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By Dave, February 16, 2007 8:57 pm

Modified the forge this morning to allow for longer pieces to be in the fire. Cut a 10 inch or so piece of drive shaft and then split it lengh wise, making two half round pieces 10 inches long. Used the cuting torch and cut half rounds of the approate size out of each side to the right and left of the blower. Fired up the Zena welder and after clamping them into place welded them to the sides of the brake drum.

Started a fire and loaded the coal in and started heating the tongs to add additional notches down the handle. Did two more and then heated the pivot or hinge plate and punched a hole for the rivet. That was cool! Never punched a hole in red hot steel before. Drilled a bunch but this was as fast or faster. And didn’t weaken the structure as it displaces most of the metal to the sides. Only a thin piece punches out.

Put the piece back in the fire and started heating it again. Took a minute to get a piece of metal to put around the fire so the north wind wasn’t blowing the smoke in my face. Cranked the handle again a few times and took out the rod to the second notch. Had burned it in to or is that in two? So spent an hour trying to forge weld the two pieces back together. No go. Arc welded them and then started beating it down after reheating. Still got to do some more but am gonna wait for a day that isn’t so cold with the north wind blowing right on the anvil.

Had a bunch of copper wire that needed to have the insulation stripped off so got to looking at it. Took a hammer and chisel and cut it off of one piece but that was a lot of work. So looked at the forge and decided to make a cold cut hardy with side guides to hold the wire centered on the chisel edge.

Found a piece of 3/4 inch water pipe, cut it to about 4 inches long and then cut it from one end down the middle about an inch and a half. Put it in the fire and heated it to a cherry red then flattened it on 4 sides about 2 inches from the uncut end. Heated it again and put it in the vice and opened the cut end up enough to get the edge over the fuller. Reheated it and hammered it down on the top edge of the fuller till it bottomed out in the cut on each side. Hammered the sides flat and then reheated it and shaped it to the biggest wire over the end of the anvil.

Got a piece of mild steel about 3/4 inch in diameter that had been the front roller axles on the pallet jack that I converted to three point hitch lift on the tractor. Heated it to a nice cherry and beat hell out of it. Heat and repeat about 5 times till I got a nice chisel point about an inch and a half long and wide. Took it still glowing to the grinder and ground a chisel edge on it then cooled the edge in water. Cut the end off just under where the flattening started and ground 4 sides on it. Drove it in the hole in the pipe from the previous paragraph and clamped it and arc welded it in place. Put it in the hardy hole and fitted the sides to the wire with a hammer and then split the insulation with a couple of blows of a hammer. Move an inch and a half and repeat. Got the job done in a very short time on the largest size of wire. Will reshape the sides to the next smallest size wire and repeat till it’s all stripped. Then plan to cut the sides off and weld all the way around and use as a hot cut hardy.

Insulation Cutter Hardy Edge View

Insulation Cutter Hardy Bottom View

Insulation Cutter Hardy Side View

Insulation Cutter Hardy Top View

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By Dave, February 15, 2007 9:41 pm

I made the fuller first so I could use it to make these tongs. I am making these tongs along the lines of the ones shown in the tutorial at anvilfire about the Dempsey Twist. Started with a 25 inch piece of 3/8 x 3/4 steel. Got one end turned and shaped a bit. If you look close you may note that with the 3 fuller slots and the twist and a bit of beating on the jaw that the bar has already grown length wise to 26 inches. Below are the pictures. Click on the thumbnail to view a larger version, back button on browser to return here.

Tongs full length view

Tongs inside side view – This side will be the inside of the hinge joint. Will punch a hole in the flat area just to the right of the jaws, which are on the left side of the picture. The 2 dimples in the bottom center are the shape the fuller makes. Will make more of these on toward the right and then hammer the humps out between them. It’s a lot easier to move the metal this way with the fuller than just by hammering the hot metal.

