I didn't want to hijack the other thread about pegs so here is the new one.
Has anyone tried to make pegs by driving a riven blank through a metal plate with a square hole? I'm assuming you could have a series of holes to gradually get down to the desired size.
If you take a square blank and turn it 45 degrees and pound it through a square hole you would get an eight sided peg. there must be more to it then that.
Rusty
Yes this has come up before. There are some on there who do it that way already. The steel plate is hardened after making the hole as it needs to retain it's edge. I haven't done that myself, but as I understand, some will make the pegs on the shaving horse, and then do the final sizing by driving them through a steel die like that. I'm not sure they do it starting with a square blank. A tapered tip peg would help you guide the peg through the die by being able to easily insert the first few inches of taper before driving.
I'd want a good press to drive those pegs.
But my wrists have been shocked enough for two lifetimes at this point. ::)
In Rupert Newmans "Oak-framed Buildings", he has a peg die. I'll have to go look it up to see what it looks like.
I use 13/16 dia pegs so I make my own. What I do:
I find or plane a straight grain white oak board to just under 13/16, about 3/4 inch.
Then I cut it to the length I need, generally 12 inches so I have a stack of 12 in boards.
I then strike each board with an axe and split it lengthwise so I verify the grain. And then I put the cleaved edge against the table saw fence and cut peg blanks, again just under 13/16 in.
Now I have a bunch of square pegs.
Next I put them one at a time in a cradle and hand plane them to octagonal or round. Lately I've developed a sore elbow and handplaning is easier on it then pounding.
My cradle:
I took a one inch thick board about 3 inches wide and cut a 3/8 inch saw kirf down the middle of it. I then planed out the saw kirf to 45 degrees on both sides of the kirf so now the kirf is a 90 degree groove which holds the square peg blanks while planing. A small nail or screw in the middle of the groove will stop the peg. Clamp the cradle to a table or something heavy.
I saw some Amish making pegs not long ago. They took a short piece of pipe with the inside diameter of your desired peg size. Welded a plate on the bottom to secure to a junk of wood. Then sharpened the top outside edge. Then they drove slightly bigger pieces of oak through the jig,and walah !! I would rig up it up on my log splitter,less effort for me. I hope this makes sense.
I used a old piece of thick steel and cut a hole through it with a cutting torch and then welded a short piece of pipe (a slight bit larger than required peg size) in the hole, then peen the top of the pipe and tap the sides in to adjust the size and make it irregular. If I recall correctly I would draw knife the corners off the put it through the pipe, it didn't take me long to get tired of driving them through, so I welded a shallow cup on a air chisel and used it instead of a hammer. A wood splitter sounds like a better idea, it would do more than one at a time too.