clinton

thanks for sharring maybe I will try to make some hinges as well
gotta go find some chaw days work is pretty good
here is a shot of my little helper bugsy wants to get right in on the action

I have a common sense #2 that I am going to get running soon it is going to be tricky I have seen a couple of the # 1 hammers set up there is a guy here local that has wygers hammer it has the motor mounted above the hammer. Then there is the one that Carl Jennings used with the motor on the side about mid way. Talked to another guy who had one but never got it running he said to use a jackshaft sorta like the guy with the pretty purple one. Any one got one of these that works? Oh there is one more that I know of in south county gotta get ahold of that guy

unicorn- i just divided the area into equal sections and like evfreek said that is a butcher forging is just using dies your anvil is the bottom die and your hammer is the top with this set up you have a wide selection of bottom dies to chose from.
evfreek i go to gilroy for my scrap the place is called south bay metals i think they are getting around .40 cents a pound now. mark i think it was some surpluss military equipment that got scraped out only by the olive drab paint that was on it

I made this anvil using heavy plate 2 1/2 inches thick. It measures 21 inches long and 10 1/2 inches tall. Brian and Ed Brazeal have been using this type of anvil for years and it works well. the cost is much less than most anvils you will find and the time you spend making it is much less than you will spend messing around with rail road track. anyone that needs an anvil to get started should consider this approach. also there is no bad ring to this thing just a nice thud when you strike. I will be happy to answer any questions all you need is a torch and a grinder to do this and its just mild steel you dont have to find something with high carbon. I have been having trouble uploading pictures lets see if this works

I think those buildings are still there next time I pass through I will have a look

ok guys thanx for the input, unicorn your advice sounds good thats what I was thinking that way you avoid interference. ironstien yes I did score on the material over the years I have hauled of every piece of iron that is going to trash tube steel i beam plate pipe you name it i got it. origami i do some of my best work at the bar and some of my heaviest drinking in the shop so 40 inches seems logical
thanks every one for you advice now I got to get to work

I am setting up my shop and building a work bench 4'x 6' using 1/2'' plate, the problem i have is that i do a lot of fabrication welding so i like to set up high about 40 inches that way i dont have to bend so much to see the welding. now this seems too high for most blacksmithing operations, so if ya-all dont mind telling me how high your work bench is would be a great help
thanks clinton

looks good dude clean work

I do not know how to put a link to it but if you go to the callender of events and check out the brian brazeal road trip there are some great pictures of how to make a hammer

I made an anvil out of heavy plate brian and ed brazeal have been doing this for years. I found a piece at the scrap yard that is 2 1/2 inches thick 10 inches high and 22 long prob weighs 125 lbs or so. you stand the plate on its edge. what you do is take a torch with about a # 3 cutting tip and shape the edge to make your bottom die smooth it out with a grinder and make a stand tripod works good they sit flat better than four legs i will try to attach a pic. the attachment is not working i can email to you if you want

made a few horse heads sat evening (not a brazeal brother job yet) more practice and beter tooling. on sunday did some work on my forge hooked up the elbow that sucks air for the side draft then i fored a shift knob for my vw bus out of stainless i had a piece of 3/4 hex and a round piece abot 2 inch dia that had a hole in it so i forged a tenon on the hex to fit the hole well it almost fit couldnt get it all the way down but did get enough to head off the end came out nice and it was my first time forging stainless so it was a good learning experience
well gotta go catch the end of the game
clinton

ironstein- those are some good shots and the dogs were fine just a bit hungry. I got to sleep for the ride home after we got on the alternate route dora did all the driving home slow but safe so its all good. it was nice to meet you and maybe we can do it again next week end hate to travel on holiday but its a 4 day week end for us so i could camp out
got to go do more sanding

It was a great learning experience to work with brian forging his hammer brian is a great teacher and he makes it seem so easy. it was a lot of work but very fun. i will add some more pics later my batt died

ya it was quite a jouney we would like to get over to see you guys one more time before you hit the road. i am trying to figure out how to post theese pics

Ya i will put up some pics as soon as i can
we had a rough trip home there was fire on pacheco pass so we had to back track and take a back road 6 1/2 hour trip

Hey brian looks like i got some pretty good shots that photography class paid off