On Monday, December 23, 2019 at 6:32:54 PM UTC-5, Jim Wilkins wrote:
wrote in message
...
...Banging out the hollows wasn't hard, but I would have needed more
practice or some instruction to shrink out the edges....
Ed Huntress

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How did you try to shrink the metal?

I used a home-made leather-faced slapper and a dolly. It was the same dolly I used over 50 years ago on steel.

I didn't anneal, but the aluminum was already pretty soft. I have used the old trick with plain acetylene to leave a layer of soot, and then burning it off with the torch. That anneals aluminum very well, but I wasn't getting the buckles out with the method I tried. It's supposed to work.

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Ed Huntress