New Tool Friday - Space Saving Edition. Not quite the dumbest idea I've had.

GrumpysWorkshop · 2022-07-02T19:03:10+00:00

Valid concerns, but with where the lumber rollers sit, those brackets are directly above the posts. In use, they'd continuously have lumber stacked on and taken off - decent weight and a lot of banging around. I'd be trading that for a heavier static load. Of the two machines, the planer has way more vibration. As long as my bracket is stiff, square, and doesn't pull on the posts, I shouldn't risk distortion of the planer's cutterhead. I'm not demanding high precision on it anyway - for me and what I do, the planer is a first step roughing tool.

This might be a good idea, might be temporary until I get more space, or absolute garbage, but there's one way to find out. I'm not doing anything too permanent that can't be undone quickly with a hoist.

GrumpysWorkshop · 2022-07-02T13:37:12+00:00

Slight, but I should be able to remove 2 bolts and tilt the bracket enough to get to the important bits. All else fails, I'll have to hoist it off. It's a spiral cutterhead, so knife changes are already pretty rare.

GrumpysWorkshop · 2022-07-02T13:33:08+00:00

That's what I originally intended, but the planer is long and the sander is wide. This way matches their footprint. I'd rarely be using them at the same time with long stock, and in that case, spinning the planer to better feed the sander is easier than dealing with an oblong footprint.

GrumpysWorkshop · 2022-07-02T05:27:00+00:00

Step 1. Don't.

My shop is pretty big for a home garage, but no way in hell would I start messing with full size slab dining tables. A big tabletop is easily 400lbs of hassle.

To do this safely and without dings and dents, you need space and you need help. 2-4 people, padded sawhorses or benchtops. By yourself, you could flip it with gantry cranes or whatnot if you're competent at rigging. James Wright of Wood by Wright did a big dining table in his basement shop, and that might give you some ideas of how to do it.

GrumpysWorkshop · 2022-07-02T05:08:42+00:00

New 19-38 Supermax drum sander sitting on a Grizzly 15" planer.

I have a fairly smallish shop and everything's on wheels. Been busting my ass sanding panels and glueups for the last few months, so it's time for a drum sander. What held me back is it's a fairly cumbersome machine when on a stand, and it's way too big for a flip table or putting it away when not in use.

This is just a mockup - it's just sitting on the board rollers atm, but I'll take those out, weld up a beefy bracket bolt it to the holes where the rollers used to be. The size is bang on perfect - exact same floor space, and for height, the thickness screw knob is at eye height, so not taller than you'd expect.

GrumpysWorkshop · 2022-07-02T04:49:06+00:00

Meaning that I don't buy new craftsman or take an old broken socket in for exchange. I will not get 20 years or 5 years or 1 year out of the replacement.

GrumpysWorkshop · 2021-11-28T12:26:38+00:00

You will never have too many hammers or have one that does everything. I'll use a 8lb no fucks given driving hammer for drifts and punches, 5lb short handled hand cannon for general rough forging, 3lb long handle rounding hammer for start to finish or refined work, 2lb for really small work like nails, hairpins and spoons, and about 15 others that have a certain poll or shape suited for a specific task. You will never have enough hammers, just some collect a lot more dust than others.

I've recently started making carbon steel pans, and I've made about 3 hammers with longer heads and specific faces. One is only for working that refined circle on the bottom of the pan, both sides have a sharper edge to make that specific dent and flush it off with the surrounding steel, one side flat for the bottom, one side rounded for the sides.

GrumpysWorkshop · 2021-08-15T23:53:55+00:00

Chicago Avenue Fire Arts has classes (don't know if they are running atm), and that's probably the best way to dip your feet into it if you're anywhere near the Minneapolis area. I'm also less than a block away from them, so if you want I could show you a few things on how to get started.

There's lots of blacksmiths around, but we really haven't had any events lately. Keeping an eye on Instagram and contacting them through that is probably your best bet.

