Can I use raw oak to make soft-metal forming blocks ?

Jman · Joined: 26 Feb 2008 Posts: 2

I'm not much of a carpenter but I need some advice as to what I can do
with some free wood I acquired this winter.

The Raw Oak (the free wood) is 6 inches wide by six inches deep and
these boards are approximately 8 to 10 feet long. I have about 20 of
them left. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I could 'make'
so that I might be able to turn some of this oak into dapping blocks
and forming blocks so that I can pound the hell out of some metal
cutouts ? (Could this kind of wood be used in a small press ?)

The metals I am working with is copper, brass and Stainless steel. At
present, most of the copper and brass is between 20 and 8 ounce, while
the stainless is 22 and 26 gauge. Now out of this metal, I have a few
hundred cutouts, most of which are round, oval and of similar
geometric shape. The dimensions of these 'cutouts' would be
approximately 1 to 3 inches across, with some irregular S.S. shapes in
the 4 or 5 inch range.

Many of the circle and oval cutouts would need to be domed (similar to
an old chrome hubcap) but anything that might make a really cool shape
would be even better !

Any suggestions as to how I should go about this and what kind of
tools would be required, would be very much appreciated.

Thanks,

/FC

Archived from group: rec>woodworking

Fred the Red Shirt · Joined: 15 Nov 2007 Posts: 82

On Feb 26, 12:19 am, Jman wrote:
> I'm not much of a carpenter but I need some advice as to what I can do
> with some free wood I acquired this winter.
>
> The Raw Oak (the free wood) is 6 inches wide by six inches deep and
> these boards are approximately 8 to 10 feet long. I have about 20 of
> them left. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I could 'make'
> so that I might be able to turn some of this oak into dapping blocks
> and forming blocks so that I can pound the hell out of some metal
> cutouts ? (Could this kind of wood be used in a small press ?)
>
> The metals I am working with is copper, brass and Stainless steel. At
> present, most of the copper and brass is between 20 and 8 ounce, while
> the stainless is 22 and 26 gauge. Now out of this metal, I have a few
> hundred cutouts, most of which are round, oval and of similar
> geometric shape. The dimensions of these 'cutouts' would be
> approximately 1 to 3 inches across, with some irregular S.S. shapes in
> the 4 or 5 inch range.
>
> Many of the circle and oval cutouts would need to be domed (similar to
> an old chrome hubcap) but anything that might make a really cool shape
> would be even better !
>
> Any suggestions as to how I should go about this and what kind of
> tools would be required, would be very much appreciated.
>

Hickory is one of the preferred woods for forming
blocks as it is hard and tough. tough means it
doesn't split quite so readily as some others,
notably red oak.

White Oak and especially live or willow oak are
tough woods too. If that is what you have, it should
work well for you.

Here is how you can tell if it is red oak:

Cut off a straight grained board about 2" by 2"
by 6 - 8" long. Put one end in a glass of
water and blow on the other end. If it
is red oak, bubble will come out the other
end. Red oak is porous. White oak is not.

I don't know if live or willow oaks are porous,
some folks group them with the red oaks
and others group the separately. Oaks
also readily hybridize in the wild so a
particular tree may quite have all of the
characteristics of a specific species of oak.

To make forming blocks you will need a
bandsaw or a hand saw called a turning
saw and a LOT of elbow grease. A router
with roundover bits will be very helpful for
shaping the edges to the desired radii.

Depending on the shape, and how hard
you whack it, even red oak might be OK
for your purposes if you pay careful attention
to the grain direction.

If you decide the beams you have are not
suitable, you should able to trade them
for white oak, hickory or ash. Ash is also
hard and resists splitting.

--

FF

Jman · Joined: 26 Feb 2008 Posts: 2

On Feb 26, 3:02 pm, Fred the Red Shirt
wrote:
> On Feb 26, 12:19 am, Jman wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > I'm not much of a carpenter but I need some advice as to what I can do
> > with some free wood I acquired this winter.
>
> > The Raw Oak (the free wood) is 6 inches wide by six inches deep and
> > these boards are approximately 8 to 10 feet long. I have about 20 of
> > them left. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I could 'make'
> > so that I might be able to turn some of this oak into dapping blocks
> > and forming blocks so that I can pound the hell out of some metal
> > cutouts ? (Could this kind of wood be used in a small press ?)
>
> > The metals I am working with is copper, brass and Stainless steel. At
> > present, most of the copper and brass is between 20 and 8 ounce, while
> > the stainless is 22 and 26 gauge. Now out of this metal, I have a few
> > hundred cutouts, most of which are round, oval and of similar
> > geometric shape. The dimensions of these 'cutouts' would be
> > approximately 1 to 3 inches across, with some irregular S.S. shapes in
> > the 4 or 5 inch range.
>
> > Many of the circle and oval cutouts would need to be domed (similar to
> > an old chrome hubcap) but anything that might make a really cool shape
> > would be even better !
>
> > Any suggestions as to how I should go about this and what kind of
> > tools would be required, would be very much appreciated.
>
> Hickory is one of the preferred woods for forming
> blocks as it is hard and tough. tough means it
> doesn't split quite so readily as some others,
> notably red oak.
>
> White Oak and especially live or willow oak are
> tough woods too. If that is what you have, it should
> work well for you.
>
> Here is how you can tell if it is red oak:
>
> Cut off a straight grained board about 2" by 2"
> by 6 - 8" long. Put one end in a glass of
> water and blow on the other end. If it
> is red oak, bubble will come out the other
> end. Red oak is porous. White oak is not.
>
> I don't know if live or willow oaks are porous,
> some folks group them with the red oaks
> and others group the separately. Oaks
> also readily hybridize in the wild so a
> particular tree may quite have all of the
> characteristics of a specific species of oak.
>
> To make forming blocks you will need a
> bandsaw or a hand saw called a turning
> saw and a LOT of elbow grease. A router
> with roundover bits will be very helpful for
> shaping the edges to the desired radii.
>
> Depending on the shape, and how hard
> you whack it, even red oak might be OK
> for your purposes if you pay careful attention
> to the grain direction.
>
> If you decide the beams you have are not
> suitable, you should able to trade them
> for white oak, hickory or ash. Ash is also
> hard and resists splitting.
>
> --
>
> FF- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Hey thanks Fred !

I had no idea there was so much to wood ! Thanks for the info....
I'm going to try that little trick with the water... I think my
grandpa will get a kick outta that !
I'll check out some of the tools of which you speak and give er' a
go. Thanks for the great advice....

/Jman...

Metal Spinning Tools - What and How To Make? Slowly...ever so slowly...I am getting a metal spinning setup together. One of the areas that I need to accumulate more is for the metal spinning tools that one uses with the lathe. Any suggestions, links and PICTURES of how to make metal spinning tools?

INSPIRATION - Toy Wood Blocks OK, but I'd add some columns out of 1" or so dowel stock, 3 to 6" long. I'd make sure no pieces were small enough to choke a small kid; and if any kids young enough to chew on them, I'd make sure it would be a

WOODEN BANDSAW GUIDE BLOCKS This has obviously been discussed here before. However, I never tried it. But I've not been thrilled with my present metal guide blocks for a bit and decided to give wooden guide blocks a t

New North Houston/Woodlands, Texas Area AAW Club Forming... Hello to the group, I'm spearheading an effort to start a new American Association of Woodturners club in the North Texas area. The "Lone Star Woodturners Association" will have a formation meeting later this month, on January 26th at 1

soft logs i am looking for 10.000 m3 softlogs