Above 1200 Sq/FT Cleaning Up My Shop

[86turbodsl]

Andy, do you have a design for breaking aluminum scrap down into ingots that doesn't need a crucible? I thought somewhere in my travels i saw a 55 gal barrel converted to a scrapping furnace with a direct ingot chute but i can't find it anymore.

I've got a ton of aluminum scrap i need to whittle down without taking hours and hours doing it.

 

[Grizz1963]

.......


“Can never have enough ingots”


Or can you?

 

[bolensboneyard]

I have been collecting lead. It's all I can melt besides Babbitt; and that has to be the right kind. Who knows what's in the bearings I have melted out of old Model A engines?

 

[oldironfarmer]

Weather report: 49F 7mph Tulsa, bright clear skies, 43F 13mph Seattle, rain.

Andy
Seems like you made good use of a great day.
Your ingots should be easier to store.

Dwight

It was a great day! Ingots are easier to store, and the window frames have anodizing, caulk, concrete, and sealing strips all of which combine to make lots of slag. There may be some advantage to melting ingots when you're going to pour a mold. That being said, I've poured lots of castings straight from melted scrap.

Bottom line, I like making ingots.

And I like having lots of ingots stacked up for teh future aluminum shortage.

Andy, do you have a design for breaking aluminum scrap down into ingots that doesn't need a crucible? I thought somewhere in my travels i saw a 55 gal barrel converted to a scrapping furnace with a direct ingot chute but i can't find it anymore.

I've got a ton of aluminum scrap i need to whittle down without taking hours and hours doing it.

A reverberatory furnace is what you're thinking of. A reverberatory furnace primarily uses the burner to heat the arch and the radiant heat from that heats the charge. I've seen one made from a lined compressor tank, set horizontally with refractory lining and the top half was a clamshell lid, mounted on wheels like a wheelbarrow. When the charge was liquid the entire unit was dumped through a spout in the end which also serves as the flue.

There's also a 55 gal drum on the internet someplace which a guy uses a direct flame to melt engine heads, small engines, and other scrap. I'm sure he gets a gassy mixture with direct flame impingement providing lots of hydrocarbons dissolving into the metal. The atmosphere for melting aluminum needs to be neutral to lean, not rich. When feeding scrap into my crucible I like seeing a little flame off the contaminates at the crucible level, indicating there's still some oxygen at the molten surface.

I have thought about building one but time is limited and the time to melt metal is based on the BTU's it takes to do the melt. The size of your burner determines the speed of the melt for any given amount of aluminum. Long pieces would have to be cut to the length of the furnace where I can feed an 8 ft piece right into my crucible. So I'm not cure how much time a reverberatory furnace would save me, in what I do. They can also be used for brass and copper.

One cautionary note, while I have never tried to sell ingots, I have heard scrap yards don't want to buy them because they don't know the contents, they apparently would rather have the raw scrap so they can sort it by their assumption of metallurgy. So if you plan to sell ingots check with your purchaser before getting set up. There are eBay sellers of home poured ingots. I'm not sure how well they do but the prices are high compared to melting your own.

.......


“Can never have enough ingots”


Or can you?

They're like cash. I guess it is theoretically possible to have too much.

I have been collecting lead. It's all I can melt besides Babbitt; and that has to be the right kind. Who knows what's in the bearings I have melted out of old Model A engines?

Ford.

I think the Model A had tin based bearings, very little lead.

 

[realvc]

This is an unrelated story that is kind of relevant. In one of my car magazines there is a story about a group of wrecking yards that were filling scrap cars with dirt, crushing them and selling them to a metal salvage dealer. The wrecking yards are out of business and the owners are facing jail time.

Vince

 

[stillp]

This is an unrelated story that is kind of relevant. In one of my car magazines there is a story about a group of wrecking yards that were filling scrap cars with dirt, crushing them and selling them to a metal salvage dealer. The wrecking yards are out of business and the owners are facing jail time.

Vince

At one time it was common to hose down the upholstery till it was soaked, getting the extra weight of the water. Not that I'd have done such a thing...
Pete

 

[drivesitfar]

Andy: I’m sorry if I put a little negative thought on you selling all your rentals cause yes payments in a mortgage by your new owners is much better in most cases than collecting rent and having to be responsible for all the maintenance.

