VaughnT

Well, the first thing I thought of when I saw it was to use it as a form to make the outer circle for trivets. A lot of folks use cast iron weight plates for just this kind of thing. You could also use the curvature to help form other bends, like bowls in copper or tin. I definitely know what you mean about metal calling to you. I see something like that and I automatically start thinking about how I could use it... and it just has to come home with me. Might take me ten years before I actually use it, but at least it's in my scrap pile and not on a ship bound for some chinese foundry!

Last I heard, OD hadn't perfected pouring/cutting the gears. He's a bit busy with family stuff right now, but I am in line to get one of his cast fire pots for my forge project. Great guy to talk with.

I'm keen to see how the electrolysis works for you. I tried the vinegar routine (apple cider) and it didn't work worth a flip. Still hoping that the thinned ATF will break through.

Honestly, that's one heck of an overkill forge! You could very easily line it with fire-cement (portland and sand) and form a fire pot at the same time you're closing up all those holes. But, a 200# forge? That's going to be a bear to move if you ever needed to, and it doesn't really serve any purpose. Yea, you got the kit to do it, but I'd be more tempted to use that heavy chunk of iron as a stand base for a vice or as a forming tool/swage block. In both of those cases, the weight is an advantage.

Odd Duck, a member here, does his own iron casting and might be able to make you a new top cap. I'd definitely want some form of cover if for no other reason than to keep the bugs out of it.

What about filling the majority of the stand with reinforced cement and only using sand for the top 6"?

We need a pic of the finished forge! Did you go with the bar stool legs?

I've never found a fiberglass handle that felt really good to me, but they would certainly be easier on upkeep. With wood handles, the drop in humidity can make them loosen right up. To fix that, I put the handles in a shallow pan with linseed oil that's been thinned down with mineral spirits or lacquer thinner. Thinning the BLO allows it to penetrate the pores of the wood a lot easier, and I think the penetration is deeper because of it.

Now, that's an idea I could really get behind. I'd like to get a big swage block. But, I can't imagine what I'd do with all that potential. As a tinkerer and hobbyist, I could probably put a quarter of a large block to reasonable use. The rest is just there as ballast. Now, give me something modular so that I can shape a shoulder or form a rivet head.... that's right up my alley. I'm not working large stock and my projects are more geared towards learning the various aspects. If I could buy a "modular" swage block, say a 3"x3"x1.5" slab with one or two holes and perimeter shapes that would get me by, that would be great. I can build a stand and quickly and easy swap out the various inserts depending on what I'm doing. There's a guy on Ebay that sells swage "sides" with a hardy shank on them and I've often thought of buying one or two just to see how good them might work. My only fear is the quality and how they'll take hammer blows if the bottom isn't fully supported by a very flat anvil face.

The horn on the London-pattern anvil was for convenience, not necessarily because it was a great idea. In today's world, a cubic anvil or post anvil is absolutely wonderful because most people can move over to the vice when they need to use a cone or bick for that 1% of their work. A small cone hardy can be bought for pennies compared to milling one into a large hunk of steel to acquire that typical london-style anvil.

That would be very good-looking!

Yea, buddy! The air pressure will form a "pillow" of air in the dirt leg. I'm seeing that baby with a 1" rim around it and some legs that have a sweet curve to them to match the flow of the air line. Maybe some more frame parts can be scavenged and repurposed??? Got a spare Springer front end laying around?

Overall, the edges look good and I wouldn't dress them up at all. Let the scale and hot iron do the work as you learn to smith. That chunk that looks like it wants to pop off is a bit disconcerting, however. I had a similar problem on an anvil and took the angle grinder to it because I didn't want the crack to migrate with the hammer blows. I would take a hammer to that area and listen for changes in the tone of the ring. If that small piece sounds different than the rest of the face, you know you have delamination of the top plate. But I'd be real interested if there is unseen delamination further into the anvil. Grinding that area away won't hurt you one bit. I'd be leery about grinding the entire edge to such a large radius, but that one small area could come in handy.

