glen56

the gun doc is right,always preserve a piece of the past,an old mate of mine did restoration work on Norfolk island of the coast of Australia in the eighties,it was notorious in history for being a convict island and not a lot of convicts survived,he bought back some amazing nails forged by convict smiths,these plus others proudly displayed on a board,never forget the past

use a stainless beer barrel that found at the tip,wine barrels made of french oak last for ever if looked after,the barrels came from down south u.s.a.and were used in storing bourbon whiskey,the wineries used them for their ports and other fortified wines then sold them for 50 bucks,most the same size as a 44

mate dont go close to gal items in any fire,why when theres un coated steel there,gal is evil

yes mate ,good advice is always welcome for sure, seems harmless enough the art of heat and steel but lots of things to be careful of

always had my anvil height at text book level,but after a while came to the thought that raising the height was the thing for sure ,only thing i found was miss cued shots sent the hammer way back, always tilt my head out of direct smack zone (found that wearing my seeing glasses helped a bit)but to new folk ,the hammer transmits the energy you put in,can get relaxed when doing repetitive hitting ,just something to keep in mind

thanks for that mate,makes me appreciate the old damascus things i have and didn't think about the work that went into every barrel, did hear somewhere the amount of steel in a double shotgun ,more than i thought,glen

good grief,have built up a couple of flinters but nothing like this,a national treasure is mr gusler,is the man still going and who owns that rifle,these guys are rare indeed

yes,one of mine ,a big fellah as well was stripped of thread to tighten it up, got the stick welder out then ground it back with the angle grinder ,going fine after 25 years,amazing what can come back

great work and inspiring indeed

thank you for that mate,most incrediable thing i've seen,done a bit of muzzle making but in awe of this bloke,glen

seems an old post but gave up useing coal after seeing what looked like spinning shards of glass in coal smoke,only use hardwood charcoal now ,still careful when the wind blows my way,burn my own in a converted 44 gal drum,got to be careful for sure,glen

dug an old 303 heavy barrel out of the ground a while back,it was used as a tree stake until the tree claimed it,made a good snake ,put it on a board and presented it to captain of our club,the head looked good with eyes and the 'H' between the eyes

they way I make charcoal is using a clamped lid 44 gal or 200 litre drum ,put the drum with holes punched in the base ,half inch holes will do ,put the drum on a few rocks about 2 inches off the ground , 30 or so holes in the base ,I burn hardwood ,iron bark or spotted gum ,find the tougher the wood the longer it and better it goes ,but wood is wood ,cut it to about foot long split lengths pack it into the drum and start the fire on top ,depending on where you are (qld Australia here),at about 1 and a half hours wack the lid on ,clamp it and knock it off the rock base ,with a shovel seal the base with dirt ,best charcoal you can do ,cheers ,bloody good xmas and all

good to see mate,new this old italian bloke ,he was sixth gen blacksmith ,born in a shop in his fathers town ,tear welled in his eyes when he related not one of his many grandchildren wanted to know about the art,since died and gear sold,your lucky mate,glen