As far as how you are recording your deeds if you are happy then I am and guessing title of home is maybe still in your name until the new owners pay you off. Well done sir and very skillful that you are able to manage all that legal work along with metal melting.

I’m not sure wher you are getting your weather information cause I’m sitting here without power at the moment cause we had 50mph wind gusts last night that knocked our power out at 2am. We haven’t lost power in years so I sold my generator to gain some space and wish I had it now.

Hope you are enjoying your day and nice job making all those cool ingots!!

 

[86turbodsl]

A reverberatory furnace is what you're thinking of. A reverberatory furnace primarily uses the burner to heat the arch and the radiant heat from that heats the charge. I've seen one made from a lined compressor tank, set horizontally with refractory lining and the top half was a clamshell lid, mounted on wheels like a wheelbarrow. When the charge was liquid the entire unit was dumped through a spout in the end which also serves as the flue.

There's also a 55 gal drum on the internet someplace which a guy uses a direct flame to melt engine heads, small engines, and other scrap. I'm sure he gets a gassy mixture with direct flame impingement providing lots of hydrocarbons dissolving into the metal. The atmosphere for melting aluminum needs to be neutral to lean, not rich. When feeding scrap into my crucible I like seeing a little flame off the contaminates at the crucible level, indicating there's still some oxygen at the molten surface.

I have thought about building one but time is limited and the time to melt metal is based on the BTU's it takes to do the melt. The size of your burner determines the speed of the melt for any given amount of aluminum. Long pieces would have to be cut to the length of the furnace where I can feed an 8 ft piece right into my crucible. So I'm not cure how much time a reverberatory furnace would save me, in what I do. They can also be used for brass and copper.

One cautionary note, while I have never tried to sell ingots, I have heard scrap yards don't want to buy them because they don't know the contents, they apparently would rather have the raw scrap so they can sort it by their assumption of metallurgy. So if you plan to sell ingots check with your purchaser before getting set up. There are eBay sellers of home poured ingots. I'm not sure how well they do but the prices are high compared to melting your own.

Thank you! Gives me a direction to dig. I'm not trying to sell them, as i'd eventually like to make some castings, i'm more interested in cutting down the yard waste quickly. I have about 10 cars to scrap, and they're not leaving here with any aluminum on em. That would be a small mountain to add to the mountain of aluminum i already have.

 

[oldironfarmer]

This is an unrelated story that is kind of relevant. In one of my car magazines there is a story about a group of wrecking yards that were filling scrap cars with dirt, crushing them and selling them to a metal salvage dealer. The wrecking yards are out of business and the owners are facing jail time.

Vince

That's sad. It diminishes my faith in the honorable wrecking business.

At one time it was common to hose down the upholstery till it was soaked, getting the extra weight of the water. Not that I'd have done such a thing...
Pete

Sure not much money to be dishonest over. but I guess if one is dishonest the amount of money doesn't matter.

Andy: I’m sorry if I put a little negative thought on you selling all your rentals cause yes payments in a mortgage by your new owners is much better in most cases than collecting rent and having to be responsible for all the maintenance.

As far as how you are recording your deeds if you are happy then I am and guessing title of home is maybe still in your name until the new owners pay you off. Well done sir and very skillful that you are able to manage all that legal work along with metal melting.

No, actually I give them full ownership. The only thing I have is the mortgage, just like mortgage companies around here. It has never burned me.

I’m not sure where you are getting your weather information cause I’m sitting here without power at the moment cause we had 50mph wind gusts last night that knocked our power out at 2am. We haven’t lost power in years so I sold my generator to gain some space and wish I had it now.

Hope you are enjoying your day and nice job making all those cool ingots!!

I use Bing weather for the comparisons, but I only look at the instantaneous conditions as it reports.

Sorry to hear you had real wind. That could be a 1/4" wind. Any damage? We haven't needed a generator in years but I keep mine for portable power.

