VaughnT

I wish I wasn't on the other end of the Nation. I'd happily load up truck with neat stuff, and help organize the rest. Half of what you've got would be great for anyone interested in Steampunk, Scrap Metal Art, Blacksmithing, Hit-n-Miss engines, Antique Farm Equipment... it's all in how you advertise it. Getting in touch with the folks at Calsmith.org, will go a long way towards advertising it to the right kind of people. That railroad cart would most definitely be in my yard if I was just a couple thousand miles closer!

Most of the stuff you're describing would probably be bought up rather quickly by the local metal-workers and smiths. The welding rods might be a lost cause (humidity does them no good). The trucks/vans... really too hard to value without going over them in person and looking at the local market. Again, they might be good for that odd person that needs parts, but you might be better off pulling out the engine/transmission and scrapping the rest. Feel free to start a thread here on IFI to ask about any odd things you're not sure of. Most of us have been around this block a few dozen times and are familiar with what you're not. And we like looking at other peoples' stuff even if we can't afford to buy it.

Mindy, since you're in California, make sure to contact the fellows at http://calsmith.org I'm sure they'd be more than happy to help with cleaning out the "good stuff". Most blacksmiths are hopelessly addicted to stuff, especially if it's rusty and might possibly remove a finger if you're not careful.

Fisher anvils are one of the best, and yours appears to be in great condition. Because anvils don't generally wear out, yours should be valued commensurate with the quality and the cost of buying a similar anvil from a modern producer. That your anvil is old doesn't mean it's lost value because there's no wear and tear on it (apparently) since there's nothing on an anvil to really to wear out. If the anvil was chipped all around the edges and had torch cuts here and there, you would have to drop the price, obviously. Yours doesn't, so you don't. I wouldn't hesitate to ask $3/pound, or more. If someone asks you about coming down on the price, tell them to pound sand and be happy knowing you've got a great anvil that will last you another hundred years. There will always be another buyer around the corner who recognizes the value of the tool. Of course, a lot depends on how fast you have to sell the anvil. If you're absolutely not going to use it, ever, but aren't in a hurry to get rid of it, pricing it at $4/pound isn't unreasonable because a new anvil of similar weight will easily cost $4/pound. Anyone complains about it, just remind them that it's a Fisher anvil in almost-new condition, and almost impossible to find anymore. My main anvil is a Fisher and I wouldn't be without it. As Thomas noted, they are wonderfully quiet because of their construction, and that makes working all day on one a real joy.

Aus, if that flat stock is hardened and tempered, you'd need to put in in the fire to take that out, but not a big deal. As for forging it round... don't. The hammer will just ruin that beautiful look. Contrary to most thinking, I've never really liked coat hooks that have a very small cross-section for the coat to actually sit on. This puts a lot of strain on the fabric and wears it out rather quickly, so I prefer a hook that's nice and wide. In your case, that flat stock is rather abrasive and has some sharp edges, so I'd be more inclined to weld a small pad of smoother steel on to the portion where the hat/coat will actually rest. Cold bending is just like it sounds - you bend the metal around a form (barrel) that has a nice curve to it. The metal will want to spring back a little bit, but that can be easily compensated for: very easy to do if the metal's only around .125" thick, or less. You can do the same thing hot if you have a metal arc to use as a form (which, of course, you undoubtedly have in your wonderful scrap pile). Might be better to do it hot so you don't have the metal snap due to all the corrosion. Just don't hammer on that metal and mess up the texture. If you weld the hooks onto the main shaft, throw a nice collar around it to hide everything. Maybe use brass or copper to add a bit of pizzaz.

The texture is amazing! Reminds me of what we call Devil's Walking Stick. I think the real challenge would be trying to tie the other parts to it without ruining the look of the gnarly shaft. I'd almost suggest splitting the end into quarters so you could draw those "tines" out in to delicate bows that end in coat/hat hooks. That way you could blend the transition zone so everything flowed smoothly. Of course, it might also be better to forge a half-dozen of the bow/hook and weld them onto the end of the shaft, using a collar hide the joint. Maybe you could dig through that Utopia of a scrap pile you have and find some similarly gnarly pieces that could be cold-bent to form the bow/hook so you wouldn't lose the overall look.

If you leave about an inch on the pointy end as-is, you can flatten and spread it a bit like a spatula. They make dandy back-scratchers! Coat hooks, bottle openers, short legs for a propane forge, handles, and I've even seen one example of them being used to make ol' timey hinges, though you couldn't see that they were once spikes.

