It followed me home

[JHCC]

(NB: the bookstore where I got these two volumes had three other books about blacksmithing and ironwork, all of which I have already.)

[Scott NC]

  I got this old vintage drinking water fountain on garbage day.  I was skeptical at first but who knows.  Waste not, want not.    

[Daswulf]

Worst case it's some scrap tin and brass, maybe some copper too. 

[Scott NC]

Not to mention the fan.  Nothing goes to waste.

[Frosty]

Cool, it might just need a refrigerant recharge. Then again it would look cool pushing a remote controlled or robot lawn mower. Hmmmm, how about a giant clam on top that opens and closes when people walk past? Having it spit on them would only be appropriate if they were door to door salesmen.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Will Brouwers]

Went to the scrap yard today and among other things I bought a 20”x20”x3/4” plate! I thought it would make a good base for a stand I plan to make for my Holland mini swage block, but as I look at other stands, I wonder if I really need a heavy plate to weigh it down? Or maybe I do, since the mini swage is so small and light.

I just don’t want to waste this big plate on this project, and am wondering if there might be a better project to use it for?

Ideas and thoughts appreciated!!

[Frosty]

Nice base plate, good score. If you mount your swage stand to it with bolts into tapped holes in the plate you can use the plate for many things and not eliminate it for the original purpose. If that makes sense.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Gazz]

The 3/4" plate says work surface to me.  Bigger would be more better but with some sturdy legs you could layout work and hammer on it.  I had one that was 1" thick and a little larger with a vise mounted on it and it was quite useful.  

[JHCC]

$20 on FB Marketplace. 

[Frosty]

Body hammers and dollies work for making armor as well as the family Dodge. Shrinking hammers can be fun to play with.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Daswulf]

Thats a great deal on body hammers and dollies no mater what. 

[JHCC]

A local glassblower was getting rid of some gear and sold me these two propane regulators for $100 for the pair:

The included hoses are connected in a Y for easy switching between tanks. 

[Frosty]

Oooh, NICE score John, those regs go for IIRC a couple hundred each.

Frosty The Lucky.

[JHCC]

Mail call! After extensive absence of luck in finding tooling for my W.A. Whitney #2 punch, I was almost resigned to special ordering some from a manufacturer. Then I ran across an eBay listing for another of the same model* with a handful of punches and dies, all for less that what half the tooling would have cost new. So, here it is. 

*Strictly speaking, the one I have is the #2 channel iron tool, which has a lower jaw designed to fit around the legs of C-channel to punch holes in the web. I’ll see which one works better, and then probably sell the other one. 

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

I had a decent haul this morning, three pairs of tongs, two top cuts, one punch,

a big pair of heavy shears 39” long, with. Square shank on the handle 

one tuyere grate, 

a canadey Otto tiger blower

a firepit thing that has a suspiciously similar shape to a forge hood, that I’ll be repurposing for a forge

a 10’ stick of 1/2” square bar and a 4’ stick of 3/8” square bar

and for fun, one of those old ice cream parlor tables with four matching chairs that have the twisted round bar construction 

[JHCC]

I have one of those big pairs of shears. Turned out to be less useful than I expected.

Nice tongs!

2 hours ago, JHCC said:

Mail call!

On a side note, this is one of the nicer bits of packaging I've ever seen from an eBay seller. In addition to what you see here, there was a heavy plastic bag for the tooling, three pieces of foam to hold everything in place, and a couple of layers of corrugated cardboard to hold those down. Nice to see someone taking care over something that would normally end up in the trash.

[Frosty]

Some darned nice loot!

I've only seen one Whitney punch at yard, garage, etc. sales or pawn shops. A set of punches and dies would've cost me more than the punch did. The guy I got it from tossed it in on some other stuff I'd picked up. I hadn't seen it and he said "Here, one buck if you want it." I already had my wallet out.

Those are "bar" shears Billy and I have no idea why the ends are bent 90* like that. I have a similar pair and it's happy up to 5/16" sq. without a cheater.

I miss going to yard, garage, etc. sales but I'm starting to divest myself. <sigh>

Frosty The Lucky.

[JHCC]

3 hours ago, Frosty said:

I have no idea why the ends are bent 90* like that.

The one on the bottom handle (left) fits in the hardy hole, and the one on the top (right) keeps the shears from over-closing and pinching your fingers between the handles.

3 hours ago, Frosty said:

it's happy up to 5/16" sq. without a cheater.

Cutting hot? 

[Frosty]

Makes sense though my shears don't work worth spit in the hardy hole, they wobble all over, I use them in the vise. Cuts em cold no sweat. Hot cutting I do other ways, parting out stock I do in the band saw, at the anvil I either use a top cut or the appropriate blades in my butcher. 

Frosty The Lucky.

 

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

I was wondering if they would cut like 10ga for blanks or not, I’ll have to give it a try, I’ve wanted a shear for a while now 

[Frosty]

It might, how long are they from the hinge to the handle ends? IIRC mine are 30" long and would cut 10ga. if it were rod or wire. If you're asking about sheet, 10ga is about 1/8" thick and it wouldn't matter how much cheater I put on my bar shear it would maybe mark the edge but that's about it. 

If you have a Beverly type shear it'll cut sheet within it's capacity, there are charts online. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[JHCC]

The maximum I was able to cut with my overgrown tin snips was 16 ga., and that was only with putting my entire weight on the top handle or even using it under the treadle hammer.

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

Okay So they are really better to be used to cut small round and square bar, 

well i guess that would be handy for quick cutting a bunch of 1/4” 

[Frosty]

If the blades in the shears shown above are curved they'll cut more easily. Please note, Beverly and similar shears use compound levers for force multiplication. Another thought is hydraulic shears.

No, not HP oil pressure in steel cylinders you can get an mazing amount of working force from PVC pipe and a garden hose. For example our water tank is set for 3psi. A 10" round pvc piston in a pvc cylinder = 236lbs/sq/in.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Here are the shears I picked up a long time ago. The anvil is a 110 pound Vulcan. They will cut sheet metal up to 16 ga with ease. I draw filed the jaws to sharpen them when I first got it.

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s.~ Semper Paratus