My New Demo Shop Trailer

[harry strasil]

I traded up for a new demo shop trailer, its a foot wider and taller so I can stand up in it, and has a side door.

A look in the back doors.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/wood/newtrlr1.jpg

The brackets I forged for lumber storage.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/wood/newtrlr2.jpg

A view inside the front.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/wood/newtrlr3.jpg

A view thru the side door.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/wood/newtrlr4.jpg

[Alan DuBoff]

Very nice, I especially like those brackets your forged, nicely done!:)

[Tyler Howell]

Way Cool.
When's your show coming to the midwest.:cool:

[Al Navas]

That is a neat setup! LOML has been wanting a similar setup. I have a feeling that it will get higher priority now.

Thanks for sharing.


Al

[harry strasil]

I have just agreed to demo for Homestead National Monument just west of Beatrice, Ne on June 17 and 18. If anyone is close and wants to come and play or just watch you will be welcome. There is no admission fee and lots of activities going on for their Homestead Days Celebration.

[Mike Wenzloff]

A very nice set up, Harry!

I only wish I could travel to both meet you and watch [or help out] your demonstration. What a blast that would be!

Take care, Mike

[Alan DuBoff]

Harry,

Question for you. How do you lift the trailer to move it? Is there jacks on the side of the trailer that allow it to be lifted, or how does that work?

Do you setup a forge when you do these shows? The brackets looks exceptionally well done, and I know that forging is not easy work, so it appears that you've been doing that for a while to get those brackets so clean.

Great setup for shows, no doubt, and not a bad setup at all that some folks would love to have in their yard!;-)

[harry strasil]

Alan, the 6 by 10 foot trailer is just to store and transport the woodworking tools, a 2 wheel cart is used to move the toolboxes and bench around instead of carrying them. There are two stands to set the 3 tool boxes on that come apart or collapse for storage. The table also comes apart for storage. Most of these are thru mortise and tenon with small wedges to hold them together.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/wood/worktable.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/wood/cart.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/wood/boxstnd.jpg

And NO I don't set up Blacksmithing tools when I am doing Woodworking demos. I am a 3rd generation Blacksmith and that is my profession, I have been smithing for 55+ years and own/operate a one man Blacksmith, Welding and machine shop.

I also do Blacksmith Demonstrations using just forge, bellows, hammer and Anvil etc. also.

Hand Tool Woodworking is just my hobby and my way of preserving and informing the public of the way Woodworking was done in years past.

I was trained as a Tin Smith in the Navy Seabees, and also have done a stint as a construction electrician and I am a half-fast mason of sorts and have done a couple of stints as a carpenter over the years.

I know just enough about a lot of things to be dangerous. LOL

a couple pictures of the tools when set up at a steam show.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/wood/setup1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/wood/setup2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/wood/sawrack2.jpg

[Alan DuBoff]

Harry,

Great use of m&t for breakdown. My understanding is that this was done quite often in the old days to create furniture that could be shipped on trains for instance. Seems that Gustav Stickley did that when the arts & crafts movement was taking place around the turn of the century (the previous turn of course;-).

Not trying to hijack your thread, so maybe should take this to PM possibly, but was curious about having tool hooks forged that could hang tools on the wall. I've seen forged hooks with a small tang on them to use for hanging on the wall, and have thought about several variations of such. Is that something which you can forge? I'll shoot you a PM, but feel free to shoot me one also.

[harry strasil]

Alan, I think what you are referring to are called beam hooks, I have a female doctor that I made a bunch for as she has exposed beams in her new house.

picture of a beam hook.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/smithing/beamhook09.jpg

some people prefer this style of hook.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/smithing/wh017.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/smithing/wh018.jpg

[harry strasil]

Alan, this is the blueprint I made on making a beam hook if you are interested.

http://www.iforgeiron.com/Blueprints01/BP0136BeamHook/BP0136.shtml

[Alan DuBoff]

Alan, this is the blueprint I made on making a beam hook if you are interested.

http://www.iforgeiron.com/Blueprints01/BP0136BeamHook/BP0136.shtmlHarry,...that article is way cool. I'll follow up in PM.

Yes, I was thinking a beam hook, but the others with the screw could work out better possibly in my space. I need to ponder...

[Alan DuBoff]

Harry,

One other question. Have you made steam trays for bending wood? I've seen some out of copper that were nice. Like for shaker boxes.

[Scott Pearson]

Cool, nice to hear that you will be at Homestead National Monument. My wife is the planner for that park and we have been looking for a reason to go down as a family and this looks like a good reason.

What are you going to be doing at your demo's?

Scott

[harry strasil]

Hand tool ww'ing, mostly they just want you to talk to people and answer questions, I usually do some hand dovetailing and some planing etc.

I don't try to do anything particular or fancy, too many interruptions to break your concentration.

Come on down and play, just introduce yourself and say you are a neanderthal. LOL

[harry strasil]

Alan, the shaker box makers I have seen soak their material in hot water.

