What did you do in your shop today?

[Ted Stocksdale]

Don't know how many of the newer people check this thread, but I'll preach to the choir a little bit

 

I'm a Christmas forge-baby, and unfortunately I built mine befor I ever met you fine folks. Like a great many people probably do, I looked at the ceramic wool and said "surely that will fall apart in a day without the proper magic to keep it safe" and went with soft bricks because they seem like such an obvious choice if you don't know better. (At least I knew the difference between soft and hard bricks). After getting here and learning that my forge was sub-optimal, I chose to stick with it until I got my money's worth from those somewhat pricey Lynn Manufacturing 3000-degree bricks. Yeah, it took an hour to heat up and six hours to cool off again and used "more" gas than it needed to in between, but surely it wasn't THAT bad, right? I did a few things to try to get it a little better, with the "final" setup going into service at the beginning of February.

 

Well... the floor lasted 9 months before the bricks had cracked badly enough that flux started getting past the 296-A coating and into the bricks proper. Flux eats Lynn bricks so very quickly and I finally decided enough was enough. (This picture is after I had remove the top and burner side wall to get a better shot)

 

That's 9 months of pretty light use only on the weekends. I'm careful, I only work with fairly little pieces of metal since until very recently I had nothing but an anvil-shaped object. I can only assume this is from the thermal shock of trying to heat things up as quickly as possible and using a big fan to try to cool it off in less than half a day. Don't know... don't honestly really care - this is what happens to your $50 apiece soft firebricks in less than a year.

 

And boy are they soft now! They weren't sturdy when they were new, but now you can pretty easily tear them apart with your bare hands - no tools required. So, forge-relining time: two inch thick wool on the top and sides, three inches thick on the floor, that I'm coating with a skim coat of refractory all around and a half inch thick on the floor. Then 100HT and finally 296A because I was happy with that combination. Still square because I don't want to completely start over

(I squared it up bit better after this picture, I just wanted one shot of the pristine white wool)

 

 

 

 

 

[Conner Michaux]

Today was spent in someone else’s shop.

Layers of 1084 & 15n20 

drawn out and twisted, twists drawn out, cut into sections and surface ground, final stack has 5 layers total. a twist core with 15n20 on the sides and then another layer of twist on the outsides. It’s been a busy day 

Edited October 28, 2021 by Conner Michaux

[Andrew Gillespie]

packed it up, the owners of the property I rent are retiring and selling the place so I have to move

[Don Abbott]

7 hours ago, Andrew Gillespie said:

packed it up, the owners of the property I rent are retiring and selling the place so I have to move

 

Bummer. Any leads on a new place?

[Gerhard Gerber]

I have a table at a local farmer's market this Saturday, hoping to capitalize on some early xmas shopping.

 

And then, instead of going camping I'll be heat treating some come-back blades.

 

Temper cycles are beer-drinking time!

[Martin Tiney]

Started to build a new grinder today. 

Found an old but never used, damaged motor at work, was going to the scrap pile so I rescued it, 

A 1hp single phase beast, got the damaged parts repaired, broken self tapper drilled out ( thank god for tct drill bits) and tested, 

Found a few pieces of box section that will make the base, will have another dive in the welding shops scrap bin for more steel on Monday, 

 

  As it only runs at 1425 rpm, can anyone advise on what the optimum size drive wheel I should use?? 

[Alan Longmire]

I'd put a 2-3-4 (inch diameters) step pulley on it, and run a belt to a matching step pulley on a shaft driving a four-inch wheel, or even a six inch wheel, but with only one Hp it might not have the torque to handle much pressure with a six-inch drive.  I can stall mine when it's in high speed mode.  

 

For direct drive, four or five inch is usual. 

 

If you go with step pulleys and a belt drive, use machined pulleys rather than cast, and a segmental belt helps reduce vibration. 

 

I love that it has "Hawker Siddeley" on the nameplate.  You'll have to name the grinder "Hurricane" or something.  

[Joshua States]

1HP is pretty light for a belt grinder, especially with a belt drive. I can stall my 2HP motor. Is it reversable? It might make a good disc grinder motor or a motor to make a slack belt sander.

Edited October 30, 2021 by Joshua States

[Alan Longmire]

I have a 1 hp motor and belt drive, been using it since 2008 or so.  I would love 3hp and a VFD, but until those grow on trees it's what I have.  

[Martin Tiney]

Well, 1hp is better than I have at the moment, a converted grinding wheel set up at just over 1/2 hp,. 

As it was a freebie I can't really complain. 

 

The old grinder has served me well but the new one will be mounted on its own base and should give me more space in the workshop 

[Jaro Petrina]

Working on that big billet in my new superpowered forge made me realise, that I cannot weld long enough piece on it (because I just cannot grab it that far away and be able to feed it into press with one hand). Its 6 kg!  So I made me king of a holder, where only a short piece of roundstock with filled groove is welded on the billet and the handle (which I can even cover with something not_so_darn_heat_conducting) stays out of the forge most of the time.

