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MEN who have much work to do around hydraulic presses know how annoying it is to find they are out of cup leathers just when they are in a hurry for one. The price charged for cup ieathers by some dealers is out of all proportion to the material that is in the cup and the labor required to turn them out. The iron dies generally used to make cup leathers are also rather expensive. At one time it was part of the writer's work to keep several hydraulic presses in order. These presses worked under a pressure of 4,000 pounds to the square inch. The pistons were between 12 and 14 inches in diameter and over a foot long (solid iron), and leather cups were used on them. A set of dies was made out of hard wood. The illus- tration shows a sectional view of them. They were turned out on a lathe. The concave part was turned· out to the size of the cylinder in which the piston worked, and the convex part was turned down to a diameter one-half inch smaller. The leather was cut to a diameter twice that of the piston plus twice the depth of the depression in the die. It was moistened in tepid water for a few minutes, and then pressed in the dies. With a heavy weight to provide the necessary compression the leather was left for several hours. A single pair of dies was used for two years, at the end of which time they were apparently as good as ever. Combination Pipe and Monkey Wrench ACOMMON monkey wrench may easily be adapted J for use as a pipe wrench for emergency work, thus making it unnecessary to carry two wrenches in the tool kit. Take an ordinary monkey wrench and mill a small | groove in the fixed jaw, as \ shown at A. This groove should be milled on a taper as shown. When the wrench is to be used on a pipe, take an old piece of bolt or stud, harden the threaded parts and place the stud in the groove that has been milled in the jaw of the wrench. This will prevent the wrench from slipping around the pipe while in use. Workshop Notes How to Weld Cast-Iron. -A good compound for welding cast iron is made as follows: 41% parts boracic acid, 35 parts common salt, 20 parts ferrocyanide of potassium, 7 parts resin, 3 parts carbonate of sodium. Heat the metal to a light·red heat anl apply the mixture over the part that is to be welded. Thep heat to a yellow heat, and the welding may be done in the m;ual manner.-H. D. Chapman. Novel Methot of Removing Broken Ax Handles.- A recent issue of Handy Man's Workshop contained a suggestion on removing a broken handle from an ax head. I think it can be done more conveniently in another way. When I break a handle, I fasten the tool head in a stump or some other place, take my shotgun and put the barrel about 2 or 3 inches from the plug in the ax. The trigger is then pulled, and no matter how hard the handle was fastened, it has to come. There is no danger that the shot will be refected back to the gunner, even though it strikes the ax head.-H. T. Peterson.
