Fosterob

Were some liberty ships made in Vancouver Wa.? Rob

Hey guys, both of those look good. Are we are now in the presence of bona-fide celebrities? Congrats to you both Rob

I only buy 7018 in 10 lb hermeticly sealed containers, or HSC. ESAB or lincoln both easy to get but may need to be ordered. Any job to be inspected you open a new can in front of the inspector and you have 9 hrs? to use with no oven. Most structural work I do is MIG wire so rod oven is not needed. Welding rod to welders is like hammers to blacksmiths, if your neighbor down the street comes over and borrows your best forging hammer to bust up his concrete driveway you would tell him that is not the right tool for the job. Rods are the same, many different rods for different uses. 6011 or 6013 for garage use on personal projects with limited knowledge/skill is probably all anyone needs in that situation. Rob

I have also seen this guy trying to sell this on ebay before, same guy, same machine. Rob

That brass thing looks like some kind of plumbing part, maybe to attach to a fire hydrant or similar. I would recommend using a throwout bearing of of a manual shift auto/truck maybe a tranny shop has a pile of old ones in scrap bin to choose from, used one should work great. My peter wright vices have flats where the screw meets the movable jaw and my columbian vices have the ball socket on the screw to keep even pressure, I can post pics if anyone needs to see. Rob

That is nice looking, what steel did you use to make your dieset? Hardened at all? You may be able to clamp a piece of thin sheet metal feeler on the back to locate the groove just completed to keep accurate spacings between grooves. Rob

It is always nice to see your posts, they are very informative and inspiring, makes me want to go make something. Keep them coming and thank you Rob

Have any of you guys looked into a raw food diet? It seems to be able to cure type 2 diabetes in some people. I don't have diabetes but try to eat healthy and avoid junk food as much as possible. The michael pollan books is are good. Stay healthy, stay hammering. Rob

Thank you meancoyote, I will stay away from it, from what you say is does not seem to be any better on smaller steel (1/8" to 1") that i normally work with. A local guy had one for sale for $250. Rob

I too learned nailmaking with round stock.picked that up from Tsur Sadan, he worked closely with Tom for a while. Rob

I was thinking to use as a substitute for acetylene cutting. How is it on oxygen use compared to acetylene? Also can you use it to heat and bend pieces like a gas welding torch with a different tip? Rob

I recently came across these oxy/gasoline torches and it seems like it is to good to be true. I was wondering if anybody has used one or knows anything about them. Acetylene is way more money than gasoline and if it only does half of what it is advertised to do it should be ok. http://www.petrogen.com/ Sorry I could not make link. Rob

Thank you all for the kind remarks. Thomas, their dad did some striking on the nail head and slitting and drifting the bottle opener. Showing them was very spur of the moment and I didn't think to let them try, maybe because their dad was having so much fun. Frosty, They are not online here yet but I will try to see if they will. There is a small chance that some of my great grandfathers smithy is still around up there and would be good for them to do work with. The youngest one 7 yrs reached down and grabbed a hot piece of metal when he was told not to and would get the biggest smile on his face whenever anyone asked him about it for the rest of the weekend. Since he was not wearing a glove he was able to instantly let go and a little ice and vinegar on it and no burn. Rob

Here are some pics of my blacksmithing shed that I use and built, mostly out of salvaged materials. Rob

I called propane suppliers here and on has 0-10psi and 0-20psi for $10.99 ea. the other has 0-10 for $19.95 and 5-35psi for $68.46. guages are about $10 and 4' hose is $18 Hope this helps. Rob

I had one of my cousins and his family come down from Washington on motorcycles and they wanted to see something blacksmithed. Here are some pics of the results. The leaf, acorn and opener are finished with wax while warm, I think I used a brass brush on the leaf but it was getting to cold. The coathook nail is stained and clearcoated. The twisting taper element was scrap they liked. I may have hooked two boys into smithing because they could not stop taking about it for the rest of the weekend and were very excited to see things made from nothing. I had thought to show them something simple on the way to lunch, needless to say after lighting the forge lunch was forgotten about. Rob

Locally we have propane distributors who keep everyones tank full. At their stores they have everything related to propane usually on the shelf and I am sure a reg is not $75. I can call for prices from a few places and will try to post tomorrow. Rob

Billp, is your metal shop in the sun acting like a kind of solar cooker? If so you could put on what is sometimes called an icehouse roof. That is basicly a roof on top of a roof to keep shade on the lower roof and air flows bottom to top between them to remove heat before it goes into the building. That is how some old icehouses used to be made. Also the british had a similar double roof on some of there older landrovers. Here in this part of Ca it gets 120F in the summer. Hope this helps. Rob

I have to agree with Monstermetal on this one. I also do structural steel fabrication/welding and a general contractor I did some work for hired another local shop to do a large job which was an earthquake moment frame of 2" thick flange I beam to replace a cinder block wall. The shop in question was not large enough to do this job so they figured that they would call the union hall and get some welders to weld up this big frame, being that union welders are supposed to be the "best of the best". Anyway to make a long story short when the ultrasonic inspector checked the welds every one failed and had to be gouged out and redone, do you think any of those union guys gouged out any welds? That shop used union labor and lost a lot of money. Personally I have done plenty of moment frames with UT tested welds and have not had any problems, I charge plenty of money and am smart enough to put some away, I do not need a union to act like my mother to take care of me. Another union experience comes from my dad who used to be union at Lockheed and he and some coworkers came up with a way to double the output without much more effort and their union rep got wind that these guys were doing more work than everyone else and he told them that they had to do things like everyone else - the slow way- the union way or get fired. I do not think that unions are the godsend that some people make them out to be and some I am sure are a good thing.I too am not trying to offend those of you who enjoy unions but in my experience they are not for me. Rob

Post vice looks like a peter wright. look on the top of the screw box on behind the stationary jaw, there should be some writing in SMALL letters saying "wrights patent solid box" on the top where it is easily damaged. I have one that looks just like it only about 6". Good score. Rob

If I remember the backstory correctly Ford owns the smithy so the are a union company. So weather the smiths wanted to unionize or not is besides the point, my guess is that the union told Ford that they could not have non union workers because they felt the door opening to abolish union altogether, but that is just guessing on my part.Keep our heritage alive. Write the letters. Rob

Most likely dirt, grit or rust in the bottom pivot area. I got a 160 lb vice in similar condition and just had to clean everything and now it works like new. Satar soaking it in kroil or wd40 now so it can have a chance to soak in. Try to remove all old grime off the screw, it is probably full of metal and is now a lapping compound. Good luck and get well soon. Rob

I have seen several cones that size but never one with the tong groove. It looks very nice, all of the ones I have seen are hollow and have had a very visible casting seam on them.Is it solid? Good score. Swage looks nice also. How big is it? Rob

It seems to me that if you are planning to stay in your new spot for at least 10 years why do you not want to buy? If you find rent that is $1000 mo. for 10 years that is $120,000 to pay your landlords house payment and if house prices are really $75,000 to $150,000 seems like something to consider, When you move you sell and recover most if not all of your money. Good luck however you decide to to it. Rob

I have two of those wilton vices. One came with a solid acme nut so you open and close it like a normal vice and the other is like yours. It screws closed like normal vices but when you back off the handle to loosen it the nut releases from the threaded shaft and it will allow the jaw to slide in or out until tightening the screw. I can take mine apart and take pics if you need. You might look into molasses for rust removal also. Rob