Thank you! Gives me a direction to dig. I'm not trying to sell them, as i'd eventually like to make some castings, i'm more interested in cutting down the yard waste quickly. I have about 10 cars to scrap, and they're not leaving here with any aluminum on em. That would be a small mountain to add to the mountain of aluminum i already have.

Aluminum mountain pictures are considered OK even though some of us find them to be quite ******. Please post.

Most of your aluminum from the cars will be castings. Get a portable band saw if you don't have one and chunk up the castings and they're ready to go in a crucible. Radiators and A/C condensers and lines would reduce volume a lot by being melted.

I also made a bulk scrapper which drops melted aluminum into a water bath but I didn't mention that because you specifically said to make ingots. I doubt I'll use it again as it makes a lot of aluminum oxide which is not practically reduced at home.

Pictures.

Pictures...

Thanks for the visits guys!

 

[tym]

If you have enough ingots, you could use them like aluminum bricks to make a house for Hershey.

 

[oldironfarmer]

That would be enough, but not too many. It would be like a rent house, hot in the summer and cold in the winter.

I forgot to mention, I sold two houses today, and I think I'm out of stuff to sell. That is such a good feeling.

 

[Toothaker]

So, are you going to start selling tractors next?

 

[oldironfarmer]

So, are you going to start selling tractors next?

:stfu:

Maybe, why?

 

[Toothaker]

Just yanking your chain, Andy.

 

[Finallygotit]

Just yanking your chain, Andy.

Don't poke the bear!

 

[BBChevro]

So, are you going to start selling tractors next? [emoji38]_hitti

I think you need to wash your mouth with soap young man. [emoji1]

Sent from my SM-G950F using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[jblnut]

One can never have enough tractors .... never.

My wife disagrees. She thinks we have enough tractors. Although she's wrong I think I'll keep here around. She says funny stuff from time to time that makes me laugh. Things like "Why did you buy that ? Don't you have ENOUGH tractors ?"

Silly girl

Don't sell tractors until you HAVE too. You can trade them though, that's fine. You could trade a nice Farmall M for a Deere 50 or a Deere 430 for a Farmall 350 or a even a Moline R for a Moline Z. Heck, you could trade a Farmall Super H for a WD45 if you're looking to bring some color into the crowd but don't sell one.

Besides, you'll soon be melting iron and then you could turn a Farmall M into Deere 50 if you wanted too

 

[1/2 Cup]

jblnut I like your thinking.

That could apply to anything we want.

 

[bolensboneyard]

Weather report: 49F 7mph Tulsa, bright clear skies, 43F 13mph Seattle, rain.



It was a great day! Ingots are easier to store, and the window frames have anodizing, caulk, concrete, and sealing strips all of which combine to make lots of slag. There may be some advantage to melting ingots when you're going to pour a mold. That being said, I've poured lots of castings straight from melted scrap.

Bottom line, I like making ingots.

And I like having lots of ingots stacked up for teh future aluminum shortage.



A reverberatory furnace is what you're thinking of. A reverberatory furnace primarily uses the burner to heat the arch and the radiant heat from that heats the charge. I've seen one made from a lined compressor tank, set horizontally with refractory lining and the top half was a clamshell lid, mounted on wheels like a wheelbarrow. When the charge was liquid the entire unit was dumped through a spout in the end which also serves as the flue.

There's also a 55 gal drum on the internet someplace which a guy uses a direct flame to melt engine heads, small engines, and other scrap. I'm sure he gets a gassy mixture with direct flame impingement providing lots of hydrocarbons dissolving into the metal. The atmosphere for melting aluminum needs to be neutral to lean, not rich. When feeding scrap into my crucible I like seeing a little flame off the contaminates at the crucible level, indicating there's still some oxygen at the molten surface.

I have thought about building one but time is limited and the time to melt metal is based on the BTU's it takes to do the melt. The size of your burner determines the speed of the melt for any given amount of aluminum. Long pieces would have to be cut to the length of the furnace where I can feed an 8 ft piece right into my crucible. So I'm not cure how much time a reverberatory furnace would save me, in what I do. They can also be used for brass and copper.

