VaughnT

Don't feel like you "have" to make tongs. If you don't have the experience/skills to reliably make a pair that are working great, buy brand new tongs from a company like Quick-n-Dirty Tool Co. You get a pair of tongs that are dead on the money, professionally made, and you support a small business. For the $30 they charge, you really can't go wrong. Folks forget that tongs are a critical part of the operation and can really make or break the smithing experience. Bad tongs are a liability, not only do they cause fatigue in the smith, but they actually make smithing more difficult and dangerous. Every smith has stories about hot metal slipping out of a pair of tongs that weren't right for the job.... I don't hold to the notion that tongs are a great learning experience for a guy that's new to the trade. At best, it's always been a Journeyman-level project.

Beautiful anvil, Ausfire. To think that an anvil made in Brooklyn, New York almost a hundred years ago is now on the other side of the world..... that's a lot of travel for it's short life! Best way to deaden the ring is to tilt it up and squeeze about half a tube of silicone caulk on the base. When that silicone hardens, it'll sound like you're pounding on an oak plank! Not quite as good as a Fisher's "thunk", but definitely better than the ear-splitting bell that it is right now. Just have a few nails at the ready to pin it in place because that silicone makes it want to slip and slide like you wouldn't believe!

I wouldn't hate on the smith in the article. It's entirely possible that the writer misconstrued what he was saying or typed it in wrong. And there's nothing inherently bad about disguising an arc-welded piece to the welds don't show.

Built before 1840 for sure and has seen a lot of use. Is it repairable? Yep. Would I recommend doing it? Nope. You could sell that old girl to a collector for a pretty penny and use the proceeds to buy another anvil. Were you closer, I'd trade you out a nice cast steel anvil I have....

Propane forges are definitely great for learning on, and certainly easier to get refills when you run out of fuel. That anvil looks beautiful. I wouldn't do more than knock the loose rust off with a wire brush and give it a rub with some oil. She looks nearly perfect and I don't doubt that you'll have a lifetime of good memories with her.

I'm going to have to keep my eyes out for something like that at the farm stores around here. Throw in a bit of chlorine to stop the mosquitoes, and drain once a year with the oh-so-convenient spigot on the side.

I've never made a dog-head bottle opener, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. I started with material from the foot support of my granddad's favorite recliner and have no doubt that it would make him very happy to know that his chair is continuing to bring comfort to the world. The metal I started with was the right thickness, but too wide, so there was a lot of work to bring it down to size. Next time, I'll try using some 3/16"x3/4" so I don't have to do so much work to get the opener "right". Once I get the recipe dialed in, I should be able to make a handful and have them all come out reasonably similar.

Great photos, Ausfire. Seeing how things evolved in different parts of the world is always interesting. I'd love to have a corrugated quench tank like that. Can't imagine how you'd seal it against leaks, but it sure looks like it belongs in a smithy!

Don't touch the anvil! There's nothing wrong with that anvil, and the few dings and dents in the surface will probably wear out as you forge on it.

That's a beauty. I really like anvils that have thick waists like that.

Very nice Fisher Norris anvil. The number on the leg is the weight. Looks like it was made in 1907, but it's not real clear. Great anvil to have even with the huge divots in the side!

Excellent work, hoss. I've always preferred the simple bow-tie style of hinge like you made.

Reminds me of this guy.... Sounds to me like you did great, Matei. Keep it going!

No ideas, but it sure is beautiful!

That is one gorgeous bit of machinery! I would dearly love to have something like that in my shop.

Your pipe won't get hot enough to bother the gaskets on a proper flashing. They're rated to handle wood stoves and fireplaces that burn for hours at a time, so handling a coal forge isn't going to be any different. The heat lost as the smoke rises up the pipe means that it's relatively cool by the time it gets up to the roof. Then you have the roof, gasket and flashing acting as a heat sink, drawing away the heat as fast as it can.

If you ever want to boggle some minds when you're giving a demo, make up a few short blanks step before you go to the show. One blank (maybe 5" long) is bare and needs to have the first four lines chiseled into it. The second blank (same length as the first) has been chiseled, twisted, squared up and chiseled again. All it needs is the final reverse twist to create the pineapple twist. Don't let the audience see the second blank. While you're distracting them with talk of magic and dragons, regailing them with stories of your travels to far off lands filled with mystery and danger, swap out the pieces. All the audience sees is you chiseling in the first set of lines.... then, magically, you pull the freshly heated piece out of the fire and give it a bit of twist to make all those points pop out. It helps if you have a little powdered copper or the like that you can sprinkle over the fire while reciting your incantation. Kids go all googly when you make the fire change colors!

