Universal Stake Holder ~ Tool Tips

A special thanks to Steve Shelby for sharing some of his tools related writing from his own blog - which you can visit HERE. 

For a couple years I have wanted to replace the stump I’ve been using for my metalsmithing. It’s just too small and light, so it tends to walk away while I’m hammering. The primitive way of holding stakes is not really very good either. The holes keep getting larger, and it’s really hard to keep the stakes from moving all around, which makes it a lot harder to get the job done. Another problem is there’s no height adjustability, which at times can be very inconvenient. I wanted to make a clamping device that would securely hold any size stake, round or square. I also didn’t want it to be screwed down to the stump, since screws, no matter how big, always loosen up over time, and I also wanted it to be easy to remove, so I could use the whole surface of the stump as a work surface if I needed to.

These first pictures show the new stump, as compared to the old one, much larger (about 14″ diameter on top), and very sturdy. I sanded the top to make a nice flat surface, then gave it a couple coats of varnish, not for looks, but to slow down the the evaporation of the moisture in the log, so the work surface won’t get all cracked. I cut it from a dead elm tree, and even though dead, it is very high in moisture, extremely heavy. Elm is excellent for this purpose since it is extremely tough, the fibers being sort of woven together, so splitting is not a problem. There’s just one hole in the surface, 1-1/2″ in diameter, 6″ deep.

© Steve Shelby

© Steve Shelby

© Steve Shelby

I made the stake holder entirely out of scrounged material, except for the L-bolts and flange nuts, which totaled about $10. It has a vise that can hold about any shape securely, down to a 5/8″ square or round. The unit is held down with two 1/2″ L-shaped anchor bolts. The short arms of the bolts are about 2″ long and fit into holes drilled horizontally into the side of the stump. The whole thing is so strong and solid, I used it to hold a 1-1/4″ diameter steel rod for bending, with no problems. If I want to take it off, it only take about 30 seconds. Putting it back on takes a minute.

© Steve Shelby

© Steve Shelby

The following pictures show it holding my favorite raising stake, a big 1-1/4″ round stake, showing the range of height adjustment (6″ on the tool holder + 4″ on my chair = 10″, which should be plenty), then holding a tiny rectangular tool, and a very large stake with round shank, which now stays put when I use it!

© Steve Shelby

© Steve Shelby

© Steve Shelby

© Steve Shelby

© Steve Shelby

One advantage the old stump had was that I could put a short punch in one of the holes and resting the work on the surface, use the punch as a stake. To make that possible with this new setup, I made this table addition which fits snugly over the top, and works better than the old way, because the tool is held securely, and is height-adjustable. I can also put the sand bag on it for further versatility, or use it as a work surface so I don’t have to remove the stake holder every time I need a flat work surface.

© Steve Shelby

© Steve Shelby

© Steve Shelby

Homemade Immersion Heater for Large Pickle Tank ~ tool tips

A special thanks to Steve Shelby for sharing some of his tools related writing from his own blog - which you can visit HERE.

I have always preferred to have my pickle solution hot, or at least warm; it works so much faster, especially for dissolving flux. Since many of the pieces I make are rather large, I have sometimes had to settle for cold pickle, since the crock-pot was too small. Recently my crock-pot developed a leak, so that was all the motivation I needed to finally do something about the situation. I had been researching heaters for a couple years, and everything I found was too expensive, so I decided to make my own.

© Steve Shelby

All of the parts, except the thermostat and the indicator light, I got from McMaster-Carr, even the six-gallon bucket, which is a couple inches taller than a standard fiver. The heating element is bendable, came perfectly straight. It’s rated at 750 watts, and is made to heat air or liquid, so it doesn’t have to be fully submerged. I think it’s the same kind of elements they put in dishwashers. I just happened to have a 1970′s vintage 110 volt thermostat lying around. A regular wall thermostat won’t work for this unless a transformer is added to the circuit. The  box is an outdoor-type electrical box, and the thermostat was made to screw right to the box, perfect fit! This thermostat of course reads the air temperature; a thermostat that would read the temperature of the pickle itself was way too expensive. It turned out that this one, when set on its highest setting (90ºF) maintains the pickle at just the right temperature (about 180ºF). The heating element is held in place with a simple framework made from nylon plastic, and a ring of teflon at the end. It’s secured in the box with two nylon “cord grips” that screw into the threaded holes in the bottom of the box.

© Steve Shelby

This thing works great! I wish I had made it years ago. It heats up the pickle in about 1/4 of the time that the crock-pot did, even though it’s about four or five times as much liquid. Once it reaches temperature, it is off most of the time, just coming on for a minute or two about every ten minutes or so.

© Steve Shelby

 It probably will have to work a lot harder in the winter, when the floor is really cold, so I’m thinking about ways I could insulate the bucket. I have a few months yet to work on that.

I also made new tongs to reach to the bottom of that deep bucket. Made from a scrap of 1/2″ copper tubing, it took about fifteen minutes to make.

© Steve Shelby

New Life for an Old Hammer ~ Tool tips

A special thanks to Steve Shelby for sharing some of his tools related writing from his own blog - which you can visit HERE. 

I have wanted a new raising hammer for quite a while. My old one, which I got as a student about 40 years ago, is not quite as heavy as I would like, and it is made of cast iron. The surface gets pitted (see first picture) after a little use, so I’m constantly having to resurface it.
 

© Steve Shelby

The new raising hammers I’ve seen for sale are very expensive, and I have no idea how well they would hold up under the use I would give them, so I decided to make my own. I found a very old blacksmith hammer on Ebay for a very good price. It occurred to me that an old hammer like this would most likely be made of very good steel.

© Steve Shelby

I took the head off the handle, and with a chop saw cut long bevels on the top and bottom to get the shape. This blacksmith hammer was two pounds, and my old raising hammer a little under a pound, So I figured removing this much metal would leave just about the weight I wanted.

 

© Steve Shelby

The next two steps were rough grinding with a right-angle disc grinder, and then finer grinding with a belt sander.

© Steve Shelby

© Steve Shelby

After achieving an acceptable shape and smoothness, I put a burned-oil finish on it, then polished the ends. I was able to reuse the old handle, which is of excellent quality, very hard hickory.

© Steve Shelby

Compared to the old hammer, not as fancy a shape, but much better quality. It weighs one pound five ounces, pretty much what I was shooting for.

© Steve Shelby