June 12, 20196 yr No pics, but I made a trip to the scrap yard on Monday and came home with some more bits and pieces for my ribbon burner and forge. Inch by inch, step by step..............I'll get there eventually.
June 13, 20196 yr Went to the scrapyard yesterday, since they cleaned a lot of the space up and organized things there's so much more treasure to be found! There was a triwall full of large bolts in the 1-1.5" size range, though most were galvanized. The two dome heads are going to be a dishing hammer and a stake tool. Also, there were a number of 1/2" x 4" x 4" plates that'll be cut in half to make dies for a guillotine tool. There was also some longer stuff (angle, flat, some 5/16 round which I needed for hook bottle openers, and some rebar for other projects), some hardware cloth, and some aluminum-skinned plastic that will be used for roofing a small storage unit for yard implements. Also recently, I gave in to my desire to add an adze to my collection. Had to buy a head off ebay and order a handle and fit it up. Hopefully one day I'll be competent at both sharpening and swinging it! (a lot of those wood chips were from an axe I just rehandled and sharpened).
June 13, 20196 yr Indeed, there was another one like it there (it's 5/8 OD material), and there were a couple of leaf springs too. I was just buying so much I'm already struggling with storing it all.
June 14, 20196 yr Pretty nice haul there HojPoj. Just a little FYI regarding coil spring. What you're referring to as 5/8" OD is the "wire" dia. Coil dia. is the diameter of the spring coil, center to center of the wire. And length. Wire you wonder? I have a coil spring a friend and I managed to lever into the old Saturn SUV with a long 2" x 6" and blue language. The wire is 2.75" dia. Coil 12.5" dia. C-C and approx 38" long. The story I heard was it came off a shaker table or maybe crusher at a gold mine. I guesstimate it weighs a good 450 lbs. we left the other one on the lot and nobody in the club seems to want to come collect it. Coil spring is made with "wire", leaf spring is made with bar." Frosty The Lucky.
June 15, 20196 yr Stopped at a roadside junk shop and got a couple of nice $1 ball peen hammers (and a nice $2 immersion blender, but that’s not for the forge):
June 15, 20196 yr 3 hours ago, JHCC said: and a nice $2 immersion blender, but that’s not for the forge): I don't know why not, I have a shop blender and food processor not to mention the toaster oven. Handy things in the shop. I use my immersion blender occasionally, makes nice smooth sauces but won't fix broken eggs, no way to get Hollendaise smooth if you break the eggs. <sigh> Ah Pedro, gotta love blacksmiths buy them a sack of coal and they're doing hand springs happy. Good score buddy, she's a keeper. Frosty The Lucky.
June 15, 20196 yr Found some goody's on the local cl. 8 pairs of tongs , a couple of hardy tools and a swage block. Nice score but a bit pricy to my liking. 450e for the swage and 150e for the tongs and hardy tools and hammer
June 16, 20196 yr I made another page holder. My wife changed the name from "cook book holder opener". I agree it's much easier on the tongue.
June 16, 20196 yr Added a bandsaw to the shop. A garage sale where I wish I had had more money a trailer and an empty shop. The guy was nice enough to throw in the little railroad anvil for me to give to my twelve year old to forge on when he comes down for the summer.
June 16, 20196 yr Does the bandsaw run? Wood I assume, I wouldn't mind having one, cutting wood with a power tool is nice. Frosty The Lucky.
June 16, 20196 yr Good! The difference between wood and metal band saws is blade speed, not TPI (Teeth Per Inch) or blade pitch. Oh sure a wood blade on steel has the survival time of a pitted black olive on my salad but the real difference is in speed. Metal band saws run maybe 1/4 the speed or less. You can get away with sawing soft metals like aluminum or copper if you use metal blades and feed it carefully but it's pretty touchy. Frosty The Lucky.
June 16, 20196 yr Frosty, With it being belt driven, would I be able to change out the step pulley for a slower speed. Mind you I'm quite happy having a bandsaw for wood. Just wondering if there would be ways to modify it for both. With the open body im not even opposed to switching the motor out to something variable speed. Heelerau, That's what I thought. Pritchel hole and everything. My 12yo is down for the summer and i thought I'd mount it for his height as a starter anvil. Hes been excited to try his hand at smithing. Worse case if he doesn't get into it I figure I'll cut the webbing and make it into a nice slender hardy bick. And when I asked him what he wanted and said go ahead and take it.
June 16, 20196 yr You might take a look at the belts, bearings and such in a metal bandsaw and think about it. I'm sure it's doable but I don't know how well a wood saw in general will stand up to the increased forces and stresses. Frosty The Lucky.
June 17, 20196 yr I was a professional woodworker for 17 years. I've worn out more bandsaws than a lot of people have ever seen in person. (I've got a 20" Delta, in excellent shape, for sale if anyone is interested) Every single time I've seen someone "try" and retrofit a woodworking bandsaw into a metalworking bandsaw, it has failed. I recently thought I knew enough to do it myself (go figger!) My design failed to meet the necessary requirements. (on paper, so no harm done) It's just not worth it when you can pick up a good used horizontal bandsaw so inexpensively. I've seen good ones go for under $300 in my area. The framework of even the most well built wood cutting bandsaws are not substancial enough to maintain the tension required for metal cutting.
June 17, 20196 yr Awsome. Chris thank you for that feedback. Luckily a bandsaw was a missing element from my woodshop so quite happy to have that element. Good to know that it's just not a worth while effort to convert it. Be a shame to end up with no bandsaw at all.
June 17, 20196 yr Got a Father’s Day gift from my six year old son I had to share. He has already made his first forge weld (it took a few tries because he misses more than hits) and he loves having a Blacksmith for a dad. He designed and painted this on his own at one of those personalized pottery places and now I have to find a way to keep it safely in the shop:
June 17, 20196 yr Congratulations Lou! Enjoy the misses and the time in the shop with the little man while you can, he will be grown up before you know it, but you will always have a memory in there to bring a smile to your face when you look at it. I'm still using the bookmark my youngest daughter made for me in Pre-K, 25 years ago and still get a smile every evening when I pick up my book to read.
June 17, 20196 yr That's really cool Lou! I'm thinking shadow box with a lexan window. A little fabric padding in a close fit and it should survive the baggage smashers on a commercial flight. Mother kept my pre-school hand print in fired clay on a shelf in the kitchen everywhere we lived. Dad had one of my jr. high metal shop cast aluminum ash trays on a shelf above his desk and next to his hospital bed till the day he died. It's sobering. Beautiful permanent home/shop/where ever decoration you have there Lou. She's a BEAUT! Frosty The Lucky.
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