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Until I checked which words were capitalised, the title of the second song you listed had a very different meaning!!

I don't know ALL the verses, but I can sing Which Side Are You On and the Union Maid drunk, blindfolded, and backwards...and for that matter the regular way. Also, thank you for that ear worm, my wife just asked why I was going around the house singing "Oh Christmas Tree". Sigh... You're right about the sand. Want a weirder fact? They're running out. Different kinds of sand have very different kinds of uses depending on the composition, size, and sharpness of the corners making it up. Sand found say in the desert is no good for construction and cement making because it's rounded off from centuries of exposure and erosion. I don't think this is the article I was looking for, but... The Story Of Sand In 'The World In A Grain' : NPR Or did ya mean the one by Connell to the other tune?

If you lap the join on rings so they lay flat on the anvil you don't need to weld them on a horn or mandrel. By flat visualize a coil spring cut in a ring with a little overlap. The ends will lay one on the other while the ring lays flat. Yes? Don't let what works for me stop you from using your horn as you wish. This craft is different for all of us, what works for one doesn't mean diddly for others. There are so many ways to do any one thing there is just no telling. Frosty The Lucky.

Welcome aboard Paul, glad to have you. Do you blacksmith or are you flipping this anvil? Kohlswa are Swedish cast steel anvils and top shelf. As to what it weighs, put it on a bathroom scale and tell us. You don't show what is stamped in the side which is often where the actual as made stats are. Depending on who ordered it made of course. What someone somewhere wrote with a paint stick is pretty useless. The number stamped in the foot could be a company ID, a store stock/model#, etc. It looks to be in excellent condition so unless it's been through a fire and had the temper drawn down to far it should fetch good money. Do a rebound test to see if she's still hard or maybe have had torch damage. Drop a 3/8" - 1/2" ball bearing from 10" and read how far it bounces back up in inches as a %. A Kohlswa in undamaged condition will have a rebound in the 90% range, older ones say 1970 and older will rebound higher. Whatever it weighs if you decide to get into blacksmithing you couldn't ask for a better anvil. Frosty The Lucky.

Welding is easy once you forget it’s hard. I tend to do sloppy, dirty welds- I rarely scarf or upset, I get it too hot, I don’t flux- and sometimes it doesn’t work. But I suppose it all goes to show that there is a spectrum of “right” ways to weld. Smarter blacksmiths than me have failed with more precise parameters. have fun with welding

I'm hoping to practice more welding this summer so I can see how using the horn would be nice for making big rings.

Welcome aboard! That’s a very nice looking anvil, near mint condition . Good score! Frosty will be along shortly to congratulate you as well- he’s the local expert of Coleslaw anvils

I just came into possess of a Kohlswa anvil. I'm trying to get some information on it, model, age and weight. It has A87 stamped on side of the base, what is that telling me? It also has the numbers 168 painted on the base under the horn. I'm thinking this anvil was weigh and marked for auction at some point. I'm including pics and would like opinions on quality and condition, as I will be sell it at some point. Thanks Paul North Georgia

Welcome aboard from 7500' in SE Wyoming. Glad to have you. It would help if you put your general location in your profile. This is a world wide forum and we don't know if you are in St.Petersburg, Russia, St. Petersburg, Alaska, or the middle of the Amazon Basin. Very nice vise. I don't think I've ever seen one with a cam and handle rather than a screw. I can't help with ID but there may be someone here who can. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

So, I have a vice that’s been in my paternal family line for over 100 years. I’ve tried to identify it on line, but, as it has no casting marks or proofs, I’m at a loss. The jaws are 3 1/2” wide and the mouth extends to 5”. It has a working lever/cam and man, does it crank down and hold a piece of metal. Again, it has absolutely no markings anywhere. thanks for your time.

