Glenn

When you use that piece of angle iron, weld a short piece of pipe to the horzontal section to act as a socket for the foot of the vise.

Make a way to clean out the hole, cleaning both dirt and water. If there is not a bottom to the hole (concrete box) then a foot or so of gravel will act as a place for any water to go and then be absorbed by the earth. A piece of sheet metal on top of the gravel will keep dirt (or that small part) from hiding between the gravels.

What are the dangers of flashback and explosion during the making of charcoal in a 55 gallon drum?

We missed discussing the ACTUAL value of the anvil. When the seller puts a dollar price on an anvil, it is HIS value, what he thinks he can get for the anvil when sold. When you put your money on the table, that is YOUR value for the same anvil. When you use that anvil, only then does it becomes a VALUABLE tool. After you use the anvil for a while you can then put the ACTUAL value on the tool. Show us a photo of the beast and it's location and I am sure someone will put a value on it. :wink:

There is a short newspaper article on Bill at the link below http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?storyid=46563

Hollis covered most of the points. Make it simple and easy to handle and set up. I keep everything to 100# or less because at the end of a long day you still have to carry it to the truck and load up for the trip home. The one item you must bring is a "extra" hammer. One broken handle or a hammer that walks off can ruin the rest of your day. You are responsible for safety in your area. If at any time it becomes unsafe for either you or the audiance, shut down and fix it, or pack up and leave. If there is ever a question about safety, it is NOT safe enough yet.

JBW if you use the 1/4" plate option, weld a matching insert to the bottom of the plate to both give it weight and to keep it from moving around and out of position. A finger hole in the plate comes in real handy for removal.

Being as how your testing ..... Many times I will rework a photo. This is as good an example as any to show the difference of before and after. I like the pinapple twist on the bottom handle.

Ralph, we all hope that this takes care of the problem. Your on our list here.

Mrs. Hotforge now has a feeding tube. Your continued prayers would be appreciated.

Who but a blacksmith would do something like that !

Rather than making just a referral to www.Forgemagic.com and some 200 plus posts covering all sorts of topics, and the most of the month of Feburary, why not summerize in your words, the business and pricing information and post it. We could then visit Forgemagic if the topic interested us and read the site for details. This would benifit both sites as those viewers of IForgeIron with the subject oriented format may find the time stamp format and one continious post of Forgemagic a little confusing.

Keep teasing the folks with your photos. Nice hammers !

Can you give us the dimentions of that spike ?

The bearing is shown above has a 2-1/2" diameter hole. I stopped at an equiptment repair facility today (never been there before) and ask to raid their dumpster. There were two bearing races 5-1/2" diameter and 11" diameter that looked like they needed a new home. Just could not pass up the 30 feet of metal band saw blade. The total list from one stop today was 30 feet of band saw blade, a 5-1/2" diameter bearing race, a 11" diameter bearing race, a gear, a piece of 1/2" plate steel 6x16" and a dome shape with a 2" threaded end. All this material is from places I have never visited before. The stuff is out there, you just need to stop and ask.

There seemed to be a very good improvement Sunday/Morning before we got there. When we got there I say a scale of 1 to ten, I have to give her a seven. Thank you for all your prayers. Ed aks Horforge

As long as the major part of the project is from the parts list specified, you can fold staple bend, or mutilate as you wish, ox/ac included. IF you take in progress photos, email them to me and I will work it up into a blueprint. Otherwise under the proper month's thresd, post photos of the finished product with some text. You may want to post the original treasures found just to show others that there is metal out there and where you located what. :idea:

Garages that actually repair cars usually have left over parts. There was a garage in town that usually had several older cars parked beside the building for a couple of days. I stopped in and explained that I was looking for solid metal parts that had not been hauled off. He ask if I was a junker and I said no, a blacksmith, I acutally use the stuff. He didn't have much but I was welcome to the following. Bent steering linkage from a Chevy truck, brake drum and a section of 3/4 round bar. Feeling good from the first find, I stopped at another garage on the way home. It had changed managment several weeks earlier, and I had no idea who owned the place. Met the new owner and he just enjoys working on cars, turning wrenches, and does custom work. Said he did not have much but I was welcome to the following: Car jack, U bolts, bearing race, tow bar with a trailer ball, idler pulley, wheel hup, broken crescent wrench, and another steering linkage. Then he said he had one heavy chunk of metal over in the corner of the garage. I should take it to get it out of his way. One 2" or larger bearing block. So, it can be done, but now I have to come up with an idea where I can use the stuff.

Try BP0167 on how to build a swage stand.

Hotforge's wife is in a hospital about an hours drive from home. They still don't know what is wrong but have gotten her kidneys functioning again. The family asks that you continue your prayers.

Fionn, Is "a little liquid accelerant" more or less than a quart (liter) ? :shock: My suggestion would be to learn fire control and maintance. If folks don't have time to construct a "proper" fire using paper, kindling, and to use the boy scout method of fire building, I don't think napalm is the answer. :wink:

Sandpile, try this link Jim's Pattern Welded Bar Tutorial

There is demo on how to make a pair of tongs by (at that time) a 10 year old blacksmith called "Whitesmith". You may want to present this method of making tongs to your metal working class. It will not replace a good store bought pair of tongs, or a good set of tongs made by a blacksmith, but will teach students that they can make what they need. Link removed t the request of Jock at anvilfire demo #132 Easy Tongs

IForgeIron Blueprints has 7 different how-to pages on making tongs. http://www.iforgeiron.com/BPindex/Subject/Tongs/BPtongs.shtml

Stryder Please post any question you would like discussed. We will try to get you an answer. One correction to your comments: Nothing has been deleted. You did not stir things up, actually I did in telling Jim to post references to his books. To alter your quest for knowledge would be to let one individual (from long ago) that did not want to "play nice", and wanted to cause trouble, win. Don't do it, keep asking questions.