kashmire

i would go pentagonal with a mostly dirt or sand floor open on three side as for materials... i would go gazebo style construction... large beam at the five points to a star pattern rafter with a medium high peak... just my 2 cents

i would love it and it would be awsome to give demos and stuff...

i got a serious score of coil springs from my mechanic. no what punches should i make and exactly how would i go about making them. what tools do i need to make tools? lol

im not sure if rebound is of detrimental importance. but the work hardened I-beam i used to work on was horrible and it had little to no rebound and was VERY loud. my 300# fisher on the other hand is quiet and has a fantastic rebound as far as im concerned. my big hammers have some rebound mabye an inch or so of "bounce". and the little hammers bounce like super balls. but i like the rebound i get because its predictable. and tells me whether im hitting square.

no, i am stating that in my experience with rebar (god knows what type/quality) i've found just because its looks hot doesn't mean i can take a 3# hammer to it and expect it to move the way the mild steel of the same girth i just got done working with did. even hot the rebar seems to fight back and retain shape. there for it would require longer heats to work easily. and as for your tool steel numbers they may as well be Japanese. because i work in scrap. i don't know the numbers, i know that working 1/2in rebar requires a longer heat in my propane forge than most of the random 1/2in scrap i pick up does to work. who knows maybe the 1/2 inch rebar i got is magical, i know at a dark orange i may as well be hitting my anvil instead... i may make more progress! and if it is magical what do you think? +1 or +3 rebar of zombie slaying?

pardon me Hofi,

fantastic work! is there blue prints on how to do the cork screw. ive never seen it done.

Kashmire

i have so many books i dont know what to do with them all. from novels to reference manuals on all sorts of crafts and things. but my selection of blacksmithing materials is slim at best. what books do you all have that you depend on for critical info and ideas?

An engine block heater sounds like a great idea, since it keeps away those snow flies. I've heard that snow flies up in Lehigh Valley are likely to migrate to south central Pennsylvania by mid-winter, and that they are as large as turkey vultures.

its starting to get cold here. i was wondering has anyone tried using "heat tape" to keep the anvil warm? you know the kind you wrap around your water pipes and plug in to a wall socket to keep them from freezing .

also keep in mind that rebar is rough to heat. depending on the quality of rebar your playing with, your going to need a serios fire going to heat it to dark orange or better. i run propane and i spend almost twice the time heating rebar as i do almost any other stock.

thank you guys for the extra perspective. i didn't take into account work surface thickness or skill with an angle grinder. i usually over estimate grinder skill i forget not everyone can do what i can do with a grinder. (i was taught ice sculpting with an angle grinder) your input is most appreciated from my end. i also forget "not all anvils are made equal", cause i am so used to looking at my fisher.

4 1/2 inch angle grinder with a 80 or 120 grit flap disk. take light quick passes, dont push into the face or stay in one spot. or hand sand it...

if anyone disagrees with me please tell me and why... i dressed mine this way it it was fine. you just don't want to heat the face through friction. so light quick passes should work with time between to keep it from heating up.

but as said if it doesn't effect the work your doing you don't need to fix anything...

no i think its a double action, as one side is blowing into the fire the other side is inflating, and then vise versa. twice the air for half the work. at least thats how ive seen it work.

of which you speak?

My post drill.
bart

...what we call red ash anthracite here in Pa. I was told by a coal dealer...

i gathered the entire no alcohol near fiery hot things. (a leaf fell from a tree and landed on top of my propane forge today, it was kinda cool to watch.) thats why im asking about how other smiths do it so i can try several methods and see what works best for me.

so, i attempted my first welded wire billet today. i think i did pretty good. my question is about boric acid. i have strait powder(i just sprinkled copius amonts on in between heats & beats). the container says to make an alcohol based paste. how do you smiths use your boric acid. paste and paint or dip, sprinkle strait, how do you store it(wet or dry and in what?) what do you find works best for you?

sounds like you made a new friend. that's fantastic. the stuff you got your hands on im a little jealous. and as for the broken leaf-spring. its not bad steel or quality. it just went through alot of abuse being on a rig. but if your going to do alot of "scrap forging" i would suggest an a/o unit and a chop saw. they are indispensable tools.

oh, and for the record. the thing hanging from the gravity hook is a bottle opener i made from the handle of a Moen faucet, lol.:D

I haven't seen "gravity hooks" anywhere in a long time. Looks very nice there. Have you made any for round posts?

Phil

these are the first things i made that didn't end up back on my scrap pile. the s-hook is one of three. all came from one railroad spike tapered out cut to length, curled, then bent. only 2 survived. the gravity hook was made at a medieval blacksmithing demo on tent hardware. i have a lot more of these on my agenda.

i found a really old crow bar at a junk sale last weekend. its made out of 1" sq stock. i was thinking to make a sword out of it. but there is no markings on it. i was wondering if anyone had any idea how old it would be and what steel they used at that time to make things like pry bars and stuff. i had never seen a pry bar made out of sq. stock before i bought it for $2. but i couldnt pass it up!

your fire goblin wasnt happy with you that day, thats what it boils down to.

ok, so no real fixin needed. the scalloping under the fixed jaw is that normal? it causes my work to shift some times while im trying to work on it.

so what is the meaning of the terms mousehole and rathole?

perpendicular the jaws meet up fine. parrallell they are about a 1/4 inch off closed. and the scallops under the fixed jaw are about a 1/3 inch deep in some places.