John McPherson

Nice work as always, Butch. And it was eight years ago that Mike M. and I came over to take the measurements for what became "the hammer of the Scots". Time flies.

ML Martin said "Do you use tools in the hardy hole much? If you do I would definitely recommend against any anvil that has the hardy hole butted right up to the horn. Being so close to the horn it can be very unpleasant to have large hardy tools that hang over the horn. " That is only if you are used to the placement on a London pattern anvil, on the continent, they are used to it the other way around. The Hofi, Fontanini, Habermann and Euroanvil brands all have the square hardy at the front. One of the many warnings to newbies using the London pattern is to take the hardy cutter out as soon as you are through, so you don't accidentally lop off your pinky. We don't drive on the wrong side of the road here, why do we mindlessly want to copy other English patterns? :huh: (Full disclosure: as a proper tartan clad Gael, I used to hate the English. Then I found out that half of them were female. :D ) My two cents worth of advice: If you are going to all the trouble to have a smith of great caliber come a long way to your shop and train your crew, ASK *HIM* WHAT HE WANTS and needs for the week!!! I would think that you are going to need at least TWO anvils and solid stands, one for him to demo on, and one for each student. Having ALL the right sized tools, stock, etc. ready to go will save his and your valuable time tooling up. And you can probably sell it for what you have in it if you change your mind. But if you spend a week tooling up for an undersized anvil that will not meet your long term goals, it will cost you much more than the purchase price in lost labor.

Google image search turns up a picture of a medieval post vise in the gallery of this place called: wait for it -------- iforgeiron. And so the circle is complete. I know that there are many wood cuts showing many tools in Diderot and others from the 1500's to mid 1800's. Post vises are common in Europe by 1700, in American frontier outposts, I don't know.

[He told me " You can't weld with O/A, just cut, braze, heat."] What he meant was "I can't." I teach, among other things, a community college class in O/A welding of sheet, plate and pipe. The process of forming and heating the puddle with the torch, and feeding filler metal with the other hand, is a great segue into TIG and other arc processes. The time interval is slower, and you learn a lot about controlling the puddle, because it is not obscured by the arc, smoke, or slag. If OT offers an intro class that fits your schedule, I suggest that. Here at CPCC, our Basic class introduces O/A cutting, welding & brazing, stick and MIG in a safe environment. We even offer it evenings and Saturdays. Four hours, one day a week for 16 weeks will not make anybody a certified welder, but might keep you from killing yourself or burning down the garage. Back when the earth was still cooling and dinosaurs roamed the planet, all we had in the high school auto shop was O/A and buzz box stick units. We got by, and I did not even see a MIG or TIG unit for years after that. A lot of the airplanes of the first 50 years of flight were O/A welded, including stainless and aluminum parts. But in those days, the Army had Blacksmith/Engineers too, and forge welding has been all but forgotten also.

IMNSHO, air compressors, tumblers, and other such machines benefit by having their own space, preferably an outside closet under the eaves. A dog house or micro shed lined with scrap foam and old carpet works wonders for preserving your mental health, and keeps the neighbors from showing up with pitchforks and torches.

I must confess the first thought I had on seeing the title was Madonna. The second was Lady Gaga. Interesting work, and original. Love to see the completed project.

Cleveland is the home of Lincoln Electric, a premier welder manufacturer, and Ohio Tech, which offers a full line of welding classes. Oxyfuel welding usually gets short shrift in modern industrial schools. It is not cost efficient compared to arc welding in production work, but is still used heavily in art, sculpture and jewelry work. It is quite versatile in use, because just changing heads lets you weld, braze, solder, heat, bend and cut most metals. Older books from the fifties and sixties go into a lot more depth than modern textbooks. Victor would be my number one choice, they outlast all others here at our CC welding lab, where the students are truly hard on equipment. Performer is rated light duty, Contender is medium duty, Journeyman is heavy duty. You can often get them for about half of MSRP online at places like Cyberweld.

A smith at a Renn Faire ***insisted*** that quenching carbon steel blades in ATF would make the steel *poisonous* if you used it to eat with or skin animals. Because steel is porous!

A great master of a craft was in his studio with his apprentices, when a stranger comes in, and politely asks a question about a technique. The maestro sits down with the man, and spends twenty minutes in personal dialog with the stranger, who then leaves. An apprentice thens comes up and asks: "Why did you waste so much time with that fool, when you don't spend that much a week with any of us?" The answer: "You get the benefit of watching my work from start to finish every day, and a word of correction or encouragement is all you should need if your eyes are open. He was polite and respectful. If he truly has the talent and experience to benefit solely from my words, then he is welcome to them. And if not, I have lost nothing, and perhaps gained a spokesman in return for my kindness. If I had turned him away in disgrace, he would have told the whole world what a miserable SOB I am for hiding secrets."

New anvils would have to come from a farrier supply house or maker, and would be pricey. Did you mean a better anvil than what you have? Went to www.searchtempest.com and typed in your zip code, the word anvil, and put a 150 mile limit on the search. It came up with one anvil & swage block dealer, several individuals with anvils to sell, and a whole historic blacksmith shop for sale in the last month. If you are serious, you will run the same search half a dozen times a day, call, text or otherwise respond immediately when something you like pops up, and bring cash money when you go to look. The good stuff at the right price is usually gone so fast, most folks never even know it was there.

