Glenn

Small projects require a fire but BIG projects require BIG fires. As Thomas says, we need more information before we can answer the question properly. Send photos of the forge, and tell us what you plan to make.

Can you name three consecutive days without using the words Wednesday, Friday, or Sunday?

What is a "HOFI Style Approved Hammer"?

How about a photo of your forge pot? Specifically the air holes.

See reducing grain growth and be sure and read post #4.

Frosty, find the proper size tubing to go inside the tubing cross bar most distant from the load. There should be a stop inside that tube, if not, measure from the middle to about 24 inches beyond the edge of the tubing to act as out riggers and to keep the hoist from tipping over when under load. You may have to drill a hole and weld a nut to the tubing, so you can use a bolt to hold the out rigger in place. You may want to look at replacing the wheels with all swivel wheels and stronger wheels than those supplied. If you plan to use the hoist on anything other than smooth concrete, a larger diameter wheel should be considered. This is NOT to be taken lightly. I have seen these things tip over (load was a small block v8), the wheels collapse (load was a 2000 pound), and the wheels dig in and bury up to the frame (into asphalt). Great score !!

Jayco, I killed my guillotine tool with just 2 weeks of use, spread the rails, warped and racked the frame etc. Version number two was built much heavier and has served me well through a lot of use. Don't be afraid to revisit the drawing board and change (improve) things to fit your needs.

David, I try (grin).

I know if you wait till the slag cools, when you hit it the slag will fall free of the weld. But if you quickly chip this away will the cold air harden the weld causing problems later?

You may want to rethink the anvil stand design. Where are you going to put your feet if you step up close to the anvil? There is currently another thread that suggests that for best results, the weight should be in the anvil, not the stand. Metal wheels may be a better choice as urethane wheels roll nice, but when left in one place with the weight of the load, they may flatten out on the bottom side.

The Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc. make the rules. The Marshal's Handbook may be of some assistance or contact a heavy weapons marshal. Maryland is in Atlantia and the Earl Marshal web site may be of some help in your area.

Go to the IForgeIron gallery and do a search for anvils. Choose what hold down method will work best for you.

Go to the top of the forum page, click on usercp, click on edit your details, enter your location and save. We would like to know where in the world you are located.

Posting images on IForgeIron The easiest way it to post the image in the IForgeIron Gallery. This will resize the images to the proper size for the forum. Then just copy the thumbnail link (the big long URL) and paste that into the forum.

Go to the opening page and Lessons in Metalworking > Blacksmithing. Lots of forge ideas there. Welcome to the site from Kingdom of AEthelmearc.

BP0189 Nails There are other Blueprints in the system which should be on line shortly.

You may want to do a search of Zinc (71 hits), Fume Fever (15 hits), etc on IForgeIron. There is much more information presented, and discussed on the subject, which includes many off site references such AWS (American Welding Society) health and fact sheets, medical papers, etc. Zinc if not the only heavy metals (or the worst heavy metal) a blacksmith will encounter. YOU must read the material posted on IFI (and other sites) to gather the information and knowledge to stay safe. PPW (Jim Wilson) was a member of IForgeIron. HE was the first person to alert me to the dangers of heavy metal poisoning, fume fever, etc.

There was another similar thread. It is interesting to compare the two. Music? whistle while you work?

Our condolences to you and your family.

My condolences to you and her family.

Quit thinking about it and dedicate a weekend to using the technique. It may or may not work. But you will only know if you give it a chance.

A quick search yielded the following which you may find useful as reference. Increasing mass of an anvil Hammer size vs Anvil Size Thomas Powers Applied Anvil Acquisition Technique (TPAAAT)

If you put the anvil on the block you do not get the added weight value. If this were so, everyone would buy a 50 pound anvil and put it on a 450 pound anvil stand in order to have a 500 pound anvil.

For those the Hofi hammer technique is discussed in the 1000 series blueprints.

John, I admire your service of shaking any bugs out of a new machine before it goes to the end user. Very thoughtful.