Welcome aboard from 7500' in SE Wyoming. Glad to have you. As you can tell, there seem to be a higher percentage of veterans on IFI than in the general population. We've got all the wars from Viet Nam on and all branches of the military covered. Yes, blacksmithing is great therapy for whatever ails you. I've been at it since 1977 and it has helped me through the rough times and made the good times better. I recommend it for most everyone. George LTC, US Army (Ret) late of 1/C/1/12 Cav, 1 Cav Div (Air mobile), Republic of Viet Nam, 1970-71

I'm just starting in blacksmithing, taking basic classes at Chicago Ave Fire Arts Center in Minneapolis, a tool making class at North House Folk School in Grand Marais, MN, and I've done a number of art welding and metal fabrication classes through the community ed program at the local tech college. I enlisted in the WI Army National Guard on Friday, April 13, 2001. I was a 92Y (unit supply/armorer) in a Combat Engineer Battalion (wheeled). My last name is Riederer (Reed-er-er). I went through Basic Training as "Private Reindeer" - hence the user name. I'm thinking about using it as the business name if I can start to sell products. I was halfway through spring semester of my Junior year in college when I got a phone call during mid-terms week, telling me to report for active duty in 10 days. I lined up outside the registrars office at 7:45 the next morning along with dozens of other reservists, and dropped 18 credits of classes I was acing. My unit mobilized through Ft. McCoy, WI in March 2003. We hit Camp Virginia, Kuwait in May. On my 21st birthday in early June I rode into Iraq behind a machinegun. At the end of the road, right before we turned onto Tallil AB, these Arab guys were yelling "Mister, Mister... Whiskey... Ice... Beer!!!" But we couldn't stop!!!! That isthe kind of stuff that gives a guy from Wisconsin PTSD... screw the mortars and the IEDs. I got out of the Guard in 2007, I did two years with an Army Reserve unit rather than get yanked back from the IRR for another deployment. Got out in 2009 as a newlywed, rather than go to Afghanistan. Now I'm divorced and working for the Army Corps of Engineers as a civilian. I'm learning to pound metal to stay sane and release some creative energy.

I took my girls the the Carnegie museum of natural history saturday and they had this chunk on display there. Didn't get to see as much as I would have liked but the girls had fun for as long as their attention spans could handle.

I mostly use the horn of my anvils as fullers and to true up bottle openers. It allows me to hit the ring at an angle and leave a pretty chunky amount of hammer marks on both the inside and outside of the ring. The only other thing I can think of I've done with a horn in the last few years is weld 12-14" rings on it. Work well for that, before taking that ring to the floor cone. Scrolls, finials, hooks, curves I all do at the edge of the anvil.

Billy, you may have found an ammonite that was buried quickly enough that the ctitter's soft parts were preserved. In life an ammonite looked like a modern nautalus, a squid with its tail stuffed into a shell. Some have straight, cone shaped shell but many have coiled shell, like a snail. Hence the name. The shells are supposed to look like the coiled ram's horns of the Egyptian god Amun/Ammon. I've seen some that are completely replaced by pyrite and have a spectacular gold/brass color. G PS To bad about your geologist ex. MY experience has been that geologists make good partners.

Definitely a recovering geologist. It's one day at a time and you're never completely cured. Whenever I get an urge to make a map or hit a rock with a hammer I call someone up and they talk me out of it. "Hi, my name is George and I'm a geologist." (applause) "I've gone 27 days without hitting a rock with a hammer." (more applause) Unfortunately, Martha, my late wife, and I were codependent since she was also a geologist (and an attorney). On the other hand it has been an interesting and useful field of expertise. I was hired for a couple of legal jobs which involved regulation of the oil and gas industry because of my geology background. In hearings I was the oil and gas industry's and the invronmenalists' worse nightmare, someone who was advising the legislators who knew about the industry and could see past the smoke and mirrors. "What a long, strange journey it has been." G

I read a while back that pyrite actually contains nanoparticles of gold in it. More recently I read about lithium being in pyrite. They are looking at it for industrial lithium extraction.

Well, I completely misunderstood what you wrote, I don't know why, but I did. And I should know better. I would never expect you to turn off caring about people, anymore than I could not care for others. Especially friends. I sincerely appologize for my confusion. I sent you a PM concerning this. You have many thanks for the hug and scritch coming your way...... As far as the bumping thing goes, I bumped a topic TWICE but did not add any content to it. Actually this happened once before, I was warned and it is entirely my fault. Can't have everybody bumping everything all over the place, it would get pretty confusing. My, this thread went haywire.....

