Don't know if blacksmiths do this, but a gloat anyway...

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Don't know if blacksmiths do this, but a gloat anyway... Prometheus 12-15-2006
Posted by Prometheus on December 15, 2006, 4:58 am
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Got an excellent deal today-

At work, there's a new punch operator that is not very experienced
with the machines, and he mangaged to damage a whole lot of HSS
punches and dies over the last two or three months. The owner goes
south for the winter, and the vice president wasn't looking forward to
the hassle of explaining how all that tooling got damaged (evidently,
the owner is understandably touchy about things like that.)

Knowing that, I figured it couldn't hurt to ask if she needed someone
to make all that stuff go away quietly- since it was only worth the
value of regular scrap steel to the company (and a tiny fraction of
what we toss out anyways,) she let me take it home for making my
turning tools.

So, I've got a 5-gallon pail about level full with about 200# (just an
estimate, of course) of used HSS. About half of it is punches about
8" long, and ranging in diameter from 1/2" to 1" round, and the rest
are heavy solid HSS dies about 5" in diameter and 2-3" thick. There
are a few odd heavy-duty springs and assorted tubes as well. With a
total cost of... absolutely nothing. And I got the boss out of a
potential jam as a bonus. I figure the punches will make good
chisels, and the dies could be used for any number of things, even if
I end up machining them rather than whacking them with a hammer. Some
of the oddball punches might work nice for forming hot metal as well.

Now I just need to learn how to forge it- but there's plenty there to
account for even a fairly steep learning curve.

Posted by bigegg on December 15, 2006, 2:23 pm
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Prometheus wrote:
> Got an excellent deal today-

> So, I've got a 5-gallon pail about level full with about 200# (just an
> estimate, of course) of used HSS.

<snip>

> With a
> total cost of... absolutely nothing.

can I just be the first to say:

you suck.

:.)

--
BigEgg
Hack to size. Hammer to fit. Weld to join. Grind to shape. Paint to cover.
http://www.workshop-projects.com -
Plans and free books - *Now with forum*

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