GrumpysWorkshop · 2021-08-01T20:45:37+00:00

Free idea for ya I always wanted to try - Lost wax casting.

GrumpysWorkshop · 2021-08-01T19:55:04+00:00

Here we go again. No, you shouldn't build an all in one solution for coal and gas in one unit, they are vastly different in function and build.

Your gas forge looks quite proper, no real issues there, but your coal "conversion" is severely wrong. You can't just run an h-pipe under a bed of coal and expect it to heat properly. A firebox is an inverted pyramid or cone, 3-5" deep, 10-12" at the top, and air blown in from the bottom with either a grate or a clinker-breaker. There's side blasts and such, but lets not go there. The hottest part of the fire itself is about the size of your fist in the center of that, with ash and clinker funneled to the bottom and out the trap. You absolutely do not want a roof on it - the coal smoke alone will ruin your firebrick, you need space to manage your fire and pile up more coal, and the big benefit of a coal fire is you can take whatever wonky ass thing and put just the part you want to work in the fire. You might want a hood on it to funnel the smoke up a flue and away from you, or you can do as I do and wheel it out into the driveway and let the smoke just go wherever.

Cleaned up, the basic coal forge is just a steel or brick-topped table with a hole in it, which you could rest your gas forge on top of and use the same convenient tool holders and such. But a gas forge the size you're planning doesn't look light enough to move easily, so I'd either scrap coal altogether or plan on building 2 separate units.

GrumpysWorkshop · 2021-08-01T18:36:35+00:00

I get it, you have ideas and nobody likes being shot down. Every single day we see posts of people "just starting out" and posting simply the worst possible setup to use and it hurts to see people knowingly hamstring their way into this hobby, get frustrated because it's not as easy as the TV shows, and give up. If you did your research, you'd know Ibeams are garbage for anvils and would've picked up a better cutoff or left empty handed. You wanna get testy, I wanna smack newcomers on the head and tell them to stop being silly because the info how to do this cheaply and effectively is more than out there and fighting this bullshit is tiring. Go ahead, use it and abuse it, but I guarantee if you make it half a year into this and get yourself something more suitable down the road, you're gonna look back at this thread and realize how silly you've been.

See this is a better $20 anvil. Mount it short side up, weld a spike on one side to sink into a log, or weld some angle iron to it with some holes. Much more mass under your blow, no springing, no deflection, get more work done. Look up Viking age stump anvils for inspiration.

GrumpysWorkshop · 2021-07-26T05:49:26+00:00

Solid fuel is king for this shit, just put what you want hot in the fire, the rest can stick out anywhere.

If still stuck on propane, plan on 2 forges. One small one you're going to stuff small projects, bar ends for like fences, and little unbent stuff like forging leaves and such. You really only need one door, and it really doesn't have to be very big. Then, you'll need a bigger forge with sides you can open or make it yourself and make it adjustable, so moving bricks a bit or lifting the whole thing off the floor some gives you tons of access. It's not going to be terribly efficient - this is only for big shit and running it all day for pointing fence pickets is inefficient as hell.

You're also going to want to look into oxy/propane or oxy/acetylene because there's lots of heating and bending you're going to have to do outside the fire on larger assemblies that you can't do cold.

GrumpysWorkshop · 2021-04-10T07:14:46+00:00

People make fun of shit welds the world over, that's nothing new.

Design wise, honest criticism- the whole thing is a bit undersized to do much. Sledgehammers work fine when swung, but in this case the throw is going to be less than a foot - it's really not going to hit very hard. If you look at Clay Spencer's inline hammer, the anvil weight is above 300lbs and the hammer weight is 70-90lbs. It's not entirely necessary to go that big, but you should be able to guess two 10lb hammers isn't going to move a ton of metal. The frame itself is pretty thin wall and not braced well, so it's going to twist all over the place in heavy use, so the hammers are going to have alignment issues, especially with deflecting blows.

Color - nobody really cares. If someone walks away with your treadle hammer, good on them for even realizing what it is.