One cautionary note, while I have never tried to sell ingots, I have heard scrap yards don't want to buy them because they don't know the contents, they apparently would rather have the raw scrap so they can sort it by their assumption of metallurgy. So if you plan to sell ingots check with your purchaser before getting set up. There are eBay sellers of home poured ingots. I'm not sure how well they do but the prices are high compared to melting your own.



They're like cash. I guess it is theoretically possible to have too much.



Ford.

I think the Model A had tin based bearings, very little lead.

Right. Tin and Antimony. Problem is, whoever had the engine along the way did not necessarily pour the proper mix. If I had a way to test what I got, I could save a bundle on the cost of new Babbitt mixed properly. Canada is the only place I can buy it in bulk. I have a good bit of the mystery mix.

 

[oldironfarmer]

Today's weather report Tulsa 60F 11mph, Seattle 39F 6mph. Back in the mid-Eighties when building my shop we scheduled the third week of January to spend a week in Hawaii. Highs in the mid70's all week in Tulsa

Just yanking your chain, Andy.

I enjoyed it. I have sold a few tractors, and have always regretted it.

Don't poke the bear!

I used to tell people at work "don't pull out your plastic butter knife in our gunfight"...

I think you need to wash your mouth with soap young man. [emoji1]

Sent from my SM-G950F using The Garage Journal mobile app

I have blown bubbles myself.

One can never have enough tractors .... never.

My wife disagrees. She thinks we have enough tractors. Although she's wrong I think I'll keep here around. She says funny stuff from time to time that makes me laugh. Things like "Why did you buy that ? Don't you have ENOUGH tractors ?"

Silly girl

Don't sell tractors until you HAVE too. You can trade them though, that's fine. You could trade a nice Farmall M for a Deere 50 or a Deere 430 for a Farmall 350 or a even a Moline R for a Moline Z. Heck, you could trade a Farmall Super H for a WD45 if you're looking to bring some color into the crowd but don't sell one.

Besides, you'll soon be melting iron and then you could turn a Farmall M into Deere 50 if you wanted too

Finally, a man of reason.

However, it is theoretically possible to have too many tractors, when your full 160 acres is stacked tight. Unless you stack them. Or buy more land! OK, I'm on board.

I do have a few real junkers (heads missing, rods through the block, etc.) that are candidates for remelting. IH produced some mighty fine cast iron in the Thirties and Forties. However a lot of it is cast steel which has to be done under an oxygen free atmosphere. My plan is indeed to remelt some old IH cast iron to make new sand castings. I just have to sort out the cast steel. One of the more suitable items for cutting up and casting would be H and M spoked wheel centers. I have lot's of spares and pretty sure they're iron but I need to check to make sure they're not steel.

Now you've got me dreaming...

jblnut I like your thinking.

That could apply to anything we want.

Well spoken oh guru of upside down wisdom.

Right. Tin and Antimony. Problem is, whoever had the engine along the way did not necessarily pour the proper mix. If I had a way to test what I got, I could save a bundle on the cost of new Babbitt mixed properly. Canada is the only place I can buy it in bulk. I have a good bit of the mystery mix.

I'm with you now. I would expect a density check, hardness test, and melt temperature would all be easy at home and give you a good feel for the alloy. The high lead Babbitt should be denser than tin based.

I have a couple of sticks of old Babbitt (again unknown properties) from old oil field operations where they used to pour Babbitt. One has the word "Frictionless" in script across the top.

And 19 keeps rolling along. 2% spent already and it seems we've just started.

Make the best of what's left, my friends!

 

[drivesitfar]

Andy: looks like you more wind and more warmth that came with it. did it come from DOWN UNDER?

i'm guessing we had 40-50 mph winds here 2 nights ago cause it knocked out power for 15 hours. we survived by dressing a bit warmer and we started our first puzzle together in this house that we've owned since 1987. we almost got the edges done before we hopped in the car and grabbed some hot chocolate at a Starbucks that didn't lose power about a mile from us.

I know you've got a 55 gallon drum you've sort of been using for big aluminum melts so just wondering what you would melt some old parts tractors in?

while power was out I climbed up on the roof to see what had blown up there and actually pretty clean so cleaned out the gutters and drains and i should be ready for another month or two before I have to climb up again. pics over on my thread if you are curious.

have a great day as I know you will.