[Rob Davis]

Finished this one.   Could be better but it's better than the last one.   Mahogany turned out nice.  

[Matt Walker]

2 hours ago, Alan Longmire said:

I have a 1 hp motor and belt drive, been using it since 2008 or so.  I would love 3hp and a VFD, but until those grow on trees it's what I have.  

You have a friend who has a 2hp/3ph motor (needs a new bearing) you can have. And here is a 3hp VFD https://www.factorymation.com/TD200-2003-1PH they have a 2hp unit for a little less, but you might find a 3hp motor sometime. I think that grade VFD would need to go in a dust protective box.

[Alan Longmire]

1 hour ago, Matt Walker said:

You have a friend who has a 2hp/3ph motor (needs a new bearing) you can have. And here is a 3hp VFD https://www.factorymation.com/TD200-2003-1PH they have a 2hp unit for a little less, but you might find a 3hp motor sometime. I think that grade VFD would need to go in a dust protective box.

 

Hmmm....  You have my attention, sir!  Is it a bearing that even I could replace?  

 

I spent the afternoon roughing out a pair of folders.

 

 

Next shop time will be soldering bolsters on the liners and surface-grinding the blades and springs to get them to the intended thickness.  I had a rush order a while back and ordered a bar of 0.093" AEB-L.  It is clearly labelled as such, but unfortunately measures in at 0.115".  It is hot rolled and still has the mill scale that would have to be ground off anyway, so I don't mind too much. 

[Matt Walker]

Together we should be able to fix it. If you can come by one evening. Looking good on the folder work.

[Joshua States]

I spent the day laying floor tile........ more again tomorrow too! I'm glad I get to come here and live vicariously through other peoples' achievements!

 

 

6 hours ago, Martin Tiney said:

a converted grinding wheel set up at just over 1/2 hp,.

That would make a really nice slack belt set up.

 

6 hours ago, Jaro Petrina said:

roundstock with filled groove is welded on the billet and the handle

Neat way to go about it. I just weld a perforated square tube over the solid bar. Does it get hot? yes, but not as hot as the solid bar.  It also provides good control with the square shape.

 

 

6 hours ago, Rob Davis said:

but it's better than the last one. 

That's what matters. Keep going with that idea.

 

3 hours ago, Alan Longmire said:

I spent the afternoon roughing out a pair of folders.

Looking good Alan!

 

Edited October 31, 2021 by Joshua States

[Bill Schmalhofer]

22 hours ago, Jaro Petrina said:

Working on that big billet in my new superpowered forge made me realise, that I cannot weld long enough piece on it (because I just cannot grab it that far away and be able to feed it into press with one hand). Its 6 kg!  So I made me king of a holder, where only a short piece of roundstock with filled groove is welded on the billet and the handle (which I can even cover with something not_so_darn_heat_conducting) stays out of the forge most of the time.

I've done the same thing, only my piece of bar stock is only about 2 inches long.

Instead of a handle though, I just made a set of bolt tongs sized specifically to the size of bar stock. Haven't had hot hands since. Worked a 32 x 3/4 x 3/4 inch bar this way.

 

Knife work has been put on hold; been working on Christmas presents. Turning the above bar into pattern-welded crosses.

Rough grind and pre-etch.

[Jaro Petrina]

20 minutes ago, Bill Schmalhofer said:

I've done the same thing, only my piece of bar stock is only about 2 inches long.

Instead of a handle though, I just made a set of bolt tongs sized specifically to the size of bar stock. Haven't had hot hands since. Worked a 32 x 3/4 x 3/4 inch bar this way.

 

Knife work has been put on hold; been working on Christmas presents. Turning the above bar into pattern-welded crosses.

Rough grind and pre-etch.

Cutting it shorter is always an option. 

[Gerhard Gerber]

Nothing stains you hands like scale-dissolved-in-vinegar-juice

[Alan Longmire]

That's why they used it to dye leather black. 

[Jaro Petrina]

 

Edited November 2, 2021 by Jaro Petrina

[Jaro Petrina]

Now to fit the elk scales.

[Alex Middleton]

Got my niece's hunter rough ground and hardened.  Currently in the oven on its first tempering cycle.

 

Edited November 3, 2021 by Alex Middleton

[Jaro Petrina]

Needs bit of a cosmetics and sheath.

Edited November 3, 2021 by Jaro Petrina

[Alex Middleton]

Been awful quiet around here today......  

 

A quick pic of my nieces knife glued up and clamped for the night.

 

 

Edited November 6, 2021 by Alex Middleton