Making a hook(gaff)

OK making progress, with a learning curve,this is the jig I made to make the gaff. For the handle, while knurling, the tubing was getting pushed into the chuck, and I lost real estate on the handle, and it was short. I'm also learning the amount of length needed for the hook radius, this one is a bit long for shaft length, so that will be adjusted. Then the handle can be welded on. The air over pneumatic 20 ton press works awesome, but at ten tons you can hear it labor, so that's probably the max


 
Many years ago, my farrier ex asked me to make a slide rule to calculate the length of bar stock need to make a horse shoe. I designed a circular slide rule that did the calculation. She ended up making and selling them. The calculation was similar to that required for your hook.

When I am making bends in stock, I take the easy way and leave an excess length on either end. After making the required bend, I trim the ends to length. It gets a more complicated if there are multiple bends. One way is to make witness marks on the bar stock before the bend and measure where they are after the bend. From there you can get a fairly good idea of how to form the next bend.
 
Wheelwrights use traveler wheel to run around the wooden wheel to measure the distance. Then transfer that to the rectangular bar for cutting. It is also used to size the metal wheel for the final fitting. Pretty cool tool.

Traveler.JPG
 
I have one of these.
www.harborfreight.com

44 in. Telescoping Handle Compact Bender

Amazing deals on this Compact Bender at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.
www.harborfreight.com www.harborfreight.com

It will bend that 1/2 stainless like wet spaghetti. I used mine to make a 180° bend in 3/8 x 1-1/4 SS bar no sweat. It is made for doing all the fancy bending for wrought iron fence type stuff.
For your 5 inch inside bend you will need to make your own die, but that is no big deal as it appears you already have it made.

I have mine bolted in the middle of the floor with threaded anchors in the concrete, When not being used it takes to minutes to remove the 4 bolts and set the whole thing in its corner. It sets back up just as quick.
 
Thank you guys, I tried rolling the die along the shaft, and left a little too much stick out. The bars are pre cut to length, and I sharpen the point before the bending, so I don't want to sacrifice too much of the length. I'll look into the bender, if shipping isn't a killer. Is there room for a 5" die?
 
I made an 8 inch dia die for mine.

Mine is not the same brand as the HF, but Id bet it came from the same factory in china.
 
Aukai said:
I have the production part down pretty good now, the welding is a whole other matter. Working around a 1/2 piece with big guns is gonna take some practice. I tried .025 SS MIG, and TIG, both had issues.....
Click to expand...

Those look really nice. Good job.
 
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