Show & Tell (Homemade Tools)

Quint, I never did make a write-up of that one. The closest I have to it was a long discussion on the wiring. Be sure to pay attention and read all the way down the thread to CDH's replies. I had some problems in my wiring diagram that could be very dangerous that I corrected in reality, but not on the diagrams I posted in the thread.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/506521-Wiring-a-Heat-Treat-Oven

I based my mostly on the BrittishBlades build that has floated around out there for years.

--nathan
 
Cool thanks. Yeah I saw that british one had alot of good info. Have not looked at it in a while.
 
Here are some pictures of modifications I made to my HF band saw.





I removed all the 'horizontal' parts and a friend of mine made the seat, the larger, solid cutting table came from a cheap band saw that bit the dust. The oiling system came from a few aquarium parts, a piece of brass tubing and a copper sponge holder. Power is received through a foot switch for safety. Very much fun to use and it cuts steel like butter. Teddy
 
@Teddy

That shop is way tooooooooooooooooooooo clean
Corey "synthesist" Gimbel
 
gudspelr said:
I've always thought flatter hammers were pretty neat, but I never found one in a price range I was willing to pay, plus I never seem to have enough hands to use one. So, I made this to go on my anvil; pivots so it can accommodate angles. If I did it again, I'd make it a bit smaller, but it definitely helps take out some hammer dings (if I was better at forging, I suppose I wouldn't need it...).





Jeremy
Click to expand...

This is absolutely ingenious! Thank you kindly for sharing it with the rest of us!!!

I'm taking notice of that hole you drilled between the flatter and the striking surface and wondering if there were intentions behind it??? It's certainly got curiosity stirring...
 
synthesist said:
@Teddy

That shop is way tooooooooooooooooooooo clean
Corey "synthesist" Gimbel
Click to expand...

I agree. Maybe the attention to detail required of a jewelry maker has something to do with it?

Absolutely outstanding stuff all of you. Keep em coming!

Question. I'd like to make a file guide for grinding plunges. Would hardened 1084 work well, and should I forgo tempering? Maybe a low temp temper to keep HRC high?
 
SinePari-

If you're talking about the hole above the bolts on the stem, nothing purposeful there. That stem I welded on was a MASSIVE piece of Allen wrench type tool I picked up in a bin of stuff. I forged some of it down (which took quite a while by hand) and then ground it to fit in the hardy hole and cut it off. Then cut off a chunk for the flatter and it happened to have a couple holes drilled here and there. The one you see there was one of those. The flatter portion itself was some tool steel off a rusted farm implement at the scrap yard I dressed as were the "arms". I used nylock nuts so I could tighten the bolts up just enough to allow the piece to swivel easily without having them come undone and lose the parts.

Jeremy
 
My favourite 'tool' that I've made so far is definitely my grinding jig:

QaEK8A5l.jpg


I can grind freehand (though not as cleanly as I'd like) but I find it very stressful. The grinding jig takes the stress out of it for me, and the nature of the adjustment mechanism means that I don't miss much in terms of being able to tweak the grind as I go...

Great idea on that extended shaft/disk grinder attachment for the KMG!
 
I usually dont use jigs but if you could send that my direction Ill give it a shot :D, that is a cool little guy.
 
gudspelr said:
SinePari-

If you're talking about the hole above the bolts on the stem, nothing purposeful there. That stem I welded on was a MASSIVE piece of Allen wrench type tool I picked up in a bin of stuff. I forged some of it down (which took quite a while by hand) and then ground it to fit in the hardy hole and cut it off. Then cut off a chunk for the flatter and it happened to have a couple holes drilled here and there. The one you see there was one of those. The flatter portion itself was some tool steel off a rusted farm implement at the scrap yard I dressed as were the "arms". I used nylock nuts so I could tighten the bolts up just enough to allow the piece to swivel easily without having them come undone and lose the parts.

Jeremy
Click to expand...

It just gave me an idea. Provided that the hardy stake was taller, and you drilled out 2 holes in each; you could add a clevis ended turnbuckle to either the top or bottom pivot hole... That would allow you to adjust the flatter so that it's parallel every time you struck it. provided you tightened the turnbuckle, you could also adjust it to any specific angle you'd like. It would be consistent every strike, and you'd be able to forge a perfect and consistent taper from the backbone to the edge of the blade... I imagine it would save you time on grinding as well. The second sketch is another option giving you smaller surface area... You could use it as a fuller or for more exactness on smaller blades...

Keep in mind I don't know anything about forging blades so if I'm not using the correct jargon, or if it's a garbage idea, I won't be offended in the slightest. You just got the wheels turning...

photo18_zpsf2852f93.jpg


photo26_zpse5b8c895.jpg
 
Atlas, where do you get those square fire bricks? All I can find are the rectangular bricks, couple of drawings I found online mitred the bricks to make an octagon, but for a round chamber I thought I was going to have to go to castable refractory until I saw those.
 
Ok, I'll play.


My workbench:












My stitching pony:






My anvil stand:








My disc sanders, flat and 1˚:







My wood drying cabinet:















 
Not an original idea, but I wasn't going to pay $100 for one of these knife vises from the knife supply places. Plus, if I put it on top of my bench it wouldn't be comfy so I wanted something to be at a comfortable working height. This is the first thing I welded up with my Miller 180 230v mig. I purchased the welder back in 2007 for a rat rod project that I had to sell when I split with my live in girlfriend because I wanted to raise money to buy a home.





This isn't anything ground breaking, but I like to try to get my scales as close as possible before epoxy so I ground down 2 sets of corbys & put new flat head grooves with my rotary tool & one of the thin stone cutoff style wheels. Now I can get them clamped down tight and not have the heads stick up beyond the surface of the scales so I can get almost all of the shaping done before epoxy. My reason for this is that I've had some scales crack/break, and this allows me to easily replace them if this occurs without having to grind off an epoxied slab. Plus you can get a better idea of what it will look like finished without having clamps in the way.

 
FL_Jimbo_K said:
Atlas, where do you get those square fire bricks? All I can find are the rectangular bricks, couple of drawings I found online mitred the bricks to make an octagon, but for a round chamber I thought I was going to have to go to castable refractory until I saw those.
Click to expand...

This is a year old thread, so it might be best to email or PM Charles about the bricks.
 
Those bricks are 9 x 4.5 on the face, so just cut it in half with a mitre saw and you have 4.5" squares.
 
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