The question was asked in regards to Kent's earlier threads.
Let me render an in-expert opinion, please add your comments.
1/ Quantity. There were more early Fords out there than almost all others combined.
2/ More Fords were worked on at home, therefore Fords in pieces would even more common than other cars based on percentages.
3/ Montgomery Wards, Sears and everyone else that sold conversion kits to convert Fords into tractors. The key change was "Ta Dah" at the rear axle. The standard rear axle was not designed for that rugged a use, so many had to be replaced over the years.
BTW, one of my earliest delights was standing on the drawbar, holding on to the fenders, of my grandmother's Model T conversion tractor. We would drive around the farm from rasberry patch to rasberry patch. I don't know why, but I never ever could fill a bucket no matter how purple my face was. Hers was always full, go figure.
Paul in PA
I've thought that the reason there were so many Model T axles available was that the alloy used in the early axles wasn't as good as was available later, roads were rougher, and axles more commonly bent and broke. So the expected result would have been that every garage had a pile of axles out back or to the side. The scrap drives during WWII probably took quite a bit of that scrap steel out of circulation.
But maybe the axles were real strong but the rest of the car did not have a long life, so the axles were the only salvage part available.
I don't know what the avg. life of a model t was back then.
> But maybe the axles were real strong but the rest of the car did not have a long life, so the axles were the only salvage part available.
Actually, if you've ever felt a Model T fender or tried to strip the black enamel off of one, you'd wonder why they all aren't on the road still. The fenders and body panels were thick and the paint was very durable.
Whether Or Not They Broke
There were so many of them to start with.
In the late 50's and early 60's broken Chrysler torsion bars became avaiable.
Several good things about broken Ford axles and broken torsion bars. They broke near an end, the Ford axles broke near the outboard bearing where the wheel flexed them. The torsion bars had 2 similar ends, so it did not much matter. Both generally had spiral fractures meaning they also had a sharp point, easy to get in the ground. Both had a large end, the gear on the axle and the hex shaped bulge that held the bar in torsion. On top of that the torsion bar had a marked center point, the Chrysler Penta-Star.
I set a few with my dad and recovered a few others elsewhere. Being about 1 1/4" O.D. and 3-4' long you did not carry them in your pouch. I have one in my garage that my father heated with a torch and put a chisel tip on. It makes a nice lightweight shale bar.
Paul in PA
Another Shaft or Axle set in 1951
Here's another shaft or axle that same surveyor set in 1951.
This is now 4 inches down in the road pavement. It's 1-1/4 inches in diameter at the top, has a machined center at the top that the pole tip is resting in, and has what appears to be splines all around the circumference of the top section, not just a keyway as an early Ford axle had.
Another Shaft or Axle set in 1951
If the splines were deeper and uniform for at least 2" I would say farm equipment P.T.O. (power take off) shaft.
Since it appears that the splines are tapered I would say a more recent axle, that slid into the pumpkin housing from the wheel end. At the wheel end would have been a bearing and the flanged hub with the wheel studs. I would say it broke inside the bearing otherwise the hub would be up. Again a torsion fracture leaves a point that easily goes in the ground.
Paul in PA
Another Shaft or Axle set in 1951
> Again a torsion fracture leaves a point that easily goes in the ground.
Some of the axles and shafts that I've found (not these from 1951) even had points forged on them, evidently by a blacksmith. In those cases, it seems most reasonable to me that the smith was taking broken or bent items, forging a point on the broken end, and selling them to local surveyors, value added. I've found iron pipes from the late 1920's that had the same treatment, i.e. a forged point on one end.
Blacksmith Not Neccessary
Every mechanical repair shop and farmer had an acetelyne torch and anvil. Heck I did a few, but it wasn't neccessary.
Paul in PA
Blacksmith Not Neccessary
> Every mechanical repair shop and farmer had an acetelyne torch and anvil. Heck I did a few, but it wasn't neccessary.
Well, I'm thinking about how a surveyor would actually go about procuring stakes. I suppose in theory some farmer could have gone around collecting old axles to forge points on them to sell them to surveyors, but a blacksmith seems more likely, particularly when some of them actually did mechanical repairs and would have had the anvil and hammers necessary. My thinking on that may be colored by the son of a surveyor who set pipes with forged points on them in the late 20's saying that he'd heard from his dad that he'd had a blacksmith make them for him.
Another Shaft or Axle set in 1951
That is what we call a PTO shaft and looks like the ones on the back of all the tractors we have or have helped folks work on.
An axle is still a used description for it though.
Blacksmiths ?
Actually the only blacksmiths that call themselves that, that I know, are re-enactors associated with a local historical society.
Farriers are pretty much a separate entity around here, they go to the horses.
The rest pretty much advertise as welders, etc. for the 50 years I have been paying attention.
Where do I get stakes. Well I use 1/2" rebar with caps, but have never ever purchased rebar. Cleaned up a few around my dad's shop and back yard, and picked them up at some lengths on stakeout jobs or farm surveys. I have a large bolt cutter from my dad's shop that snaps 1/2" rebar with no problem. Two years ago I picked up a few years supply along a stone row on a survey I was doing. I gave all the 5/8" bars to another surveyor I work with regularly. Ocassionaly he buys a 5/8" length and uses a cutoff saw. He will from time to time buy precut from a local welder. If I want a more substantial corner I use a pipe that my one size caps fit in. Those I usually buy, but have a few semi used lengths around currently.
Do they still have all purpose blacksmiths in the McMillan territory?
Paul in PA
Blacksmiths ?
We still have an actual blacksmith in Jefferson County, WV.
Blacksmiths ?.....NYC's got 'em!
http://www.boilermakers.org/resources/news/V47N4/Maiara_uses_blacksmithing_skills_on_and_off_the_job
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/nyregion/30rims.html
There's even a female blacksmith......
Blacksmiths ?
I’ve got 3 friends who are blacksmiths here in town. Two are full time blacksmiths and one makes spurs, bridles and other such buckaroo accessories part time. None of them are farriers. Horse shoeing is too brutal.
Here is a 6 minute interview with blacksmith Joe Elliott, probably one of the best in the state.
If you like that anvil porn, this page from another blacksmith in Sisters Oregon has a video near the bottom on all the work needed to render a fire poker from a square bar.
Blacksmiths ?
> Actually the only blacksmiths that call themselves that, that I know, are re-enactors associated with a local historical society.
In Central Texas, blacksmith shops were common. There was a blacksmith in the small town of Kyle about 25 miles South of Austin still in business as recently as the late 1970's. He'd been open since the twenties in that location, I believe, and had probably purchased the business and equipment from an earlier owner. The entire contents of his shop ended up in a museum.
