The Tumbler Dust Collection Modification

Last week I finally made the commitment to modify the tumbler so a dust collector vacuum could be attached. This required scheduling time at the engineering company so that the shaft could be removed, delivered to them, bored, picked up and reassembled with the minimum amount of down time.

This also required devising a way to lift and support the cylinder during the time it was disassembled. I had two sturdy jack stands a a couple of large jacks, railroad and bottle to work with so that was rather straightforward. Scott, my weekend and evening helper, did the heavy work and I just drove the shaft two and from the engineering shop. That’s the way these things should work.

Everything is back together and it looks like this will work well. Small metal pieces do tend to work into the shaft so some type of screen will need to be devised. The vacuum cannot have a rigid attachment since the cylinder will be rotating so that connection remains to be devised also.

The final part of the plan is to wire the dust collector to the tumbler timer so they operate synchronously. When I have some results of the operation I will report them.

http://www.persimmonforge.com/

Wheatscapes

I just finished an interesting project. A new client from Nebraska requested several small wheat sculptures which would be presented as acknowledgments of service in a wheat oriented business. Wheat is a popular icon in the plains states so I welcomed this an an opportunity to experiment with some ways I might present the motif in my display in the Prairie PastTimes gallery.

Initially six pieces would be required but over the next month the number grew to nine. I worked with several concepts and had about twenty renditions which could be completed by the deadline but decided to focus on a rectangular frame style to insure the group had some common denominator.

It has been a half century since I participated in a grain harvest although I have followed agricultural issues at least as closely as I have followed sports over the years. Wheat harvest in Kansas is a big deal.

As I laid out these pieces a lot of sketchy images appeared to me which included sun, heat, dust, waving golden grain from horizon to horizon, sky nearly as wide and stubble clothed earth exposed as the grain is swept away.

There is also the machinery, new ones, rusty ones and rusty welded ones. There is a lot more, the urgency, the anxiety, the fatigue, the noise and the satisfaction which I am completely incapable of illustrating in my ironwork.

I’m generally satisfied with the experiment from my perspective. We’ll seen in a week how they were received.

http://www.persimmonforge.com/

Selling My Little Giant

I believe I’m getting pretty good at making power hammers, at least, good enough for my needs. So, with some reluctance I moved out my trusty 50 pound Little Giant and replaced it my shop built 75 pounder with a smaller foot print.

After some delay, I advertised the machine and soon had a couple of interested buyers.

When the deal went through I experienced some unexpected feelings of “sellers regret” which brought back memories of a deal I made in 1979 to buy a riding mower. Some of the details have slipped my mind but the story goes something like this. Circumstances forced a neighbor to move to another state and it wasn’t feasable for him to move his relatively new riding mower with him. I was in the process of moving to a larger property which could actually justify a riiding mower but I was also short of cash.

The owner approached me about the proposed sale. He offered to sell it for about 40% off the new price

and I knew it was nearly new and he was compulsive about it’s manintenance. It was like his mechanical pet. I told him I thought he could run an ad and get a better sale. He said he didn’t want to do that because he wanted me to have it because he wanted it to go to a good home which didn’t make much sense to me.

Largely due to his persistance, I signed a note giving him one third down, a third in six months and the final payment six months after that - no interest.

Well, I used the mower for years, mowing 2 acres of rough pasture in the process of creating a lawn so I can’t say it had an especially easy career, but overall I think I gave it a good home.

Now comes the Little Giant sale and I am surprised to experience feelings about wantng my pet to go to a good home. I didn’t ask to get back all I paid for it, the extra parts and the features I added. I served me well for years. That’s worth a lot.

The sale went fine and I think it will have a good new home in Indianna.

http://www.persimmonforge.com/

Big Knockers

Last summer I was contacted by a client interested in getting a large cow head door knocker. It sounded like an interesting project so I took it on with the understanding it would be some time before I could actually complete the piece. As usual it was longer than I anticipated before I actually started construction although the several months of contemplation had given me some things to explore.

Eventually we worked toward the final plan reviewing details from time to time and keeping track of the running cost estimate. Eventually a wheat motif was added. All along I understood that this was to be a big door knocker but the ending “big” was a lot bigger than my beginning idea of “big”.

I had never made a door knocker on this scale so I created a prototype in which I worked out the mechanics and other details so I ended up with a pair with the clients having better finish work. I met the deadline, got paid, learned a bit more about hollow form sculpture and the physics involved in creating an authoritative knock. All in all it was a satisfying creative experience. Moreover I mounted the prototype on the studio west door.

http://www.persimmonforge.com/

A Spear in the Vise

Before a large upper arm bruise and a quarter size burn a bit lower, but still above the elbow, fade away I think I should record this cautionary advice.

I very seldom have occasion to lock some long piece in a post vise horizontally. Thank goodness, because twice last week the consequence was painful. One time I clamped a three-foot long piece of bar which was waiting for torch heat bending in the vise and walked out of the room to get something. When I returned through another door I had forgotten it was there and walked into it end on.

The second collision came another day when we were working with a frame made of 1” square bar with coal fire heat. The whole process was heavy and awkward and required the vise in the bending phase. The horizontal projection was so great most of the moving around space was gone and I got trapped so that my arm grazed a hot spot.

So, twice dinged, what is my lesson? I think I’m going to write a mental rule that says _ when I clamp somehing longer than my arm In the vise consider it a red flag and take extra precautions - clear extra space - think if there is another way to do it - hang something highly visible on the end, like when hauling an over-length load in the pickup bed.

These were minor injuries but I was saved more by luck than good judgement. I need to plan ahead, slow down, work methodically for safety and be alert in the now. I will try to think of this situation as having a spear locked in the post vise.

http://www.persimmonforge.com/

My Treadle Hammer Anvil for Drifting

During the summer of 1999 I built my In-Line treadle hammer from plans ordered from Clay Spencer. I was planning to make a few hammers at the time and thought the power hammer would be a big help. Almost immediately I decided to modify the anvil construction so it would accommodate the hammer eye drifting.

For the drift to escape a solid anvil wouldn’t work. The drift would need an escape route so I drew up a fabrication project which would build the anvil mass in five layers. The center layer would be composed of pieces of 1” square bar so their arrangement would create the drift escape chute. The other layers would be cut from 1” x 5” flat bar and there would be a 1” thick cap plate with a 1” square center hole.

It all went together well. In addition to the MIG weld beads accumulating the layers I bent and welded two 1/4” x 1” straps around the bundle for an extra measure of strength.

I’ve used it almost every day for 12 years and never had a breakdown. Yesterday I used it to finish making a dozen 9/16” rivet holes in 1” square bar for some table legs. I’ll describe my method in another post because it is a bit different from the usual “slot punch-upset to open-drift round” method.

At the time I built my hammer it stood in an open space which I could walk around and now it is angled into a corner. The drift outlet is on the back side which makes retrieving the drift a bit inconvenient. That’s one place a long handled magnet comes in handy. If I were building a treadle hammer today I’d place the outlet on the right hand side and build a little catch tray to capture the drift. It could cool there and be close at hand ready for the next use.

So, if anyone ever asks me what I’d do differently if I had my life to live over, I suppose I use that line.

http://www.persimmonforge.com/