Tongs outside side view – The other side. 😉

Tongs back view – Both pieces are the same shape. Just got to remember to turn the jaws in the same direction when twisting them into shape.

That’s all for now. Will try to get some pix of the forge, anvil and other stuff in the near future. Tis all real high tech stuff… 😉

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By Dave, February 15, 2007 9:20 pm

Found the camera so here are some pix of the bottom fuller. Or that’s it’s primary purpose. Will also be used to form different shapes in metal so guess it has another name too but no idea what it would be right now. Started life as a piece cut off a rail road rail. This is the top rail portion. The curved side was the really worn inside part of the rail. Took up to a yellow heat quite a few times to get it beat into this shape. Pix taken on a piece of pegboard. Holes are 1/4 inch in diameter and spaced on a 1 inch grid to give a feel of the size. Click on the thumbnails to see larger versions of the pictures and use your back button to return here.

Fuller side view 1

Fuller side view 2

Fuller top view – Took quite a few heatings and beatings to get it this narrow on top. Ground it smooth on the bench grinder and then used the belt sander to finish it off.

Fuller Bottom View – My hardy hole is 7/8 inch square. Had to upset (heat and hammer back into it’s self) the hardy end of this a bit to get it to fit the hole. It started out about 3/4 inch square. I think the hardy fitting is about 3/8s of an inch shorter now than before I started beating on it.

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By Dave, February 15, 2007 9:01 pm

Well the problems that I thought I was having with PCLOS 2007 TR2 was actually a combonation of motherboard and cdrom drive in the computer I was using as a test machine. Still not sure what the motherboard or processor problem is but tis trash now. Not that I broke it but it’s in pieces to be recycled. Not worth the time or trouble to try to fix it so got another even slower machine and moved the hard drive into it and had boot problems. So put the cdrom drive in it and it wouldn’t boot from the livecd. Put another cdrom drive in it and booted fine so reinstalled to the hard drive and everything is fine. Guess the cold was too much for it/them. Took several hours to determine just what was going on as everything was working (kinda) last night but wouldn’t boot this morning. Hate it when that happens!

Even with the cold I got out this afternoon and did a bit of work at the forge. Finished grinding and polishing the bottom fuller so tongs are next. Got the jaw on one half twisted over and the next fuller indention done, part of the hinge shaped and the next indention down the handle made before it got too dark to see what I was doing. Got to find the camera and I wll take pix of the pieces. Know it’s around here somewhere… 🙁

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By Dave, February 14, 2007 7:28 pm

Index of /pub/metalab/distributions/texstar/pclinuxos/live-cd/english/preview

PCLOS 2007 testing release 2 is now out!!! Downloading it now from the above link. 18 minutes to go… 😉

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By Dave, February 14, 2007 1:09 am

This afternoon actually. Had been fighting a computer all day trying to get XP reinstalled without having to wipe and reformat and by about 4:30 pm decided I had had more than enough.

Since the rain had stopped quite a while earlier decided to walk to the barn and try to do a bit on making a fuller. Found the cut off piece of the railroad rail I planned to use, started a fire in the forge, and started heating it. Upset and squared the bottom end on the first and second heats to fit the hardy hole then went to work on the top edge. The piece was about 7/8s of an inch thick and I wanted a 3/8 to 1/2 max outside rim, so started beating it down to size.

Really needed to have the leg vice on a stand but got most of the reshaping done on the anvil (shaped object). Bill came up from a walk and cranked the blower for me while I heated and beat the piece. Guess it took about 35 to 40 minutes to get it to where I could no longer see well enough to call it a night.

Took it into the barn and used the grinder and then the belt sander and cleaned it up and sanded it down. Not bad looking and I think it will do the job as well as being a shaped piece that I can use to form on.