If John Thompson is still in Hawaii, look him up. He used to have his ornamental iron shop right down the road from me, but moved to HI to be closer to his wife's family. Great guy and I don't doubt that he's still involved in the metal fabrication business. He actually cut his teeth at the navy shipyards around Pearl Harbor. Fantastic fellow to know.

I'm so glad you asked this question, Glenn! Presentation is critical and it applies to far more than how you package the item. Every little thing about you, your shop, web presence, packaging... it all tells a story. And it will all work together to make or break you. It's synergy. A good example of this is the Mad Dwarf Workshop and how they always made sure to dress up their photos. Even what appears to be a quick snapshot of them working in their smithy was actually a carefully crafted photo with good lighting and visual interest all the way around. The walls of the shop are decorated. The lighting was warm and inviting. Everything was done with the idea that the visual matters. Once it goes on the internet, it's there forever.... so make it count! Compare this to the average blacksmith that goes to a demo in a pair of dirty jeans and a baggy t-shirt. Yea, folks like to see the smith doing his thing, but the lack of showmanship makes that smith fade from memory rather quickly. Years after the Mad Dwarf Workshop shut down, I'm still using it as an example of how you should market yourself on the internet. What makes you stand out from the crowd? Does your website have a cold, sterile white background? Do you hope that this will focus the viewer's eyes on the beautiful product photography? More often than not, the subconscious reaction to a hospital-like background is not the warm-fuzzy-gotta-buy-it-now feeling a business is hoping for. And all the great product photos won't change that. First impressions are lasting impressions. Do your business cards look professional, or do you just think they do? Do they match your website's general look and feel? Do you include them with every order? Is your ironwork packed with wadded up newspaper, or did you go through the trouble to get some nice craft paper? Does that craft paper match the general feel of your work, or did you simply buy any old thing because it was on sale? Whether it's fair or not, we all judge a book by its cover. You can do a lot of damage to your reputation simply by being visible when you should be invisible. Much like we give much-earned kudos to Ethan and his family, we also make a subconscious decision to not buy from people that rub us the wrong way.... even if we can't put a finger on exactly what the problem is. I just watched a short video where a guy made some bolt tongs. He was so proud of himself... except for the fact that he kept "justifying" the shoddy workmanship. As I looked around the guys shop, I couldn't help but think this guy has done everything as wrong as he could possibly have done, even though there's an entire internet out there to show him the proper way. That might sound a bit harsh, and I'm sure a lot of people with attack me for not treating him with kid gloves, but that's my honest first reaction and there is absolutely no way I would knowingly buy any product from him. In closing, I would simply say that presentation is more important than people think, and it doesn't stop at pretty wrapping paper. You need to create an entire universe around your shop because it's the story that customers want to buy in to.

Very nice shop, and you get extra points for knowing your way around a fiddle! You're a rare breed of kid, hoss.

Arftist, the heading vise has an adjustable stop under the work so you can upset large bolts and such without worrying about the stock slipping down in the vise jaws. Very handy thing to have!

Very neat contraption. I've seen a lot of caulking vises, but never one so oddly shaped. It would look incredible with your signature clean-up, Frog.

Very beautiful set up and openers. Why weight fly press are you using? 3-ton? I've been wanting a fly press for awhile, and this just gives me more reason to start planning.....

If you're a machinist by trade, machine the tongs you need. It's not blacksmithing, but it's a good way to start your collection without breaking the bank on shipping charges. Most new smiths only use a very small selection of tongs, so it's not like you need 100 pairs. Just mill out the jaw and rivet area from some 1" square stock, and then weld on some reins. A pair of v-bit bolt tongs that will hold 3/8" stock will also securely hold 1/4" stock. So that's two pairs of tongs for the price of one. Same goes for every size, really. I do a lot of work in 3/8" and 1/2", so my 1/2" v-bit bolt tongs get a lot of use and I don't have a lot of clutter in the tong rack. Other than that, make all of the tooling that you can. A drift doesn't need to be bought when you can easily make one of your own. Same for punches, chisels and slitters. The big problem a lot of new people have, and old ones too, is getting tunnel vision and thinking that there's only one way to make something. Chisels, punches and slitters don't need to have an eye punched through the head for a handle, and a lot of working smiths have the metal part held securely by the split end of a tree branch. It works wonderfully and saves them on metal and manufacturing time.

If you go to any store in the region, you can buy a cheap chinese vise for the same money.... and it won't be anywhere near the same quality. I'd say you got a great deal!