[TheForge] Re: ranite hardfacing rods

[Jerry Frost]

From: "Mike Spencer" <mspencer at tallships.ca>



>
> Frosty> I'm sure you're plenty familiar with CRINGE 
> Mike.
>
> True, Frosty, but unkind of you to remark on it. :-)
>

HEY, I didn't bring it up! <grin>

>
>
> Word has gotten out that I'm prone to cringeworthy 
> exploits?
>

You've sent pictures. . . Soooo. . . Yes, it's "gotten" 
. . . Out.

>
>
>
> The only shortcoming is that its working surface is 
> ca. 3" higher
> than the anvil face, which changes the ergonomics of 
> hammering.  But
> that's true of all stake tools, especially the much 
> taller smithing
> magician.  I keep a piece of railroad tie near the 
> anvil, standing on
> end.  It has a big (7"?) ringbolt on the end for a 
> handle.  So if I
> see that I can't hit something satisfactorily because 
> it's too high, I
> can grab the block by the ring and drop it where I 
> can stand on it.  I
> use the block at the vise, too, because the vise is 
> mounted for proper
> filing height and that's noticeably too high for some 
> hammering
> operations.
>

I use my swage block to hold hardy tools I need to hit 
with authority. (big hammer, lots)

>
> Probably the third most often used stake tool(s) is a 
> pair of blocks
> about 4" x 4" x 2-1/2".  Each has 4 holes of 
> different sizes from
> about 3/16" to about 1/2".  That gives me eight 
> different
> sizes of small pritchell holes for punching small 
> holes, punching out
> pins or rivets and whatever.
>

I made my bolster plate as a saddle but it doesn't fit 
both my anvils it's an insignificant "problem" though.

>
> I have several bending forks, some boughten, some 
> made by other smiths
> and some I made myself for particular projects. 
> Seems like they're
> use-once tools and rarely quite what I need for 
> another project.
>

My multi hole & pin setup works just fine and it 
doubles as a holdfast for veining and such.

>
> One "hardy hole tool" that I rarely use but is real 
> handy every once
> in a while is a leg vise. The vise's bench flange is 
> bolted to a
> twisty bar that snakes around and goes in the hardy 
> hole so that the
> vise stands (on a pipe leg extension) just to the 
> right -- say 2:00
> o'clock -- from the forging position.  Makes it 
> possible to get from
> the anvil face to the vise real fast.  (My main vise 
> is "turn 120
> degrees, take two long steps" away from the forge.) 
> Only worth the
> trouble of huffing it into place if there's a bunch 
> of repetitive
> pieces to do in the vise or on a vise-held tool.
>

I like this idea a lot. Now I'm really bummed I wasn't 
fast enough to buy the leg vise at the local "flea 
market". (more like dumpster diving in the poor part of 
the slums most of the time) It was a really cool leg 
vise with a quick release mechanism on the acme screw 
like you see on saw vises. It was missing the leg and 
the guy selling it kept telling people you couldn't 
weld wrought iron. The vise wasn't wrought at all, it 
was forged steel; said so right on the side, even 
though it didn't have a manufacturer's name, paten # 
yes but no name. Go figure. <sigh> anyway, it would've 
made a perfect vise mounted like you describe.

>
> It's the one I take to meets and the like, not such a 
> big loss
> if it somehow "falls off my truck".
>
>
> - Mike
>
I like a BIG "friendly" dog, they're so good at keeping 
things from falling out of a truck. <grin>

Frosty
-------------------------------
If it ain't forged
it ain't real.
Wrought iron is.
The FrostWorks

Meadow Lakes, AK.

http://www.artmetalradio.com/