I am getting into woodworking and I would like to make some of my own tools.

Could any of you gentlemen tell me if it is feasable to try to grind or mill a
groove in 4142 steel with a 16 inch drillpress? If so, what kind of cooling
fluid would I need? Or would it be easier to grind the groove with a angle
grinder in some sort of holding jig?

Any suggestions or help will be appreciated!!!!!!

TIA
Jim

"Jamrelliot" wrote in message
...
I am getting into woodworking and I would like to make some of my own
tools.

Could any of you gentlemen tell me if it is feasable to try to grind or
mill a
groove in 4142 steel with a 16 inch drillpress? If so, what kind of
cooling
fluid would I need? Or would it be easier to grind the groove with a angle
grinder in some sort of holding jig?

Any suggestions or help will be appreciated!!!!!!

TIA
Jim

I'm inclined to suggest the making the groove with a drill press is an
insane idea, but perhaps you can be a little more specific. Certainly,
anything is possible, but the typical drill press is not well suited to
loads that are applied to the side of the spindle. One of the "benefits"
of doing so is the chuck dropping off when under load. I can see where that
could be rather intimidating, depending on the circumstances at hand.

Harold

"Jamrelliot" wrote in message
...
I am getting into woodworking and I would like to make some of my own
tools.

Could any of you gentlemen tell me if it is feasable to try to grind or
mill a
groove in 4142 steel with a 16 inch drillpress? If so, what kind of
cooling
fluid would I need? Or would it be easier to grind the groove with a angle
grinder in some sort of holding jig?

Any suggestions or help will be appreciated!!!!!!

TIA
Jim

If you're trying to make a gouge, there are better ways to do it. If you're
at all serious about it, there was a book published back in the '70s that
was all about making carving tools, and it was written for the beginner.

The title is _The Making Of Tools_, by Alexander G. Weygers. I've seen it in
libraries; Amazon claims to have a few copies, probably used, and the price
is less than $10.

It will tell you how to choose a useful steel for the job; how to shape it;
how to heat-treat it; how to affix handles and how to sharpen it. A good
book. I'm critical about how-to books in general, and especially about books
that purport to teach you how to heat-treat a piece of steel with a torch,
but this one is the real thing.

--
Ed Huntress
(remove "3" from email address for email reply)

Ed Huntress wrote:

"Jamrelliot" wrote in message
...
I am getting into woodworking and I would like to make some of my own
tools.

Could any of you gentlemen tell me if it is feasable to try to grind or
mill a
groove in 4142 steel with a 16 inch drillpress? If so, what kind of
cooling
fluid would I need? Or would it be easier to grind the groove with a angle
grinder in some sort of holding jig?

Any suggestions or help will be appreciated!!!!!!

TIA
Jim

If you're trying to make a gouge, there are better ways to do it. If you're
at all serious about it, there was a book published back in the '70s that
was all about making carving tools, and it was written for the beginner.

The title is _The Making Of Tools_, by Alexander G. Weygers. I've seen it in
libraries; Amazon claims to have a few copies, probably used, and the price
is less than $10.

It will tell you how to choose a useful steel for the job; how to shape it;
how to heat-treat it; how to affix handles and how to sharpen it. A good
book. I'm critical about how-to books in general, and especially about books
that purport to teach you how to heat-treat a piece of steel with a torch,
but this one is the real thing.

--
Ed Huntress
(remove "3" from email address for email reply)

I recall being told that that was one of a couple books grafted
together into the book "The Complete Modern Blacksmith"

On checking my bookshelf, the first section (pages 7 thru 92) are
labeled "The Making of Tools"

Available from Lee Valley Tools, among others.

Cheers
Trevor Jones

Greetings and Salutations.

On Wed, 5 Nov 2003 20:40:22 -0800, "Harold & Susan Vordos"
wrote:


"Jamrelliot" wrote in message
...
I am getting into woodworking and I would like to make some of my own
tools.

Could any of you gentlemen tell me if it is feasable to try to grind or
mill a
groove in 4142 steel with a 16 inch drillpress? If so, what kind of
cooling
fluid would I need? Or would it be easier to grind the groove with a angle
grinder in some sort of holding jig?

Any suggestions or help will be appreciated!!!!!!

TIA
Jim

I'm inclined to suggest the making the groove with a drill press is an
insane idea, but perhaps you can be a little more specific. Certainly,
anything is possible, but the typical drill press is not well suited to
loads that are applied to the side of the spindle. One of the "benefits"
of doing so is the chuck dropping off when under load. I can see where that
could be rather intimidating, depending on the circumstances at hand.

