show your hand made tools

[Azzy2000]

ZAG... that bender is awesome. Very nice work


Feel free to post up some details/ more pics

[jhr513]

I forged this hamer out a few weeks ago. It started out as a broken dump truck axle. It weighs about 2.5lbs.

[chris fresh]

Originally Posted by Mike Draper

Damascus Axe....

that ax is the cats ass! i absolutely love when this thread comes up.what wood is the handle made from? and how is the detail done on the head? or is that trade secret type stuff.

[Mike Draper]

Originally Posted by chris fresh

that ax is the cats ass! i absolutely love when this thread comes up.what wood is the handle made from? and how is the detail done on the head? or is that trade secret type stuff.

Thanks! The handle is Brazilian Kingwood, real nice stuff to work with. The head is forge welded steel. There are 2 different types of steel used, 15N20 a Swedish bandsaw steel, it's a high carbon steel that contains 3-4% nickel (thats the shiny steel in the pattern) and the other steel is 1080, its a high carbon steel. I started with 35 alternating layers and welded (heat, beat, repeat) them up, cut and stacked and welded several times until I had over 450 layers. I hammered it to the shape I wanted, annealed, ground to clean up the forging. I then drilled/milled/filed/cussed and fussed making a hole for the eye, then hardened and tempered, etched in ferric chloride to reveal the pattern, then shaped and fit the handle....confused yet

[draggbody]

Originally Posted by Mike Draper

Thanks! The handle is Brazilian Kingwood, real nice stuff to work with. The head is forge welded steel. There are 2 different types of steel used, 15N20 a Swedish bandsaw steel, it's a high carbon steel that contains 3-4% nickel (thats the shiny steel in the pattern) and the other steel is 1080, its a high carbon steel. I started with 35 alternating layers and welded (heat, beat, repeat) them up, cut and stacked and welded several times until I had over 450 layers. I hammered it to the shape I wanted, annealed, ground to clean up the forging. I then drilled/milled/filed/cussed and fussed making a hole for the eye, then hardened and tempered, etched in ferric chloride to reveal the pattern, then shaped and fit the handle....confused yet

how many man hours in this???

[chris fresh]

Originally Posted by Mike Draper

Thanks! The handle is Brazilian Kingwood, real nice stuff to work with. The head is forge welded steel. There are 2 different types of steel used, 15N20 a Swedish bandsaw steel, it's a high carbon steel that contains 3-4% nickel (thats the shiny steel in the pattern) and the other steel is 1080, its a high carbon steel. I started with 35 alternating layers and welded (heat, beat, repeat) them up, cut and stacked and welded several times until I had over 450 layers. I hammered it to the shape I wanted, annealed, ground to clean up the forging. I then drilled/milled/filed/cussed and fussed making a hole for the eye, then hardened and tempered, etched in ferric chloride to reveal the pattern, then shaped and fit the handle....confused yet

so what your telling me is,you were busy all weekend. .holy shit!i had no idea of what it took,it's unbelievable tho.i imagine after that whole thing,you do the leather work also?.hard to tell from the pic,what's the length of the handle? is it about the same size as a regular hand ax.

[Ritter4.0]

Originally Posted by Mike Draper

Thanks! It was an order and not available...I need to get some good pics before the new owner picks it up.

Ritter4.0, Grinding a knife from a leaf spring is a good start, you'll learn a lot. My first knife was a Caterpillar head bolt I heated with a rosebud and hammered it into a blade...well...sort of...

I'm a full-time knifemaker, have been for about 10 years, I was a heavy equipment field mechanic until a back injury ended that career.

This is an aluminum version I made with scrap from work. The steel version is not coming out as well as this did.







I cut this out with a plasma cutter:





And now I am stuck with this, and thinking about how I am going to do the handle.








I am kinda thinking about melting down some copper and dipping this in a few times. Then grind the copper off just the sharp part of the blade. I just need to learn how to melt copper...

[Mike Draper]

Originally Posted by chris fresh

so what your telling me is,you were busy all weekend. .holy shit!i had no idea of what it took,it's unbelievable tho.i imagine after that whole thing,you do the leather work also?.hard to tell from the pic,what's the length of the handle? is it about the same size as a regular hand ax.

Yeah...it kept me busy for better part of a week. I did the leather work also, I'm not much of a leather worker...but it'll work. It is 18" overall...

[Ranger88Den]

Originally Posted by Mike Draper

Yeah...it kept me busy for better part of a week. I did the leather work also, I'm not much of a leather worker...but it'll work. It is 18" overall...