 

[oldironfarmer]

We hit 70F today with little wind. What a nice day!

No shop work, other than a friend came over and I gave him my 180# Haybudden anvil which had a cutting torch used on it by a previous idiot owner. I had ground it out and ready to weld several years ago but never got it set up to preheat and weld. He is a professional welder and has a metallurgist friend who wants to help him restore it. He can weld and I'll cast. He also went through my $5 auction stack and I convinced him to take some of it. Cleaning up!

No pictures

Then we went to Stillwater, had a nice relaxing lunch, and bought medicated mineral for the cows. Had a great day.

Drives: I've been following your thread, glad you had no real damage.

Cast iron is very sensitive to oxygen so it needs to be melted in a crucible under cover such as a layer of charcoal. The donor iron needs to sawn up or broken up before put into the crucible. Or I could build a cupola or blast furnace.

 

[gman007]

Andy
That is mighty generous of you!

In recent years, with the revival of interest in blade making/blacksmithing anvils have become as rare as unicorns. These days a 180 lb name brand anvil specially a desirable brand like Hay Budden depending on the condition can go for $1500-$2000 or even more. The guy is lucky to have a great friend like you.

 

[oldironfarmer]

Andy
That is mighty generous of you!

In recent years, with the revival of interest in blade making/blacksmithing anvils have become as rare as unicorns. These days a 180 lb name brand anvil specially a desirable brand like Hay Budden depending on the condition can go for $1500-$2000 or even more. The guy is lucky to have a great friend like you.

It is a valuable anvil but has been abused. I think he'll make a professional repair and says he'll bring it right back, no charge. I'm trying to get him to keep it for a few years. I have three other anvils, and my regular use anvil, at about 125#, is plenty large enough for the hammers I use.

Thanks for stopping in!

 

[drivesitfar]

Andy: since you don't seem to have a small rodent problem do you also have a cat or two or three helping you?

are Hershey and Cali getting along and do they run out in the fields or pretty much stay around the house and garages?

have a great day and if you get time to take a few pictures and melt some metal all the better.

cheers

 

[oldironfarmer]

Andy: since you don't seem to have a small rodent problem do you also have a cat or two or three helping you?

are Hershey and Cali getting along and do they run out in the fields or pretty much stay around the house and garages?

have a great day and if you get time to take a few pictures and melt some metal all the better.

cheers

No cats. Hershey and cats don't seem to mix. Hershey runs the woods, hunts and kills. Cali stays around the house and plays stick anytime I'll throw a stick for her. Hershey, if she's there, watches in disinterest.

Melting aluminum yesterday I snapped a shot of a full crucible ready to be poured.

A thing of beauty to me

The curved sweep on my muller was worn out when I received the muller. I made a new one and matched the bottom of what I thought was existing. It was 7/16" short so to add 3/8" I bent a piece of 3/8" round. Sand blasted both pieces (that's white metal not primer)

And welded it on

And it seems to fit pretty good

Bobby is looking for a burner for his new forge and I was wanting to make a forge burner so yesterday I cut a piece of walnut to make a pattern. I'm thinking of sand casting the nozzle holder, then there's not much more to a burner. Here's the walnut spread with glue to join with a sheet of paper in between. After turning the paper allows it to be split in the center.

After drying overnight it's in the lathe

 

[oldironfarmer]

Turned the block to a cylinder.

You can see the paper line there.

Then turned it down to shape and put a 1" hole in it for a side nozzle.

Then drilled two 3/8" holes over halfway through for alignment pins.

Went to my South Bend lathe to turn an accurate 1" stub with a tapered end for the nozzle.

And fit the nozzle in.

The 1" hole was drilled with a Forstner bit. While they make a nice clean hole, they are a bit oversize. I turned it to 1.006" on the metal lathe to get a nice snug fit.

And lastly, split the pattern along the paper line.

Now it needs finishing and fillets.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

[bj383ss]

Great job making the turning Andy.

Bret

 

[1/2 Cup]

Andy you do it well.

 

[CraigRK]

Looking good. Learning something new here all the time. That trick with the paper is pretty useful!