Harold


And, as a matter of fact, we got to see that exact thing
happening to Mikey at Orange County Choppers while drilling holes
for (I think) mounting the handlebars of his bike on the show
earlier this week. He got into some serious vibration, and, when he
released pressure on the drill, it dropped right out of the spindle.
Pretty funny.
Regards
dave mundt

In article , Dave Mundt says...

And, as a matter of fact, we got to see that exact thing
happening to Mikey at Orange County Choppers while drilling holes
for (I think) mounting the handlebars of his bike on the show
earlier this week. He got into some serious vibration, and, when he
released pressure on the drill, it dropped right out of the spindle.

Maybe the drill press realized it was working in
a harley davidson shop, and that it was mandatory
to shed parts at given intervals....!

:^)

Jim

==================================================
please reply to:
JRR(zero) at yktvmv (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com
==================================================

Good one Jim! Kinda reminds me of the Harley conversion kit for Jap bikes.
It'd make them puke out a pint of oil every time you stopped.

BS


"jim rozen" wrote in message
...
In article , Dave Mundt
says...

And, as a matter of fact, we got to see that exact thing
happening to Mikey at Orange County Choppers while drilling holes
for (I think) mounting the handlebars of his bike on the show
earlier this week. He got into some serious vibration, and, when he
released pressure on the drill, it dropped right out of the spindle.

Maybe the drill press realized it was working in
a harley davidson shop, and that it was mandatory
to shed parts at given intervals....!

:^)

Jim

==================================================
please reply to:
JRR(zero) at yktvmv (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com
==================================================

"Trevor Jones" wrote in message
...

The title is _The Making Of Tools_, by Alexander G. Weygers. I've seen
it in
libraries; Amazon claims to have a few copies, probably used, and the
price
is less than $10.

I recall being told that that was one of a couple books grafted
together into the book "The Complete Modern Blacksmith"

On checking my bookshelf, the first section (pages 7 thru 92) are
labeled "The Making of Tools"

Available from Lee Valley Tools, among others.

Cheers
Trevor Jones

Very possible. Same author, and I've heard a couple of people recommend the
blacksmith book. It's also available from Amazon, etc.

Ed Huntress

(Jamrelliot) wrote in message ...
I am getting into woodworking and I would like to make some of my own tools.

Could any of you gentlemen tell me if it is feasable to try to grind or mill a
groove in 4142 steel with a 16 inch drillpress? If so, what kind of cooling
fluid would I need? Or would it be easier to grind the groove with a angle
grinder in some sort of holding jig?

Any suggestions or help will be appreciated!!!!!!

TIA
Jim

Forget milling in the drill press, the thing just isn't designed to do
it. What you can do is to chain drill a bunch of blind holes to
remove the material and then go back with a cape chisel to remove the
webs, finish up with some sort of grinder, it'll be as precision as
you are.

If you're making a gouge or cutting tool and not a jig, it's probably
better to get geared up for a little blacksmithing. The Weygers book
mentioned by the other posters is good, if dated. I've also got a thin
volume called the $50 Knife Shop which has a bunch of ideas on
low-cost shop-made smithing equipment including belt grinders,
Junkyard Wars meets the would-be bladesmith. It's a collection of
columns from Blade magazine by Wayne Goddard. Some of the "theory" he
presents is pretty hokey, but the basic tooling ideas are sound. I'd
make hand woodworking cutting tools from O-1, it's really easy to work
in the annealed state and hardens well, even with less-than-optimum
equipment, if you follow the instructions. Don't buy O-1 if it
doesn't come with heat-treat instructions, either wrapped in them or
in the catalog.

Stan

Stan Schaefer wrote:

make hand woodworking cutting tools from O-1, it's really easy to work
in the annealed state and hardens well, even with less-than-optimum
equipment, if you follow the instructions.

I have made many tools from OCS (Old Chevy Spring). Doesn't have to be
Chevy, rally but old leaf or coil springs can be annealed and worked and
oil hardened and tempered.

Ted

On Wed, 05 Nov 2003 22:49:18 -0700, Trevor Jones
wrote:

The title is _The Making Of Tools_, by Alexander G. Weygers. I've seen it in
libraries; Amazon claims to have a few copies, probably used, and the price
is less than $10.

It will tell you how to choose a useful steel for the job; how to shape it;
how to heat-treat it; how to affix handles and how to sharpen it.

I recall being told that that was one of a couple books grafted
together into the book "The Complete Modern Blacksmith"

"The Complete Modern Blacksmith" will _not_ tell you how to heat treat
tools. It's one of the worst books I've ever been fool enough to buy,
it has almost no smithing in it, and the section on heat treatment is
inaccurate rubbish.


If you are making WW tools, the Intermediate Technology people
(Schumacher's lot) have a book or two on how to do this, from found
materials, and with minimal equipment.

--
Die Gotterspammerung - Junkmail of the Gods