OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Restoring, Customising and Modifying Tech Talk A jigger or two I've put together recently

G'day folks,

I've been ruminating over a few DIY gadgets for a while, and seem to be having a 'run' of getting out to the shed early lately - before even the first coffee of the day!
Winter has long been my 'gettin 'er done' time, for mancave projects, anyway. Particularly the ones that involve 'hot work', like welding and forging techniques.

As I'd already taken the progress pics for write-ups on these, it occurred to me that they might be of interest to ODK'ers.
So here we go.
Lots of use of recycled materials here, BTW. A couple of them were done some time back, but have some connection to the recent 'builds'.

1. Universal floor stand



This is just a 'universal floor stand base' I chucked together from used bits, a while back.
The heavy base is an unserviceable Landcruiser 45 series brake drum, the rest is gal water pipe and fittings. Overall height from floor is ~650mm.

2. Oxy torch 'third hand' holder

This is a pretty simple one. When doing small forging jobs, it's much quicker and easier to use torch heating [oxy-LPG in my case] than to light up the charcoal fired forge [see pic later on]. But you really need three hands - one to hold the tongs, one to wield the hammer, and one to hold the torch.

So this is that 'third hand'.

The holder. Just a 1/2" bolt, with a stop collar and torch hook arc welded to it, and quick acting nut



As used, mounted in the base stand shown above.


3. Soil Probe

Here's another handy tool I made using a 1970s Holden boot spring.
It's a soil probe, useful for locating underground pipes etc. This one uses a full length Holden spring rod, with the bends at either end straightened out hot. This is made to a pattern much used by bottle collectors, when probing old dump sites to find bottles. Overall length 1250mm.




Just brazed a steel tube [piece of old lawn mower handle] T-handle to one end, and a ball out of a ball bearing to t'other. No post brazing quenching or heat treatment necessary; ball bearings use a Tungsten alloy steel that is 'air hardening'.



The important bit here, is that the ball needs to be slightly larger in diameter than the rod. Amazing how little effort this thing takes, in use.


4. Asparagus harvesting knife

Design Model

The aim of this project is to replicate a commercially available tool, shown below;



The maker's page is at http://ryset.com/ryset-asparagus-knife.html

While these are commercially available, they're not particularly easy to come by, unless you happen to live in an area where asparagus is grown commercially.

My 'build' will involve the use of some traditional blacksmithing tools and techniques, and use 'recycled/re-purposed' steel components.

I'm doing this one as a one-off, because my 88yo Mum can't bend down to harvest her asparagus any more!

And I have all of the necessary materials already on hand, to make her a better quality and lighter weight knife than the Ryset ones.

There's also, to be quite honest, an element of the 'because I can factor' here.


Major Equipment

I'll start this one off with a couple of equipment pics, dredged up from the depths of my 'puter.

Forge




This portable forge came into my hands with no 'fire tray', so I've made up two sizes of tray for it.
This is the 'small' version, a re-purposed cast iron car brake drum. Doesn't require/use a lot of fuel; ideal for small workpieces.

Full size fire tray



Forge in action



Anvil



Steel Components

The shaft is to be made from a length of 7mm spring steel rod, which started life as a 1970s Holden car boot spring.
Not much point in putting up a pic of that now - it looks just like any other piece of rod.

The blade has been made from a separate piece of steel.

This was an old, unused hay mower 'knife segment' cutting blade. It's branded 'Bamfords, Uttoxeter, England' - who were a maker of hay machinery, which used to be imported to Australia by a firm called 'Mobilco Limited', who closed down in ~1976.
Very similar knife segments are used on grain headers to this day; new ones cost ~ $3 each.



Original and modified blades. The original measures ~76mm across. The modified one has been cut down [1mm thick angle grinder cutting disc] and the edge bevel rough ground, on my linisher/sander machine.

Another bit o' my kit which is very useful; the linisher/sander machine



150mm wide belt; 225mm diam disc.