Honestly, if you can leave them semi-identifiable, you'll have a marketable product. LR afficianados can be a bit insane when it comes to anything with the Land Rover name on it. I'd forge the cut end into a bottle opener and start posting them on Rover forums. Or, as someone else mentioned, draw the cut end out and split it to form an open ring that will accept a wine glass. With the loop fastened to a post in the ground, they'd probably do very well as a glass holder for the next Cricket or Polo match. Or draw the cut end down to make a loop that will grab the wine bottle's neck so you can make them into wine racks. As legs, they'd be pretty nice and the round eye makes leveling relatively easy. Bend then 90º and you'd have a dandy coat hook fit for any man cave or garage.

I'd be hesitant to use that ol' gal as a striking anvil. The top is in rather pristine condition and it wouldn't take but one slip with a sledge to take a sizable chunk off of it.

Ausfire can't post on IFI, again, so I'm playing middleman. Commiserations to Ian over the Springboks loss to NZ. We'll all be watching with interest when Australia takes them on in the final. First ever Wallabies/All Blacks final ever isn't it?

That's a wonderful build. Always better to go with a stout construction so you're not always worrying about it falling apart when you need it most. Your metal-working skills definitely stand out and will impress anyone with an eye for such things. I'd be real proud to have a forge like that! The holes in the grate will continue to be a problem for you. As the clinker grows, you can expect more of the holes to clog and more of your time to be spent digging obstructions free. One way around this, considering that you've got the whole thing welded up (and what beautiful beads those are!) is to fabricate a truncated pyramid that drops down into the pot. With the top of the pyramid cut away, you have a 3/4" hole for the air to pass up through. Because the sides are sloped, most of the clinker will fall to the side to create a doughnut that can't block your air. A single large hole is also easier to keep clean in the event there is a block of some kind.

Are you making monkey tools to square up the shoulders on the tenons? Window grills, picture frames, shelf brackets, corbels for the mantle, sign brackets. I would probably stick with smaller items that only require one tenon, like a candle stick of some design. The whole thing can be made in one day if the students are reasonably adept.

Looks fantastic, Dave! That will definitely come in handy around the shop!

Drop hammer is what I was thinking, too, Fab. I've searched the entire internet with no luck so far. Not an image to be found, but I'll keep looking. Very curious to see how it actually operates. The BPM of the hammer couldn't be very much, I wouldn't expect, but certainly good enough for a lot of neat things.

Eichschmiede has some really nice videos. Don't understand a lick of the jargon, but he does a lot of nice work with those chisels he has. Really nice to see traditional hardware being built and then installed on a traditional wagon. https://www.youtube.com/user/elchschmiede/videos

Gary Huston - top of the list. Great videos and a bit humorous.

Not a bad design, and certainly something you could fabricate with a couple of golf cart springs. The only negatives I see is the complete lack of weight on the thing. He really needs to add some sand and oil to the tubing that makes up the body just to help absorb some of that jumping around. For a knifemaker, I can see the thing being handy. If you ever wanted to step out of that world, though, you'd want more weight and a larger throat so you could get tooling in there.

I made a manly-man's backscratcher by welding a section of leaf spring to a mid-carbon body (a 12" nail). Like anything else I forge, I applied some Johnson's Paste Floor Wax while it was warm. No worries about rust or not being "scratchy" enough! It's my daily scratcher and gets a good workout every night before bed.

In my eternal quest to find new and interesting videos on the internet, I ran across this little tidbit. Of particular interest is the tongs used to secure the piece to the form for the final shaping. A bit ingenious and definitely useful in different applications.

Very nice work.

You might want to look into etching the stamp. You can get some serious depth with electro-etching and it will look better on thin sheet you use for armor. It's going to take a lot of force to sink a stamp deep enough to move all that metal, and even with a striker, you only get one hit to get it right.

Nice work, Joe. Only thing I'll say about the forge is that you'll need a lip around the edge to hold the fire bricks and keep the coal from falling off. Oh, and like on a Jeep, bigger wheels are always better! There's nothing quite like blacksmithing and you're right in the middle of one of the most historical areas in the nation when it comes to the steel industry. You'll have no problem finding old tools to put back into service if you keep an eye peeled for them.

Masterful work. Inspirational. I'd love to see a video or photo tutorial on the build process with a piece like this. So many questions....

Looks to me like the design idea requires moving a relative ton of material. If you don't have your stamp in a hydraulic press, getting all that metal moved with a single hammer stroke is going to be problematic.

The key to forging is to not forge when you don't need to. Save that thick leaf spring for when you need thick stock. By the time you get it "reshaped" into something that you need, you could have more easily purchased new stock in the size you wanted in the first place. Burning up $100 in fuel and labor just to end up with a bar that costs $10 brand new... well, not the best way to go about things.