VaughnT

You've got the greatest scrap pile in all of human history!

Great presentation. The finished product looks fantastic and I'll definitely have to look into making some of those textured dies. The key looks like it's been rusting for centuries and only got wire- brushed for the photo shoot.

I love it. Can't say enough good things about the build.

I was given a Majestic forge for last Christmas. Having never used a propane forge before, it's been quite a learning experience. I can say with some certainty that you should avoid the Majestic brand of forges like the plague. Horrible design, overall, and real gas hogs. The paperwork that came with it says that forge-welding temps can be reached at 25psi (like that was some kind of bragging), and the reason for that is the absolutely horrible insulation. A 1" hard firebrick for the bottom and some kind of proprietary cast insulation for the sides and top. Neither is good insulation and the outside of the forge will boil water in 5 minutes. Bad, bad, bad. Making your own forge is rather easy, and it's a lot better than buying a commercial unit because you don't have to worry about cutting corners to save money over the long-term. Basically, you can build better for cheaper, even if you buy the burner.

Never get tired of watching Peter work. He really needs to get his own show on PBS.

Beautiful find! I wonder why they designed the horn like they did. With a hardy hole in the main body, there's got to be some kind of reason for putting another hardy hole in such a weird location. Can't wait to see her cleaned up.

Now that you've got it laid out, you need to chisel it in! :D

That's a beautiful idea. I never would have thought to add a handle so you don't have to stoop down to move the stop. Now I just need to find a suitable large chunk of iron.....

Looks perfect.

Looks like they'd be great for holding round stock of various sizes, or knife tangs that like to taper along their lengths. I could have used a pair like that today!

Glad to help, hoss. If you can get an as-new Brooks anvil for a buck-a-pound, that would be epic. But, don't fret one bit if he asks $3/lb. It's still a lot cheaper than buying a brand new 250# anvil from any of the current makers. I hope it's a Brooks and you get a steal of a deal. Post lots of pictures when you get her cleaned up.

Sounds like it could be a Brooks anvil. They were well-known for their use of blue paint. Very good anvils and definitely worth having if you can get it for a decent price. A new anvil of that weight would cost you a grand or more. If the anvil really is in "brand new" condition, like the one in the pic, anything less than a grand would be a good purchase, imo. Remember, as long as you take care of it and don't beat it to smithereens, you can sell it down the road for almost as much as you paid for it. That means your purchase price is really just a long rental fee. Buy it for $600 today and sell it for $500 in a year. You get a year's worth of use and a very easy sale... all for a hundred bucks. Anvils don't have any parts to wear out, no belts to change..... it'll be a good anvil even after ten years of banging on it, and I don't doubt you'd be able to sell it in a few years.

I really need to make one of those crab style locks. That would be perfect for the shop door! Great to see how "easy" it is to forge the components to rough shape. Lots of little things that I wouldn't have thought of.

Very nice build. The only thing I'd do different would be to use that hornless anvil in the background as the anvil for the hammer. With the convenience of the hardy hole, you could easily swap out offset lower dies for a bunch of different operations, and leave the top die flat. Can't wait to see how she runs.

Yea, I'd jump all over her if the price was right. Not too shabby, but with just enough "wrong" that you can probably talk the seller down a bit.

Very nice bit of work. The copper paint really goes well with the iron and makes the whole thing really pop.

Spanky, one of the "easier" ways I've come across to help with pricing is to establish your shop rate. If you look around at any of your local metal fabrication or car repair shops, they all have a basic price per hour that they charge. This covers labor, electricity, common consumables, etc. Generally, the shop rate is always north of $50 per hour. Being new/small/inexperienced/etc, you obviously can't charge people $75 an hour, but $40 is a very reasonable sum. And if anyone complains about the cost, simply point them to the fabrication shop down the road that charges $120/hr for the same basic thing. With the shop rate determined, all you have to do is figure out how long the snails take to make. If it takes you 20 minutes, that's 1/3 of your hourly shop rate. Having said that, it's not a hard-n-fast rule because you also have to factor in the time lost due to your lack of tools and/or experience. You can't sell the snails for $40 in the local market even though they took you the better part of an hour to make because that long time was a result of your personal situation. So, you take a little hit and price them to be competitive with what you can find online. Then you set up jigs and patterns so you can churn them out in less than ten minutes. As your reputation grows, you continue to sell the snails at the same price, but your increased speed and efficiency generates a larger and larger profit margin.

I think copper and iron really go well together. You could also give the grapes a bit of copper wash by soaking them in some acid that has dissolved copper in it. Then wire-brush the high spots to leave the copper in the valleys..... Am I the only one that gets excited thinking about projects like this? So many things to do, so little time.

It's definitely a carbon steel, but it would be impossible to say what alloy.

A nice bit on making a pair of scissors!

You do incredible work, Frog. I can't wait to see how she looks when all's finished.

That's very fine work, hoss. I would be proud to have a hammer like that in my shop. You've definitely got the skills.

Nothing wrong with that! I regularly use a 4lb sledge because it moves metal fast and easy, even when doing light work, and have often thought of turning the one end into a cross-peen.

Since we're talking about documentaries, here's one from the old world. I really enjoyed the welding and fitting first-hand. While I'm sure there are smiths today that can do it, there's something special about watching the pro's that did it for a living. I loved how they build the fire to heat the tires and fitted them to the wagon's wheel.