Beautiful work.

[jkh533]

Originally Posted by cweed

I had to build some fenders for a sand dragster and didn't have a brake. So I threw this one together. So far I have bent 12 gage x 24" with no problems. The widest bend is 44"





I made some 2",4",6",8" and 10" angles so I can brake boxes and stuff as well.

Originally Posted by three60fish

I REALLY like that setup and I think I could put that together myself as well. Any chance you could take some more detailed pics of it? Particularly of the hinge setup? Any possibility you might be able to throw a small piece of metal in there just to show me how it starts out when performing a bend? For some reason I can't quite grasp the full operation of it Thanks if you're willing to do it

Originally Posted by jwbures

X2, great setup and I'd like to see some other pics as well...

X3, I would love to have one of those on my table

[Jbevs]

I know I've seen a homemade ring compressor on here. Who's got pics of one?

[ditryn]

I needed some 15" wide 6 lug rims for sand tires...kinda spendy. So I made a slip roll that would bend 3/16" x 8" and made my own rims.
I get teased for saveing old broken axels and busted t-cases, but this was almost all made with used junk from around the shop. The only $ was a couple of pices of flat bar and a few new bolts.

[ditryn]

more pics

[Rob G]

Welding positioner.
18" slip roll
Propane fired smelter

[StinkBug]

This doesn't hold a candle to some of the stuff in this thread, but it was something I needed, and I made it so I suppose it qualifies.

I ordered a pair of taps a couple days ago, and discovered when the arrived that they wouldn't fit in any of the chucks I have for my lathe. Instead of spending $$$ on a larger chuck or other type of holder I grabbed a chunk of aluminum bar stock, bored one end out for the tap shank, cross drilled and tapped for bolts to keep the tap from spinning, then turned the end down to a size that would fit my largest chuck.

[painter66]

Don't laugh it works! 12 Volt charger/ Aircompresser

[painter66]

Not a tool but cool;

Needed some trophies and wanted something different:

[jkh533]

Originally Posted by Rob G

Welding positioner.
18" slip roll
Propane fired smelter

What is the base of your positioner?

[SeaBass44]

Originally Posted by StinkBug

This doesn't hold a candle to some of the stuff in this thread, but it was something I needed, and I made it so I suppose it qualifies.

I ordered a pair of taps a couple days ago, and discovered when the arrived that they wouldn't fit in any of the chucks I have for my lathe. Instead of spending $$$ on a larger chuck or other type of holder I grabbed a chunk of aluminum bar stock, bored one end out for the tap shank, cross drilled and tapped for bolts to keep the tap from spinning, then turned the end down to a size that would fit my largest chuck.

nice
I keep forgetting I have a lath & when I remember I do stuff like that

Got a mill like 6 months ago, still not in the shop, tarped outside

[xj9140]

Originally Posted by StinkBug

This doesn't hold a candle to some of the stuff in this thread, but it was something I needed, and I made it so I suppose it qualifies.

I ordered a pair of taps a couple days ago, and discovered when the arrived that they wouldn't fit in any of the chucks I have for my lathe. Instead of spending $$$ on a larger chuck or other type of holder I grabbed a chunk of aluminum bar stock, bored one end out for the tap shank, cross drilled and tapped for bolts to keep the tap from spinning, then turned the end down to a size that would fit my largest chuck.

I just use the live center against the back of the tap and a crescent wrench at least thats how I did my 1 1/4 control arms.

[thrca]

Not sure if this counts as a "Tool" per-say, but I use it in the shop a bit since I finished my tube bender..

[Rob G]

Originally Posted by jkh533

What is the base of your positioner?

I was wondering if someone was going to notice that. At the moment there are pieces of angle iron bolted along each of the long sides to clamp it down in the horizontal position. Still need to make the pivoting mount.

[StinkBug]

Originally Posted by xj9140

I just use the live center against the back of the tap and a crescent wrench at least thats how I did my 1 1/4 control arms.

That works, but it's a pain in the ass if you're gonna do more than a couple. I plan on making a lot more than one set of links so the time I spent making that should be well worth it.

[xj9140]

Originally Posted by StinkBug

That works, but it's a pain in the ass if you're gonna do more than a couple. I plan on making a lot more than one set of links so the time I spent making that should be well worth it.

Not sure what you mean by a pain in the ass. All I do is power the lathe on and extend the the center as the tap sucks itself into the tube. Its cake. The wrench is only to keep the tap from spinning. Mind you its a gynormous lathe.

[Azzy2000]

You guys both need to make a floating tap / die holder.