VaughnT

Lucky, lucky man! That's really all I can say. I've tried all of the local scrap yards, but they aren't interested in letting me walk around. :(

King Architectural metal sells grape clusters and leaves already made. For the price, you really can't beat it. I love sub-contracting as much as I can because the product is often better than I can do. Better quality at a price I couldn't possibly match? That's a win for me and the customer. $13.95 for a cluster of grapes with a leaf and vine segment? Texture it a bit and have a local welder tack it onto the rest of the piece. Then all you have to do is blend it all together. And the customer will think you're a smithing god!

You would have to dance a merry jig to duplicate that look. I'm almost of a mind to use the bolts whole and add some leaves and grape clusters. It would make a great table base or the like.

Also note that a lot of the wedges provided with the handles are made from a soft wood like poplar. Not only are they far too obtuse in their taper, but the wood likes to crush rather than spread the handle. If you use linseed oil, thin it down 4:1 with paint thinner or lacquer thinner. This makes it soak into the wood a whole lot better. Using standard wood glue to help hold the handle and wedge in place isn't a bad idea.

Nothing wrong with that! What size stock did you start out with? What's her weight?

Very nice anvil! I really like that design because, like you said, it's got great lines. The french pig anvils are very nice and I like them better than London-pattern anvils. Your find, though, is definitely unique and quite attractive. I'll look forward to seeing what you forge with her.

It's really a tough call because you're not going to be into the whole thing for a lot of money. As it sits, it would be a very decent anvil, with a 11"x4.5" face that's just about perfect for everything you could ask, and the mass would all be under the hammering zone. With access to the school's shop, I wouldn't bother trying to cut a horn out of the block because it takes far more time and energy than simply welding a horn on. Any school operation will probably have round stock that's big enough and it could be really nice to have a horn that is concentric. Turning one in the lathe and then welding it into position would be super fast and easy, relatively. I would also consider cutting in a square taper heel. They are very handy for a lot of things. While it would reduce the weight of the anvil, it would do so in a way that also contributes to the usability of the anvil. Any weight lost would be recouped by adding the horn and some feet. Price??? I think $200 is a bit steep for a chunk of A36 that size, but you gotta deal with the cards in hand. I'd definitely rather have said chunk of mild steel than a farrier's anvil. I despise farrier anvils. Welding a grader blade on top? No. The quality of the weld won't be anywhere near the quality you'd get just by using some hard-facing rods. If you have access to a good welder, simply give him a box of hard-facing rods and have him lay down a good bed. You'll end up with something around 55 on the Rockwell scale, and it's a lot easier than attaching a grader blade to the face. A step down for a chiseling table? Absolutely unnecessary. The easiest thing to do is use a mild steel saddle so you can chisel anywhere you want, depending on the size and shape of what you're chiseling. It's very easy to make a protective saddle out of sheet metal (soup can).

Never heard of the brand, but I'd be willing to be that it's a good quality cast-steel anvil. I wouldn't hesitate to place a bid.

Knife guards and pommels. With that grainy look, there's no doubt in my mind that it's wrought iron, and not too refined, either. I'd be very happy with one of those bolts to use for knife guards, pommels and blade stock. It's also great for fireplace tools, picture/mirror frames, table legs, plant stands, and shelf brackets. Because you've got such a nice starting size, you could flatten it for wide stock or draw it out. All depends on how much hammering you want to do. As wood-like as it appears, I'm betting it will have a very nice grain once you polish it up a bit and etch it with acid. I was very disappointed to learn that the wrought I have is very refined and as boring as modern steel after an etch. For knives and jewelry, gnarly is awesome.

That's a truly beautiful concept! I've always hated the standard lid hooks, but haven't ever considered an idea like yours. And it looks like it will work on every size and shape of handle out there. Genius. I've been thinking about getting one of those Cergol hammers. He certainly has a nice range of styles.

Ausfire, that's a good enough test for anyone. If it has the stringiness and wood-like grain, it's wrought iron and should be of value to the local knife-making community if nothing else. I'd reach out to those guys, maybe even look into marketing in NZ and South Africa if the shipping costs aren't too awful.

As others have said, real wrought iron is getting more and more scarce. While knife-makers like the really rough wrought iron for its wood-like grain, a lot of restoration smiths like it because it can be used to repair historic pieces. A chunk that's 2" thick is very rare and hard to come by for most smiths. If someone has a power hammer, they could work it down to almost any size and length they needed for a project. I would definitely verify that what you have is WI, and then reach out to the smiths in the region. Sold by the foot, it's a great commodity to have a lot of.

Glad to hear you got it done. I managed to come up with a decent way of making the fobs, but they are just horrible in the pocket no matter how you try to shape it. And making 100 of them in a timely fashion so you're not losing money was just impossible.

An excellent bit of work and filmography! I've never heard of such a thing before, but I have had to carve down the end of many a candle. This would be a tremendous time-saver, and it's just plain neat.