Sometimes the media is the message, and sometimes the media is subservant to the message. I think that you achieved the right balance there. Outstanding work! (I was going to say that you nailed it, but that was just too trite.)

Size and strength are a relative thing, depending or the work you do. Since the industrial revolution, we all have the chance to "work smarter, not harder". We have had this thing called a "powerhammer" for just ages now, and I don't see anyone distaining electric or air tools in a welding shop. I took a American Bladesmithing Society forging class from Bill Moran in the 90's. He was half my size and twice my age, and could work rings around me and anyone else in the class. There are female Master Bladesmiths. (They say ABS stands for Asbestos Bra Society.) One not only passed the cutting demonstration, she did it in high heels! We have had dozens of women come thru our CC welding program and suceed, and dozens of macho guys quit when they were afraid of getting hurt (or afraid of doing work.)

The local granite countertop place regularly puts an add in the free section of Craigslist for odds & ends, the biggest chunks being sink cut-outs. Would make killer side tables and wine bottle stands.

The 1/7 rule ***only*** applies to acetylene cylinders, which are unique in fuel gases. They are packed with a porous matrix and the acetylene is stabilize with liquid acetone, which can get drawn up into the regulator if you pull too much gas too fast. MAPP, propylene, LPG, etc do not have that restriction, because they are built differently. Any gas bottle can freeze up if you empty it too fast, temperature drops as volume expands. That is why CO2 fire extinguishers make such great instant beer coolers. :rolleyes:

Go to bamsite.org to see the Missouri blacksmith group newsletters, and links to a dozen others.

The spring meeting will be at Dean Curfman's shop outside Morganton, NC on March 17. Folks come from out of state for this, so get together and carpool. Directions on the NCABANA website, join in for lunch, tailgating and great demos.

Randy posted some pics of his adapter system in the Tool section. Can't figure out how to link to the topic. Topic is "how to make hardy tools?" post #30

"That's enough to make a grown man cry...." You ain't kiddin' mudbugone. We need a celebrity spokesperson and some sad music like the commercials for 3rd world orphans or pet rescue. We could show videos of abused and neglected anvils, and prime scrap going in to railcars bound for asia to be made into crappy consumer goods. I feel a tear coming on already.

I just checked Travelocity, it is about half price to fly from Charlotte to Denver than to Rapid City. The savings would pay for the rental car.

Do you remember the opening scene in The Patriot where Mel Gibson is trying to make a light, strong, beautiful chair? The secret to art (and proper bladesmithing is an art) is not trying to keep adding stuff, but knowing when to stop taking away, and still have the essence. Even the largest historical greatsword that I have ever seen (and handled) was scarcely 1/4" at the hilt, and about 1/8" a foot back from the tip. And almost all were fullered to keep the weight down and the strength up. They were never crowbars with handles, they were "whippy" for lack of a better term. Don't be fooled by wallhangers that come out of glossy catalogs and 3rd world workshops, research the real thing if you are serious. And then take ***one*** of those springs and turn it into a real sword.

Is it a show "for" artists to buy stuff and network, or a show "of" artists selling to the public? Makes a big difference in what you put on the table. What can you sell to artists? Display stands of all shapes and sizes, hooks, chains and rings come to mind. Whatever the venue, have lots of small, varied impulse purchases available. Most folks do not seem to carry more than $20 in cash these days. Have one or two larger eyecatchers to show your range, and a portfolio of your work. The portfolio can be a digital photoframe or old fashioned flip book.

No. Nowhere near 100 points of carbon, like a file (worn out chainsaw files are great) or spring harrow tooth or garage door spring or grain auger coil. Simple test to gauge carbon content and hardenability for unknown alloys. Heat a thin section (under 1/4") to slightly above non-magnetic, immediately quench in cold water. Wrap it in a rag and wear your safety glasses, stick one end in the vise and whack sideways with hammer. If it snaps cleanly, it is high carbon/low alloy. If it bends and then breaks, it may be useful for impact tools like axes and chisels. If it just bends, it is low carbon.

Cone mandrels are like cops, never around when you *need* one, slowing you down when you don't. As to availability on the market, they are about as scarce as unicorns, or honest poiticians. I see one at auction every couple of years. Jump on it, you can always offer to trade it to other blacksmiths for anvils and post vices if you get tired of it.

I read the title to this just after finishing a bowl of my wife's Chernoble Chili. The sour cream, cheese, crumbled cornbread and mug o' suds only serve to defer the pain until tomorrow. :o

You may be able to do this with the #5 if you follow the steps above. Each bead of weld will be 1/8" or so thick. See if you can build up 1/2" of beads on a thinner plate, say 4 x 4 x 1/4". Once you can do that, you are ready to rock. Once you start putting heat into the system, don't stop unless it turns red, then wait until it is back to black. The localized heat will make it easier to add the next bead, like building with rows of bricks. You really need a fire watch while you are doing this, it is easy to get lost in the work. They just need to keep you from setting yourself on fire, and pay attention to the regulator pressure readings. It is easy to overdraw acetylene from one tank with a big tip, multi-tank manifolds are required for big work.