matto

Your welcome.

if you want to paint it stove paint will be fine. if you want it looking new you may have to paint it every couple of years. as for prep remove rust, ant old paint. you don't have to remove the old paint if you don't want to. but stove paint, engine paint or header/manifold paint will also work. the header paint might give you a higher temp range. the engine paint more color options. but plain old black stove paint will work fine.

you have to know that anthracite is the best, it has the lowest ash and mosture levels and the highest carbon content of the four coals ( lignite aka brown coal aka boiler coal, very high ash and moisture content low carbon great for heating. sub-bituminous little less ash and moisture content than lignite. bituminous is soft coal has very little ash and mosture content with good btus and great coking ability aka blacksmiths coal aka metelugical coal. anthracite highest carbon lowest ash and moisture content. almost straight coke so you have to use it as using coke in the fire not so much as using coal. it's coke abitity is not that good beause it is as close to coke as you can get with out being coke.) as far as my knowlege goes anthracite is not mined much any more but there are a few mine starting up again, it is usually cost more. mod note : people refer to bituminous coal as soft coal and anthracite as hard coal

i use a 2.5 lb nortic basically a german short, and a 1.5 rounding hammer. my main hammers are all nortic from 3/4 lb to 6 lb. i think that no matter what style fits you best,making the handle fit your hand is an important part of the hammer. it is the difference from forging a few hours to forging all day. i also use the swedish style, ball peins, straight pein (mine is a bell systems 3lb it is kinda fun because of the hole in the pein for turning in climbing screws) a few different modified auto body hammers, ect....it really does depend on what you are forging. but as for the go to everyday it is my2.5lb nortic. i do have a longer handle in all my "shorts" than is originaly in them.

I like, it is always fun to reinvent something for different tastes

sorry must of hit the add reply twice nice to see the 2nd reply got all the pics

my kohlswa 150 lb i have it on a new tri leg stand now my trenton 123 lb my 150lb vulcan the one that i wish i still had, it was my first, 125 lb centaur

my kohlswa 150 lb i have it on a new tri leg stand now my trenton 123 lb my 150lb vulcan the one that i wish i still had, it was my first, 125 lb centaur

the magnet does not go on the side it goes under the heal or the horn. you have to move it from the wast to the tip of the heal to find out where it will quiet it down. another trick is to take a 3/8 in rod (or what ever size fits in to your pritchel hole) and bend it into a u. then hang it through the pritchel. acts like a vibration catch to quiet the anvil. i have had great luck with both.

I am the complete opp. I wear a 6.5 and can never find anyone that has them. I still am a redwing and danner guy after hours on my feet they have proven to be the most comfortable. But are the upper end in price. My bigfooted friends go with the keen boots. A lot of gov. Jobs here are going with keens as there boot of chose.

thanks for the input so far. i will post pictures. the wheel is 17.5" diameter. i was stripping more parts today and thought what ever i do for the wheel i can do for the front emblem. it is about 5" in diameter.

i am rebuilding a 1958 ford 641 workmaster tractor i what ever spare time i have. i want to give it a custom steering wheel and need some ideas as what to forge. i will forge the round wheel and am thinking of a forged tree for the center forging the steering nut to look like a cut branch or a burl. i am open to anything. matt o

that looks like a true vulcan anvil looks like mine. they do not have a ring. the info i have found on them states that it was marketing geared for the neighbor hood smith. so he could still forge all day and not be so loud that the neighbors would complain. they are good anvils but are rougher castings to keep cost down. the only problem i have is the horn is short and odd shaped. alittle grinding with a flapper disc can reshape it some. mine is 150 lb and i do like forging with it. you will like forging with the heavier anvil. as for the numbers , mine has the 15 and it is a 64 on mine not a 54. but it could be slag from the casting changing the 6 to a 5 or the 5 to a 6. your picure is a 54. i will recheck mine. the info i have is from a guide to anvils, www.balconesforge.org.

wayne your forge looks alot bigger than a riveters forge more like a early railroad forge. as was said earlier a riveters forge, portable forge or farriers forge are about 18 inches in diameter. they come in cast iron and stamped sheet metal with either a hand pump, crank, ratchet, or foot operated blower ( that is all i have seen). they are very portable hence the reason they were used to heat the rivets on all levels of the empire state building and why some traveling fariers used them. as for clay in thhem each to there own, you don't need it, but also won't hurt it. another way to make a deeper or longer fire pot is to use fire brick. i use three in my riveters forge to help control the fire. if i want a longer fire i take one out and use the other two to make a long channel.

those are awsome. my wife wants 4 bigger ones to use as benches. only problem is haven't been able to talk her into the size of press i would need.

so i am a blacksmith, not a spelling bee wizard B)

this is me this is me tearing down a building in the back yard to get the people out of the house we just baught. they really liked that building. oops

i have a 2" receiver hitch mounted under the top on all four sides of my table that my grinder, a vise, bending jigs, round froms and ect.. can all be put into. then i have a rack made to hold all the 2" hitch tools. nice because the tools don't take up bench space easy to move and store out of the way. it is also nice that they all have 5/8" holes that are all in the same place for pinning the tool to the bench.

here are some images of things i have done with the unplated wrenchs coat tree fire place tools and log rack a hanging coat tree

Thanks all for your info, most of the tools are buffalo and different tractor makes. Tried to do searches on the topic but could not get any hits that is why I asked the question. Thomas I will be inventive and post pictures when done.

i have a client that brought in some of her dads old wrenches and wants me to make something out of them for her. they are all chromed. i know what i will make, my question is do you have to remove the chrome plating before forging or can you just start forging them? what are the dangers of forging a chrome tool ( off gas, ect...). i think heating them to forging temp will get rid of the chrome just want to take some precaution.

all six of my vises are stamped with jaw size on the front jaw two 4", one 4.5" , two 5", and one 6" the 4.5"has a fk stamped on the screw box and one 5" is stamped 1913. other than that no other markings. i will look into the info from frank to see if i can see who made my vises.

is there a book like anvils in america for post vises? how does a person find the information on them? what are identifing marks or shapes to tell who made them? the few i have only have jaw size stamped on them.

i just made a super sucker side draft hood for my shop coal forge. i an amazed how they really do suck well. i have a hinged door on it so i can close it off at night and so i can use it as a hood over the firepot when starting up the forge. i am using a 10" x 14ga steel pipe for my chimney and my hood opening is 8 1/4" square hood body is 14ga the face plate is 2 1/2"x 1/8" strap.

here are a couple of metal stands. one is a four leg this is my tri-pod stand