couple new shop tricks

clint c

clint c

Joined
Aug 21, 2001
Messages
397
Hi guys,

Just thought I'd pass on a few shop tricks that I've come up with recently that may or may not help ya out.

1) when forging with my hydraulic press, I always end up with lots of flux and scale on my dies, which if not cleaned off regularly, starts to make nasty imprints on my billets. Scraping this crap off really sucks as it seems nucular level tough. I've started spraying some "weld splatter release spray" on the dies between heats, and boy the stuff just falls right off. I think you can get it at any welding shop. I have no idea where the can in my shop appeared from though!

2) I hate grinding thin stock ie. 1/16th type thickness. It always bends and curves at the wrong time and gets mighty hot fast. Tonight I clamped a fillet knife blank onto an old planer blade, which acted as support, and man it made grinding the thin stuff alot easier. The extra beef behind what your grinding keeps everything true and your fingers cool.

Hope this helps someone out.


Clint Chisan
 
I can't use the first one because I have not gotten into blade smithing yet. Boy that second one looks like down town to me. Can you still feel enough heat though to protect the blade steel edge from burning during the grind??

Roger
 
clint, I bet the spray mold release would work really good, too. I have used many cases of the stuff when I worked production as a press operator making pressed warheads. I'll get the info on the stuff and post it. It has to be used every cycle, and the dies remain like new. Cleanup in between pressings is just a wipedown with a rag with STP and then dies are sprayed with can of mold release and then it is back to business. The dies are polished tool steel, so this makes the operation easier, of course. Are your dies smooth? I should add that the mold release works best when dies are heated,too. This is a plus because you are pressing hot metal, in your case. And thanks for the shop tricks, guy.
 
RLinger, I still dip the blade and blade support in a cooling bucket every second or third pass on the belt to keep things cool.

John, Mold release spray sounds like even better stuff than splatter release spray. Yes, the molds are smooth as they are just flat dies made of railroad track. I don't heat my dies so to speak, but after running a billet of welding temp steel over them a few times, they do get mighty warm!

Clint
 
Yes indeed, Matlock is right. Good old PAM will work just fine, but be careful of the garlic kind... might make you too hungry and have to quit forging to go get a snack!

Seriously, lots of woodworking folks use PAM on their sawblades and such to keep off the wood resins and keep the metal looking good.
 
For anyone interested, the mold release I mentioned is Stoner Mold Release Spray. Address is 1070 Robert Fulton Hwy.,Quarryville, PA 17566. Phone 717-786-7355, or fax 717-786-9088. Size in spray can is net 12oz.(16 fl oz.) and is env. friendly. Also, call for trial offer. They offer in 55 gal. drums, if you are ready for that!
 
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