Personally, I have a 6 inch pipe 6ft long insulated on the outside with a door on one end and use a hot plate and a small boiling pot on the other, with a rubber heater hose entering the bottom of the big pipe so the condensation runs back into the pot, there is a rack on the inside that can be pulled out with the steamed material laying on the rack off the bottom of the steamer container.

And I have no access to copper sheet here.

[Alan DuBoff]

Alan, the shaker box makers I have seen soak their material in hot water.Harry, yeah actually I guess they fill those copper trays with water...duh! My bad...

I've seem some steam boxes similar to what you describe. Yours sounds convenient with the pull-out rack.

BTW, a colleague mentioned Alex Weygers book(s), which are in reprint...have you read them before? Do you reccomend them?

[Alan DuBoff]

Alan, this is the blueprint I made on making a beam hook if you are interested.

http://www.iforgeiron.com/Blueprints01/BP0136BeamHook/BP0136.shtmlHarry,

Seeing your link to this post reminded me that...I'm finally getting around to revisit the hooks, made my first one this past weekend at the BAG-A-THON for the Bay Area Galoots. One of the guys brought a little micro-forge which we setup, but I'm hoping to get a small coal forge setup at home soon.

I just got a small one with a blower that I need to pickup. The blower is a Champion 400, I read that was the largest of the Champion blowers and that they're too powerful for some work, is that true? There seems to be quite a number of them around. Since it's hand crank, it seems you should be able to control the amount of air by cranking it less and/or slower.

I had a couple questions about your blueprint, but think I'll post over on iforgeiron, I'm not sure anyone is really interested in blacksmithing around here besides you and Dave Burnard.

[harry strasil]

Alan, Champion 400 refers to the gearbox, I have seen the 400 with from an 8 inch to a 16 inch or so fan. And you have the cranking down pat, that's why a hand crank blower is so well liked, and it saves fuel too as when you leave the forge for the anvil, it quits running. Be warned tho that some times gases build up in the pipe from the blower to the firepot and when you start turning the blower the gases will be forced into the fire and the resulting minor explosion can make you do a childish thing the first couple of times.

[Randal Stevenson]

As I am newer to this forum then this post, when I saw it today I had to laugh. Shouldn't this be in a covered wagon. LOL

Off to work.

[harry strasil]

Randal, that was one of my dreams that will never happen due to circumstances, mainly my health and lack of funds.

I would love to have a semi with the ability to haul 2 wagons and a 6 up team of mules. One wagon pulled behind the other, one for the shop and one for living quarters. It was common for an itinerate craftsman to have this set up, and to park the two wagons side by side with a space between, lift the top of the living quarters wagon and tie it to the shop wagon like an awning for proctection, and do the shop wagon the same way with the awning toward the other side for a covered space to work under.

Training a good 6 up team would be the main obstacle besides the monetary problem. If you stop and think about a 6 horse hitch on a stage coach barrelling thru a narrow town street, the man with the ribbons (reins) has to manipulate the ribbons between his fingers to get the lead team and the wheel team to respond to his wishes when going around tight corners.

It is fascinating to me to see a team of 40 horses controlled by one man, making them perform as he wants them too, in an old time circus parade of old circus wagons. Talk about a handfull. This happens at Baraboo,Wisconsin every year and is sometimes televised.

Teamster and his team, the original remote control. LOL

[Alan DuBoff]

Be warned tho that some times gases build up in the pipe from the blower to the firepot and when you start turning the blower the gases will be forced into the fire and the resulting minor explosion can make you do a childish thing the first couple of times.Are we talking about a LARGE explosion, or just a startling pop? :rolleyes:

Since I don't have many smithy tools yet, I'm not in the best setup yet. Have been pondering building a brick forge in the backyard, one that I could hook the blower up to.

I have a retaining wall that is almost 3 feet high, was thinking about trying to leverage that to build a forge on top. I can flatten the dirt to create an area for it. Thought I could build it up and have a duct going from the blower over the top of the retaining wall, with the forge on top of that. I don't know yet. It's taken one of my friend's 2 years to get comfortable with his smithy, and it was slow going in the beginning he told me.

I saw that ABANA doesn't allow anvil shoots at their events...that's a shame, I'd love to attend one. If you hear of one on the west coast, let me know.

[harry strasil]

from a small pop like a balloon breaking to almost like a shotgun going off next to you. Alan

[Doug Littlejohn]

Harry ?, what's the inclined bench/table in the last picture in the second set you posted above?

I'm sure I should recognize it but it is not something I have seen before.

As always, it's a pleasure following your posts, I also learn new stuff from you.

TIA,
Sherwood

[harry strasil]

My version of a Jointer, I have a bad back so its not low to the ground like a Coopers Jointer, and it has a right angle fence, its 5 foot long, made of burr oak and 5 inches wide with a blade made from a truck spring.