Arthur210 Posted May 5 Share Posted May 5 A pair of leather couches followed me home while on their way to the recycling yard, just long enough for me to harvest most of the nice leather that was on them (some of it had been damaged by a cat). I'll be able to use to make some leaf bellows when the mood strikes me. Or maybe some leather aprons. Or both. There quite a bit of it -- I'd say about 3-4 square meters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seldom (dick renker) Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 Frosty, it was to get away. Those rascals sting. We all had plenty of bruises from them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted May 7 Share Posted May 7 As is should be Dick, what fun is shooting each other if there isn't a little pain involved? Good times eh? Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazz Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 I brought these home from a barn sale a week ago. The barn had been in the same family since the 1700s and the road it was on was indeed the same name as the family name. There was a rivet forge that I didn't need and a post vise but the seller said he was taking it back to Oregon but I don't think in his carry on baggage. I hoped for for more neat old stuff but this was it in that category. Not sure what the hardy tool would have been used for with those narrow V's. I'm guessing the chisel thing is for laying out curved lines in hot steel, like veins in a leaf. The spike round top tool is kind of a mystery too. The dome part has some fractured off bits so it must be hard steel and the spike suggests it was driven into a stump. Are the fractured parts the result of striking it? These and a few larger spikes, cold chisels and 5 pick axe heads were $10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 The top one looks kind of like a Dingle but not one you'd carry in the field to sharpen a sythe. Could've been used to sharpen, repair or make them in the farm shop. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazz Posted May 9 Share Posted May 9 Thinking about it now, I wonder if the hardy tool was used to put preliminary edge on a chisel. A piece of stock driven into the vee while the stock was hot would have put a dull edge on it. Then your time on the pedal or crank driven grindstone would have been shorter. The tools used to sharpen scythes were more flat were they not? The ones I have seen were in any case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted May 9 Share Posted May 9 I had the wrong thing in my mind's eye. Sythes were sharpened in the field on a gently crowned stake anvil driven in the ground with a peening hammer. I only did a quick search when I finally remembered I was going to look it up. <sigh> Sooooooo, I withdraw my previous guess, I was looking in the wrong wrinkle in my brain. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gewoon ik Posted May 9 Share Posted May 9 You can sharpen them also by using the peene as a bottom tool and flat hammer or a peening hammer. Depents on region and what your father used I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted May 9 Share Posted May 9 That triple-V swage looks really familiar, but I'm having trouble placing it. I don't think it would have anything to do with putting a basic bevel on a chisel, as that could simply be done with a hammer at the edge of the anvil. It's clearly a specialized tool, and the asymmetry of the V-notches is interesting. That tells me that the alignment of the swaged section to its parent stock is important. Maybe this was for shaping the rib at the back edge of a scythe blade? Giving the rib a tapered cross section would keep its rigidity and thus increase the stiffness of the blade, while reducing the overall weight. I'm just guessing here, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Direwolf Posted May 9 Share Posted May 9 Hi Gazz, JHCC the strange hardy tool with the v grooves is specifically made for welding/installing caulks on horseshoes back in the day. I have several of them including a large one with instructions on the sides as to mounting for use near your shoing anvil. I have also seen them in old catalogs. I am not a farrier so I don't know if anyone still uses them for cauks these days. THe chisel looking tool looks to me like a caulking iron for driving oakum between planks on a ship for instance. I am not sure what the domed stake is but should work for forming metal. I am sure you can find an alternative use also for the caulking swage. Have.fun with "em! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted May 9 Share Posted May 9 That was it! Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted May 9 Share Posted May 9 Cool, now all I have to do is remember what it's for! Thank you Direwolf and Iforge, the Gang comes through again! Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazz Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 Thanks for the identifications! I didn't know what a caulk on a horseshoe is but looked it up. My days of caulking wooden ships is over before I started so it will get used to create lines in hot steel - it does have a fine almost sharp edge on it. The dome tool may get driven into a stump or maybe a piece of pipe driven over the spike part. The picture does not show the extent of the fractured part though so maybe it will just get put in the pile of interesting tools. Then I won this micrometer at an online auction. I didn't need it as I have several already that see little use but the wooden box on this one suggested it was old. Turns out it is and was sold during the 1930s for about what I paid for it, $10.25 which is penciled on the side of the box. Looks like whoever owned this kept it in his sock drawer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 Two good followings today. First, mail call! Second, free from the neighborhood freecycling group, a whole lot of ~4-5 oz. vegetable-tanned leather (yardstick for scale): Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott NC Posted May 11 Share Posted May 11 Everybody got nice scores. The flee market and junk shops around here are a washout lately. I'm off to Library Book Sale today with my fingers crossed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted May 11 Share Posted May 11 I'll count today a goo score if I can get the plow hanger unbent enough to drop the plow, pull the hanger and straighten it out. . . AGAIN! Grumble grumble snivvle. Maybe I'll go visit some yard, garage, etc. sales instead. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazz Posted May 11 Share Posted May 11 Today was our town wide yardsale event. I bought a pair of tongs, a diamond wheel for an angle grinder and 4 piece package of new and unused ratchet straps all for $15. I also bought a connecting rod sort of thing that is made from brass for $1. I have no idea what it came from or what I'm going to do with it but it's a nice hunka brass for a buck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted May 13 Share Posted May 13 With permission, I removed a fair amount of pipe, angle iron, and other bits from a dumpster at a job site near my office. Yardstick for scale; the big pipe is ~6-1/2” in diameter (11” at the flange) and ~27” long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazz Posted May 13 Share Posted May 13 Nice pile of iron! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rojo Pedro Posted May 14 Share Posted May 14 Nice pile of leather! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted May 14 Share Posted May 14 Yes, I’ve been doing well with raw materials lately. All I need now is a nice pile of propane! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GhostTownForge Posted May 15 Share Posted May 15 Ahh, yes... that can be a chore. Especially if you have the small 20gal tanks like I do Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobody Special Posted Sunday at 01:32 AM Share Posted Sunday at 01:32 AM Got a 1 h.p. single-phase motor for my lathe today for $50. Hooray. Gotta sort out the wiring, but otherwise, hooray! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted Sunday at 02:54 AM Share Posted Sunday at 02:54 AM This gem followed me home a while back, but I only found it today. While cataloging my blacksmithing library, I discovered it tucked inside a copy of “Structure and Properties of Alloys: The Application of Phase Diagrams to the Interpretation and Control of Industrial Alloy Structures” by R. M. Brick and Arthur Phillips, one of the books I got from Kim Thomas during the pandemic. Nice find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seldom (dick renker) Posted Monday at 12:49 AM Share Posted Monday at 12:49 AM Went to a flea market today. Found a pair of hand rails for 60 bucks. Didnt have my truck so spent a little time figuring if they would fit in daughters car. Was ready to offer 45 when the guy says 20 for the pair. that clinched the deal and they fit. Wife has been after me to make a pair for front porch. Now only have to clean them up and install. d Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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