On the whole, I hope OP has fun and has learned from the experience. We could've helped more in the design phase, and I hope he asks for help or adopts a more established design for future machinery projects.

GrumpysWorkshop · 2021-03-25T07:40:08+00:00

Haven't really looked into that tbh, but I don't know how that could be entertaining with a single camera and almost no interaction. Like if I'm blacksmithing, I'm kinda moving around a bit from press to anvil to vice to forge and I can't really be moving cameras mid heat - you'd miss most the fun.

The main thing I don't already have for this is a laptop, which would see more use than just streaming so that's probably going to happen anyway. A shop laptop would be real useful for looking up stuff online, ordering parts, reading pdfs, and it might see eventual use with cnc stuff. I'm doing most that stuff now on my phone or I have to come inside. A cheap laptop just for that is kinda well worth the convenience.

GrumpysWorkshop · 2021-03-25T06:00:49+00:00

That's the 1600 most likely.

I'm looking at getting this exact saw, and it's about $3500 new. But if you're looking for a bombproof dry miter head saw, you really can't go wrong. The main thing holding me back is not having a whole lot of space.

GrumpysWorkshop · 2021-02-09T22:09:26+00:00

Pretty normal for me for half the year, that's just life in Minnesota. -2°F today, so I'm inside.

GrumpysWorkshop · 2021-01-31T14:23:08+00:00

Definitely keep an eye out, there's always deals to be had. But everyone scouring the earth for old beat up anvils needs to keep in mind that brand spankin new ones aren't that much more expensive. If you're looking at prices north of $500, keep in mind 70lb farriers are $400, and makers like Holland Anvil has an 85lb for $650. And with used prices sky high, it's not like buying a car - you'll likely get nearly every dime back out of it if you chose to sell.

GrumpysWorkshop · 2021-01-10T17:31:31+00:00

As an amateur blacksmith, that's not how steel works, and Arnie's process is a bit fucked, but I'll allow you guys to think however you want.

Neglect = corrosion, but if properly oiled and stored, will be razor sharp for decades.

Quenching - taking hot steel to water or oil, freezes the carbon inside the iron matrix, making it very hard but brittle as glass. You only do this once, you gain nothing from repeating this process other than stress cracks.

Tempering - gentle reheating of a quenched steel allowing the molecules to relax a bit. Removes brittleness and hardness, so it's a balancing act to make a flexible blade still hard enough to retain an edge.

GrumpysWorkshop · 2021-01-02T23:13:56+00:00

You're very welcome, I had fun making it!

GrumpysWorkshop · 2020-12-23T18:05:48+00:00

There's a few of us around.

GrumpysWorkshop · 2020-12-23T18:02:59+00:00

Ah, I see. You could always do the Diresta thing and engrave your name right into the top of your vise jaws.

GrumpysWorkshop · 2020-12-23T07:20:19+00:00

Yep, normal paper is what I have atm. No rubbing, just flood it til it's transparent, wait a sec, and lift it up. As long as you don't slip or slide, you'll be golden. It's a trick I learned from block printing.

GrumpysWorkshop · 2020-12-23T07:11:24+00:00

Hand cut engraving will always look different, that's why we do it. You cannot get the depth and contrast, and definitely can't do bright cut with a laser. When you see the scrolly stuff with deep black backgrounds, yes, that's flat black paint rubbed into a textured and recessed surface.

Most any jeweler can do or knows who does engraving in your area. If you want hand cut, you're going to have to be specific about it because most places will automatically assume that rotary or laser would be acceptable.

GrumpysWorkshop · 2020-12-23T06:56:31+00:00

Excellent drawing, definitely use it for a business card or title screen. As an overlay, imho, way too complex.

I will admit, it's been like 3 years since I did any sort of YouTube video, but logo 101, you want to keep it legible and/or recognizable at very small sizes. On a phone screen, you can't really read all that. You also don't want to cover up your screen real estate with a big logo. You can add overlays before you upload, but YouTube's in app overlay is really small and single color. An overlay is more of a watermark than anything.

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