3-inch face by 11-1/2 inches.  May be an early Hay Budden or trenton as it has an oval in the bottom.  only markings I have found are on the foot so far.  There is a "70", an inverted "V" and "1818".  If it is a Hay Budden and the serial number is 1818, that's first year of production.  Not sure what year if a trenton. 

Anyone care to opine as to the manufacturer of this little guy?  Rebound is not bad at around 85-90% on the face. 

Thanks in advance for any opinions as to manufacturer.

 

 

With the power hammer marks under the heel, I'm thinking maybe an Arm & Hammer. No matter who made it it's an outstanding find.

Thanks.  I had forgotten that A&H anvils had those marks from the forging hammer under the heel.  If it is, and the serial number is 1818, that would probably put it in first year of production 1900?

Also, could the marks in the middle of the foot be “AH”

Hay Buddens never had the caplet oval indentation.  Whereas some Trentons had the hourglass indentation.

Trenton or Arm & Hammer!  Either one an excellent anvil!

Very pretty!

15 hours ago, BIGGUNDOCTOR said:

BillyBones, why do you say 12L14 is not usable?

 

13 hours ago, Irondragon ForgeClay Works said:

I agree that 12L14 can be forged.

I was under the assumption that it being free machine steel it could not be used. The only time i tried was with a piece of small hex stock and it just crumbled under the hammer. But just becuase my print said 12L14 does not mean that is what we got. Would not be the first time we received the wrong material. 

  

Farmall,

My guess by the weight and S/N on the front foot and caplet on the base is an early 70 pound Trenton. AH if I remember correctly had either weight or S/N on the side below the logo.

In any event it is a nice looking anvil.

thanks rusty anchor   i notice no handling holes    how were the early trentons made?

Mail call!

Where do you find these books?

eBay, mostly. Sometimes Amazon or abebooks. Occasionally I'll find something in a used book store. 

The Mackintosh book was a particular challenge. I've never seen it in a store, and this copy was only the second one I've seen on eBay that wasn't in the UK (with unacceptably exorbitant shipping charges that basically doubled the cost). Not that I have any objection to international purchases: I got a copy of Fritz Kuhn: Decorative Work in Wrought Iron and Other Metals shipped from Australia last January. 

Estate sales of other blacksmiths.   Library book sales.  Used book stores and fleamarkets in this and  other countries---who was it that said "Travel Broadens the Mind and Thins the Wallet"? 

The fun thing about eBay is watching the tracking progress of shipped items through the USPS website. I have a copy of Dona Meilach's Ironwork: Dynamic Details that left Eugene, OR on the 6th and was last heard from in Anchorage, AK on the 14th. Maybe they thought Frosty ordered it?

I get my insulin shipped in an insulated container and had to refuse an order that was supposed to be next day and instead took a detour to the east coast with temps above 100 degF in the shade!  That mix up cost someone over US$3000!

Farmall,

Well...

I know Trenton and AH are reputed to have used the same cast bases, the top half of the both anvils are forged, but I don't know how they handled the upper half of the anvil for the forge welding.

Later AH were arc welded at the waist. I have seen one of those, and it looked like AH used a huge welding rod for the process. AIA talks about the switch to arc welding sometime around the time the AH forge/buildings burned down.

 

My Dad picked up a couple of packs of leaf springs from the local dump today. The leaves are 1/2" thick and 3" wide. The longest springs are about 42-43" long and there are 8 to a pack. I am planing on making a guillotine tool and using some of the spring as die stock.

 

My brother gave me five pieces of 5/8 brass round from his work. Most about 18”. Not sure what all to do with them, but definitely appreciated. Maybe a brass leaf as a thank you?