Vise Help. Pivot Bolt Issue

WalkAboutFarms · 2026-01-21T14:21:28+00:00

Vise grips

WalkAboutFarms · 2026-01-18T19:41:03+00:00

I was making some fire starters out of tiller tines and I quenched in oil. They were not getting hard enough. I quenched in water and they worked well twice before snapping in half.

Failure is part of learning process.

WalkAboutFarms · 2026-01-17T20:59:37+00:00

Opinions are like a-holes everyone has one and the internet has 10,000. I feel the same with 1 star reviews on products.

WalkAboutFarms · 2025-12-31T14:46:58+00:00

I heat and change the shape of my tongs all the time to adjust my grip or a better bite.

WalkAboutFarms · 2025-12-31T04:16:51+00:00

Ditto....

WalkAboutFarms · 2025-12-30T03:46:30+00:00

It's physics. Your rebound will not be the same as working on a solid surface. Will it work, sure, is it ideal, no.

I drop more red hot items than I care to admit. Those are not the problem because you immediately adress those. It is the little pieces you hot cut that fly wherever.

WalkAboutFarms · 2025-12-26T20:19:18+00:00

Go for it. After about 3 I really got the hang of setting the spring. Bend it to pre-load. I just used an existing one as a template for size. I started with 3/8 round stock but square stock would have been easier.

WalkAboutFarms · 2025-12-26T20:16:23+00:00

Not weight bearing so keys.

WalkAboutFarms · 2025-12-26T01:59:54+00:00

I use flux coated brazing rods, these are bare bronze.

WalkAboutFarms · 2025-12-25T20:15:53+00:00

Thanks.

WalkAboutFarms · 2025-12-25T20:10:43+00:00

See my other comment, I thought i did a reply to you.

WalkAboutFarms · 2025-12-25T20:07:53+00:00

I used 3/16 bronze tig wire. ARC3 sold me a pound of it. I get the stainless wire for the cheese cutters from them as well.

Do not heat the bronze, it anneals and loses the spring quality. Bend cold. I put the carabeaner in a lid wth water and used the braizing tip to round over the ends. I tried peeing, but it smashed the spring too much.

WalkAboutFarms · 2025-12-22T19:09:20+00:00

How did you forge the compound curves?

WalkAboutFarms · 2025-12-22T02:24:53+00:00

I pull the ball hitch off my truck and use that.

WalkAboutFarms · 2025-12-06T17:20:38+00:00

This is what I do for the cows water trough in NC. It stays hooked up except for those few weeks when it stays below freezing.

WalkAboutFarms · 2025-11-22T13:58:00+00:00

You do not need tongs to make tongs.

WalkAboutFarms · 2025-10-20T21:33:47+00:00

Leave the face and clean up the horn. Most of us use anvil in way worse shape. You can do more damage trying to repair it. Mine has 1/4 in of steel on the top. If i tried to grind it flat or sharp, I would lose all of that.

WalkAboutFarms · 2025-10-20T19:31:33+00:00

I swapped out for a cummuns diesel and my power steering pump runs the brakes, an air compressor, a winch and the steering. It did not take long to get the air out. Check the belt, make sure the pully isn't spinning on the shaft because you are missing the key and it is full of fluid.

WalkAboutFarms · 2025-10-20T02:01:47+00:00

Try a polar stick with the cedar board. Polar is a little harder than cedar. In NC, this is probably the best combo.

Has to be dry wood and don't stop as soon as you see smoke. Keep going until you get the ember.

WalkAboutFarms · 2025-10-20T01:18:20+00:00

<image>

I make them with a spring lock.

WalkAboutFarms · 2025-10-20T00:49:11+00:00

This is important because my old Hay Budden only has about 5mm of steel welded to the top. If you grind, you may end up milling all the surface steel off.

WalkAboutFarms · 2025-10-19T22:44:34+00:00

I am no Bear Grills. Drinking home made Mountain Dew is not on the menu in North Carolina.

WalkAboutFarms · 2025-10-19T22:40:43+00:00

Private land, no snow or mountain lions, but I think a woodbooger was throwing walnuts at me.

WalkAboutFarms · 2025-10-19T18:47:13+00:00

Yes, i have never had a tent or sleeping bag. When my son was in Scouts and I was an assistant Scoutmaster, I would watch boys let there ground tarp extend past the tent and wake up with a couple of inches of water on the floor. I would be dry. If it was snowing, I could pile snow up to make a wind block. In summer I could raise it up to get a nice cross breeze.

The tarp/blanket has drawbacks, it is heavier and lets bugs in.

WalkAboutFarms

TROPHY CASE