Private Entrance

The handle's for winding the motor up. You have to give it a few cranks for it to work right.

Looks fantastic. Congratulations on a job (so far) very well done. I've enjoyed watching the progress of your shop.

Never heard of oiling a file. Like Wroughton, I'd think they'd gather more filings and junk that way. Waxing sounds like a pretty good idea - might try it. I've used chalk to keep the teeth clear. It works ok, but I seem to have about the same results if I don't chalk, and make sure I use a file card every 3-4 strokes. Depending on the 'grade' of work I did with them, they got dealt with different: 1) New/near-new files are used pretty much for finish/fine work, carded/brushed thoroughly, wrapped in wax paper, put back in their boxes and stored in a special drawer. Occasional sacrifices of fruit, farm animals, or small, unsupervised children are occasionally offered up to keep them happy. 2) General use files - get brushed/carded, and stored flat in a drawer in a single layer. 3) Dead/near dead files - are used to knock the high spots off of grinding/sanding belts. These I keep around until I have the teeth worn off them, then they go into the 'becoming something else someday' pile.

Any kind of dedicated space that I can lock up and leave my 'shop' set up in.

Thanks for the tip. I'm in there every month or two buying coal and other miscellaneous stuff that I think might be useful and never thought to ask him that. Duh. :)

One thing I've done when doing final fitting/tweaking of tongs is use a nut and bolt to temporarily fit them together. I can give them a test drive, see where I need to make adjustments, take them apart and apply the fix, and then put them back together and lather, rinse, repeat as needed. Once they get to the point I think they are 'done,' I rivet them together.

Those are wonderful. I'll take any of your 'not very good' tongs over any of my 'best tongs' any day.

Looks a lot like the first generation of my forge. I agree with ThorsHammer - make the tuyere longer. Also, I cut a hole in the bottom of a soup can that slipped over the tuyere and the nozzle on the hair dryer. Only seconds to set up and take down, and you don't have to fuss with tape (if that's what you used. I'm not 100% sure from the pic). I used the angle iron from a bedframe or two that I got for free from Craigslist to make a forge table. You could also make a stand for the firepot out of the same stuff if you like. I made my forge in two pieces (table and pot) so that I could move it around easily. If you don't weld (I don't), it's pretty easy to drill a few holes and bolt it together.

I have the same problem (I'm working on rigging a sun shade. Need to figure out how to do it without making it an eyesore). In the meantime, I wear a pretty wide brimmed straw hat, like a lifeguard's hat. Helps a lot with casting a broader shadow over the fire when I want to take a look at the color of something. Not perfect, but works much better than trying to guess in broad daylight.

Try this link from the V&A's website: http://collections.vam.ac.uk/search/?listing_type=&offset=0&limit=15&narrow=&extrasearch=&q=iron+work&commit=Search&quality=0&objectnamesearch=&placesearch=&after=&after-adbc=AD&before=&before-adbc=AD&namesearch=&materialsearch=&mnsearch=&locationsearch=

My sincerest apologies - I downloaded a noise meter app for my phone and checked when I got home. The results for with a chain, with a chain and magnets, and nothing at all were virtually identical. I was getting pissy with you for what I thought were your preconceived, 'because I said so' notions, and I was doing the same thing I was unhappy with about. Going forward, I think it would be helpful for both of us to back statements up with empirical evidence rather than off the cuff remarks. Again, my apologies.

I guess I need to ignore my own observed results then. My apologies for suggesting something to the OP that I found to be quite helpful in solving the exact same problem.

Chaining is worth a try. My 105# HB rang like a bell until I wrapped about 10 ft of lightweight chain around the waist. Cut the ring down by about half. Horn and heel were still pretty loud, so they got magnets, which made them almost bearable without earplugs. Next is going to be caulk bedding and trying a different anchoring system and/or stand. I really wouldn't mind it being quieter.

Some amazing out-of-the-box thinking. Definitely got my brain going, and I've got some sheet metal I've been wondering what to do with...

I'd kill to have a 3'x3' space that I could leave my 'shop' set up in all the time. Nice use of your space.