Buy some square tubing that's the right size and forge it down by pounding in the sides. This will make it fit the large hardy hole, and it can then be welded onto the bottom of the tool. Hiring a welder to tack the stem onto the tool is faster and cheaper than trying to forge solid stock down to size. Another option would be to simply cut the stem out of the stock with a hacksaw or bandsaw. While it might be a chore, at least you're not burning up all that fuel for the forge. Reducing the size of the stock with a saw will also reduce the amount of fuel needed to bring it to forging temp so you can tweak the shape.

Ausfire, "sawzall" is an American term for the ubiquitous reciprocating saw. So named because it will saw all that gets in its way. Brilliant idea for a cross, and a darn nice execution. And that photography ain't too shabby, either!

This is a question of first building the tools needed to do the job properly, I've found. Assuming you're using a ball-peen hammer and are going to squish down the non-peen end to make the blade, I would first make a fullering tool (a butcher) to further isolate the non-peen end from the eye. By careful application of heat, you can keep the eye relatively cold and the fullering tool will help you place precise blows that drive the metal away from the eye. The tongs should be holding firmly on the ball-peen portion, again not bothering the eye. You really don't need to spend too much time around the eye once you get the majority of the metal moved forward towards where the cutting edge will be. Did that make sense?

Very nice work. I like to make hooks using the big 12" spike nails and have gotten some favorable response from customers, but I never thought of branching out. That engine valve really caught my eye. The head of the valve makes a very unusual finial. As soon as I figured out what it was, I remembered the last time I was down at the autoparts store. They had a bunch of different badges from the auto makers, and I'm thinking they would be a dandy addition to the face of the valve. Any gearhead worth his oil would love to have a hook that was flying his favorite colors. A Chevy bowtie, for example. That big flat face is just aching to have someone's initials etched into it. Or figure out a way to turn it into a clock. I'm gonna hunt me down some valves.....

DSW pretty much covers it all. The only thing I'll add is to suggest using silicone caulk on the backface of anything you're affixing to the outside. A sconce, for example, looks great on the wall, but as moisture gets behind it, between the iron and the wall, you'll get rust. What I do is butter the back face of whatever it is, then install it and let the silicone caulk seep out around the edges. You can wipe off the excess real easy and be assured of a nice tight joint between the two.

Moonshine Leather sells a good apron, though I don't like all the metal work they've got on them. All those buckles are unnecessary and add weight. The cross-back suspension is definitely the way to go. Hanging a leather apron around your neck, then getting the strap sweat-soaked and filled with crud.... what a horrible way to spend the day! Wide shoulder straps that cross in the back and tie to the sides like Moonshine shows on their website.... I would opt for using parachute cord instead of leather, and I'd use that connection for the adjustment instead of all those metal buckles and d-rings you see on most aprons. No waist strap, I think, if your design is right, but easy to add if not.

I would also point out that the cost of the item will also determine how I look at the issue. If you are paying me big money to make a gate or grill of some kind, or even a nice pot rack, I will be glad to provide fasteners that will look good. Note, though, that these are big-money projects that I will have to have a hand in the installation, and know where they are going. Not only can I provide a nice fastener that matches the piece, but I know what type of fastener to provide. The cost of providing a generic fastener, like a simple black drywall screw, isn't just the 10¢ that the screw costs. You have to figure in your time to go and buy the screw as well. That's time, gas, buying a pound of screws when you only need one for the order, last-minute-screwups that mean a second trip to the store because you forgot the screws on the first trip.... All that and the customer is just going to throw them away because they don't work on a brick wall. How many people provide some type of lag bolt, but don't provide a rub washer? All that work to dress up a common lag bolt to make the head look nice and you don't supply a rub washer to prevent the bolt from scratching the piece?

I still haven't weighed my big Fisher anvil. It was advertised as 350#, but I think it might be close to 300#. I need to get a scale just so I'll know. Either way, it's a great anvil and has supplanted my 120# Wilkinson and 66# Swede.

XS, that's the basic gist of it. The bricks allow you to shape and control the fire, which is what the fire pot is doing. The difference is that you can move the bricks when you need a bigger/smaller/longer fire. The riveting forges that you see for sale everywhere are flat-bottomed and work a treat for heating small stock. With a larger table to work with, a flat-bottomed forges can accommodate a fire of just about any size. As someone new to the world of smithing, you're not going to be working on really heaving stock, or doing production-level quantities, so you don't need much in the way of a forge. Keep it as simple as possible and you'll be pounding hot iron before you know it!

I stopped offering fasteners for two reasons. It adds to the cost but doesn't necessarily make the customer jump on the 'buy now' button. And, there's no pleasing everybody. If you give them nice wood screws, they'll want to install the piece on a masonry wall. Give them masonry fasteners and they'll put the piece on sheetrock, between studs. In order to cover all the bases, you have to provide a type of screw/nut/bolt combo that will look good and cover all the bases. Blacksmithbolt.com has a great selection and is my go-to source for all that stuff - including rub washers.

Wonderful. Art Nouveau is definitely where it's at, and I love your interpretation. Truly masterful work!