New to the forum,

[dbeam]

Hello guys, I just joined your group from Hickory NC and thought I would introduce myself. I am from a long line of Blacksmiths. My grandad and at least 3 generations before him were smiths/wagon wrights/farriers, and general local area handy men. My dad used the old forge occasionally over the years, mostly to sharpen the bushhog blades,  No point it grind off metal when it can be reshaped.  Anyhow other then being a make shift trip hammer when my granddad got too old to swing it for any length of time I have not done any smithing myself.  I did inherit most of the shop equipment. The old forge Is still workable but the cement and wooden table that surrounded it finally give into the effects of time and crumbled down around it. The blower had been replaced with one from a furnace.  The post drill, post vice, Colombia vice, anvils.and buggy clamps I still use. Nothing works better on stainless steel than the old post vice. (higher pressures and lower speeds, make a bit last for a long time). The tongs, specialty hammers, wheel measurer, and       hardees, haven't been used in years,  I also have a rivet forge, with the wooden lever and rack gears, but no blower, and a hand crank blower on a stand that were not with the original shop equipment. 

I do have a question about something I got a few weeks back.  It is a free-standing all cast forge assy. that came from Piedmont Wagon in Hickory when they shut down in the 50's. It came with a blower that ran on a line shaft, but has had a vee pulley and electric motor attached,   I have looked through all of the info I could find on Buffalo Forge Company, this forge looks most like the #2 Buffalo Forge, but not exactly.  I am adding some pictures and would appreciate any incite on this forge.  The clay had fallen apart and came out when we went to load it on my truck, but other than that I think it would still be a workable unit.

 

Thanks

Darrell

 

 

 

[Frosty]

Welcome aboard Darrell glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in the header you might be surprised how many Iforge members live within visiting distance.

Don't line that or any forge with concrete even if the "old timers" did. Just hammer damp clayey soil in adding ash helps bind it and prevent clinker from sticking. All the clay liner is for is to dissipate heat so the cast forge pan doesn't crack from differential heating or shock from getting watered. Don't get overzealous with the water either, it will soak down through the clay, rest against the pan and accelerate rusting.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Mark Ling]

Frosty, yesterday I saw that your profile pic was like a neon green, and a couple days ago Glen's was also. What's up with that??

                                                                                             Littleblacskmith

[Frosty]

No idea, weirdness comes down the broadband now and again, I don't worry about it unless it doesn't go away.

Actually, we old curmudgeons took a vote to mess with you for a while.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Mark Ling]

4 minutes ago, Frosty said:

Actually, we old curmudgeons took a vote to mess with you for a while.

well it worked!

 I went looking everywhere on this site for an answer!

                                                                                                  Littleblacksmith

[SLAG]

 

Please see the post above.

AND  ??

SLAG.

[VaughnT]

Welcome the forum.  I hope you are planning a long future of smithing ahead of you to continue the family legacy. 

The forge you have is a real gem.  Pedestal forges are the rarest of the rare and you almost never see them available anywhere.  Yours makes the third one I've heard of in my life, and the other two were only seen in photographs.

You can find the four-legged forges with a cast iron body all day long, but pedestal-mounts are almost a thing of legend.  I would surmise that they were expensive to make and got phased out in favor of the pipe legs which were a whole lot easier and cheaper.

Of course, being rare doesn't make them too valuable unless you run into a collector that just has to have one -- or a guy like me that would really like to have one.  Value might be a little north of what you see in your area for the forges-of-four-legs.  It's a hard sale because if you price it too much over what other forges are going for, the buyer will usually go for the cheaper option simply because they want a forge and not a conversation piece.

As for the age, figure on pre-WW2.  It was only after the war that stamped-steel technology was sufficiently advanced that casting started becoming less and less common.  During the war, obviously, metal was being scavenged for the war effort.  That's my take on it, anyhow.

Again, congratulations on the wonderful acquisition.  

[dbeam]

Thanks for the replies,  I am almost sure it would have been pre-war, it was in a Wagon Manufacturing plant, from what I have heard they cut production drastically after the war. They started making small personal wagons for uses around home and businesses but I figure they would have found it hard to compete with Radio Flyer.  Anyhow I wouldn't think they were buying equipment toward the end of their run.

As far as pursuing blacksmithing I guess the art will end with my Dad.  I love watching the guys at the old farm shows, and would love to be able to do some of the same things, but honestly I am more of a Porta-Band, cutting torch and stick welder metal worker. 

Much to the dismay of the old folks who rightly valued hard work over most other things I was infected with a fishing addiction at a young age, and it still works on my free time to this day. Having the means to do the work doesn't accomplish much unless you put the time into learning the craft, whatever that craft may be. I do plan on keeping up with this site and posting some pics of the stuff that I have, hopefully to get some incite on what they are and how they were used.

Very aware that old, or even rare doesn't always mean valuable, but to me if or when I decide to sell anything (especially the things that came through the past generations) I have always thought it more important to pass it along to be used and enjoyed more than what profit can be made from it.

Wandering away from metal to wood I had an American SawMIll Machinery company 16 inch cast table saw with an attached jointer and mortise machine (1927-1929 vintage).  It was given me by a dear old friend when he got past using it. It was sold originally with a hit and miss engine, and converted to electric sometime in the later 40's when our area was electrified.  It was huge, heavy, and a little awkward to set-up and use, but it was my main shop jointer for years, and could rip 6 inch landscape timbers if you felt the need.  I  sold the house were I kept it and didn't have enough room to move it. I was fortunate enough to find a man that travel the Old Time Farm shows and had a Morse hit and miss engine that he needed to mount on something to "use" at the shows.  The old was is mounted on a trailer now with fresh paint, babbet in the bearings, and a sporty "new" 90 year old motor, ready for show and tale this summer.

Thanks again for the replies, I did put Hickory NC in the header, anyone close enough to know where that is will also know the Western End of Lincoln County which is were I spent most of my life.

BTW not to be a bad influence, but anyone wanting to hang up their apron long enough to try for some smallies, or mountain trout, I enjoy company when I am fishing.  Just let me know.

Darrell

 

[Mark Ling]

8 hours ago, VaughnT said:

Pedestal forges are the rarest of the rare and you almost never see them available anywhere

well heres some more to add to your list. I had posted this a while back.

 

 

                                                                                                                          Littleblacksmith

[ThomasPowers]

I'll have to dig out the picture of the blacksmithing shop in my book on American Prisons...