What did you do in your shop today?

[owen bush 169]

Been a busy week.

Entended the forge for a power hammer anex monday tue, smelted obsidian bloom and melted metioric steel Wed , filmed by 9 strong film crew (biggest crew yet) making it into a blade Thur.....had 5 students making Damascus Friday, back on to that today

[Kenon Rain. 5]

Obsidian bloom?

[Gabriel James 90]

So i just go inside from making a 12 oz bronze ingot casting for a Kith project and my friend came over and asked if i needed any help at the forge for the first time in his life (hes not in the best health) so i let him hold my damascus billet while i used the 12lb sledge. Forged it up to 12 layers and a tight twist and almost got it folded after that ( i didnt have the billet squared up enough to butt up snug) So i called it a night after that. Man im beat. If i could have gotten the billet to the dimensions i wanted after the twist i dont think i would have bothered with doing anything else to it

[Alan Longmire 1,496]

Brought home my birthday present to myself on Saturday:

 

 

It's a 1941 Craftsman 101 / Atlas 618 lathe, 6" swing over the saddle, 48" bed. Has the pictured keyless 3-jaw chuck, and one each of 8" and 10" 3-jaw and 4-jaw chucks, two faceplates, a milling attachment, tailstock chuck, tailstock die holder, a bunch of assorted tailstock centers (live, dead, spur, cross drilling, etc.), complete set of change gears, assorted tool holders, and so on. The bench was included in the deal. I'd have preferred one with a quick-change gearbox, but it was too good a deal to pass up. Plus it has Timken tapered roller bearings on the spindle. It's been well maintained and is COVERED in grease and old gummy oil.

 

I am greatly looking forward to using this instead of my crappy Chinese 6x14 (2" over the saddle) lathe that has .003" runout in the spindle and a .010" drop between the spindle center and the tailstock center...

[Andrew Hardesty 4]

It's a wonderful sight to see an old lathe like that still in great condition. 010" drop between the spindle and tailstock? That sounds like a taper inducing headache...Congratulations on the buy.

[Brian Dougherty 517]

Nice Alan,

 

I had one of those at one time, and it was a good little lathe. I probably should have kept it, but space and $$$ dictated otherwise. I had to spend a year rebuilding my current lathe (an ancient SB heavy 10) It looks like you can just get right to making parts after a little wipe down

[Joshua States 783]

Happy birthday Alan!

A very happy B-Day indeed.

[Jeroen Zuiderwijk 204]

I've got lots of steel in my workshop, but nothing knife related. Currently got a 90+ year old heavy duty steel cargo bicycle that has me distracted, and another even heavier 62 year old one that I'm restoring. So likely the first blade related stuff I'll be doing again is at Owen's next month.

[Alveprins 106]

I started over again............

[Alan Longmire 1,496]

Saturday afternoon I put the 8" Buffalo three-jaw chuck on the lathe and realized I didn't have the chuck key for it. A quick check of the web showed the key to fit it costs $47-$69 depending on source.

 

So I made one. 'Cause I could.

 

 

3/4" W-1 with the shaft turned down to 5/8 or so, 7/16 bit ground freehand, 1/4" music wire cross handle. Works great and took about 45 minutes to make, plus maybe $1 worth of materials.

[Dave Stephens 295]

I picked up a post anvil from Old World Anvils, very awesome people by the way.

So I obviously needed to build a stand for it. The anvil is 4x4x9.75 and about 45-ish lbs.

The "slot" is 25 inches high and the top of the stand is 30 inches high. Comfortable for my 5'8 height.

I was even able to use it a little bit today and it worked pretty well. I was initially concerned that it'd be very rocky but it was fairly stable despite its light weight.

 

All in all, it was neat little non-blade project.

 

Great anvil. I have one. Love it.

[Dave Stephens 295]

Been a busy week.

Entended the forge for a power hammer anex monday tue, smelted obsidian bloom and melted metioric steel Wed , filmed by 9 strong film crew (biggest crew yet) making it into a blade Thur.....had 5 students making Damascus Friday, back on to that today

Holy crap.

 

Owen wins.

[Kenon Rain. 5]

Rolled my car on the way to my new fabrication job this morning.. great first impression...

[Joshua States 783]

Rolled my car on the way to my new fabrication job this morning.. great first impression...

Ouch!

Happy to hear you were not hurt, or at least not enough to keep you from posting!

[Alan Longmire 1,496]

Rolled my car on the way to my new fabrication job this morning.. great first impression...

 

DUDE! Not cool, Kenon, not cool. Glad you lived to tell about it, though!

[Justin Mercier 62]

Congrats on the lathe Alan. I've got an Atlas 618 with brand new 4 jaw chuck, milling attachment, and almost 2 sets of change gears which I need to sell =P I upgraded to a Rivett 608 and dont use it anymore.

[Austin_Lyles 116]

Today I tried to profile and grind a folder blade... only to find a huge flux inclusion. So then I went and had a few beers with a customer/friend.... and he showed me one of the knives I had made him. I pretty much died a little inside. He tried to cut a LIVE WIRE with it and melted a clean hole halfway through the knife... Infuriating to say the least. Glad he didn't shock himself. Today was not a good day.

[Josh Brannen 2]

Tried out my new toy I was able to get for the low, low price of FREE

 

 

Welds like a dream, and has a certain cool-factor considering it might be 20 years older than I am.

[Brian Dougherty 517]

I had to make myself a new set of front teeth.

 

It's a long story, but I have a temporary 3 tooth bridge. I have been dragging my feet getting the permanent one made. (The money it's going to cost would buy a decent forging press )

 

Anyway, I noticed the bridge was starting to wear out so I made an appointment, but they can't get me in for a month. Since there is a hole worn through in one place, and a crack in another, I figured I should try to make a copy while I still can.

 

I had to make a few attempts, but got a good cast today. A little polishing, and they fit better than the old one.

[Josh Brannen 2]

That's some pretty hardcore DIY

[Wes Detrick 455]

I had to make myself a new set of front teeth.

 

It's a long story, but I have a temporary 3 tooth bridge. I have been dragging my feet getting the permanent one made. (The money it's going to cost would buy a decent forging press )

 

Anyway, I noticed the bridge was starting to wear out so I made an appointment, but they can't get me in for a month. Since there is a hole worn through in one place, and a crack in another, I figured I should try to make a copy while I still can.

 

I had to make a few attempts, but got a good cast today. A little polishing, and they fit better than the old one.

 

That is the coolest thing I have seen all day.

[Joshua States 783]

I had to make myself a new set of front teeth.

 

It's a long story, but I have a temporary 3 tooth bridge. I have been dragging my feet getting the permanent one made. (The money it's going to cost would buy a decent forging press )

 

Anyway, I noticed the bridge was starting to wear out so I made an appointment, but they can't get me in for a month. Since there is a hole worn through in one place, and a crack in another, I figured I should try to make a copy while I still can.

 

I had to make a few attempts, but got a good cast today. A little polishing, and they fit better than the old one.

What?

That's not bronze!

Keep the molds. You could stretch this out for a loooooooong time.

[dragoncutlery 19]

bling it up

[Brian Dougherty 517]

Didn't even think of bronze. Sort of a blade makers grill

[Austin_Lyles 116]

That's crazy, Brian. That's about as DIY as you can get.

 

I got bored last night and made up some grips for my competition pistol. Not too shabby for a first go at it. Helps to have some beautiful claro walnut though.

Edited May 2, 2016 by Austin_Lyles