hdwarner

lathe leveling has nothing to do with the earths level it has all to do with all axis's are perpendicular and parralel to each other and leveling is the medium in which to do. years ago hardinge made a claim that thier cnc's could be run in any plane , upside down side ways , whatever . becuase they were such a rigid machine. upside down plays havoc on coolant leakage however think of your tape measure sticking out 30 inches all twisted and turned from the starting point , imagine following that line with a tool what your work would look like

climb milling on the bridgeport although climb milling is the best way to mill don't do on bridgeport becuase it pulls to hard on the lead screw nut and i have heard that lead screws have broke thoughts

i was watching a rerun of the rifleman the other night and the so called "town blacksmith " was hitting a BLACK piece of steel and he wasn't even hitting it hard , you know "dink dink dink" and the coal forge was just smoking a little . i screamed at the tv "HIT IT HIT IT" i guess i am no better than the people watching sports being a arm chair coach. my wife said the blacksmith was probally an actor and i exclaimed right back , well he failed blacksmith acting school miserebly!!! why i oughta .

whoa , i am hypnotized by the radial pattern, thankyou for sharing c.

hey Pete have you made any bells yet? bill clemens from bgcm makes a pretty nice one about the size of a grapefruit i will give it a shot one day

i know someone that made letter openers out of railroad spikes , he gave me one but i kept damaging my computer when i tried opening my email so i gave it back

perhaps a handcrafted signed anvil christmas tree ornament

forged leaf key fobs ? i made business card holders before

i have one of those stainless steel soup pots like the ones a restuarant uses it is fine small enough to empty but big enough for the job only problem i have it is too close to the floor maybe a little stand in the future i forget even how i ended up with it , hope i didn't do anything illegal to aquire it

you can buy hex stock in ledloy 12L14 OR 1018 so all hex is not tool steel here is a link for heat treating Special menu bar look under rob gunters super quench , there are many testimonials about his super quench that he can harden 1018 steel to cut itself i heard he forged parts for nasa . chuck but as far as what i do i use the product casenite very succesfully

i bought a horse run in shed because it had no floor , and i filled with the floor with crush and run , the size is 10 by 12 i cut a hole in roof and have a hood over my coal forge . i have a 300 pound anvil plus my 10cent harbor frieght anvil that was heat treated oh the point i was ramblin , it is open in the front with ornametal steel gates on it , so i close and lock at night so i work out side but under a shelter chuck

nice machine, i can tell by the parts . cnc profiled radius's . i really like that machine . probally never in a million years see one of those on the used market . for good reason , who would sell such a masterful piece of art

hey frosty not only is a person sick for heating an anvil that hot i am pretty sure it is against the law , if you check the legislation in around circa 1825 to 1840 it was a law that was put into place. {article 159 section b } i think it reads" no one shall in any way misuse or abuse a metalworking anvil in any way to sacrifice it's usefullness as a tool for the betterment of the united states of america." etc etc. on record it has only been enforced twice . have no reservation though as long as you skin someone with the anvil cold you should not breach the letter of the law word of advise make incition behind neck and roll the head UNDER the horn so as not to damage the anvil face with the rock head you are skinning c.

no dumb questions here the actuall size is 2'" by 72" {good analogy a 2by 4} how about if a bakers dozen is 13 how many is a bakers half dozen? i hope 7 c.

greetings bladsmiths. i have no desire to make a knife at this time but i wondering if bandsaw blades would work i have availability to about two a week lenox m42 contester bi metal blades 15 foot long by 1.5 wide by about .07 thick would they work chuck

i am a machinist by trade and my neighbor is Peter Renzetti , although i wasn't directly inspired by mr. Renzetti ,my mentor and probally by far the best metal worker and woodworker i have ever seen . Steven C. {don't know if he would appreciate his name in print} was very attracted to mr Renzetti's skill and ability then i started to recognize the beauty in forging in an artistic form. to be short and sweet so used to making from a drawing that an engineer generated. i thought i would like to see if i had any artistic ability. what a huge transition from machining to forging . it is tough to let go of my disipline of machining to forging , i see everything symetrical and in decimal form. that my work as a novice blacksmith is always polluted by this . i am addicted to blacksmithing now . been a machinist now going on 28 years {only about twenty as a journyman} and i would love to semi retire and whittle out a couple bucks here and there behind anvil chuck

nice , return the karma someday

on my first coal forge i built , i bought an old electric leaf blower for 5 dollars at a flea market rigged it up with some cheap sheet metal i either fabricated or bought from home depot , it was a universal motor so i used one of those router speed controllers to control the speed of the blower. It worked well. since then i have just a fasco squirrel cage blower with two speeds my 2 cents

i like these american made anvils , at least they look great check em out, anybody know anything about them rat hole forge http://www.ratholeforge.com/ chuck

nice write up Ed, love that variable drive . nothing but jeolousy over here . this is a great site , very informative chuck

i like that what are those devices that hold the glass in? did you make? i like the suttle twists nice

thankyou for your reply. i did hear right. i better be real particular i guess where i apply this not to turn everyones clothes black. i did like the finishes appearance my analogy was black chrome chuck

has anyone ever heard of mixing dry graphite in johnson paste wax as you are heating the wax to emulsify the two together then letting the wax cool . then when you do work use this compound of wax and graphite on your work i swore that is what the demonstrator said he did , just wanted to ask if anyone heard of this before his work did have a nice appearance when applied . i have the graphite and wax don't want to do anything till i confirm what i think i heard thanks in advance chuck

welcome Ed i love the appearance of your hammer , looking forward to hearing your insights. thankyou for your service to this country chuck

hello john, i live in claymont de , near the commodore barry bridge plus the delaware memorial bridge i am basically a novice blacksmith but i have the whole compliment of a blacksmith shop , anvils from 300 pounds down to 30 post vises coal and gas forges hammers tong no power hammers though. guess i am a tool collector. i am a machinist by trade , and if you want to come to my house with your mom i will explain to her safety in the shop . i understand her concerns , one bad decision could result in injury . i think with proper training and limiting your scope of work you would be fine providing you have the right temperment . i know it doesn't seem appealing but thier are many prjects that can be done cold just with an anvil and vise , a hack saw {GOOD HACKSAW} and some files will net you some fantastic results . good luck chuck