[TheForge] Free the Stake!

[Jerry Frost]

Heat the swage block keeping the shank of the stake as 
cool as you can. Once the block's a couple hundred 
degrees f the stake should either loosen on it's own or 
be easy to work loose. Some tapping with a heavy mallet 
side to side and from the bottom should be all it 
takes.

If it fails oil well, wait a bit and try wobbling and 
rattling it loose again. Reheat and repeat as 
necessary.

Before I did any of this I'd make sure it wasn't welded 
in place, maybe from the inside. I know my swage block 
won't hold a stake securely as the stake's shanks are 
tapered. If I needed to do something like you describe 
for more than very temporarily, I'd have to weld it or 
strongly secure it in some manner. Othewise it's too 
unstable to be useable.

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

Meadow Lakes, AK.

http://www.artmetalradio.com/

From: "Peter Hirst" <saltydog335 at aol.com>


Years ago, I bought a big, beautiful stake anvil (about 
100lb) and a big, beautiful swage block (150 lb) as a 
single auction lot. They were sold together because the 
stake anvil was mounted in the swage block, and the 
auctioneer was not about to attempt to separate them. 
The bottom end of the stake is about 2" square and was 
driven and no doubt rusted into the 2" square in the 
block. Well, long story short, they are still a single 
unit, although I have tried several times to separate 
them. I have got some use out of them as they are, but 
each is limited somewhat by the arrangement, and the 
time has come to separate them. This thing has been an 
albatross for more years than I care to admit, and I 
would be eternally grateful for information on how to 
end the madness.

PGH