The Demonstrator For The
2007 Fall MEET Was
Ralph Sproul
If you needed some inspiration regarding your shop set-up, tooling or problem solving then the Fall demonstrator Ralph Sproul was the man to see. Ralph and his approach to his work are: practical, thoughtful, thorough, capable. His work is intelligently designed and extremely well made. In a career that has spanned 46 years his projects have ranged from custom railings to automatic sawmills, heavy equipment repair, diesel mechanics, and machinery alteration. An excellent blacksmith, his specialty is building equipment for the blacksmith shop as well as rigging, millwright & set up.
Ralph is an experienced teacher and has also led workshops around the country where participants went home with their own treadle hammer, power hammer tooling, dies, gas forges, air hammers, smithing magicians, coal forges, and more.
Forged & Fabricated tools:
How they apply to getting the job done.
Ralph's demo included: welding, torching, clamping, jigs & fixtures, power hammer dies, low profile tooling, fixtures & die tooling for power hammers.
Known for building/rebuilding tools and machines, Ralph will ran thru some basics of machine building, shop flow and and set up. He has built 9 air hammers, two hydraulic forging presses, and a gas forge of his own design. Ralph discussed how to approach these projects for your own shop as well as improve the production and approach of work in your metal shop. He gave information and showed how to advance some of your welding skills, cutting abilities and showed different approachs to making the tools to get your work done faster & easier.
He also covered some installation tips and techniques, the highlights of a sconce lighting project that covered tooling, some UL wiring pointers, and the making of custom glass lenses with steel molds and slump trays. Light machining and hydraulics were also discussed as they assist in machinery and forge work/design.
For Friday evening Ralph had several slide shows covering his background, shop tooling pictures, installations he's done with other blacksmiths, interesting projects, as well as a good overview on installations - what to consider and how to think about building your work to make it fit.
This was a great information packed weekend with a demonstrator who was willing to share a large variety of knowledge.
The photos are courtesy of Larry Brown and Roger Dixon
Ralph Sproul
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"V" grip vise grips |
Movable mount propane burner
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Ralph with forged pipe |
Power hammer tools
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Angle iron cutting guide |
Tubing cutting guide
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Pipe marking tool |
Spreading leaf
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Partially fullered leaf |
Spread leaf
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Veining tool |
Ball making tool
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Champhering jig |
Jig in use
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Resultiing champhers |
Bending jig with 2 radii
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Pipe ball forging |
Adjustable saw horse
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Ralphs power hammer made
for working with tooling
under hammer |
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