matto

kohlswa 155# b36
2009 $900
with a nc calvary stand and 18 hardy tools
friend and mentor was worth every penni
shape prefect

vulcan 150#
2008 $375
great condition

123# trenton
2008 $90
painted in industral green guy thought it was junk
had good face and rebound. cleaned it up to find out
it was a 1898 trenton

centaur swedish farriers
125#
2007 $300
great condition came from a farriers school near colorado springs

55# harbor freight
free, yard art now

thanks for the info. i think i will file the hardy hole square. i'll keep you posted on my
progress.

i have just bought my friend and mentors b36 kohlswa anvil i wanted to honor
him by keeping his anvil alive. plus it is the best anvil i have used.

my question is the hardy hole is not true 7/8 and a very little out of square.
can i grind or file it to square (how and what to use) or will it be easier to
adjust all my hardies to fit. all my hardies fit well in the hardy holes on my trenton and vulcan. as soon as i figure out how to put pictures on i will
show some. i work with hammers and steel not computres

hey the bugs are great!! they would go well at 16th and van dorn with the
mantis from the gentalemen from lincoln plating.

as far as i know there is not much anthracite used. to hard to get. like most blacksmith coals (metallurgical coal) comes from under ground mines. as for most power plant coals come from strip mines (wyoming). power plants do mix different coals together but bottom line is when you go through 110 rail cars a day at 100 tons per car. you are going to look for and use the stuff you can get the cheapest and fastest. ($12 to $20 per ton (fob: freight on board) from the mine)

one other major factor is that power plant coal does not have a good coking ability.
were blacksmith coal does.

most all blacksmith coal is bituminous (hard coal) very little ash and moisture content high btu out put. power plants use lignite (brown coal) it has very high moisture and ash content. power plants also use sub bituminous a little less ash and moisture than
lignite. anthracite has the highest carbon content almost no moisture or ash contentan great btus. only thing is it is hard to get and is costly, it is also the closest to coke.

if you want all the tech stuff on it Dr leroy jacobs has written many articals on coal.
mark aspry's book and the rocky mountain smiths forge facts have some of the articals.

the bottle opener is great. next you can start doing church key openers.
" if you don't need an opener for your beer you need to buy better beer"

matt o

what kind of hammer head tongs are you useing to hold hammer head?
did you make or can you buy a pair? i'm starting to modify some hammers and be fore i
go to the power hammer i want to be able to hold on to my heads.

matto

most all steel building builders and ironworkers also weld washers to the c clamp locking pliers.
it is a great help when putting down steel decking, roof sheets, and wall sheets that are super long.

morlock, i hear ya, where are the railings and hardware

i was an iron worker for 10 years and a foreman for 6. we always bought milwaukee for
general steel work and high iron. we always used metabo for railing and other fine work.
the metabo gives you some adventage in tight places. both metabo and milwaukee (for us) out lasted all other brands. but are a little pricy. home depot usually has a sell on dewalt where you can get 2 for the price of 1. which is nice you have a back up or you can keep a flapper wheel on one and a grinding disk or cut off disk on the other.

thanks for the info
matto

hi i have a hammer question for everyone
i found a 2.5lb straight peen hammer that has
a 5/8" hole drilled parelle to the peen on the peen side of the
hammer and was wondering why it is there. maybe for more head weight?
the marking that i can read on the hammer is "BELL SYSTOMES"

matt o