 

[Grizz1963]

As Craig says, We learn new stuff here every day.

Bit of a hijeck, but now, looking back to December 2011 it seems I made a lot of work for myself.


A copy and paste from an entry on a wood turning thread I have elsewhere.


Typical of the season of Goodwill, it seems my "goodwill" is being used.

Nicola's cousin in Canada sent her mum about 8 Native American "Pocket Spirits" as part of a Christmas card.

Described thus on the Website: Our 25 different POCKET SPIRITS are made of lead-free pewter. Each POCKET SPIRIT is 1" in diameter with a Northwest Coast Indian symbol on one side and a corresponding inspirational word on the other. Carry in your pocket, wallet or purse as a reminder. Here are your choices with the name of the symbol, the meaning of the symbol, the Indian artist and the artists' tribal affiliation.

Looks like this: Images can be seen on their website.

http://www.pacificnorthwestshop.com/pnwmiscellaneous/pacificnorthwestindian.htm


So on Boxing day evening she phoned to speak to me, rarely done by the way, as we live 3 miles up the road and see them regularly.

Could I make her a "TOTEM POLE" to mount these coins on?

Of course I tried to weasel out of it, but she does not take no for an answer, a bit like her daughter.

So I went down to the shed, originally time planned for the Cigar Box Guitar, and spent 3 hours making up the bits for the "Totem Pole"
I managed to glue and clamp the one side by 9pm and was down there again by 8am today to glue side 2, and then went back at about 3pm to continue working on it.

I took lengths of Oak and turned them once I had planned where the side wings would go.
The plan was to make spaces for 18 coins on three of the vertical sides, and 6 more spaces on the horizontal wings.
This will give her 24 spaces for the whole collection.

I also decided that seeing as they had been together long enough to pass their Ruby wedding anniversary, and were two peas in a pod, I would add two wooden rings around the base, which has more rings turned into it, to signify their togetherness.

The beadwork on the base was again a nod at the Native American and the intricacy of the Universe.

Quite deep stuff for me to be surfacing on here.

Once the upright was tuned, sanded and smoothed, I did the horizontal wings, and then split them on the bandsaw, sanded allround and then lastly split them as planned.

The last piece in last nights puzzle was whether to put the long or short wings on top.

Then I glued and clamped them and walked away, followed by the second half this morning.


Upright.

Wings/horizontals.

Splitting them.

Done, next job will be to get the coins she has to stick to the 3 sides of the upright and also the wings.

Hopefully I can get back to the CBG some time tomorrow, although I have a days trial riding planned as well.

 

[bolensboneyard]

Andy nice piece of walnut. Wish I could find some here to cut. It makes nice dowel pins to accent the white wood. What would you cast out of for the nozzle holder? I am trying to visualize the completed set up. Thought you were making a duck call until I read the text!

 

[drivesitfar]

Andy: Bobby called it cause I too thought some sort of duck call. nice trick about the paper and did you get the idea off your forging forum or did you think of that on your own? looks like Bobby will get first hands on look at your aluminum duck call won't he? VERY WELL DONE!!




nice pics of hot aluminum ready to be made into an ingot too!!

have a great day!!

 

[gman007]

Andy

Great job as per usual and the paper trick is pretty cool too

The one thing that does always concern me regarding turning glued pieces of wood is the danger of the pieces coming apart in mid turning.

Few years back the father of one of my colleagues was turning pieces of wood that he had glued together. However the pieces were apparently not glued together well and came apart, smashing his face and skull (unfortunately he was only wearing safety goggle and not a full face shield). After several surgeries with the aid of many platinum plates to reconstruct his face and front of his skull, he barely survived. He also lost vision in both eyes as well as most of his brain cognitive function.

I am not privy to the details of the incident, including the size of the pieces, how they were glued together and at what rpm he was turning the pieces etc but have always wondered if even a full face shield (in conjunction with safety goggle glass) would have been enough to completely protect him.

 

[oldironfarmer]

Great job making the turning Andy.

Bret

Thanks, Bret!

Andy you do it well.

Thank you, Steve! I've gotten addicted to making quick patterns with foam. I've enjoyed making the wooden one.

