Just finished a small workshop on hammer forging and shaping.
Wanting to find a cheap method for making sinusoidal stakes for
students… I came up with these:
“Harbor Freight Jewelers Supply” has a set of drift, pin, and center
punches for around $10. In the set are three fairly long drift
punches…
We put three large lag screws into one of the tree stumps in the
shop, heated the punches with my 2 largest rosebud torch tips -
one of us pre-heating with one torch, and the the other bending and
re- heating for the second bend.
Using the the 3 bolts in the stump - for leverage, bent the “S” into
them. Quenched them. Took about 30 minutes to do all 6 sets of them,
using a slightly different curve and spacing on each of the 3 in a
set.
Wire wheeled the firescale off, tempered them (just in case), emery
paper, and grey buffing compound.
Also found that steel foundation bolts at Home Depot have the
requisite “S” profile already bent. This is the part of the bolt
meant to anchor the bolt in concrete foundations.
Cost around $2 for 1/2" - $6 for 3/4" diameter. Only problem is that
these are the same diameter for the total length, NOT TAPERED. They
also tend to have some “dings” in 'em on the inside curve, where
they were bent - but they are soft steel, and these were easily
removed with files and emery paper.
Polish them, and cut them to a convenient length. (they are 18" to
30" long when you buy them) They work quite well for the projects we
did in silver, and save the hassle & time used in the first method
with drift punches.
We also ground and filed some interesting profiles into a couple of
these… "V"s and ovals…
Brian P. Marshall Stockton Jewelry Arts School 704-708 West Swain Rd.
Stockton, CA 95207 209-477-6731 Office/Fax 209-477-6535
Workshop/Classrooms