If you're going to forge them anyway, why not use your press to drive them into a bolster to remove the radius?  Forge out whatever shape you have in mind on the business end first and then with a localized heat, press them into an appropriately sized bolster to iron out the radius.  Or if you have access to a lathe, turn the radius off.  It could also be done with an angle grinder quite neatly if you are handy with one of them.

Looking at your pictures, I also thought you cold make the shank the business end of the tool, cut off the current business end and use the tool inverted but I think the diameter would not fit in the press.

You could also add an inside radius to the shaft of the press but that is probably a huge job requiring disassembly.

Just some thoughts that bounce through my head while I suffer mildly from fly press envy. 

There was a good discussion of this on the Fly Press Forging group on Facebook. One of the members there makes and sells an adaptor for air chisels, and he recommends simply chamfering the hole. I’ll give that a try; the worst-case scenario is that I just have to make a new tool holder, which is not a big deal. 

A tool holder with a socket formed by a flat bottomed drill which would drive the punch through the end  rather than the flange would be a fairly simple project...always assuming a lathe or pillar drill...

Alan

When I get down there while he is rebuilding a wheel, I will be sure to take lots of pictures. 
 

These followed me home yesterday. Both were made by my great granddad. He was a carpenter. The disc grinder/sander was in pretty good shape when I last saw it about 30 years ago. But with no roof or doors on the old barn it was in, it no longer is. A buzzard and a pack rat had built a nest on top of the grinder and table saw next to it. 
 

The wooden frame I think I can repair without needing to replace too much of the original wood. The disc still spins, maybe just lubricating the bearings will work. The motor though will not turn at all. I may need to rebuild it. The wiring is from the late 40s or early 50’s. That I will have to totally replace. I am hoping I can keep the original switch. The motor is not original to it. That was added by my Dad and uncle when I was about 10 or 11. Originally the motor was mounted beneath the table and the belt came up through the middle. 
 

The small cabinet I am just restoring and taking back to my dad. My great granddad made it as well. It is missing a drawer. I will have to make a new one as well as replace a couple of the drawer fronts. I figure I will clean out all the rat poop and put it on a shelf for a while to dry out. I assume my wife would refuse the use of her oven. 

Forgot to add the photo. 

I took the day off from work last Friday, I had to go to Asheville to pick up my latest auction wins.  For 210 bucks I was able to fill up the back of my little truck.

Hundreds of pounds of sheet, plate steel, round stock, stainless round stock and plate.  Loads of cutoff pieces of odds and ends, with a couple shelfs on which to place them.  Old school water based fire extinguishers with the end cut off, ball bearings of various sizes and so much more.  The big money went to the post vise, a bit small, 4 inch jaws.  What I thought was a bag of chain turned out to be these teeth, a hundred or more of them in there.  I have no idea what they went onto.  Some agricultural implement?

No idea what those were for originally, but I could easily see them as teeth in a dinosaur sculpture.

I had the same thought, or claws even.

Nice haul Lee Justice!

i had a mail call this morning,

got in my sleigh bell blanks from stony point forge, and some odds and ends from kens custom iron, 

Thank you.  I neglected to add that included was also a 24" round by 3/4" thick glass tabletop.  But I did not take a picture, so, as we all know, that didn't happen.

  Nice lot you won Lee.  I have dinosaur tooth/claw/horn envy.  I should have signed up....

  Billy, it will be interesting to see how your bells turn out.

Thanks Scott, I hadn't thought about horns, but good call on that, too.

A bit more on the wagon wheel bearings; AKA "thimble skeins"  per Foxfire #9  section on building the wagon.

Awesome haul Lee. Love the claw things. What size are they? You should spark test one. 

Good stuff Billy. You'll be putting that swage block to work now. 

Daswulf, thanks.  I did not measure them, might be 3 inches long.  Spark test, good suggestion.

I picked these up today. $40  bucks for the lot.l make crafts out of horseshoes  and the claw heads make good animal heads especially dogs.

A lot of potential there for about a buck apiece.

I'd like to see one of your hammer head dog heads.  Seeing a series of pics of the steps to go from a claw hammer to a dog head would be instructional and appreciated.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

I tried to make a thin square punch from a claw hammer once, by cutting off one claw and forging the remaining one over to centerline. 

It didn't go well.

Has anyone ever tried forge welding the craws, then drawing it into a punch? That thought always enters my mind whenever I see a cheap claw hammer.

Keep it fun,

David

6 hours ago, George N. M. said:

I'd like to see one of your hammer head dog heads. 

I don't forge the heads from the hammer I use it for the heads on my horseshoe crafts.

I get $40 to $50 bucks apiece for these.

Edited August 31, 20223 yr by Mod30
Trim quote.

50 minutes ago, Dave Murray said:

I don't forge the heads from the hammer I use it for the heads on my horseshoe crafts.

I get $40 to $50 bucks apiece for these.

 

I'll bet those are popular sellers. Well done.

Frosty The Lucky.

Those are cute. Nice work. 

Making and selling one of those should at Least pay for the hammer lot. Claw hammers are all over at the fleamarkets. 

Speaking of claw hammers I really need to make another jack hammer sometime. 

11 hours ago, Dave Murray said:

I find the horseshoe stuff sells real good. I would rather spend my time hand forging things but found people won't pay what you need to make it worthwhile.  The horseshoe stuff is quick and easy  and you can sell stuff from $20 to $50 all day. I had a booth at a local rodeo this summer and did nearly $1000 in 2 days.and could have done better just run out of stuff .