Planning on using it to make a pair of tongs tomorrow. Will see how well it works and try to get some pix of it and the tongs. Did heat the ends of the steel bar I am gonna use and cut the threaded ends off using my hot cut for the first time. Neat stuff, cutting red hot iron. Almost as much fun as reforming it into something else… 😉

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By Dave, February 14, 2007 12:01 am

Appalachian Blacksmiths Association

Lot of good info on powerhammers and blacksmithing. Several different designs that lead to new ideas of doing it on the cheap… 😉

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By Dave, February 13, 2007 11:57 pm

The Artful Bodger’s Home Foundry – Home

If he can do it so can I. Would like to have the book but I think I have figured out how he injects the oil into the airstream and am gonna try it out soon.

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By Dave, February 13, 2007 11:54 pm

melt metal, home metalcasting, backyard metalcasting

Bunch of interesting and dangerous stuff here. Wish he had more detailed writeups but there is a lot of info nonetheless… Good Stuff!

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By Dave, February 13, 2007 11:41 pm

THE HILSCH VORTEX TUBE

Cool! 😉

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By Dave, February 13, 2007 10:54 am

plowshareforge.com

This guy makes some nice looking stuff. Love his homemade power hammer! More ideas and angles than before. Note on his hammer the slide is made from an old vice body. Neat stuff!

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By Dave, February 11, 2007 11:40 am

anvilfire NEWS Vol. 1

Check out this junkyard hammer challange! I like both kinds but the east coast design is mighty cool. On the 4th page (I think) you have to go to the suppliments link to get to the 7 pages about the east coast hammer. Wish they had finished and posted the plans and such about this one… Please note that I had to break this out of the frames on the host site to link to these pages. The AnvilFire main site url is http://www.anvilfire.com/index.htm. Below is a pix of the unfinished east coast hammer. Love the rear end and motor block.

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By Dave, February 9, 2007 11:56 pm

Jesus Hernandez

Go, look/read, marvel! Wonderful knives and swords. Love the patterns he gets in the metal.

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By Dave, February 9, 2007 11:52 pm

Zoeller Forge

I especially like the Colonial toaster and bent iron rocking chair. If you are into forges, he also has some specialty stuff like the stainless steel flairs for burners. Neat stuff and LOTS of good info!

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By Dave, February 5, 2007 9:33 pm

Real Cajun Recipes : : Beef and Macaroni Goulash

This sounds good! Gonna try it tomorrow. Or Cat is. 😉

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By Dave, February 5, 2007 8:42 pm

Gates: I’m a PC and I’m not amused | News.blog | CNET News.com
“Nowadays, security guys break the Mac every single day,” Gates said. “Every single day, they come out with a total exploit, your machine can be taken over totally. I dare anybody to do that once a month on the Windows machine.”

I thought that is why they have so many security updates. Seems like I hear of a LOT more problems with winblows machines than macs. I got 2 macs and no antivirus stuff on either and not a problem. I am behind a firewall but don’t dare use any windows pc without Avast antivirus running. Maybe Vista really is better but I sure as hell ain’t gonna try it…

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By Dave, February 5, 2007 8:34 pm

Started out sometime shortly after 10am when the temp got above 36 to see if the air tank still had pressure. It didn’t, so started the compressor and went in search of a portable air tank. Found it and got the tire inflater nozzle put on the air line and started filling it. Put 100 psi in and went to air the right front tire on the yellow toyota up so I could clean the bed out and start using it again around the farm.

Anyway, got the tire inflated and then noticed a belt squeeling on the compressor. That meant it was around or over 140 psi so I ran back to the barn and cut the breaker. Pressure gauge showed 150 psi and I could hear air leaking from somewhere so left it for the moment and went back and tried the truck but the starter wasn’t doing anything. Found a wire loose and after rehooking it had a dead battery.

Carried the battery and charger to the barn and started it charging. Then went to see where the air was coming from. Seems that the one way valve from compressor to tank was letting air back out through the compressor. The valve is a special one but I remembered the inlet valves on the air tanks on the transport dollies. Went to look and see if they were what I remembered and they were perfect. 1/2 inch ip thread male on one end and female on the other. Wrong way around for what I needed but with a closed nipple and a coupling it went in line and no more leaking back through the compressor.

