Glenn

Get in touch with Steveh. He may have a handle on some anvils. I know he has a couple of hammers (big hammers) looking for a good home.

IForgeIron> Lessons in Metalworking > Blacksmithing > LB0010 Building a Fire

Frosty, please do. (get together and make a BP)

Quenching in old motor oil

Just because you make a tool does not mean it does not have value. Try to buy the same tool, or even something close, and you will get a good idea what it is worth to the merchant as he expects to sell it at that price. Let's say you need the same tool 1 year, 2 years, or 5 years later, did you factor in the higher cost for the steel that was used, the higher cost of fuel, higher cost of everything else? The higher cost is the replacement value of the same tool. (Tell the merchant you only paid $X.xx for the tool a year ago and see what happens.) You can bet the merchant factored this into his price, so did you factor it into your price?

from Philip Life is calm here at present but have been told to expect a grade 6 aftershock today. That could bring down some already weakened structures.My house has been declared as unsafe. My wood pile cover, however, is fine because I built it properly! Not my property but some of my money in it. I shall try my best. Get some I beams in there. More later Philip

Why not post that photo in the IForgeIron Gallery so it can be used for reference?

This all came about when the wife suggested I clean up around the shop and take a bunch of the *trash* to the junk yard. I had to explain that rust is a color and just because it is rusty does not mean it is unusable. The final truck load of rusty steel was valued at $200 by the junk yard. It was a token amount of material that had very little actual value, other than weight as scrap. This difference between what has value and what was junk got me to thinking. When was the last time you made a list of the blacksmithing tools or equipment you have in your shop. The old buzz box welder has value, as does the forge, anvil, hammer, power hammer etc. If you have insurance, you will need the list of what is being insured and it's approximate value, or replacement value. The easiest way is to purchase a roll of 2 inch wide tape and a broad chisel point black marker. Put the tape on the item and write the serial number and approximate value on the tape. Now take a photograph of the item then remove the tape. If you have a loss, the photos and serial numbers are a great help in recovering the items, or filling out the insurance papers. Next go through the shop and locate all the *little items*, the chisels, punches, drifts, fullers, flatters, swages, etc. Put them in similar groups and take a photo. Collect the anvil tools, hardie tools, jigs etc and photograph them, keeping in mind that they are custom made specialty tools when arriving at a price. What would you expect to pay to have that tool made? Then go after the rest, either in groups or as an overall photo. Be sure to get overlapping shots of the shop both inside and outside. Oh yes, photograph the scrap pile and the working stock you have on hand. When your finished, DO NOT add it up, as you do not want to know how much you would have to spend to replace it.

Blafen, Thank you for using IForgeIron as a safety reference to your instructor. We keep warning about the dangers of galvanized fumes because most people DO NOT know the proper safety procedures, and have NOT been trained to do it safely. Fewer still will take the time necessary to learn or invest in the proper equipment to do it safely. Therefore we throw out a blanket warning trying to cover all the reasons to be safe. Fume fever (heavy metal poisoning) is not something you want to play with. Remember that although YOU do not weld on galvanized, the student next to you may, and the fumes from any welding on galvanize will fill the entire room, not just his work station. Personal safety is your taking the responsibility to keep YOU safe.

Safety guards are required when using grinding, polishing wheels. They will catch on the metal and throw it back at you. The only question is when and how hard, but it WILL happen. This is the force you must consider when choosing a safety shield for the eyes, face, and body. Choose wisely.

Poke a hole in the top of the coal and let the fire escape like a volcano. It will burn the smoke. A couple of pieces of wood, sticks, paper on top of the fire will burn the smoke also. Remember, you can smoke, but you DON'T have to inhale (grin).

This is a 100 pound Holland Bench Vise This is a post vise. The difference is that the post vise is designed to be hammered upon and transfers the impact down the post (leg) to the ground.

I have made coke in a forge 4" diameter and only 3 inches deep. As Thomas said, a description and photos of your forge would help a lot in getting you an answer.

Dan That is the same saw Matt posted. hacksaw

Urban Dictionary - ramalamadingdong used in excitement. Rama Lama Ding Dong (A Capella) you tube The Edsels (Not the same fellows in the you-tube video) were an American Doo-Wop group active during the late 1950s and early 1960s. The name of the group was originally The Essos, after the oil company, but was changed to match the then-new Ford automobile, the Edsel. What all this has to do with sword blanks is a little beyond my grasp, but the research in answering the question brings back memories of the Doo-Wop era.