I was confused as well and realized I might have committed this fauxpar. The only difference that I could come up with was that he was the one that originally started the initial thread. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I appreciate the time you took to research the coal question George. I mainly came to the same conclusion but figured I would ask the right person their opinion. I know you're a recovering geologist so who better than you. Like you said it is murky water when it came to trying to research online. Not to mention throw in the confusion about true coal or charcoal aspect and all the warning to get rid of any bags that have gotten wet only muddied the waters more.

I am not getting this bump thing, isnt that the same as when some one says they are reviving an old post maybe from years ago? Anyway, am i the only one who read that story in a Monty Python documentary kind of voice?

I have used leaf for a few chisels, mostly for wood working though. I made a couple big Bowie knives with leaf a couple years back, of course a few axes, i think i still have a couple unfinished, and the dies for the guillotine as well. I am kind of thinking of using one leaf, the one with the bushings on the ends, and build some sort of ballista. Use the spring for the limbs of a giant crossbow more or less.

Interesting fact i found out, the most mined substance in the world today is sand. My knowledge of what minerals that are around me is rocks and dirt. As a matter of fact that is about what i know about geology at all. Really though around here to find anything of value like that it would be either Indian artifacts like arrow heads, spear points, etc. or fossils. Oaks Quarry park, Frosty knows of it, is about a mile from my house. Someone there a couple years back found a fossil of some kind of tube worm. Now the shells of them are pretty common but this one had the worm's "head" sticking out of it. Looked kind of like palm leaves. It was valued at many thousands of dollars. I have found a lot of what i used to call natalists but i think someone told me they were ammonites iirc. The Indian artifacts that have been found here are really old as well. 500BC old. If you find something you are allowed to keep it but if you sell it you break a few laws. There are ways to sell the stuff but it is not easy. I have found a few semi precious stones, carbuncle, garnet, amethyst, etc. And one piece someone told me was jade but i have my doubts. Being this area i live was were the glaciers stopped, we have a town just south of me called Moraine, it can be a toss up on what you will find. So, thar maybe gold in them thar hills yet. Ohio also has a lot of flint and if pyrite were valued like gold, we would all be rich. I used to live with a girl that was a geologist and here father was a geology professor at an Ivy League school. When she moved in she was the one who told me my water stunk like sulfur becuase there was a vein of pyrite under the house, the bacteria eating the pyrite waste product was what gave it the sulfur smell. She took care of that and as long as we lived there had good water.

I had a friend in law school who had previously worked for the Union Pacific Railroad. It was a union shop and you had to belong to a union but it wasn't specified which union. For some reason my friend had a grudge about the regular railroad unions. So, he joined the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW, aka Wooblies) which are still an active organization. That satisfied his union membership requirement. The IWW did have good songs. They say you aren't a real radical unless you know ALL the verses to "The Red Flag." GNM PS Here is a link to the IWW's website: https://www.iww.org/

FL Man, I hadn't given spontaneous combustion much thought and I have never heard of it happening on a blacksmith level. I have done some research and it is a murky and complex subject without a lot of clear indications of what to do or not to do. Here are some facts that I have been able to gather, in no particular order: -Some coals are more prone to SC than others. Some coal seams have experienced SC in situ when exposed to atmospheric oxygen. Generally, it seems that lower grade coals such as peat, brown coal, lignite, and sub-bituminous coals which have a higher volitile content are more subject to SC. -The finer the pieces of coal the more chance there is for interaction with atmospheric oxygen and more likelihood of SC. -Larger piles of coal (hundreds or thousands of tons) seem to be more subject to SC because the centers of the piles are more well insulated. It seems to me that in blacksmithing contexts and back when many homes had coal furnaces (amounts of a few tons at maximum) that spontaneous combustion is a pretty low risk but not zero. I have only heard of it happening in the context of large coal storage piles and steam ship coal bunkers (it is probable that the USS Maine blew up in 1898 due to a coal bunker fire overheating an adjacent magazine). I'd like to hear if anyone has any stories of SC occuring in blacksmith or home coal piles. GNM