Well, Lancaster is a good brand and those gears look great. The overall cleanliness of it is impressive. I don't think $180 is too bad at all if the blower actually turns. The thing looks like it just came off the showroom floor, and that's worth something. Were it all rusty and dented, I might try to talk him down. As-new condition, though....

Very sweet! Love how the cross over tubing curves and flows.

Pugman, if the yellow one puts out the air, use it. The amount of oomph in the fire is determined by the amount of oomph in the guy cranking on the blower. If the yellow blower isn't geared "right" you might have to turn the handle a bit faster to get a hot fire burning, but that's small potatoes!

Well, if that's an example of your work after only a little time at the forge, I really look forward to seeing what you can do in another year or three! Each pair demonstrates excellent hammer control and an eye for detail. Great work.

I once made one out of a large bolt I picked up at the hardware store. The bolt was just small enough to fit into the hardy hole, so I spun a nut on it to form a shoulder. The head of the bolt got hammered down to form the cutting edge. Worked great and it was super easy. The only downside is that it liked to spin in the hole.

Sweet deal, Pug. Now you can let your CO blower sit in oil for a year and not miss a minute's forge time.

Yea, jump on that deal. The face and horn look to be in excellent condition. In the 80-120 pound range, and that's a great size for a starting smith. Just fasten it securely to a heavy stand, bedded in caulk, and you'll have one heck of a performer.

I have used Johnson's liquid floor wax with great success. A coffee can with a good dose in the bottom. Add crosses. Roll around the lawn for 2 minutes. Hang to dry.

If you've never barbecued a chicken, you have to try it. We call it Drunken Chicken, and it is delicious! The holder shown has the chicken upside down, which won't work. A lot of people will try to use their preferred drinking beer for the DC, but that's a bad idea because a lot of lite beers don't have the flavor you're looking for. You might as well just use water. My favorite beer for cooking a DC is Steel City Malt Liquor. It's a thick, almost black, beer with a disgusting flavor if you try to drink it straight. But, it's very strong and the steam it generates is full of rich flavor that penetrates well. To half/three-quarters a can, I add garlic powder, black pepper, salt, butter, oregano, etc. When this stuff gets hot, the smoke/steam really smells great. What a lot of people don't realize is that chicken skin does a good job of stopping the flavor of a rub from getting into the meat. That's why they have syringes to inject the flavoring under the skin. When you attack the problem from the inside, the flavor from the steam/smoke goes right into the meat. It's absolutely wonderful.

Don't give up, hoss! That home electrolysis works like a charm for removing rust, and I would gladly do it if my gears were exposed. It's a line-of-sight operation so you're in a perfect position to make it work for you. Here's a thread where 01Tundra used it to remove rust from a blower pipe, and I'm sure you'd get similar results! Before..... After.....

Well, today I learned that Marvel's Mystery Oil appears to be nothing more than Automatic Transmission Fluid that has been considerably thinned. I currently have my similarly rusted Buffalo "Climax" blower clamped in the shop vise, and the crank case slap full of ATF and Acetone. The blower was soaking for the last week in a bucket of water so I took my heat gun to her to dry her out. She was very dry and uncomfortably warm to the touch when I dumped the ATF/Acetone mix in there and I'm hoping that the heat will aid the capillary action and further draw the mix into the nooks and crannies. The issue seems to be where the shafts and bearings interface. Good luck, Pug!

Browsing the net, I found an "blacksmith" trunk on ebay, and it has some very unique handles. My question.... Do the ends look like they were doubled over and welded to add extra mass? Can you honestly do a ninety degree bend in round stock and have it come out that sharp? I've simply never seen such a thing. Is it a cast handle? Regardless, this is probably the best example of mounting a handle to a trunk that I've seen. I'd love to duplicate it, but I don't even know where I would start!