How To Make A Pretty Good Coal Scoop

[JBodenmann]

Hello My Friends
Here is a fun little project you might like. In the past I have made a few coal scoops. The first was for a small locomotive and the scoop was only about an inch and an eighth wide. The second was for my Number Nine and it was about three inches wide. Well this scoop we will be making here is about four inches wide, and is actually not for a locomotive, but a wood stove. It is for fishing the ashes out. I will be making one for me and one for a friend. The size of the scoop doesn't matter, the drill is the same. They will make a nice little coal scoop. The scoop is made of 1/16" cold rolled steel. The wood parts will be oak, as that's what was laying around. The first thing we will need is a forming die. This was made from aluminum as once again, that's what was laying around. First the die was cut out with the band saw, it was trued up using the mill. Then it had the radius formed with the disc sander and belt sander. Note the tapered divot cut into the bottom of the die and the round cut out. These features are to form the supports for the curved tapered goose neck that we will make later. In our bottom photo here, we have the die mounted in the vise, and the work piece to be formed clamped to the die. A piece of 1/8" steel, along with a C clamp holds the future scoop to the die. It doesn't take a lot to hold things in place as we will be hot forming it.

[JBodenmann]

Now the fun and games begin. The oxy acetylene torch and a rose bud will be used to heat the steel, and a wooden mallet will be used to form it. Heat the steel to dull red and work it down with the wooden mallet. Never use a metal hammer for this as it will stretch the material and leave marks. Stretching is exactly what we don't want here as we are gathering material as we work it down onto the die. Work back and forth across the die trying not to let wrinkles form. Once it's pretty well formed use a piece of tapered round stock to form the scoop into the divot and curved recess in the die. Then go all over the scoop again with the mallet and rose bud. Do all forming while the metal is red hot. Really hot metal allows the wooden mallet to form a perfect scoop against the die. Sometimes it's good to keep the mallet in a bucket of water. The final product will only be as good as the die. After forming, the scoop was trimmed to final shape using the disc sander. This is a really fun process and you should give it a try. Steel sheet is cheap and if you mess up just start over. This is a surprisingly forgiving process.

[JBodenmann]

Now it's time to start the curved, tapered goose neck. First a piece of steel round stock was tapered using the metal lathe. Then a set up was cobbled together on the steel table to bend the mandrel. Some chalk marks were made on the table to as to show the correct angle. The mandrel was heated up and bent to the chalk mark. Now we are getting somewhere, that's starting to look like a coal scoop. But this is just the form tool. The actual goose neck will be 1/16" steel. When test fitting the mandrel to the scoop I put some marks with a sharpie where the goose neck will begin and end. Now I'm using a bit of 1/4" masking tape to pick up the circumference. Wrap the tape around and put a mark across the tape. This will give us the circumference and show us how wide to make the goose neck pattern so it will wrap half way around the mandrel. Here we have the curved pattern. The narrow bits on each end are where the work piece will be clamped to the mandrel when it's heated and formed. The goose neck will be formed in two parts and and then TIG welded together. In the past I used to make the goose neck straight in one piece, and then bend the curve. This was very difficult, and the goose neck usually had some wrinkles which could be somewhat ground and sanded out. This was a lot of trouble and I came up with the idea of forming it in two parts. Much easier and the final product is far better. Next time how to form the goose neck, and then the die for forming the D handle for the other end of the scoop.

[Steam Engine Dan]

nice work jack, how big of a firedoor will that fit thru? is this for narrow gauge or any scale?

[JBodenmann]

Hello My Friends
Now that the scoop is made it's time to form the goose neck. It is made in two halves. As you can see on the curved mandrel there are spots that are milled flat. That is where the narrow ends of our work piece will be clamped using some C clamps. You can see these ends on the paper pattern. The pattern is used to mark out out, and then cut out a 1/16" a steel piece. It is then clamped to the mandrel, heated to dull red heat and then worked down over the mandrel with the wooden mallet. I got on a roll and didn't get any photos of that part but it's the same routine as forming the scoop. The second photo shows the two goose neck halves held together for a look. These were zoomed on the disc sander to get the edges where they join nice and straight so they could be TIG welded together nicely. I didn't always have a TIG welder and used to weld things like this with the Oxy Acetylene torch. The TIG machine does a cleaner weld and requires a lot less cleanup. Then we have the two halves after a trip through the bead blaster and ready to weld. The narrow ears are still in place. These were used to clamp each half to the mandrel for forming. Then a photo of the scoop with the trimmed and metal finished goose neck welded in place. If you plan ahead, get the mandrel the right size, and then the goose neck made in the right place on the mandrel, things should fit together really well. And then getting the goose neck welded on in just the right place and angle was a bit of a fiddle. None of this is really difficult, I got all the parts made on the first try. Now this doesn't always happen. But If you goof up a part just make another and try again.

[JBodenmann]

So it's now time to make the D handle that fits to the other end of the scoop. Once again an aluminum die is made to form the frame for the D handle. This piece of aluminum is 3/4" thick. It has a compound curve around the curved end, and a radius on the straight edge. It also has some recesses where the steel part of the handle will be formed in to make a pocket for a flat head screw that will hold the wooden part of the handle in place. A hole was drilled and tapped in the round end to hold the work piece in place. You can see a stainless Allen head in the second from bottom photo. The C clamp holds the other end in place. Then the steel is heated up to dull red heat and formed with the wooden mallet again. This is the easiest part to make.

[JBodenmann]

Here are a few more. The D handle should be heated and well formed to the die. In photo 2 it's heated again and the recess for the flat head screw is formed using a large center punch with the end ground to match the screw head angle. Some tapered tubing was made by hot forming steel sheet around another mandrel, welded, and everything was metal finished, bead blasted and fitted together. Then the parts were silver soldered. Things were bead blasted again and plunked down on the table for a look. You can see the tapered tubing and the place formed for the flat head screws that will hold the small oak handle in place. Now I suppose I could have made the D handle steel parts flat...But I like traditional things, like this little shovel. The curves make it look like something they would have made back in "the good ol' Days".The compund curve in the D handle adds greatly to the strength. It's also just cool, and elevates it to a not "home made" level. Next time the oak handles to join the two ends together. They are not just straight either, gotta have some curves. Then they will get several coats of Man O' War spar varnish and the steel parts will get some shiny red paint.
One more thing, Dan asked how wide the scoop is. The scoops are 4-1/2" wide. Although this is a model of a coal scoop, this scoop will be used to shovel out the ashes from a wood stove.
Too Much Fun!
Jack

[SteamHeaton]

Thank you for sharing your techniques with us. Very interesting, and a beautiful coal scoop!

[JBodenmann]

Hello My Friends
Here is a bit more on the coal scoops. Time to make the wood parts, oak in this instance. First the ends were turned to fit the taper of the metal parts. Then the center was cut. This was done using the compound and then massaged with files and sandpaper. The sandpaper and files were important to get the curves I wanted. Then things were stuck together for a look. Man O' War spar varnish was used for the wood parts. Pretty dark red glossy paint will be used for the metal parts. Most of the scoop will be masked off and some clear epoxy and rivets will be used to hold things together.
Jack

[Bill Shields]

Taking orders?

[Chris Hollands]

Very impressive and a lot of work .
You must be bored of working on Berkshires - LOL

[Asteamhead]

Like your excellent ideas and skills And thanks for showing your complete process to us all!
Asteamhead