Had my best week at the anvil in 3 years

Last week I finished 6 fire pokers in 5 days which is way faster than my usual pace. I switched to using a jig I made out of some scrap angle iron from the old barn on my property in rural Oregon. It cut my bending time almost in half and I didn't mess up a single twist. Has anyone else tried building simple jigs for repetitive work like this?

2 comments

2 Comments

betty_palmer14d ago

That angle iron jig sounds like a real time saver. I had a similar experience a couple years back when I was making a bunch of those old-timey fireplace tool sets for a local historical society. I threw together a simple bending jig from a piece of 2x4 and a couple bolts I had lying around after a rusty old tractor project. It let me crank out ten sets in a week instead of my usual three. Those little homemade helpers really do cut the frustration down to almost nothing.

the_charles14d ago

Made my first jig out of a coat hanger and some anger. Worked about as well as you'd expect.