Looking good. Learning something new here all the time. That trick with the paper is pretty useful!

The paper trick is useful, but requires you glue up in advance.

As Craig says, We learn new stuff here every day.

Bit of a hijeck, but now, looking back to December 2011 it seems I made a lot of work for myself.


A copy and paste from an entry on a wood turning thread I have elsewhere.


Typical of the season of Goodwill, it seems my "goodwill" is being used.

Nicola's cousin in Canada sent her mum about 8 Native American "Pocket Spirits" as part of a Christmas card.

Described thus on the Website: Our 25 different POCKET SPIRITS are made of lead-free pewter. Each POCKET SPIRIT is 1" in diameter with a Northwest Coast Indian symbol on one side and a corresponding inspirational word on the other. Carry in your pocket, wallet or purse as a reminder. Here are your choices with the name of the symbol, the meaning of the symbol, the Indian artist and the artists' tribal affiliation.

Looks like this: Images can be seen on their website.

http://www.pacificnorthwestshop.com/pnwmiscellaneous/pacificnorthwestindian.htm


So on Boxing day evening she phoned to speak to me, rarely done by the way, as we live 3 miles up the road and see them regularly.

Could I make her a "TOTEM POLE" to mount these coins on?

Of course I tried to weasel out of it, but she does not take no for an answer, a bit like her daughter.

So I went down to the shed, originally time planned for the Cigar Box Guitar, and spent 3 hours making up the bits for the "Totem Pole"
I managed to glue and clamp the one side by 9pm and was down there again by 8am today to glue side 2, and then went back at about 3pm to continue working on it.

I took lengths of Oak and turned them once I had planned where the side wings would go.
The plan was to make spaces for 18 coins on three of the vertical sides, and 6 more spaces on the horizontal wings.
This will give her 24 spaces for the whole collection.

I also decided that seeing as they had been together long enough to pass their Ruby wedding anniversary, and were two peas in a pod, I would add two wooden rings around the base, which has more rings turned into it, to signify their togetherness.

The beadwork on the base was again a nod at the Native American and the intricacy of the Universe.

Quite deep stuff for me to be surfacing on here.

Once the upright was tuned, sanded and smoothed, I did the horizontal wings, and then split them on the bandsaw, sanded allround and then lastly split them as planned.

The last piece in last nights puzzle was whether to put the long or short wings on top.

Then I glued and clamped them and walked away, followed by the second half this morning.


Upright.

Wings/horizontals.

Splitting them.

Done, next job will be to get the coins she has to stick to the 3 sides of the upright and also the wings.

Hopefully I can get back to the CBG some time tomorrow, although I have a days trial riding planned as well.

Boy, you know how to hijack!

Cool totem pole. Didn't know you were a wood turner.

Andy nice piece of walnut. Wish I could find some here to cut. It makes nice dowel pins to accent the white wood. What would you cast out of for the nozzle holder? I am trying to visualize the completed set up. Thought you were making a duck call until I read the text!

When I send you the duck call I'll send some walnut shorts instead of burning them, if you like.

I'm planning on casting it out of aluminum. The propane and air flow keep it cool, the only caveat is when you shut off the fire. It's nice to come in at an angle or horizontal. I like horizontal burners not impinging on the work, let the radiant heat do the job.

Andy: Bobby called it cause I too thought some sort of duck call. nice trick about the paper and did you get the idea off your forging forum or did you think of that on your own? looks like Bobby will get first hands on look at your aluminum duck call won't he? VERY WELL DONE!!

nice pics of hot aluminum ready to be made into an ingot too!!

have a great day!!

Yep, an aluminum duck call, when you get them called up, roast 'em.

The paper trick is an old common woodworking technique.

Andy

Great job as per usual and the paper trick is pretty cool too

The one thing that does always concern me regarding turning glued pieces of wood is the danger of the pieces coming apart in mid turning.

Few years back the father of one of my colleagues was turning pieces of wood that he had glued together. However the pieces were apparently not glued together well and came apart, smashing his face and skull (unfortunately he was only wearing safety goggle and not a full face shield). After several surgeries with the aid of many platinum plates to reconstruct his face and front of his skull, he barely survived. He also lost vision in both eyes as well as most of his brain cognitive function.

