Looking for swage block

Rob Sigafoos - Sunday, June 1, 2008 - 11:23am

Hi folks!
I am looking for a swage block with bowl dies with at least one in the 8-10" diameter range, along with several smaller bowl/ladle dies. There are some new ones for sale, and a beautiful Wally Yates matching pair on Ebay. Unfortunately, all these are well out of my price range. I though if anyone knew of one that was being used for a door stop somewhere and would be willing to part with it, I would be interested. I am certainly happy to do some finish work on them.
Rob

» Rob Sigafoos's blog | add new comment

Frank Castiglione's picture

Forming Heads

Frank Castiglione - Sunday, June 1, 2008 - 11:46am

Hi Rob,
Ron Fournier Enterprise has forming heads for sale. Google the name and you'll get his site. I'm not sure that's what ya'll are looking for though.
Frank

visitor's picture

Doorstop

visitor - Sunday, June 1, 2008 - 12:40pm

Hey Rob, I am looking for a door stop too. I have chased down a few blocks, without connecting. Instead, I have a lot of bottom tools, and I dish hot steel on the end of log. A tall one for stand alone work and a short one for bench use. The hot steel just burns the end grain as far as you need the dish to go. John Christiansen

Rob Sigafoos's picture

John- Thanks for your

Rob Sigafoos - Sunday, June 1, 2008 - 7:50pm

John-
Thanks for your suggestions. I have used some end grain stumps for this purpose, its just the smoke really gets to me after a short time. I made a cooking pot a short while ago, and I made the dome shape of the lid by laying a piece of 3/16 sheet across the open end of a large diameter pipe and starting the concavity that way (did it hot). Not perfect results, but it did look "rustic".
Rob

visitor's picture

Hi Rob, I got a Green Mengel

visitor - Sunday, June 1, 2008 - 2:26pm

Hi Rob, I got a Green Mengel B from Pieh Tool Co. to make the roses for the rose garden gate. Not sure what your budget is but I think it ran about $250 plus shipping. I love it, i find a new use for it every week(sometimes it does hold a door open). It has an 7-1/2" dia shallow bowl on the back, all sorts of cylinder and rt angle shapes on the sides and some smaller bowls and a spoon shape on the front.

Depending on what thickness of metal your working on and how many shapes your going to make, you might be able to carve out the shape in a stump or something. It will obviously get a little bigger each time you burn a bit off, but it should do the job for a few. Just a thought.

Jake

Rob Sigafoos's picture

Jake- I was looking at that

Rob Sigafoos - Sunday, June 1, 2008 - 7:54pm

Jake-
I was looking at that exact same block from Pieh. I'm glad to know that it works for you. I am probably going to order that one after all. I was actually considering having my own design cast with bearing trunions on either end. I found someone that would cast one for me for under $150.00 if I made the pattern.
Rob

visitor's picture

That sounds like a great

visitor - Monday, June 2, 2008 - 11:28am

That sounds like a great deal. Would you mind posting picts of the pattern if you go that route?

Jake

Rob Sigafoos's picture

Frank- Thanks for Ron's

Rob Sigafoos - Sunday, June 1, 2008 - 7:46pm

Frank-
Thanks for Ron's website! Excellent information there. Even though it isn't exactly what I am looking for right now, it cretainly made the bookmarks on my browser. Right now I am forming 3/16 sheet which I need to do hot, so I am probably going to go with the swedge block Jake mentioned (just hoping I could get something similar for a few less bucks).
Rob

Rich Waugh's picture

Rob, I have the Green and

Rich Waugh - Sunday, June 1, 2008 - 8:14pm

Rob,

I have the Green and Mengel swage block, too. I got mine direct from Green and Mengel when I was at Quad States a couple years ago. It was $175 at that time and it fits in a Flat Rate box and can be mailed for $9.00. Heck of a deal. Took me about four hours with a die grinder and various abrasives to get it to the degree of finish that I wanted, which isn't bad at all. Not a mirror polish, but pretty damn smooth.

If you want to get one from Mengel and Green, I probably have their card somewhere. Email me and I'l look it up for you.

Rob Sigafoos's picture

Thanks Rich- I have been

Rob Sigafoos - Monday, June 2, 2008 - 3:13pm

Thanks Rich-
I have been eying that G&M swage block for some time, just trying to use my force of concentration and physic powers to bring the price down some... That is probably the way I'll go once my head explodes.

