What did you do to prepare today?

thehippychippy wrote: »

I got a lead ball mold last week, makes 8 12mm balls per pour. Though I do have an absolute **** load of old lead colleroes from jobs over the last few months. Spent two and a half hours the other night melting lead and making shot. Made about 200 balls then came to my sences, unless we get invaded now, like right now, I'll not run out. And still have a load of old lead left too!!

You weren't making more than you needed you were just "honing your skills"

Same type of mould alright. I don't do anything with the slot for the wire. When I pour the lead in, the balls come out connected, like the old airfix kits. Just snip the lead balls off and stick the off cuts back in the liquid lead. I can stick up a few photos in the next day or two if ya like
Great excuse to make more ammo :-)

this is my, fairly primative, set up for making lead ammo for the catapult

I think the pics are fairly self-explanatory, but, I cut the lead into about 20mm squared pieces. Heat them in a stainless steel ladle (from the 2 euro shop) over an old lidl camping stove. There tends to be a lot of dross on top from the impurities in the lead which you can take out with a spoon or stick. I hold the moulds together with a clamp, then pour the lead in trying to keep as fluid a pour as possible. the first pour warms up the mould, and if the balls aren't perfect, just put them back in the ladle!!
After a minute (actually less), the lead in the mould is hard as, well, lead! Cut of the bits as close to the ball as possible and put the bits back in the ladle and hey presto, you've got ammo!! Don't worry if the balls have a few edges from the snips on them, they don't have to be perfect. Out of a piece of lead flashing around 6" x 4" and 1/8" thick, I got 24 lead balls. The last pic is my back up ammo store. I've about 50 more balls in my ammo bag with my catapult.
Hope this helps.

Thanks a million for that Chippy!
Never thought of melting in a ladle, was looking for a cast iron vessel to melt in and scoop out of...

I got my moulds from ronnie sunshines on the Bay. Same as these ones.


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BALL-LEAD-SINKER-MOULD-FISHING-WEIGHT-MOULDS-/330828892935?pt=UK_SportingGoods_FishingAcces_RL&var=&hash=item4d06f04b07


I have seen a lad on youtube making practice ammo out of modeling clay, rolled into a ball in the hands and left out to dry. Hard and roughly the same size and weight as each other, breaks in a puff of dust.

Bought a machete, nice one too

aaakev wrote: »

Bought a machete, nice one too

How do you find the grip on the handle I was looking to get on a couple of years ago but the handle turned me off so picked up one of these instead (the one in the middle)

DSCF0354.JPG

A second cut file or a coarse stone are good for touching up machete.

I like the size of the paratrooper machete, but I would consider using rubber shrink tube/inner tube/grip tape on the handle to save the blisters.

If you'd like I could put a sharp convex edge on it with a slack belt grinder, very sharp but durable.

Shadowfox, how do you like the Dark Ops knife? Looks a lot like an extrema ratio.

Deise Musashi wrote: »

A second cut file or a coarse stone are good for touching up machete.

I like the size of the paratrooper machete, but I would consider using rubber shrink tube/inner tube/grip tape on the handle to save the blisters.

If you'd like I could put a sharp convex edge on it with a slack belt grinder, very sharp but durable.

Shadowfox, how do you like the Dark Ops knife? Looks a lot like an extrema ratio.

Ill defo take ya up on that dude if ya dont mind, ill send it down withe the young lad from work again some weekend!

Put it through its passes today, was clearing trees and rubbish with the oul lad in his house so decided to use it in place of the chain saw for a while, i managed to cut a tree down out the back with it that was about 18-20 inches in diamiter and trimed all the branches off it too, used it on a loan of other stuff too just to give it a hard days work and it held an edge very well imo for the abuse it took. The handle was a bit of a problem, no blisters but it slipped around a small bit the odd time so will defo look at the rubber tube around it like you said because i think it will help.

For anyone thinkin of getting one id recomend it, im gonna get another one to have and keep using this one. Very impressed and defo a good buy

Lansky do a good job, did you get the stones or diamond plates?

The main thing with the Lansky is to get the guide rod level with the stone, may take a little bending. Let the abrasive do the work, use just enough pressure to make solid contact with the edge.

Some blades can be awkward to clamp (full flat grind where there's no flats) but a bit of leather can help. On longer blades you might need to clamp in a couple of spots and blend the transitions into each other.

Also handy to use one as a handheld stone for touch ups in the field, or on machetes and axes.

Well wear lad, a sharp edge is a safer edge :eek:

Handy tutorial here

http://edcforums.com/threads/some-lansky-sharpener-tips-warning-pic-heavy.98802/

I can see this escalating as the degree markings are 17 ish 20 ish 25 ish and 30 ish I already want to remove the ish from the process

Oh it's a slippery slope down the rabbit hole!

You could start by using an appropriate rod guide on an adjustable post, something like this.



It's an RBC Heim HM4, which is a "precision spherical joint."

I feel your pain! Have a look at some of these, other poor addicts have tried to ease the itching!



Homemade Wicked Edge type sharpener

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/873219-My-Sharpening-Rig-Inspired-by-WickedEdge-and-ApexPro-Pict-Heavy



Edge Pro style





Lansky Type



Knock Off Edge Pro Apex



Angle Cube (I use one of these)



Lansky leather stropping hone for final finishing




Best of luck with it buddy!

Eric.

I am helping!

I didn't post links to the Edge Pro Pro model



http://www.edgeproinc.com/Professional-Model-Edge-Pro-System/Pro-3-kit-p10.html

the Wicked Edge



http://www.wickededgeusa.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=467&category_id=72&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=93

Or the aftermarket add on stones and stropping pastes from Chefknivestogo.com Nanocloth strops anyone?

http://www.chefknivestogo.com/edgepro.html

http://www.chefknivestogo.com/wickededge.html

http://www.chefknivestogo.com/kenscorner.html

If you do nothing else, try stropping on some leather with a bit of Flitz or Autosol rubbed into it! Really nice finishing touch.



P.S. Hide your wallet...