I heat treated two blades tonight, a wakizashi and an integral bowie. Tanto is 14 inches, the bowie is now 3 pieces of very hard cementite. I held the bowie in the quench too long. This caused a spectacular crack near the handle. I think both were forged too thin for my liking.
Wakizashi:
14 inches is too big for a tanto. I should keep them down to a usable size. There is nothing too remarkable about the shape of this one. It is hira-zukuri. The spine is not thick enough at the machi for my liking, it is 0.23" I think. Its also flat, there are no ridges on the spine. This is unusual I think, but I'm not sure why. I would expect to see more hira-zukuri with flat spines from times when there were lots of wars. They are just extremely simple, and there is only one surface on each side to polish rather than 3 or more.
The clay pattern was simple with some lateral ashi. I wanted to maybe cross the ashi, but that takes much more time as one layer has to dry before the next is applied. So straight ashi, nothing complicated.
On the bowie I made a very risky and flashy pattern which was almost certain to cause problems with 1095 quenched in water.
Oh well. It would have been nice to see it at least stay in one piece.
It is a rainy, windy night, around 53 F. I let the forge get up to some heat before laying the blades on the floor and letting them come up to heat. This forge is not suitable for heat treating. I've been modifying it to reduce interior volume and increase heat for welding. I think it is the last time I will attempt to heat treat long blades with this one, but it is still good for forging.
There are hot spots around the burner, which makes it difficult or impossible to heat blades evenly. If they come up to heat unevenly, there are definitely going to be problems with warping or cracking. If these problems don't show up right away, I think the structure of the steel will all over the place.
I used tap water to at around 110F to quench.
The bowie went in the water first. I put it straight in edge first, held it until the color was gone, drew it out and went in again still spitting and vibrating. This of course is a bad idea, and so it cracked. All of the factors involved were against this one succeeding. The geometry of the blade was weird, the clay pattern, etc.
So the wakizashi I figured had a little better chance because of the simple clay pattern, and now the water was a few degrees warmer. I held it just until the color was gone, then removed it. If its going to harden, it will harden within the first second or so. I don't see any reason to put it back in the water once the color has gone to black. Actually the best idea would probably be to put it right into a tempering oven for an hour before anything is done to it. 1095 has to be treated carefully. It's not as forgiving as stuff in the .50 to .70 range.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Assorted bits
Received Shipments:
~100 lbs of wrought iron anchor chain from an unknown warship circa 1800s.
The links of this chain are about 10lbs each. It is very durable and also exhibits a lovely grain. Wrought splits along the grain if forged improperly, so flattening out discs cut from the links is difficult. It is easily worked otherwise, and welds at low temperatures. It is best hot cut or cut with a large toothed saw with light pressure.
~100 lbs of assorted exotic hardwoods, including lots of Snakewood (Piratinera guianensis), Guapinol (Hymenaea courbaril),
Assorted species of Ebony, Desert Ironwood, Bubinga, Koa, various figured Maple boards.
Some of this is first and second quality book matched scales for knife handles, some as handle blanks and many random ends and cuttings.
Included was a cylinder of Ecuadorian Ivory Palm Nuts! (Phytelephas aequatorialis)
These are spectacularly hard, and will require the making of some new tools. Not to mention the breaking of some old ones.
The plan is to create some fittings from these. They are almost fist sized, but the actual fruit part is 1/4 to 3/8" thick.
I'm going to start with a jungle crow, of the kind found in the pacific islands.
I guess an ivory crow wouldn't make much sense, but black ivory..
Then, the Chambered Nautilus. This one should be interesting, maybe even less difficult to carve.
~100 lbs of wrought iron anchor chain from an unknown warship circa 1800s.
The links of this chain are about 10lbs each. It is very durable and also exhibits a lovely grain. Wrought splits along the grain if forged improperly, so flattening out discs cut from the links is difficult. It is easily worked otherwise, and welds at low temperatures. It is best hot cut or cut with a large toothed saw with light pressure.
~100 lbs of assorted exotic hardwoods, including lots of Snakewood (Piratinera guianensis), Guapinol (Hymenaea courbaril),
Assorted species of Ebony, Desert Ironwood, Bubinga, Koa, various figured Maple boards.
Some of this is first and second quality book matched scales for knife handles, some as handle blanks and many random ends and cuttings.
