John McPherson

A 10" auger in roots and rocks would take a medium size tractor PTO to turn, 6" is pushing it in my little Kubota in clay. 1" auger for soil testing samples is hard work by hand to go down a meter. For just one hole, a straight bladed shovel and and a sharpened bar would work to break ground, and a cheap clamshell post hole digger to remove the loose soil. Or, if you are cheap like me, a can on a stick. Helical flights for augers are bent from flat bar stock on a large powered metal roller with CNC controls. Not really a DIY project.

All of our face-to-face classes are supposed to be "suspended" until a later time, but that drives the bureaucrats crazy. Ever since computers became available, it gave the desk jockeys a feeling that they are somehow "in charge" and know what is going on because they have data on a screen. Before that, they had to make do with paper reports on clipboards and file folders. Sometimes they even had to leave their offices and (gasp!) interact with the minions. Everybody has a plan to improve the world that does not involve any blood, sweat, toil or tears on their end. So now *we* have to do something to prove that *we* are keeping the students engaged on a weekly basis. The solution: online classes!!!! And gosh! is it going well. (By *we*, I mean a bunch of old guys that are renowned Subject Matter Experts in their field, but qualify for the senior discount at restaurants, have flip phones, don't do social media, and can't understand how to stop the youtube video from going into Autoplay during lectures. Not the admins.) Don't know how to do online classes? Watch this video/powerpoint/text only-no screenshots class online to find out how! What? You have been on hold for an hour? IT is way too busy to answer the phones. Send an email request and enter the queue. No, no one can meet with you to show you how to do this, the county is in lockdown. Figure it out. Soon.

Commercial operators of grinding/buffing machines at this scale wear - chain mail aprons, full face shields, etc.. I have to try to instill in students that the most dangerous machine in a welding shop is the little hand grinder. It accounts for most of the eye and upper body damage in any shop. My friend, the uptown jeweler turned suburban knifemaker, once had a bench buffer snatch a heavy silver chain out of his hands, throw it ***past his right shoulder***, thru the back bench area, thru the sales area, thru the plate glass window, and out into traffic. A brown pants moment for anyone, but ***because he had been trained where to stand when working at one***, it was just an insurance claim for the window.

Some deadbeat by the name of John something-or-other runs the NC ABANA library, and breaks down the books in groups by themes. That may help you decide what to look for, if your local library is still open at this point. Inter-library loan is a wonderful thing. And there is always Amazon, plus free downloads are long as the links are still up. https://ncabana.org/our_lirary/ Blacksmiths Association of Missouri (BAM) has a listing of free downloads. http://bamsite.org/books/books.html

I think maybe the universe is trying to tell me something, and is starting to take it out on the rest of you. My wife could not join me at the Delaware conference due to last minute medical problems, which later returned and interfered with Salt Lake City. I got turned around before I made it to the Virginia state line due to a death in the family. This time around, a world-wide pandemic. If I register for the next one, expect alien invasion or giant meteors.

Just so you know, EMT is no substitute for structural tube. It WILL fail under stress: IE, your cracking problem. I have seen too many projects fail catastrophically because of it, to recommend it for anything other than its intended use. If you are going to use it, put a round plug in the end to support the walls, and drill and bolt thru that. And if you love your life and lungs, don't heat it or weld it, galvy fumes are no joke. If you absolutely must have flat ends, go buy structural tube and flatten that.

Some items are hard to find, some are rationed, and some are gone, but no chaos in east Charlotte area today. Plenty of shoppers, some with masks and gloves. Lots of store cleaning going on, cooler handles, etc. Except I forgot to look for feta at Costco, dang it. The aisles were full of pallets of stuff, all the coffee, PB and Spam you could hope for a protracted self quarantine. You may have to make your own bread, but flour is still plentiful in the grocery stores. (Yes, pumpkin, you can use your oven to do more than hide leftovers from the cat.) K-12 schools are shut down in both Carolinas, most colleges are doing extended Spring Breaks, and trying to figure out how to shift everything possible online. Some states are closing restaurant dining rooms, take out and drive thru only. Blacksmithing content: Events of over 100 are prohibited, so Ellen Durkan will not be at the Big Blu shop next Saturday. NCABANA Spring meet is cancelled.

