Glenn

Look up Tenn Appalachian Area Chapter of Blacksmiths (AACB), and Tennessee River Artist Blacksmith Association (TRABA).  Go to the meetings and learn more in a couple of hours than you can imagine.  Take the parents as it will answer many of their questions and concerns.

Purchase a brick of modeling clay which is less than $5.  Any thing you can do with modeling clay, you can do with metal.  It is a great way to solve problems and practice blacksmithing with needing a fire.  All the tools and tooling are the same, so when you go to the fire you already know what to do and how to do it.

Page and topic are still open. Thank your friend.

Large tires do better on rough ground.  A low center of gravity load is more stable and less likely to turn over.  Making two light to medium weight trips are better than one heavy trip. 

4 Wheel borrow tires will work.  Look at wagon front ends for ideas for steering.

Also look for log sleds, pan sleds, etc.  Even a car hood can be turned into a sled when turned upside down.

The friction between the sled and the ground can be reduced by running it across tree limbs or other wood as rollers, sked roads, skid paths, etc  Look up skid roads for logging.

This type of garden carte was popular several years ago.

A  mahl stick can be used for support in some welding situations.

For smaller quantities of stock, you can cut 4 inch pvc pipe to you choice of length and band it together.  Putting the cut pipe into a 5 gallon bucket is a good way to hold it together and upright.  You can use rectangular rain downspouts to do the same thing.

It has been mentioned on the site to use the cardboard cores of wrapping paper in a 5 gallon bucket to separate sizes and types of metal.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is best known for his Sherlock Holmes stories.

You can talk yourself out of anything, or find a way to make things work.  JABOD costs little or nothing to build and will open up many new opportunities to learn new things.  Kroger's sells lump charcoal as do many of the restaurant supple stores. 

I am a ground animal.  

4 hours ago, Yanni Rockitz said:

I had a branch grab my glove one time and try to drag me into the chipper --

I cut the cuff off all my work gloves for that very reason. 

I leave maybe 1/4 inch away from the stitching, about where the red line is in the photo.

The cuff when the glove is snagged will lock onto your wrist and YOU are in for a ride.  Without the cuff, the glove is off your hand and gone before you realize anything happened.  Lack of a cuff does not affect the use of the glove, and the glove does not fall off the hand, but it sure a surprise when you look down and the glove is gone.

Why fuss with the electric blower speed controls all the time?  Set them for the way the blower runs best, direct what air the forge needs to the forge and direct the remainder toward the blacksmith.  Not directly toward or on the blacksmith, but provide a stream of air not aimed at the anvil (would cool the metal) but so the blacksmith can take a half step back and be in the air stream.

Summer was the operative word in my comment as it will be 31*F Saturday with a low of 10*f Saturday night.  

What part of an idle bellows and a electric powered blower spilling excess air did you somehow connect together?  They are two entirely different systems.

Direct any excess air onto the blacksmith.  He should enjoy it as summer arrives.

To have a favorite you have to have used at least two anvils to compare one to the other. Still too general a request. 

We already did that on this section of the site.  6,600 posts

Anvil Reviews by brand

You want to compare say wrought iron anvils from days gone by against todays anvils cast from say H-13, or anvils produced from 1880 to 1900 against anvils made 2000 to 2022?  Measured against what rule?  The anvil shape and purpose must be considered.  Country of manufacture is to general to be of value.

Now that we have several ways to store the metal, there is no reason not to get a little extra metal every chance you have.  If you go to the steel yard, buy an extra piece of metal for stock.  It will save you a trip to town and save you the cost of infatuation on the next purchased. 

If you get your metal by dumpster diving, make two trips.  Otherwise it will not be there when you need just a little more of the same stuff later.

Always mark BOTH ends of the stock. 

Always mark the end of the stock you just cut from, transferring the information to the remaining stock.

I like the cautions you presented, thank you.  Keeping everyone safe is most important.  Knowing or recognizing that fellow that is dangerous to himself and others is most critical.  Having the courage to stop everything until he leaves does not make you popular, but does get you home for dinner in one piece. 

I have been up trees, but now leave that to hired help.

I am a ground animal.  If you can drop that tree from the ground, it is coming down.  Otherwise let the hired help do what he was paid to do.  Either way, as soon as the tree hits the ground, it is time to get some serious cutting done.

What is the most useful (or most used) tool in your shop ?

The tool that you use almost daily or for most every project. Not the anvil, forge, hammer, tongs, but the tool we need to add to our shop.

I like the "slip stick" for when you need calculations. (grin)

The granite anvil mentioned. 

The point was to get some rough numbers for the trees weight, to point out that those things are heavy.  This may help refine the numbers a bit.

https://www.uaex.uada.edu/environment-nature/forestry/FSA-5021 weight of hardwoods.pdf

Yannie:   Each tree, each situation, and the experience of each crew is different.  Thanks for your reply.

Cutting trees using a bucket of rocks

If you have not read it, then read it before you cut another tree. 

A hardwood tree that is 80 feet tall and 24 inches would weigh around 20,000 pounds (9,072 kg).  A pine tree that is 50 feet tall and has a diameter of 12 inches will weigh around 2,000 pounds (907 kg). These numbers are rough as there are many variables to consider.

That 24 inch, 80 foot tall hardwood at 20,000 pounds has a 4 to 1 weight advantage over the 5,000 pound truck.  Add lean, the advantage of leverage when falling, and given the truck tires have less than half a sheet of paper contact with the ground, the truck looses.

What did you pull from the resource center (scrap pile) for a project ?  Things that may have been there waiting for a opportunity to save you a trip into town or save a couple of dollars from leaving your wallet.  

Things like the wife pulled out of the resource center and ask you to drive into the ground as her plant stakes, which was actually your EMT conduit.  The piece of channel that you now use as a bridge when you make your BBQ fork tines.  The shackle bolt ( U bolt) for holding the leaf springs to the frame on a truck, that is now your favorite chisel.

We need ideas as to what to add (when we find it) to our resource center.