I am not privy to the details of the incident, including the size of the pieces, how they were glued together and at what rpm he was turning the pieces etc but have always wondered if even a full face shield (in conjunction with safety goggle glass) would have been enough to completely protect him.

Terrible incident. I'm not much of a turner, my lathe is slow and underpowered, and the belt slips if I load it too much. And I usually keep it on low speed.

I don't wear goggles, just my prescription glasses. However I stand to the side when first starting a piece, and don't get directly in front of it until it's round. Turning a square piece of split firewood like I often use you get big pieces flying off while rounding it.

Very unfortunate the gentleman suffered so. I suspect he was turning something like a segmented bowl and may have had it on high speed for finishing. I can't imagine that much injury without some high speed involved.

The paper glue joint is quite strong but reliably splits through the paper.

Recreational injuries are just no fun at all.

Thanks for the comments, guys.

A little more shop time today.

Funny Bobby should mention making black walnut dowels. That's what I did yesterday. I ripped a scrap of walnut to a little under 1/2" on the band saw. Then ran it through my dowel plate.

The dowel plate is home made, but is drilled every 1/16" from 3/16" up to 7/8". You can see on the large hole on the right that each hole is back drilled with the next larger size drill to give some relief. I made this for green wood working where you need to make dry dowels to go into green wood which then shrinks and grabs the dowels tightly.

I usually pound wood through the holes on the edge of a stump but the arbor press works well.

Here's the dowel after the first pass. It started square.

You have to take the dowel down one step at a time. Now we're getting more curls.

The dowel plate has been in the blacksmith shop and is rusty. It needs cleaning up (my specialty, needing cleaning up, not cleaning up)

Next I put some wood putty on the branch joint.

And put the dowel in the lathe one size too big so I can get an accurate fit.

Dowels made and ready for assembly. One had to be longer to fill the through hole in the end. The other hole is covered by the nozzle.

Then my neighbor showed up to get some 12 ga sheet metal cut so my shop time was over.

 

[oldironfarmer]

Today I got the duck call painted and stuck some letters on.

And made a funnel (or is it a chute?) for the muller. The opening to load the muller is a little small, especially for the shovel I have, so I thought a funnel would be nice.

Lost foam is the way to go when making one only casting.

A little more cleanup and another coat of paint and the duck call is ready to go a casting.

I had hoped to cast it today but that was not to be. Maybe tomorrow.

I've got a burner tube made but keep forgetting to take a picture.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

[1/2 Cup]

Andy great work as usual.

I have never seen a dowel plate like that, once again that is great inspiration.

 

[BBChevro]

Nice work (as usual) Andy. [emoji106]

Sent from my SM-G950F using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[Grizz1963]

I have no excuse for the hijack, Andy

It’s easier to illustrate my lack of shortcuts that way.

I continue to just love the solutions you create.

Funnel for the muller...
Perfect.

 

[oldironfarmer]

Andy great work as usual.

I have never seen a dowel plate like that, once again that is great inspiration.

Thank you Steve! A dowel plate is an old design, used by chair makers and other green wood woodworkers for a long time. Spoke shave it close then clean it up in a dowel plate. I'm lazy and have lots of holes so I can step a square down pretty quickly.

Nice work (as usual) Andy. [emoji106]

Sent from my SM-G950F using The Garage Journal mobile app

Thanks again!!

I have no excuse for the hijack, Andy

It’s easier to illustrate my lack of shortcuts that way.

I continue to just love the solutions you create.

Funnel for the muller...
Perfect.

No excuse needed! Hijacks make for the most interesting reading.

The funnel would have been easily fabricated out of sheet metal, but the angles would have taken more layout. The foam is forgiving and can be trimmed and filled after gluing together so it's really quicker. And in the long run, more durable unless I'd used heavy sheet metal like 16 gauge. And, after all, it's for a foundry. I tend to blacksmith tools for the blacksmith shop, machine tools for the machine shop, and cast tools for the foundry, but there's a lot of crossover. But I do have a hankering to cast some tongs for the foundry