Thank You. IForgeIron was built as a blacksmithing resource. Discussions are encouraged in order to exchange blacksmithing information. Opposing views on a topic must remain civil in order to provide and absorb the information presented. Again, thank you for your comments as it confirms the correct decisions were made when setting up the standards for the site.

Show me your anvil True prices for anvils. Show me abused anvils True price for a vise Show me your vise IForgeIron Archives Go to the kitchen and get a cold drink and a sandwich. When you return, go to the bottom of the forum page and click on archive, click on the blacksmithing section, click on the blacksmithin' sub-section. Browse as needed. IForgeiron Search Engine Go to the top of the page and click on search. Enter the keywords you are interested in. The better the keywords the better the search results. The search engine looks for the words you enter, no matter where they appear. This sometimes leads to frustration until you figure out how to use this very valuable tool.

Show me your anvil True prices for anvils. Show me abused anvils True price for a vise Show me your vise IForgeIron Archives Go to the kitchen and get a cold drink and a sandwich. When you return, go to the bottom of the forum page and click on archive, click on the blacksmithing section, click on the blacksmithin' sub-section. Browse as needed. IForgeiron Search Engine Go to the top of the page and click on search. Enter the keywords you are interested in. The better the keywords the better the search results. The search engine looks for the words you enter, no matter where they appear. This sometimes leads to frustration until you figure out how to use this very valuable tool.

Blacksmithing Groups Check here for blacksmithing groups.

Another email from Philip Linna and I are right in the middle of the worst area for quake damage. Remarkably nobody at the school where we work has been killed. Locally the death toll is thousands and set to rise. We had a complete hospital destroyed and a complete school, including pupils and staff, flattened. We are drinking bottled water. The sewage lines are damaged so any tap water is very suspect as it is pumped from wells. We get a few hours a day of power from an emergency diesel powered generator. The forge has been used for boiling water, making emergency tools and today will be making tent frames. The brick chimney was taken down by an aftershock. My beloved judo mats were pressed into service to use as emergency beds. The canvas cover is over a set of soccer goalposts and has a family living under it. People ask what they can do- well our short and long term plans are as follows: Now we need disaster aid. We are getting this from the Chinese army who are working very hard to help. We will need to demolish and rebuild the boys dormitory. That will take a lot of work and materials. I want it to be done properly. Don't believe the rumours about corrupt officials skimping on materials. That is just not true. They don't know HOW to build properly and that takes us back to education. I am going to continue my efforts to train local guys in dirt poor villages how to do some smithing. I then give them an anvil, a few tools and either make or build a forge and get them going. I have done this so far out of my own money but there is a limit to what a teacher can afford to do! Any western tools would be welcome as the local stuff is junk. Long term I am even planting hickory trees for tool handles but that is very long term. A bag of hickory nuts would be used! The school could do with a new judo mat. Sounds silly but it is a major sport here and the old one is destroyed. I can source this in China but again need money to do it. The main thing is my wife and I are fine and I shall be posting to iforgeiron, electricity permitting, as soon as I can work out how to open the site. Thank you all for your kind thoughts.

Rec'd the following email from Philip: Most of that is accurate except we are not that old. Fortunately we are both OK and have been very lucky. Forge chimney went down through an aftershock though. Have made rescue tools and soon will be doing tent frames. Got to go as power is only on for a few hours a day. We also need to conserve it for the water pumps.

Dave, build several small fires before building the first forge fire.

Jet, try a bigger coal fire and electric blown air. Set the air to idle the fire out at the temp you need.

Keykeeper, * Cut a half circle on the edge of a piece of rectangular metal, then do it again on the opposite edge. Now roll the metal into a circle so the two half circles make a hole for you to insert your air tube. * Piece of 6 inch pipe and cut a hole in it for the air tube. Your a blacksmith, YOU can make the things you need. And no one said the thing had to be round either, because square, rectangular, etc will work just as well. Pyramid shaped with a flat top connecting to the fire pot would be actually best as the ash would have no place to catch and clog things up. If this forge going to replace your *potty chair forge* ?

Use a broken grinding wheel to remove the scale from a piece of metal so you can watch the colors run. As Jayco says, also good to remove a burr.