I would like to hear a little bit about Gary's beveling dies. Both their design and use.

I would also like to hear a bit the bottom die shown in Steve's pic.

Thanks, Justin

|quoted:

I would like to hear a little bit about Gary's beveling dies. Both their design and use.

Thanks, Justin

Justin,

My beveling dies are 2" x 2" and each is beveled so that when touching on one side there is a 3/8" gap on the other. I have found that they work best when you take small bites. If you take too large of a bite then the bottom edge of the blade will be more uneven or wavy. Also, you will need to straighten the blade on each heat as it will want to adopt a banana shape.

Gary

i bought a used press and am wanting to make some beveling dies similar to Gary's dies. I have a friend with a mill that will help me shape the dies. What I am looking for is a source for the steel to make the 2 X 2 dies out of. Appreciate any help I can get.

Thanks Gary, I will have to give that a try.

Cal, they only need to be mild so check your local steel supplier. If like me you have no such resource there are a couple online sources. I don't remember the names but a quick google search should do it. I know at least one will cut to the exact size you need. Also Uncle Al (and probably others) will make dies for you, but obviously that will cost more.

My press

The above link is a picture of my press for those of you asking about it. It is about 40 inches tall (24" ruler leaning up against it)and has an 8" X 16" foot print. My typical billets are

1 1/2" X 6" billets with 17 layers of 1/8" 1084 and .090" 15N20. The limit of my billet size is not the press, it is the opening on my forge <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//smile.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

Brian

Thank you very much for adding those photos, Brian. It makes me want to try a shorter version like yours to fit in my small "shop".

Jeremy

I want to echo Brian's comment about the limit I have is my forge opening not the press. My press weighs just under 4,000 lbs and it was custom made by a friend. It is red and yellow and very pretty. It runs pretty fast at about 35 ton and it is a C press. I also have a large two person screw press and a trip hammer. The difference for me is how fine the work. I use the screw or fly press (6 ton) for setting the ricasso and some of the plunge lines. I can control the force down to a baby tap. The big hydraulic press keeps the patterns under control and can split exceedingly well for a feather pattern. It opens up over 12 inches. The hydraulic press lets me do four ways easily in squaring dies and then keep everything even and square during the reduction (fullering) process. I do not use fullering dies in my press but go to trip hammer if the goal is to draw it out fast and I am not concerned about distortion of the pattern. I recently did a spider web for a customer and on one weld had eight pieces being welded together. The press did a great job. I preheat my dies before I put anything under the press. I have 1 inch thick stock that I use exclusively for the purpose. I heat the stock in the forge and then bring the press dies down on the heated stock so it is held tight and then turn off the press with the stock being lightly squeezed. I saw Steve Culver use stops on his press to control for depth of the press and that has been helpful. If I want the billet to be 3/8 thick I stick a piece of steel that thickness at both ends of the bottom die. Also, between welds I draw, cut into stackable pieces, grind clean each piece for proceeding to the next weld. The press with flat dies and the stops keeps the length of the drawn out billet the same thickness and saves on how much I have to grind off to clean the billet before cutting and stacking for the next weld. Even if I draw out under the trip hammer, I finish under the flat dies of the press.

I named the big new press Grendel. She is a monster but now that I have her, well .. as Bogart says in the last line of the movie, Casablanca, "Louis(Grendel), I think this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship".

Dan Petersen

see the attached picture of Grendel.

Dan P.

see the attached picture of Grendel.

Nice press, Dan!! She sure looks the part!