Adjusted the pressure switch down to 140 and started the motor again. Shut off fine. Still got some slow leaks but will work on them at a later time. At least I have air over here again!

Got the tractor out and moved it to the front of the barn quickly to keep the exaust as cool as possible. Was clearing in the cedar thicket the other day and a piece of cedar treetop got hung in the exaust and tore the muffler loose. Actually tore the pipe. Was rusted and all but it was still fairly thick. Was a good piece of cedar. I enjoyed the heat from burning too. Just wish it hadn’t cost me 5 hours or so fixing.

Got the tools and started loosening the nuts. 2 came off fairly easily. One took a while and much rust came out as it came off. Threads were gone on the stud. Took the pipe and muffler off and decided to cut the broken piece out and replace with a much thicker piece of pipe I found in the rack. As the flange at the exaust manifold was bent I then went and got a bucket of coal and fired up the forge. Started it with a stick of heart pine about an inch by inch and a half by 6 inches long broken into 3 pieces. laid it in the middle of the air inlet and piled leaves and dry grass on them and then added small chunks of coal while turning the blower handle slowly. Hard to do with an electric blower. Took about 5 minutes to get it up to a good yellow burn and then put the flange end in and started pumping air to it. Got it up to a nice cherry red in about 4 or 5 more minutes and took it to the anvil and started beating on it. Took reheating it 5 or 6 times but got the flange straight and the wrinkle out of the pipe just below the flange. Then another 3 heats were needed to take a bend out about half way down the first straight run. Really good piece of cedar. 🙁

Then cut the welded end off the muffler and got the piece inside out using screwdrivers and pliers and hammers. Another 4 or 5 heatings on the new piece let me expand the end enough to get it over the manifold pipe. Power hack saw put the slits in the expanded end so the clamp will work right.

A little quality time with the hammer and the muffler end is shaped around the new pipe. Cranked the welder and using a small 6013 and low power setting burned a hole in the muffler. At an even lower power setting welded it closed and got the seams all put together. Even one place where I had used brass on it one time before welded up fine.

Now to try putting it back on the tractor. Went on fine but the nuts that came off were all rusted out and had no threads left. So into the barn and more 3/8 24 tpi nuts are found. Only two of the studs have enough threads to hold. One is just too far gone. So I try to remove it. It has other ideas. Been in there since 64 I guess and it don’t want to come out. So I look for a die to take it down another size. No got. Try a metric one but it’s not small enough to cut good threads. So I look at it and decide to add metal then rethread the correct size. Two rows of 6013 later it rethreads fine. Get a jack and use it to put the pipe in place snuggly and then get the nuts tight on all three. Use the old gasket because I didn’t have a new one. It leaks but will get another one asap.

Use the big slip joint pliers to put the clamp around the new bigger pipe. Get the nuts on it and then make a new center braket that was ripped out. Still got the rear bracket to bolt back together but being as it was now dark I quit for the night.

This makes it sound a lot easier and simpler than it actually was. Spent much time on each and every piece of this mess but managed to get at least something done today. Now I can use the tractor to start moving cars and junk so I can move the entry road to the parking area for the Airsoft games. Gonna add some fencing and move the old trailer to a different orientation along the new road too. Planning to gut it and use it for bathrooms, showers, and a kitchen for the events. Not gonna do all this tomorrow but it all follows a hidden master plan, or something… 😉

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By Dave, February 5, 2007 12:09 pm

Web design tips & tricks
Just that. Worth the link.

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By Dave, February 5, 2007 12:06 pm

Thriving on Happy Accidents – This is my wheel…
Steampunk spinning wheel! Basic PVC spinning wheel that has been painted. Neat!

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By Dave, February 5, 2007 12:04 pm

Moulton Metal
SCA blacksmiths blog with pictures. Cool stuff!