Included was a cylinder of Ecuadorian Ivory Palm Nuts! (Phytelephas aequatorialis)
These are spectacularly hard, and will require the making of some new tools. Not to mention the breaking of some old ones.
The plan is to create some fittings from these. They are almost fist sized, but the actual fruit part is 1/4 to 3/8" thick.
I'm going to start with a jungle crow, of the kind found in the pacific islands.
I guess an ivory crow wouldn't make much sense, but black ivory..
Then, the Chambered Nautilus. This one should be interesting, maybe even less difficult to carve.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Recent items of interest (to me, not you)
Some of Conor's work is published in http://www.nytyrant.com/home.html (ny tyrant). I hate NY and people from it, but that has nothing to do with this magazine.
So whaddo we got. I can swallow 1/4 of a chicken in 10 seconds. Humans shouldn't swallow chicken bones. Otherwise I could do it faster.
Some machines in the shop died. Maybe it was the cold, maybe it was just time for them to go, or maybe they're Chinese made cast shit. I'll take China for $100, Alex.
Here's one of the problems: fractional horsepower single phase capacitor start/run AC inverter motors. Capacitors die. Cheap ones last between 1 hour and 3 years. Cheap ones tell you they're dead by exploding in a cloud of green smoke. Exploding is also their way of telling you they're too hot. They have a limited safe operating temperature range. Expensive, military spec capacitors are expected to last 30 or so years under a wide range of conditions without exploding.
You won't find anything like that on a typical inductionm motor. AC induction motors also depend on the freqency of the AC, unlike DC motors, which just spin faster as the current increases. You can't increase/decrease the current on an AC motor and expect anything good to happen.
1/3 hp @ 3450 rpms is too weak and too fast for steel work. Most ~$100 machines use a cheap motor like this to save money. The motor isn't rated for continuous duty. It's also not rated to handle the load typical operations generate.
High torque, lower RPM motors are ideal. Speed control is really nice, but that gets into more expensive electronics. Belt drives with stepped pulleys can provide a few different speeds using one motor. This can be done with much less expensive motors. Motors made for 115v/15 amp operation should be at least 3/4 HP and under 1700 RPM. A 1.5 hp 1700 RPM induction motor is good for most shop machines whether it be a saw, grinder, polisher etc.
So whaddo we got. I can swallow 1/4 of a chicken in 10 seconds. Humans shouldn't swallow chicken bones. Otherwise I could do it faster.
Some machines in the shop died. Maybe it was the cold, maybe it was just time for them to go, or maybe they're Chinese made cast shit. I'll take China for $100, Alex.
Here's one of the problems: fractional horsepower single phase capacitor start/run AC inverter motors. Capacitors die. Cheap ones last between 1 hour and 3 years. Cheap ones tell you they're dead by exploding in a cloud of green smoke. Exploding is also their way of telling you they're too hot. They have a limited safe operating temperature range. Expensive, military spec capacitors are expected to last 30 or so years under a wide range of conditions without exploding.
You won't find anything like that on a typical inductionm motor. AC induction motors also depend on the freqency of the AC, unlike DC motors, which just spin faster as the current increases. You can't increase/decrease the current on an AC motor and expect anything good to happen.
1/3 hp @ 3450 rpms is too weak and too fast for steel work. Most ~$100 machines use a cheap motor like this to save money. The motor isn't rated for continuous duty. It's also not rated to handle the load typical operations generate.
High torque, lower RPM motors are ideal. Speed control is really nice, but that gets into more expensive electronics. Belt drives with stepped pulleys can provide a few different speeds using one motor. This can be done with much less expensive motors. Motors made for 115v/15 amp operation should be at least 3/4 HP and under 1700 RPM. A 1.5 hp 1700 RPM induction motor is good for most shop machines whether it be a saw, grinder, polisher etc.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Sprayed
The RRB is sprayed and decal'd. I found campy and super vitus decals in australia for $11. They are very good quality reprints. The frame is black and cream. Most of the components are around somewhere, but still waiting on a few Stronglight A9H 1" headsets and a big old chainring.
Also got another random French frame from Ron that was about 48cm. Painted that all Cream and detailed the lugs with a black stripe. It had a Shimano crank which wanted a polished finish. Nice beg aluminum crank arms should be bared, not dipped in grey paint. It also needs a big ass chainring. I don't reckon this paint will last more than a year. Not much to be done about that. Plain old spray enamel isn't as durable as the linear polyurethane that was originally on there. But it isn't as deadly toxic either.
