Daswulf, I'm still holding out for a motorcycle chain but this will do in the meantime. New chain truly is expensive! Heck, even used chain is usually higher than I want to pay. If/when I get the motorcycle chain, I'll repurpose this one to hang horizontal  in the shed and hang things from hooks on the links.

Almost all of the chain in my shop (including a motorcycle drive chain and a 20 foot towing chain with both hooks) is stuff I picked up by the side of the road. Keep your eyes open, and make sure that there’s no one tailgating you in case you need to brake quickly!

Don't forget Cincinnati Ohio as a possible fly in to Quad-State.  As I recall Columbus is about a 2 hour drive on the interstate.

Chain: bicycle chain will work till you get your Motorcycle chain.  (Have you asked at a motorcycle repair place for a thrown out chain?)

6 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

Columbus is about a 2 hour drive

Depends on who’s driving….

Remind us how your Q-S money was spent on the drive down that year....

At least it was enough to cover the speeding ticket.

I have not yet asked at a shop for any throwouts. When looking for spent jackhammer bits, I was shot down at every rental tool place & a few construction company sites. They either scrap them for money themselves and aren't allowed to sell it - or they just throw them away   It was super disheartening given how much I have to work myself up just to get the courage to go in and ask.

So with the chain (and leaf/coil springs), I have gotten as far as a parking lot before my stomach sinks and my social anxiety brain scrambles and convinces me that there's no point going in. Maybe one day though..

Here’s a tip from a professional fundraiser: Most people hate to hear No, but No is just a word. If you don’t even ask, that’s worse than a No, because the question you didn’t ask might have been answered Yes. Don’t let your fear of No get in the way of hearing a Yes. Even if you do hear a No, you won’t be left wondering whether or not it might have been a Yes. 

  I have social anxiety too.  Really bad but what have you to lose?  Eat a big meal before you go in and ask so your not running on adrenelin.  The worst they they can say is no dice.  Hunt out every place you think has what you might want.  You will suprise yourself.

It's not the answer that I'm worried about, it's just the words that must be spoken, period. I have good days once in awhile so maybe one day

Ok, you got one no answer.  Like blacksmithing, the first one is a learning experience.  By request number 10 you will have much better luck and by request number 25, you will be taking the big truck to haul things home.  Always remember to return with a bottle opener or something as a thank you.

If you’re me and you go on a business trip to Connecticut, three things may happen: a visit to my steel supplier’s drop bin on the way to the airport for some round and flat bar, a visit to Logan Steel for some 1” TCBs, and LouL unloading some of his extra bits and pieces on you. 

Oh, and a “HEAVY” tag appearing on your checked bag. 

My Dad taught me many things. One is “If you don’t ask, you don’t get.” Another is, “If you act like you expect the answer to be no, the answer will almost certainly be no.”  The man knew my brothers and I wanted a Dr. Pepper and a Butterfinger every time we stopped for gas. We were afraid he would say no, so we rarely asked. Since we didn’t ask, we didn’t get. 
 

I’ve only been to Ohio once. That was Wellston. A friend when I was in the Army lived there. Nice little town. Best pizza sub sandwich on the planet at Rocket Pizza. I ate at least one  every day for a week. That and bottles of Ski. 
 

Assuming I make it up there, how will I recognize anyone from the site?

This is me. 

I'll be the portly older guy with a beard and glasses wearing blue jeans---and an IFI T shirt!   (Save for Friday when traditionally I wear lederhosen and an aloha shirt and my disreputable red hat...)

Forgot about the shirts. 
 

Roller bearing? Is that what these are? The inner piece is cast. Not sure about the outer. Few sparks, but those that appear do burst like carbon is present. 
 

Assuming I can get the nut off and separate the inner from the outer, could it serve as a cone mandrel?

Anything round can be a mandrel.  IMO a collection of different diameter round objects usually takes up less room and is more useful than a big floor mounted cone mandrel.

"By hammer an hand all arts do stand."

Cast Iron, a roller bearing with only 1 roller?  I'd just call it a bearing.

Without knowing its purpose, I’d call it a roller. 

If I ever get down to Duncan, Oklahoma to buy more scrap axles from the guy there who restores old wagons, I will ask him what the proper terms are. He should know. Cool guy. One of these days I would like to get down there and watch him repair a wheel.

I believe "old" wooden wagon wheel hubs were banded wood that was a LITTLE larger than the iron/ steel spindle and required lots of grease / lard. Later versions have steel bearing bands (box bands) and modern wagon wheels are sometimes all steel, have wheel bearings and grease caps.

I believe though don't have any cites, this is just my thoughts and memories from reading and an old .edu TV program called "The Wheelwright." The "box bands" were to keep the hubs from wearing through on the spindle flange or spindle washer, which kept the hub in place on the spindle.

In movies and TV shows run away wagons crashed dramatically when a wheel came off. That's actually pretty accurate, a Conestoga wagon is NOT a high speed vehicle turn those wheels much faster than a casual walking pace and the washer is likely to cut into the hub and once the wheel starts to wobble it's over with.

I speculate that wagon wheels that didn't have box band must've been on spindles with large flanges and used large washers, maybe almost as large as the hub itself or hubs would've worn out really quickly. I suppose a wooden spindle flange and washer would work though not how well. 

If you get down and visit the wagon wheel restorer PLEASE take pictures and notes! I'll save it this time, I promise.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

I picked up a big handful of chisels and air hammer tools for a few bucks at a yard sale, and I’ll be grinding and/or reforging the latter into fly press tooling. Their shanks fit nicely into my existing tool holder, except for the fillets on the undersides of the collars.

I’m thinking that grinding the collars down to remove those fillets and create a square-shouldered bearing surface is probably the best course of action, but I’m open to suggestions.

I’d just grind one flat side for the set screw to lock into,

I’m not worried about the tool twisting in the holder. I am concerned about the tool jamming itself in the hole, since there’s nothing preventing it from being driven upwards into the tool holder. 

John, Monkey tool and forge the fillet flat?

Wagon wheel bearings: the 1897 and 1905 Sears Roebuck catalogs call them Skeins.

13 hours ago, JHCC said:

I’m not worried about the tool twisting in the holder. I am concerned about the tool jamming itself in the hole, since there’s nothing preventing it from being driven upwards into the tool holder. 

I would say the radius and taper of the fillet is too obtuse to jam like a morse taper, if it did stick just a tap would free it. 

It would certainly save a lot of grinding if the fillets are identical so you could just heat up a tool holder and drive one punch in to make a perfect fit socket. 

The punch flange would be a lot stronger if unground.

But even simpler and better (as in KISS) maybe you could just make a tool holder which matches the air hammer chuck system and drive the punches on their hardened ends. If they don't mushroom and jam in the chuck under air hammer use, they shouldn't mushroom and jam under fly press use.

Alan

 

p.s. As an aside on the power of grubscrews....the punch tools I use in my double acting hydraulic press are held in the chuck by a couple of Ø5/16" grubscrews. The 30 tonne down pressure is taken on the shoulder I have machined into the punch, but the 15 tonne extraction pressure is taken solely by the two grubscrews...which have stalled the press on occasion.

I grind tapering flats on the punch for the grub screws to locate which do two things...they act as a dovetail which increases the grip as the punch is pulled out of the chuck by the extraction friction/punch/stripper plate....and secondly any levee thrown up on the sides of the spigot  by the grub screw are below the surface of the chuck cylinder and do not foul.