John McPherson

A circus performer and his trained seal walks into a bar, where the seal immediately hops up on a stool. The bartender says " We've never had a seal in here before, so your first drink is on the house. What'll it be?" The seal says: "Anything but a Canadian Club!"

ABANA maintains a lengthy list of affiliates and their contact info on their website, the only listings that you see here are the conversation forums that Glenn hosts.

The twist looks very good and even, but the "Z" looks slightly distorted by comparison. Good work overall.

Brent Bailey, hands down. Many professional artist blacksmiths swear by his tools. He has raised toolmaking to an art, as well as a science. http://www.brentbaileyforge.com/

Not allowed to post links to his site, but Jock Dempsey at Anvilfire ("across the street") has one of the best online photo museums of anvils and swage blocks around.

This photo is from another forum, showing that minimal wood working and welding abilities are required to make a usable tool. However, if you want to sell your tools to the public, image is important.

Running too hot and too fast to allow the arc to 'dig'? Bead profile looks OK, just no penetration. Edge prep & joint configuration? Vee out the groove and leave a gap equal to or slightly less than the thickness of the rod. (Zero gap equals zero penetration.) Dirty metal? 7018 needs clean, dry metal. 6010 is more forgiving of rust and dirt, and is a fast freeze rod used for open gap root passes, before the 7018 hot and cover passes. Cold metal? To do cladding or a seal weld on base metal of that thickness, I would recommend a preheat to 300F. And last but not least: new, dry rod. 7018 requires hot, dry storage (250-350F), or it picks up moisture from the air in a few hours that leads to cracking.

Just for grins.

"I've been thinking of putting an air brake can on one of my vises so I don't have to wait on no stupid screw. <grin>" Frosty The Lucky. Ray Clontz, of tire hammer and grinder fame, did just that about 10 years ago. Kind of a homebrew Studebaker vise. IIRC, the prototype crushed the channel iron frame when it closed. The Mark 1 had a pressure reducer in the air line.

Looks like THREE cast iron ASO's.

I have seen a lot of blacksmiths use a tong ring and hold the tongs with their crotch (!!!), so the armpit/ribs idea seems safe by comparison. It's all a matter of anvil height. There was an article in Blade magazine @ 10 years ago about a special blade/tool attachment made for someone who lost both hands at the wrist. Maybe someone could find it?

Blowing up the image, I read 1+2+19, or 187 pounds. Looks to be in great condition, a very compact and solid anvil. If I was close,I would jump on it at that price.

Hi Leon, and welcome to the metal mangler addiction. Warning: the desire to own and use an anvil is a bad sign. An anvil is a gateway drug to more serious problems: one is too many and pillars of anvils in the corners are never enough. Soon you will find yourself in seedy back alleys dealing with iron peddlers and worse: scrappers! The paraphernalia of your addiction will take over your life and your space. Hammers and tongs will spill out of racks, welding leads will wrap around your feet. Your old friends will avoid you, as you will wander around muttering, speaking in tongues of bainite and E7018. You will spend your last coins for a hit of propane just so you can run your forge without the neighbors smelling the coal smoke and turning you in to the police. In other words, enjoy! Seriously, V-groove welds as deep as you can go in that cut will keep it from being a tuning fork. Vibration is the enemy. On A36 any standard wire and process will work if it is hot enough. Historically, small mass 6 inch wide anvils are rare. But they were welded, either 3-5 pieces of forge welded wrought iron, or later, 2 pieces arc welded at the waist. I would suggest welding on a side shelf like an Austrian anvil if I needed more than 3" to work on. I would also turn each chunk into a different shaped anvil: one London pattern, one Brazeal fuller pattern, one Brazeal striker pattern, one Hofi pattern. Or sacrificing one of the smaller chunks to use as feet to increase the mass of some of the others if no other steel is available.

Maybe something like this image I found on the web? Arrg! Now I am suddenly getting the dreaded denial of image, even after resizing. Had to go really small to attach.