Sold mainly as a woodworking machine, but extremely useful for metalwork too - the metal workpiece doesn’t cop nearly as much heat input as from a bench or angle grinder.

The disc backing plate has a Velcro 'hook' disc glued on to it, and the felt-backed discs are quickly and easily changed. Makes it supremely easy to change abrasive grit sizes.

Nearly there

Blade end of shaft forged, and blade side ground to 'flattish'. This will be a 'sweat brazed', not arc welded, joint.



End tang for wooden handle forged, and 'burnt in' to exactly fit it to the handle, before it cooled. So it looks a bit 'sooty' from this.




To Be Continued...


Tease interval now ended...

C'mon Gadge, you're keeping us in suspense - the links to the images appear broken!

Patience, brasshopper! All will be revealed, when the planets [or in this case, more like the holes in the Swiss cheese slices] align...

Righto folks, pics added to the OP.

Have just mated up the parts for the asparagus knife, and have pics of this, which I'll add to this post shortishly.

Some very handy bits of kit you have there Gadge, can never have enough gadgets

I'm sold on the small forge. What a ripper.

Hi Gadge and all Jigger lovers
Gadge and the Jiggers - that was some dance troupe!
Didn't they appear on the Don Lane Show?

Many thanks Gadge for this topic.
Folks - like me - love them! I am Mr Ignorant here.

I love a good anvil - like the next bloke, but what
is the angle gauge thing in the background of the
finisher-sander image? Is it an early trade protractor?

Cheers
---------------------------
Jack

G'day Jack,

It's actually an accessory, for the sander disc side of the machine, thusly;

Just as an 'interlude' here,

I've discovered that in people terms [as against 'physical object' ones], there is a distinction to be made between a 'jogger' and a 'jigger'.

I am indebted to cartoonist Patrick Cook [of The Gillies Report; The Bulletin; The National Times, history among others] for his definitive clarification of this issue.

Progress on the knife

Blade brazed to shaft, and grit blasted with 600-200 grade Garnet grit, using the blasting setup pictured - I don't use sand for blasting, since I first tried garnet.



It's a much more efficient blasting medium, due to its sharp-cornered grains and high bulk density.
That's a 25kg bag of garnet grit in the pic; it's packed in paper 'valve bags', so it's just a matter of opening up the valve, and sticking in the blaster unit's pickup tube. The bucket is just there to hold the bag upright, and make it easier to move around.

And garnet comes ready to use - 'run of pit' washed sand has to be dried, then sieved to remove oversize granules [I used a 1/8" mesh gem sieve] before use.
It is also much safer to use; it does present a dust hazard to the user, but is not a cause of the chronic lung disease silicosis [unlike silica sand].

Close-up of the blade and brazed joint to the shaft.



Next step is to flame harden and colour temper the blade edge.
The blade/shaft assembly was oil quenched after brazing, to achieve 'toughness' and some flexibility in that section, rather than outright hardness.

Close-up of a garnet blasted surface finish. This is actually my favourite Parker ballpoint pen - the blasted finish is much 'grippier' than the original polished stainless one.

Blade scabbard completed, made of some bits of used heavy leather [5mm thick, oil tanned], that I had on hand.

Blanks



Completed scabbard

Pretty snappy there Gadge, the period correct rivets set it off

Well Norm,
The rivets were a bit of a chance find really, in my accumulated leatherwork stuff - including mum's gear, that she handed on to me last year.

She doesn't have the hand strength that working with leather requires, any more. Still does a sterling job on quite fancy patchwork quilts, though!

Practical completion

Blade now flame hardened and colour tempered. Heated to harden with oxy/LPG torch; tempered with hand held Primus propane torch, as this gives finer temp control, when tempering thin sections.



Tempered to around cold chisel/axe edge hardness, so that the final edge can be touched up with a fine file, rather than requiring stoning.

The only remaining finishing steps are full length grit blasting, etch priming and painting. Followed by final grinding and honing of the blade edge.

The actual 'build' is now complete.