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So over the past few months for some reason I have really become interested in the art / craft of Blacksmithing. I picked up a few books, The Art of Blacksmithing, The Backyard Blacksmith and a few others. I was lucky enough when I transferred to the new store one of my co-workers was a hobbyist smith. He gave me so much information, let me borrow books and borrow some movies of demos. Needless to say was was a mild interest for me became a lot stronger of an interest. He also told me to come here and read the posts, join BAM (The Blacksmith's Association of Missouri) and gave me a ton more great info. Thanks Preston !
My father whom just retired as a Civil Engineer from the Corp of Engineers a little over a month ago has always been a craftsman. I have always been amazed by what he can create out of wood and other items. All the furniture I have and that is in my Mom and Dad's house is all build by him. And when he isn't woodworking his other hobby is restoring old cars. To date he has finished a 57 Chevy car and Truck, two older broncos, a 71 boss 351 Mustang for my uncle, a 65 Mustang Fastback that he currently has and is working on a 67 Ford short bed pickup at the moment. On top of all that is his the tightest Man I know, so he does all his parts buying mostly at swap meets. I think he just likes to haggle with people, I have seen him walk away from a part he needs because they wouldn't come down from 5 bucks to 4 bucks and the part could be $50 new !! But I get it, its a hobby and will always be another one somewhere for $4.
Well anyway I decided to start looking for items to start setting up my smithy while Dad was out and about at these swap meets. The first meet we headed to was in Cedar Rapids, IA. This was a pretty big swap meet and I did see a guy that had 3 anvils, a few post vises and random other items, but from what he was asking I could tell he knew what he had. It had $3+ a pound on the anvils and all the leg vises were $100+. So on down the line I went. Later on I did come across an older fellow that had and anvil in the back of his truck. It looked to be in great shape, weighted about 90 - 100 lbs but other than that I couldn't tell what kind it was. It was at this point I realized I really need to study up on anvils. But the guy wanted $180 for it, Dad asked him what his bottom dollar was and he said $170. With a shake of his head Dad and I walked off. After talking about it for a bit we decided we would go back later in the day if he still had it we would offer 150 and see what would happen. A bit farther down the track we came across a guy with post vise on his trailer. It looked like it had been cleaned up and primed with some kind of gray primer. I went up to check the price and almost feel over when a price of $20 was on it. I went back over and talked to dad and he went over to give it a good look over, checking the screw and all the working parts, he is a lot better judge of that stuff than me. So in typical Dad fashion, he says "whatcha' got on the vise?" the guy tells him $20 and he pulled it out of a schools shop class that was in there for a long time. So Dad says "Will you take $15 for it?" at this point I kind of freak out because I know what that means, either we are getting it for $15 or we are going to walk away from it at $20 ! But lucky for me the guy does take the 15 bucks. So My first Blacksmithing item is a Post Vise for my smithy. Although I was really looking for and Anvil or a break drum to start making a coal forge how can you pass that up.
It looks to be 65 lbs, because it has a 65 stamped into it. It is a 5 inch post vise. There is a stamp on the one side and I could make out some of it but not all of it. Well my OCD wont let almost be good enough, I wanted to know all about it so I started to do some research on it and I could make out what looks like something that starts out with a W then a space I cant read then ool and forge co. Which I would think would be Tool and Forge Co. After some more clean up on the bottom you can make out "hio" which in my mind has to be Ohio and on the other side it starts with W so the W on the top and bottom must be the town it was made in. So after a quick google search of all the towns in Ohio that start with W, Warren is the only one that fit. So it looks like The Warren Tool and Forge CO. Warren, Ohio. But again my OCD is like, whats that in the middle ? So off I go to look for that and I find that its the logo for QuickWerk a brand of tools made for the railroad the Q is almost diamond shaped.
So the adventure has begun and man has it started off with a bang I am really excited about getting started and all I have is a few books and a Post vise !
My father whom just retired as a Civil Engineer from the Corp of Engineers a little over a month ago has always been a craftsman. I have always been amazed by what he can create out of wood and other items. All the furniture I have and that is in my Mom and Dad's house is all build by him. And when he isn't woodworking his other hobby is restoring old cars. To date he has finished a 57 Chevy car and Truck, two older broncos, a 71 boss 351 Mustang for my uncle, a 65 Mustang Fastback that he currently has and is working on a 67 Ford short bed pickup at the moment. On top of all that is his the tightest Man I know, so he does all his parts buying mostly at swap meets. I think he just likes to haggle with people, I have seen him walk away from a part he needs because they wouldn't come down from 5 bucks to 4 bucks and the part could be $50 new !! But I get it, its a hobby and will always be another one somewhere for $4.
Well anyway I decided to start looking for items to start setting up my smithy while Dad was out and about at these swap meets. The first meet we headed to was in Cedar Rapids, IA. This was a pretty big swap meet and I did see a guy that had 3 anvils, a few post vises and random other items, but from what he was asking I could tell he knew what he had. It had $3+ a pound on the anvils and all the leg vises were $100+. So on down the line I went. Later on I did come across an older fellow that had and anvil in the back of his truck. It looked to be in great shape, weighted about 90 - 100 lbs but other than that I couldn't tell what kind it was. It was at this point I realized I really need to study up on anvils. But the guy wanted $180 for it, Dad asked him what his bottom dollar was and he said $170. With a shake of his head Dad and I walked off. After talking about it for a bit we decided we would go back later in the day if he still had it we would offer 150 and see what would happen. A bit farther down the track we came across a guy with post vise on his trailer. It looked like it had been cleaned up and primed with some kind of gray primer. I went up to check the price and almost feel over when a price of $20 was on it. I went back over and talked to dad and he went over to give it a good look over, checking the screw and all the working parts, he is a lot better judge of that stuff than me. So in typical Dad fashion, he says "whatcha' got on the vise?" the guy tells him $20 and he pulled it out of a schools shop class that was in there for a long time. So Dad says "Will you take $15 for it?" at this point I kind of freak out because I know what that means, either we are getting it for $15 or we are going to walk away from it at $20 ! But lucky for me the guy does take the 15 bucks. So My first Blacksmithing item is a Post Vise for my smithy. Although I was really looking for and Anvil or a break drum to start making a coal forge how can you pass that up.
It looks to be 65 lbs, because it has a 65 stamped into it. It is a 5 inch post vise. There is a stamp on the one side and I could make out some of it but not all of it. Well my OCD wont let almost be good enough, I wanted to know all about it so I started to do some research on it and I could make out what looks like something that starts out with a W then a space I cant read then ool and forge co. Which I would think would be Tool and Forge Co. After some more clean up on the bottom you can make out "hio" which in my mind has to be Ohio and on the other side it starts with W so the W on the top and bottom must be the town it was made in. So after a quick google search of all the towns in Ohio that start with W, Warren is the only one that fit. So it looks like The Warren Tool and Forge CO. Warren, Ohio. But again my OCD is like, whats that in the middle ? So off I go to look for that and I find that its the logo for QuickWerk a brand of tools made for the railroad the Q is almost diamond shaped.
So the adventure has begun and man has it started off with a bang I am really excited about getting started and all I have is a few books and a Post vise !
