Had a mason ask me to make up some plug and feather sets to split rock... Can't do it and compete with manufactured ones but doesn't mean we shouldn't try it...
Great video🎉. I am right now working on a project for rock splitting. For the plug I use spring steel from a car. And the feathers are mild steel. One note though: The spikes have a curved shape towards the tip. When you thin it out you keep quite a lot of the curve. This means that the tension you build up in the rock will only be in the tip area or furter up except in the tip (the plug will in reality have a shorter tension area). This has a significance in larger boulders. / Kungen av Bloms
Great video Chandler. Don't beat yourself up so much fella. Sometimes these things happen. That as nothing you can do about it. We get the idea and that's all that matters.
Great video. Your very inspirational. Sometimes I have ideas that I don’t try. I watch you put yourself out there and it helps me be more humble. That is one of the reasons I enjoy your videos so much. Watching a guy do it right every time makes me wonder how many takes were involved. Watching you work and learn, let’s me know your just like the rest of us. We are all learning. Your one of my favorite RU-vid producers.
Good video, sometimes the money shot works, sometimes it does not. The process is usually what I enjoy the most, and you covered that perfectly, and have the split rock to show for it too. :) Once you do get the money and need another one, instead of a regular hammer drill, something like the Makita HR2811F Concrete/Masonry Rotary Hammer Drill will work a lot better I think. That with a good bit cuts through concrete etc really well from what I have seen, has a depth stop etc.
It was fine seeing the after result Chandler, I could picture it in my head anyway. Pretty awesome how well those little things work. This actually seems like a great use for those spikes. I wouldn't even bother with high grade steel, those things get lost all the time.
another great video Chandler!thats so cool man.it seems like you can make just about anything if you put your mind to it.dont worry about the camera mishaps.we all know it worked!again very cool man.keep swinging those hammers!
Even without the "money shot", that was pretty awesome. I kept thinking about the old song "John Henry", about the guy pounding holes in rock with a "nine pound hammer".
I know nothing about iron work. But once I made feather from round bar giving it diagonal cut using torch to gain different thickness. Then bended the thin part. One diagonal cut made a pair of feather. Just sharing 😊
Nice but you'll need 5 sets, lol, and you'll need a star chisel (4 sided cross) made from a half inch wide by foot and a half axel for starting the holes...turn the chisel back and forth as you hit it, and the steel should be malleable at the striking end so as to avoid glancing off the side, or else use a maleable hammer, mild steel is fine...saftey first.
Hey Chandler, don't stress about not being able to show them working, give them to your Mason friend and ask him to show us 😀 Won't hurt to get out of the forge once in a while
They would work without any drama, I have used similar in the past and the feathers were just mild steel with the wedges made from an old truck spring. I think the springs were about 60 years old and the blacksmith was in his 80's
Now you just gotta forge whatever it is they used to drill the holes in the rock in the first place. That would be a pretty killer setup to have forged.
We call em star drills, they're like a cross pointed chisel. Used to use em years ago, made from bronze, so no sparks. Useful in highly flammable zones.
Only thing I see "wrong" is that the feathers are normally tapered in the reverse of the wedge. When you lay the three pieces out they should look like a round rod with a V shaped line, Sort of like 3 wood splitting wedges stacked in alternating directions. The wedge normally only sticks up an inch or so. In use you drill the hole the depth of the feather. Drop the feathers in align them 90 degrees to the direction you want the stone to break and drop in the wedge. Repeat in each hole. Now you run the wedges, (Give each one a solid hit with the hammer). Wait a bit, then run them again. Keep the process going until the rock splits.
Chandler ... You beat yourself up at the wrong times. First of all a tool needs to do a job. It dose not need to be pretty . unless your client wants a tool to put on his mantel . Did your tool do its job ? YES good work.
excellent video pity about that drill. We have a great imagination when it comes to filling in missing video clips. Happens to me all the time with the money shots :)
As always great video don't beat yourself up everyone has to learn I sent you email to old school forge just wondering if you got it from the guy that sent you the window stickers
you should try making stone chisels! the best ones have a high carbon tip sandwiched inbetween the soft. I have made a few but mine never stood up to the ones you can get from sculpture supply companies. At sculpture supply co. one chisel is about 60 bucks
Thanks for the video, Chandler. I've seen sets of these over the years but never thought of making them. Seeing you use railway spikes as often as you do, I thought I'd pass along a video of a guy making his own brine quenchant. I think some guys call this a super quench. It's simple and has only 3 ingredients not counting the water. Salt, dish soap, and dishwasher rinse aid (Jet Dry). ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4OfX7nEJiE4.html I'm going to make this and give it a whirl since I've got access to a boatload of spikes. If I can get them hard enough then why not use them. Keep forging!
i want to get into black smiting i have lots of questions i dont know i have yet but one i do have is how to know when its ready to smith i know the camera lies on color is there some way to tell with out a temp gun ?
The ancient Romans made these things out of some pretty crappy metal and they still worked at least for a while. Depends as much on the stone as the metal. You don't seem to get it. You made it. It works. You don't have to break it. Time to move on.
