matto

i have made some spike knifes, all marked whc on the head the w is where it was made and the hc is for high carbon. to my understanding the carbon content can be anywhere from .3 to .8 give or take. the hc spikes are for use at switch points and on curves where they need the hardness and strength for movement. no they don't make a $400 dollar razor sharp high end knife, but they are fun to do. they will hold an edge but will need to be resharped more than a quality knife. but they are not ment to be a high quality knife. they are ment to be functional but because of the unknowing of carbon content they are more display knifes. by the way did i mention that they are FUN to make. there is also a market for collectors of knifes and of railroad spike knifes. a lot of smithes make tomahawks out of them. as for hardining and tempering i water quench then draw temper. works for me.

looks like my vulcan. it is a cast anvil that does not have a lot of ring but it will put your hammer right back in your face if you are not paying attention.

Clean shaven could not even grow a soul patch if I wanted to let a loan a full beard.

do you know what grade of rebar you used? 40, 60,80, weld grade what size did you use 1/2, 3/4 ? matto

i am thinking that is what i am going to do. i do prefer the side draft hood over a canopy.

hey all, in my shop i will have two coal forges, i think side draft hoods are better than a canopy style, but i am wondering if i can put the two hoods back to back and use the same chimney for both? the pipe size will be 12". or would it be better to put a long canopy style hood over both forges using the same chimney? i am trying not to put two holes in my roof. matto

You could get the economy line forge at diamondback ironworks for a little less and it will do most all you need For a starter forge

three rings on the anvil in respect and honor for mister Sarver, may his loved ones find peace in knowing he will always be in our thought, minds and prayers.

Post leg you should look me up when in Kearney. I can show you my shop and the trails and rails shop. Maybe heat some stuff up and hit it. I lived in linclon for about fifteen years. frank i was one of the head smiths at the golden history centers clear creek history park for a couple of years. my wife's grandpa veril dority did a lot of history talks at stuhr also. to bad you moved, it would of been fun to smith with you. maybe sometime. matto

hi all it has been a while, i have moved from golden co. to kearney ne. i miss the members in the rocky mountain smiths. have not yet had or made time to contact the praire blacksmiths in nebraska. i am a nebraska kid and am glad to be back here. i have a couple of great prodjects coming up. one is my own shop is finally getting started in an old ware house down town. the other is a new/old blacksmith shop i am helping build at the trails and rails museum in kearney. it is going to be a 50 x 25 foot shop part of it will be based off of an original shop from kearney and the rest will be an educational shop with multipal forges set up for classes on basic smithing. we will be taring down an old barn for most of the material for the shop. it will be two fun prodjects i will keep postings and pictures when the prodjects get started. as for my own shop i am having a hard time with where to put my power hammer, how far to keep it from the wall and forge. right now i have two forges on the north wall of the shop with a post vise for each and an anvil at a 45 degree in front to keep my triangle work area. the power hammer is on the east wall with one of the forges about 6 to 8 feet away. on the south wall there will be a welding table and other basic shop tools. the door is on the west wall with a window next to it, there is a small 5 foot rollup door in the northwest corner next to the main forge. does this sound like a good start for my personal shop setup? matto

it all matters on how you are going to use the anvil and what kind of work you are going to do. stumps where used because it was easier to find a four or five foot long log than to find and wast metal that could be used for a prodject. most traditional shop floors where dirt so it was also easier to dig a hole deep enough to put the log into. as for log vs. metal today, it is fully up to you. remember that the point of the stand is to support the anvil making work easier on you. a bouncing anvil is not effective and dangerous. with a metal stand you can put a little of you into it and is a little easier to bolt down if it is not heavy enough. a log not buried is harder to do heavy work on. so that said it is really up to you. if you have the time make and try both to see what you like better. matto

remember when doing a hammer test on a cast anvil like a vulcan it may not have a ring to it. but should still have good rebound. the vulcan i have is very quite compared to my trenton and kolshwa. the research i have done on them says that with a cast anvil like a vulcan the quiet ring was to market to the "back yard" smith so the neighbor hood would not have to hear the high ring of a forged steel anvil. matto

i used a 1/2 " washer because i have a lot of them. use a washer that fits fan gear shaft. you maybe see the broken washer on the shaft still.

if you are getting 100 plus pounds for $15 and it does not coke it is not anthrosite, it is liginite. anthrosite has very very low moisture and hardly any ash content it is the next best thing to coke. it has great coking ability. as for size you can always make it smaller. try the bigger size if you don't like it bag or box it and hit it with a hammer. then you have pea size.

my old buffalo blower had a spacer washer missing on the fan shaft gear. this would cause the shaft to move to the outside and make the fan blades rub on the housing. put in a new washer as a spacer and that took the back and forth movement out of the fan shaft. fixing my grinding noise and rubbing problems.

we would use the extra rod as filler rod for gaps and holes that newbies would make, most of the time when putting metal decking down when welding galv. decking your decking and weld puddle can go poof, then you have a hole to fill with thin material the extra rod helps make the hole go bye quicker.

sukellos pecan is part of the hickory family.

three rings for jay!

sorry the website is cottonwood-forge.com look at his products and servise

contact sam at cottonwoodforge.com is his website he finds and rebuilds forges and blowers. does all the machining him self. if he does not have it or can't make it he knows who can.

in nebraska and iowa you have to have a deck welding cert for puddle welding decking. most deck rod is 6022, nice rod because you can run it at the same setting that you run your 7018. it also is good because you get the deep penitration and cleaning as 6010. 6022 is a great first pass rod for pipe also.

take the hole file or the part you are going to use heat it to a dull to bright orange and stick it into a bucket of wood ash or vermiculite till it cools (may be a day or two) so if you have a couple do them all at once. the wood ash and vermiculite slow down the cooling more than normalizing it by heating and setting aside the forge, makes it soft.

as stated befor you can go to any weld inspecting place to get certified. they might have you bring in your pre welded plates or you may have to weld on site. they will do a bend test or a x ray test. x ray is harder because they can look through all layers and fail a weld for any little spot in your weld. bend test they bend it and see if it brakes or not then bend to see where it brakes it all depends on the inspector on how picky they want to be. you can also contact your local or closes community college or trade school that have welding and talk to the instructor about doing weld testing. problem with testing for a company is they keep your certs. bonus is they pay for your certs. most companies have you do a weld test even if you give them your certs. keeps comany curent and shows if you can really weld or not.

use a flap disc in a side grinder 80 to 120 grit. maek aspery's first book on the fundimentals of blacksmithing has a great chapter on facing your hammer faces and fitting your handles to your hand.

isn't hammer handle maintance part of being a black smith. if you don't have to maintane your hammer handle you probably aren't using it enough. it is part of the job. as for wood you can still get elm,ash, malpe, hickory, pecan,hedge (osage orange) cherry,about what ever you might like on the river banks and wind rows in nebraska.