Did no one even read the OP? It is CAST! The smooth transitions on the stepped legs and church windows tell you that, the heavy support for the horn and heel, as well as the surface finish. Yes, you can use heavy punches under a power hammer or press to make impressions in cast steel while it is still hot from the mold, and they can't be ground away. No, it is not a cheap, shoddy mis-matched casting like an ASO from a bootleg foundry, it came from a state-of-the-art facility for it's day. The handling holes are there for grinding the surface plate, also common on Swedish cast anvils. I would still like to see the bottom of the anvil, to see if there are remnants of a sprue.

Mid 20th century make, 1930 to 1960 maybe. Starting with the Great Depression, all extra steps and adornment were eliminated to make things more affordable, and keep the surviving companies in business. Paper labels are easily lost once the product is sold to the end user, but cheaper than die imprints and stamping. Cheap paint without detailing and highlighting of lettering. Closed die forging, cheap and nasty grind cleaning of die flash. No chamfering of edges. Open ended screw boxes. The screw does appear to be in excellent shape, as do the jaws. Should be a good user. And this example is missing pipe jaws and that is probably not the original spring. The shackle holding it on the front arm is definitely suspicious. I bought one just like it several years ago.

You could test the drill bits in several different ways. (These work for saw blades as well, as some are bi-metallic.) Take a sharp, new file and try to scratch a line across the bit to shank transition at intervals. If it gradually goes from hard to soft, only the cutting part is hardened, and the tang was left soft on purpose, just like a file. If a sudden transition, different metals used for bit and shank and welded. Or, you could clean, polish and etch part of the bit to see if there is a color transition between the tempered cutting end and the shank. And of course, the crude blacksmith way: heat it up to forging temp and see if it shatters when you hit it on the anvil. If not, they may be useful cut down as hardy tools, with the shank squared up to fit the hardy.

That is why we are no longer "Chapters", but "Affiliates" instead: insurance and lawyers. I was there at the Southeast Regional Blacksmith Conference in Madison, GA in 2001 for "the anvil shoot heard around the world". And quite a few anvil shoots at Madison since then.

As with all welding, 100% penetration is best. Anything less will lead to some sort of compromise in rigidity or life span before failure. What do you have to bevel with? Files, small grinder, huge grinder, oxyfuel torch and cutting head, carbon arc gouger? What kind of weedburner do you have to preheat the plates to 300F before you start tacking up? How big are your welding rods? Is your supply unlimited? How beefy is your power supply? Do you have a shop crane and chain hoist to manipulate the work on the steel welding table so that you can do all of the welds in the flat or horizontal position? How about a just a sturdy steel bench and a crowbar, unless you just like squatting in the dirt for hours? How good is good enough for a home made project? I assure you that plenty of third world smiths are making a living with far less than a welded up anvil, even a student version.

Cast, not forged as witnessed by the fat horn and hump under the heel, lack of hammer marks anywhere, and recessed base. Definitely NOT a Mousehole or former employee even if it was forged: no keel under the horn. The only thing similar to an English anvil is the small triangular feet.

It was awesome! Launched anvils about 6 times during the day, plus fired off a couple of brass cannons. Video on my FB page. Oh, and blacksmith stuff too! Great demo team making a bicycle sculpture, Pete Renzetti doing his "puddle people" flame art, tailgating, Blue Moon bookstore. The biggest "Iron in the Hat" drawing I have ever seen, about 500 items, about a third hand-made.

Anyone else planning to head up to Louisa, VA for Boone's last pasture party tomorrow? I got my name on the list months ago, and it looks like the stars might align to get me there. Wish me luck.