Ok this post is pretty useless without pics.
Also got another random French frame from Ron that was about 48cm. Painted that all Cream and detailed the lugs with a black stripe. It had a Shimano crank which wanted a polished finish. Nice beg aluminum crank arms should be bared, not dipped in grey paint. It also needs a big ass chainring. I don't reckon this paint will last more than a year. Not much to be done about that. Plain old spray enamel isn't as durable as the linear polyurethane that was originally on there. But it isn't as deadly toxic either.
Ok this post is pretty useless without pics.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
RRB restore
I've just started restoring one of Ron R. Boi's frames. It's not in great shape, as it has been sitting somewhere on his farm for about 10 years. Ron sandblasted rust from the top tube where someone had removed the braze on cable tunnels. There is some minor rust on other areas, which I've mostly removed. The seat lug had been chipped and had a bunch of rust, so I filed that out and thinned it a little.
The bottom bracket shell is massive. It looks like it could be a plumbing fixture! It's contributing probably 40% of the frame's weight.
At least some of the lugs are Bocama of France (BCM) Professionals (short point). BCM happen to be my initials...
The tubes:
Super Vitus 971 tubeset
XC35 steel
I wasn't sure what XC35 was, besides being a carbon steel of some kind, obviously.
From the french AFNOR standards, I'd call it a medium carbon manganese steel.
Good mix of stiffness and durability.
C Si Mn Smax Pmax
TU XC 35 0,30-0,40 0,10-0,45 0,40-0,90 0,04 0,04
The bottom bracket shell is massive. It looks like it could be a plumbing fixture! It's contributing probably 40% of the frame's weight.
At least some of the lugs are Bocama of France (BCM) Professionals (short point). BCM happen to be my initials...
The tubes:
Super Vitus 971 tubeset
XC35 steel
I wasn't sure what XC35 was, besides being a carbon steel of some kind, obviously.
From the french AFNOR standards, I'd call it a medium carbon manganese steel.
Good mix of stiffness and durability.
C Si Mn Smax Pmax
TU XC 35 0,30-0,40 0,10-0,45 0,40-0,90 0,04 0,04
Monday, June 9, 2008
Friday, April 4, 2008
DWR
Design Within Reach is a company which I have purchased items from. These items are currently being destroyed by cats, but that is my fault for buying attractive matching wool sofa and chair. Now there are some shitty, overpriced furniture manufacturers out there. There are also some very reasonably priced furniture manufactures out there. But nobody wants that shit.
I've always called DWR 'Design Beyond Reach' because of their consistent and unabashed overpriceage.
Take todays example: $650 for a rather small injection molded polyurethane rainwater collection tank.
Its green and funky looking, and it holds 47 gallons. Which is close to the capacity of a typical green plastic rain barrel. Considering it is designed by an architect from Sydney (no, I've never heard of her either), DWR thinks $650 is reasonable. If you want a wall bracket to mount it vertically, you can buy the specially made mild steel, possibly galvanized, channel bracket and a bolt. These normally $3 hardware store items will cost you $90. In addition, if you don't want leaves and other floaties in the tank, you should purchase a leaf filter screen, which is simply a cup of wire mesh. For $50.
This strikes me as outrageous enough to spend time to post this message into the ether, where it will only serve to remind me later that I spent the time to write it.
I've always called DWR 'Design Beyond Reach' because of their consistent and unabashed overpriceage.
Take todays example: $650 for a rather small injection molded polyurethane rainwater collection tank.
Its green and funky looking, and it holds 47 gallons. Which is close to the capacity of a typical green plastic rain barrel. Considering it is designed by an architect from Sydney (no, I've never heard of her either), DWR thinks $650 is reasonable. If you want a wall bracket to mount it vertically, you can buy the specially made mild steel, possibly galvanized, channel bracket and a bolt. These normally $3 hardware store items will cost you $90. In addition, if you don't want leaves and other floaties in the tank, you should purchase a leaf filter screen, which is simply a cup of wire mesh. For $50.
This strikes me as outrageous enough to spend time to post this message into the ether, where it will only serve to remind me later that I spent the time to write it.
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