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is King! B) That's my story and I'm sticking to it. The late, great Grant Sarver described himself as an SOB - Sole Occupation Blacksmith. A (real full-time smith) friend once described me to another smith. "You mean that big, bald side of beef? Yeah, he knows his way around an anvil, but he's not a smith." :lol:

Besides using various penetrants combined with heat/cool cycles (candle wax seems to work as well as bees wax) and easy-outs, I have an index set of left handed drill bits that I find indispensable to free stuck bolts. Instead of wedging the bolt tighter in the hole, it will usually back it out when you get deep enough. It does require a reversible drill, I just use a hand held drill, corded or cordless. Center punch and start with a pilot hole as usual, before going to a bit size just under the minor diameter of the threads. When all else fails, I fall back on small abrasive bits in a hand held air tool or electric grinder, and profanity.

The Simmons Foundation website seems to be adrift. The maps and links go nowhere. I will try to retrieve some info this week and post it here.

Got a description? Something else to go on? I tend to save files with a title that makes sense to me.

Since this thread has taken on a life of it's own, one more kilt moment: I heard this from someone who was there. The Prince of Wales and the royal heirs were on the winning side of an epic Tug-of-War, and everyone took a tumble. In her words: "Now I have seen the Crown Jewels!"

I like it! A creative use of forklift tine for a beginner anvil set-up, breaks down for portability. Lest it be lost:

Wayne, we were at that point in the first 30 seconds, when she left blushing we were waaaay past . BTW, did you know that you *can* see someone with partial African ancestry blush? :D She still can't look me in the eye. :rolleyes:

It is not "going commando", the proper phrase is "regimentally correct". As in UK regimental dress standards, as documented by many photographs available to those with enough google-fu. I was questioned last week if I was going to wear one of my kilts for Saint Patrick's Day, and if so, what was worn under the kilt. Since this interrogation was being conducted by the the Dean's executive secretary and a group of other fearless women, the discussion quickly devolved to the point where the young female Security Officer had to excuse herself. Something about marching in parades and chafing........ And yes, I have attended Scottish Games in wool McPherson Hunting, and (blacksmithing content) forged in my cotton Utilikit, au natural. It ain't easy being breezy. Whether coal or charcoal burns in your forge, you only use water or muscle power for your blower. You only use water or muscle power for your Oliver or tilt hammer. Only the less pure would use a screw press, or (shudder) welded together treadle hammer. Steam-, air-, or electric-powered hammers are for heathens. You collect dirt dauber nests for your flux for forge welding. Stumps are the only acceptable anvil support. You forge candle holders by the flickering light of a grease lamp. No modern kerosene for you!

Sorry, I was clear as mud. You said that you could unscrew the Oxygen adjusting valve completely out of the torch handle, but not the fuel valve. You may have lost or dislodged some of the vital bits when it came out. DIY repair kits are available. I believe that in this model, the valves are standardized and interchangeable to fit torch body or cutting head.You could take the other oxygen valve in the cutting head apart to compare. IIRC, they are a screw in a tube that is threaded both internally and externally. The needle valve runs up and down the internal threads to control gas flow. The outside thread uses a compression nut to attach the needle valve assembly to the torch body, and limit the travel. If that compression nut is loose, the whole valve will fall out, rather than stop.

That model blower on ebay is a very small sheet metal stamping for use heating rivets; the output is only about 1.5 inches wide. I have the same model that I use on a tabletop 10 inch micro forge for demos where I am only working small stock, it will wear you out just to heat up a RR spike. The upside is that I can pack everything for a demo in a Honda. I think you would be happier with the hair dryer or bathroom fan until you can get a real cast iron blower.

You may have just backed the valve out of the threaded tube (90/45 degrees) off of the torch body, there should be a hex nut compression fitting under the mushroom cap of the valve. You did say that valve came out completely, better the oxygen than the fuel! Any packing washers may have come loose at the same time. Number one student problem: putting the gorilla grip on a soft Tobin Bronze fitting, and wrecking it. I have sent a dozen handles out for repairs from our school, and boxes of regulators. Cutting head diagram found online: http://www.atlweldingsupply.com/Harris-71-3-72-3-73-3_c_906-1.html