Rob

Nathan Logsdon's picture

Hey Rob- try Laurel Machine

Nathan Logsdon - Monday, June 2, 2008 - 8:00am

Hey Rob- try Laurel Machine and foundry. I got a swage from them a few years ago and if I remember right it was about 150.00. As to a larger bowl shape I use the bottom of an oxygen bottle. It is just about perfect for sinking a bowl about 8-10 inches and has a soft lip for doing reverses.Best of all-you can get for free with a little hunting.
Good luck
Nathan

Nic East's picture

Swage Blocks

Nic East - Monday, June 2, 2008 - 10:26am

I found this link that you may find interesting;
http://www.blacksmithsjournal.com/top/

Nic East, Jim Thorpe, PA USA
Creativity begins with a novel thought.

Rob Sigafoos's picture

Hi Jim! Welcome back from

Rob Sigafoos - Monday, June 2, 2008 - 3:18pm

Hi Jim!
Welcome back from the South. Hope you had a good trip. Thanks for the link- definitely some interesting websites!
Rob

Rob Sigafoos's picture

Hi Nathan! Thanks for the

Rob Sigafoos - Monday, June 2, 2008 - 3:15pm

Hi Nathan!
Thanks for the link. I checked the LM&F website, but they didn't mention any swedge blocks. Did you have them cast one custom for you?
Rob

Ries's picture

As far as I know, Laurel

Ries - Tuesday, June 3, 2008 - 8:24am

As far as I know, Laurel stopped making anvils and swage blocks 4 or 5 years ago, and now is more a job shop and custom foundry.

I personally use a John Newman swage block- and I like it quite a bit. John is a blacksmith and machinist who posts over at the blacksmith forums, and lives up in Ontario. He is a master patternmaker, and makes a variety of cast iron stuff for blacksmiths, which is sold in the USA through the Kaynes- www.blacksmithsdepot.com
He makes several swage blocks.
I have used mine to make raised forms in thicker steel and stainless, and it works well.
One thing to remember- you do not need a bowl sized for every size dish you want to make- in fact, you usually want a much shallower bowl than you would think.
I have made a couple of donut stakes- this is a circle, made from 3/4" or 1" round, maybe 6" or 8" ID, with a yoke underneath it that holds it horizontal and lets you hold it in a vise or a hardy hole in an anvil. So you only make, and use, the part you need the most- the circular rim. And it actually works better in round bar anyway, as with a swage block you need to grind the heck out of it to get the same amount of nice radius on the edges.

Easier, though, and what I use these days for raising dish shapes in thicker stuff often, is a homemade swage die for the power hammer- the bottom die is a piece of 2 1/2" round I ground into a slight dome shape, and the top die was formed hot to match on the hammer. It allows you to power hammer domes easily. If I did a lot, I would probably make more of these in various sizes and radiuses- I didnt even use a good steel, as I always use it hot anyway, but I am sure it would work better if made from one of Rich's axles.

visitor's picture

Hi Ries! Many thanks for

visitor - Tuesday, June 3, 2008 - 8:29am

Hi Ries!
Many thanks for these thoughts! I realy like the power hammer idea- anything to save my ageing body. Any chance you could post a picture or two of your dies that you use in the power hammer?
Thanks!
Rob

Rob Sigafoos's picture

Ries- Thanks for the

Rob Sigafoos - Tuesday, June 3, 2008 - 2:40pm

Ries-
Thanks for the information. Your hammer dies sound really great. Any chance you could post a couple of pictures?
Rob

Rich Waugh's picture

For smaller stuff, up to

Rich Waugh - Wednesday, June 4, 2008 - 1:47am

For smaller stuff, up to about 3-1/4"" diameter dies, I have a set of doming punches and dies that I got from Rio Grande, I believe. They're made by Pepe and ae done by CNC machining and are just about perfect and highly polished. The shanks on the punches are a size suitable to be adapted for use in my fly press and the dies are suitable for use either on the fly press or the power hammer. I've been meaning to make some top punches for the power hammer by sinking them into the dies as Ries suggested, but haven't yet needed them so it hasn't gotten done.