Don A

Back of vise 16" of RR track c. 1800 Mousehole ($35.00) 178Lb. EuroAnvil Cool thread. A testimony to persistance! Don

Great job Stormcrow. I always enjoy seeing your work.

I've saved you to my favorites. Looking forward to more posts. Don

Mick, I lurk about on Don Fogg's Bladesmith forum regularly and have always enjoyed seeing your work. Good to have you posting here. Simply amazing work. Don

Very nice work. She will certainly enjoy that.

I finally got this project completed thanks to all of the advice offered above. I appreciate the help. Don

It is in Foxfire 5. Lots of new and used copies available (Amazon, Ebay, etc.).

I was going to improve my over all health by taking a shot of straight apple cider vinegar, with the intention of doing it daily. I proceeded to pour about 1oz in a short glass and then tossed it back... Some of that stuff went up the back of my throat and toward my sinuses... I thought I was going to die. A similar experience to shooting caburator cleaner up your nose. But boy, did I feel healthy.

Ah, perhaps I should have said "wall hanger" instead of "repro". Either way, it's just great to see a historic (or historically influenced) piece made that can perform as well, or sometimes better, than the originals.

Feed the white vinegar all of the fine steel wool it will eat (over a few days time) and use it for stain, particularly on veg tanned leather. It gives a deep black color. Someone said a pre-soak in tea helps the leather take the stain better. Finish off with hot bee's wax makes some nice looking leather. Sorry, I didn't notice that this was a 2-pager, and Julius already beat me to it.

Keep the pictures coming Jens. I've not been bitten by the seax bug yet, but I love watching them come together. You seax guys are certainly raising the bar in the bladesmithing community. Great work, Don

My hat's off to you my friend. That is some mighty fine work with a mighty cantankerous medium. Good job.

Very nice. Good work.

Read my reply over in your other thread: http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/22697-what-type-of-forge-is-this/page__st__20 Hopefully the concrete will last for a while. Looks like you're on the right track.

Mind what these gentlemen have told you about lining the pan. Do some searching for refractory clay recipies... fire clay, dug clay, cat litter, sifted ash, adobe, etc., etc. (not rocket science at all). Put something about the shape of a bowl right-side-up and dead-center (a small mixing bowl or cereal bowl might work). Use this as a form for your clay. Build it up level with the top of your pan with the bowl-shaped depression in the center. Only your grate should be showing at the bottom of the "bowl". Let it dry well before you use it and keep some of your material on hand to patch cracks in the clay, because it will crack... no big deal. In addition to insulating and protecting your forge pan, this is going to give you some actual depth to you fire. This is the #1 fire management mistake I see when beginners get their first portable forge; they are using a pitifully shallow fire, so then they try to make heat by using too much air, then they either can't get to forging heat ot they burn stuff up. Save yourself a lot of grief and study up on what makes a good forging fire, whether using charcoal or coal. Your fire is as much of a tool as your hammer and anvil. Treat it as such. Good luck, Don

Thank you all very much for the input. I hope to get this thing laid to rest by this weekend and get my masons to work by next week. I appreciate it. Don

So this is not actually blacksmith related, except that I need to get the job done so that I can get time to get back to the forge... major time consuming honey-do project in the works. I ask this here because it seems like this group has the collective experience to trouble-shoot about any problem. I originally built my house with pine lap siding on the exterior. After about 16 years, I have torn it off of three side and am going to have it bricked. I had the foresight to have the basement laid with 12" block and then stepped down to 8" slightly below grade to insure a ledge for brick... all except one small section. On my carport end, the whole wall of that one side was originally fully exposed to basement floor level. Over the years I added a retaining wall and poured a slab for the carport. Here's my problem: there is a 68" section between the corner of the basement and the back of the retaining wall that has no ledge for brick. There is about six feet of packed earth between the grade line and the footer of the basement. It would be a huge undertaking to dig down and build a ledge up from the footer, so I don't even consider that possible. Here's a couple things I have considered: - Simply attach a thick piece of 4" angle to the block wall to act as a bridge between the ledge on the back of the retaining wall and the ledge on the back wall of the basement. This would be easiest, but my biggest fear is that the steel below grade would eventually rust and fail. What do you think? - I have also entertained the idea of protruding some rebar from the block wall and making a cantilevered form about 2' deep and pouring concrete. Remember, this ledge only has to be 4" wide, but I need to be as sure as possible that it never sags or collapses so that I don't end up with a big crack through my brick wall... even if it is many years from now. Please let me know what you think... I won't make you sign anything Don

Forge, anvil, hammer... for starters. What type of items do you want to make? By the way, a foundry is where you melt and cast metal. A forge is where you heat iron (steel) to a plastic state and shape it with a hammer, either by hand or by power hammer. Blacksmithing, in its purest form, is forging. However, your lathe, mill and grinder are all very useful in the metal arts. Good luck to you.

A picture is worth a thousand words. Thanks.

Wow, Blackwater, that's a cool piece of work. Any chance of getting a close-up of the finished joint?

Nce work. Now, make one just like it using all traditional joinery... rivet, collar, weld, etc. We are currently remodeling the exterior of our house and I'm afraid my wife is going to keep me busy with work like this for a while. The scroll looks good to me.

If you are only in your second week of forging steel, I would recommend that you lay the spike aside for a bit and work on some basic drawing out exercises. Take a piece of stock, square it if it's round, and draw it to a point. Draw a square point, draw a round point. Get familiar with the way the metal moves in relation to the angle of the hammer face AND the angle which you hold the stock to the anvil's face. Remember, for every blow of the hammer, the face of the anvil answers back, so you manipulate the angle you're forming by watching both the face and the hammer. Get to the point you can control a taper and the whole beveling process will make a lot more sense to you.

I have both of my grandfather's scythes. My dad's dad had an incredible technique and could cut huge patches in little time. He swung that thing until he was up into his late 80's. He lived to be 96. That briar scythe was part of his perscription for long life... eat good and work hard. Apparently that generation, in this region anyway, was tough on their blades. I have one that was repaired by brazing and a couple that were used up to the last 3/4" of blade remaining. Seems that both of them used a coarse stone to maintain their edges.

I have a couple old pairs of tongs that were made for moving wood poles in excess of 50'. These tongs probably weigh 20 lbs. They are around 1" and the points are sharp and slightly turned up so the harder you pull, the deeper they dig. One simpler option that the old time loggers around here used for snaking and skidding was log grabs, like this: Log Grabs Unlike the picture, these were used in pairs with the hooks driven in the side of the log, near the end, and 180 degrees apart. Of course you have to have a hammer to drive 'em and something to pry them free when you're done. I still prefer the choke chain or cable, but I will get the tongs out occasionally if I am using the boom pole on my tractor to move logs. You don't have to roll the log or dig under for the chain.

That's a good looking fire pot. One suggestion: more fuel! Things are going to go a lot smoother for you with a much deeper fire, particularly when you get to the point that scale and selective heating become an issue. A six inch deep fire is going to help you a lot. Good work, Don