habu68

This will be my winter project. A Craigslist.com find.

it is pretty rough, needs new leather and the valves reset, but it is all there and at $50 a nice find.

At a conference,years ago, at Francis Whitaker's shop some one brought a box of old wheels for iron in the hat. Francis was demoing tool making and used a broken piece of wheel to hand polish the end of a punch as he watched the temper colors run. The wheels, that prior to that, had no value were quickly bought up...

PS: you should never grind anything heavier than the wheel itself or you risk breaking the wheel.

and the winner is.....
yest
erye
arfo
rge


totiemulesto

the post was only 4 letters wide

in order to kick a horse puts his head down, tied high it is harder to kick.

can anyone name the source?

I read this years ago in a blacksmith book, but I cannot remember the source:

A Ring was attached, 6' above the ground, to a post in the door way of a smithy. Below the ring was written the words:
toti
emul
esto

what was the purpose for the ring :D

Are they coated with a green paint? They may be the joint rebar that is used between the lanes on a concrete highway. I have a few they are handy for moving heavy equipment around the shop. I have never tried to forge them.

Ray Bradbury wrote a wonderful story in "Green Shadows, White Whale" of an English Lord that died in Irish village. As the local nar-do-goods assembled around the grave, after following the hearse and several lorries full of fine liqueur to the site, The lawyer read the will: " the liqueur was to be poured into the grave". The riot was soon quelled by a quick thinking constable who suggested that if the lawyer wished to return to London in one piece, that the liqueur should be first passed through the kidneys of those who came to pay their respects.

Year before last, at the Rusty May annual Hammer-in , at Loveland Colorado. There are two firm rules #1. We have no plan and we are sticking to it. #2 If you know teach, if you don't know learn. To make a long story short, I was starting out with green coal, I forgot my tinder, paper and matches, and I was having a stinker of a time getting a fire started.
All this was closely watched by a 6 year old grandson of one of the sponsors of the group. He looked like Huck Finn in his bibs and engineers hat. He was getting quite a kick out of my bumblling. He had enough;"Let me show you how WE DO IT", he said with hands on his hips.

Under his Grandfathers bench was a coffee can with both ends cut out, he stuffed two sheets of news paper and a fist full of small sticks from the ground and placed it in the fire pot, lifting one corner of the can lit the paper from the bottom and started the blower and when the paper cought he began to fill the the can with the green coal. As the green smoke filled the tent, he backed off on the blower and blew on the smoke with his breath from above and a flame jumped up from the coal and burned the smoke, he then returned to the blower, removing the can the fire was in full roar. He then looked me straight.in the eye, "if you will save some coke for your next fire this will be a lot easier next time."

so now "that's how WE DO IT..

If you know teach if you don't know learn...

You might also try wood pellets for wood stoves

http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/f7/wood-pellets-2496/

If you REALLY want to go green Master Hofi has said on other forums that he has used animal dung at demo's in rural settings, If I remember right he had a preference for sheep products. )

Use them for a weight on a bicycle chain type hold down on your anvil.

From Blueprint BP0461

use empty cardboard boxes to mark the spaces for your forge and each of your work centers, anvil, drill, vise, power hammer, work table, etc. Then take a 4' bar of steel and move from the "forge" to the anvil, to the power hammer, vise, drill and work table. This will give you a feel for the space and save your back.

Another hint: for a 10x12 space, if you can, make sliding doors or out swing doors, this way the door does not use valuable floor space. Also a window set at the level of your chop box can allow for the cutting of long stock. My wood shop has an out swing door and a window on opposite ends and my radial arm saw in the middle. I can rip 20' stock in my 10' foot building;)

Strine,

I have tied that knot in 2" rope. You, sir, have an evil mind.:D

I make finger rings bent from horse shoe nails and square concrete nails, I wrap them around a piece of 3/8" rod that has been bent double to catch the head. they are sized on a handle cut off from a iron worker's spud wrench.
It is a good way to add value to your work. I get 3 bucks for the rings, but then again I'm not making the nail.... I also give away more than I sell.

http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/3420/size/big/cat/recent/limit/recent

Here is an easy blower gate, the blower is from a dead dish washer. I have it switched with a "normally off" button switch that i can step on when I need air. the can lid is over the intake side of the fan. I also have a 12 volt blower from a car heater system set up the same way. It works well for me....

your local pro paint store will have 5 gallon metal pails with lids, for a reasonable price.

I tried it sometime back with some success.. http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/f7/wood-pellets-2496

Speaking of great entertainment for kids... how many of us old guys/gals noted the passing this week of Mr. Wizard. Watch Mr. Wizard - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Since the tip of the joint is protected by the barrel, would it have to be hardened? The end that would be exposed to cutting could be hardened and wraped in a damp rag while the brazed spring was attached. Then again if this was an early iron (not steel) lock, would it have been heat treated at all? Locks only keep honest people honest..... neat lock

At the historical park I worked at, we placed large chunks of stove coal (one pound or better) in a old wagon tire on a concrete slab and pounded it with a short piece of railroad rail welded to a piece of pipe for a tamper. The iron tire held most of the "flyers" in place, untill it was removed and we used a shovel for clean up.

Another good high carbon junkyard steel is garage door springs, check with a garage door installer he will have a pile of old ones behind his shop. heat it in the forge and place the spring over a pipe in the vise and you can roll it off in 10' lengths, there is as much as 70' of rod in each spring.

A railroad bolt, that is used to hold the track plates to the track, has a 1" thread and about a 2" round head. I thread the nut on and then heat and square up the thread to fit the hardy. This gives a nice shoulder for the hardy tool. The bolt has a fair amount of carbon so they can be heat treated, shaped and polished to taste.

I have this drawing from Paw Paw's book "Revolutionary Blacksmith" He gave me a print of it when I commented on how it touched me.

Toast to a fallen hammer

He was heated in the forge of life, shaped by the hammer of Christ on the anvil of God, quenched in tears of sorrow and joy, tempered in the hearts of those who loved him, and has gone to find his place in the gates of Heaven.

Three times we ring our anvils in his memory. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen


Mike McGinty AKA Habu

I have sometimes used woodstove pellets with success. They coke up much like coal at the edge of the fire and burn hot and clean. The btu output is about half that of coal, so you need to use more of it. It is cheap and available. If you cantrol the size of the fire with water the pellets break down to a saw dust pulp that can be used for a cave type fire. Welding heat was no problem. ymmv