Here in the regulated and industrialized sectors of the US of A, Occupational Safety inspected (OSHA) shops will fire you on the spot for running a grinder without a guard, taped electrical cords, no safety glasses, etc. However, if you are self-employed, or work an off the books job in 'Murica!, then everything is fair game. There are plenty of websites and memes with photos of folks doing stupid stuff. One of my biggest problems with training students to go into the welding industry is convincing them that I am serious about safety. One student who PROUDLY went by the nickname of Cletus had taken out the windshields of two different F150 pickups with his head, because he refused to wear a seatbelt. You just can't reach some folks.

Oh, ye of little google-fu. Just because you can't do it at home, does not mean that there are not multiple industrial processes under the heading of solid state welding.

Traditionally, WI was welded with an oxy-acetylene torch. The self-fluxing nature of the silica strands made it flow well. 7018 seems to work a little better (for me, YMMV) than 6010 because it should be run about 25-50% hotter for a similar diameter, and has powdered iron in the flux.

Fluxes scavenge oxides from the surfaces, allowing you to get clean metal-to-metal contact necessary for a weld. Can anybody weld easily without it? Yeah, experts, in coal forges. Noobs in gas forges: lotsa luck! The rest of us, somewhere it the middle. Original wrought iron welds to itself fairly well because it has low carbon content and silica strands internally, making it self-fluxing. Modern steels have none of the advantages, and the more alloying elements added, the harder to weld. Stainless steels require a really aggressive flux that is actually a breathing hazmat item when heated. In a *correctly shaped* joint, using the *right amount* of force, at the *right spots*, the hot flux squirts out when force is applied, taking the surface oxides with it. And the metal plates are joined cleanly, and without trapped flux or un-fused spots. Piece of cake baked alaska with a handmade fondant and piping roses. And yes, screaming hot flux spray means that you better have: visitor standoffs and screens, safety glasses, leather apron, buckets of water or a hose handy. You CAN set the grass on fire 30' away. Ask me how I know.

The spring *may* be original. Towards the end of the blacksmithing era/Great Depression years, to stay in business many manufacturers made things as stripped down and cheaply as possible: rough finishes, no chamfers or decorative flourishes, etc. coil vs leaf springs, etc.

Western, Plumb, and Collins all made paired sets for the Boy Scouts** at one time or another, fleaBay usually has several for sale. Never seen one with black leather, always brown. Also never seen a stacked leather handle hatchet, but surely there is a collector site somewhere with everything listed. The rare ones are the Official Girls Scout sets: once upon a time they made them too!

That statement is solid gold! And it applies to all of life.

Sweet gum is not used for lumber because the wood has a spiral twist to the cross-linked grain. Makes for warped boards and miserable to split without a massive hydraulic ram. Cuts easily with a saw when green, badly when dried out. It rots very quickly in ground contact. Overall, considered a trash tree like elm and southern ironwood. However, it makes great stump as long as you keep it dry. It will check around the edges, but never split. Strip the bark off, seal the base, put three treated lumber feet on it to keep it off the concrete*, and it will give you years of service. *ANY untreated wood will rot and get buggy here in the south if left in contact with unsealed concrete. A four inch scrap of treated 2x4 lagged to the bottom makes an ideal standoff.

An 80 pound anvil would be lucky to start out with a 3/8" plate. That size was considered to be a bench or travel anvil, portable and convenient to relocate, or load and unload multiple times a day. Always meant to be used by one person with a one-handed hammer for light work. The more that you thin out that top plate, the faster the swayback happens as you use the anvil. You lose the stiffness of the hardened high carbon steel top plate, and the softer wrought iron core deforms more quickly. Also, there is a certain amount of work hardening that happens as a function of hammering. Taking off a few thousandths of an inch reveals a softer layer, so it erodes and dents even more than before. If you want perfection, buy a new cast steel anvil. That way, when you chip the edges and put dents and dings in the face (and you will, as a beginner), you can mill it down to your heart's content, and still have good steel left.

IMHO, that is not a hammer, but a tamping tool for sand casting large foundry flasks. Probably made in the foundry, as many were. The only large cast hammers that I have seen have been for crushing coal or driving wooden fence posts. Is the hammer head cast onto a section of pipe, or is it all one piece? What is the profile of the head? More pics would help, and a ruler or other object for scale.