Countryboy39067

I'll check Lowes the next time I'm drooling over tools there. Thanks for the help.

Hey guys. I'm planning on doing some cable knives soon and was wondering what you fellas use to keep the bundles together. I've been told to use iron wire but I can't find any. Substitutes? I would mig them together but I don't want to introduce any extra foreign materials if I can help it.

The purpose of a post vise it to absorb heavy impact so it is necessary for the leg to rest on a solid plate. The plate can be part of the stand in the case of using a portable vise mount. I don't have a way to post pics because I used my iPhone for all of my Internet usage. My vise is mounted on a post set in the dirt floor of my shop. Your vise should have a spike of sorts on the long downward leg. Mine did not so I forged a tire iron to fit the socket and let it rest on a metal plate sunk into the concrete poured around the post. I hope this helps and good luck!!!

You can weld a hardie shank to them and use it as an anvil 3rd hand. Ir like me...the light switch went out on my livingroom ceiling fan. It only stayed on if the pull cord had weight in it. Vise grips to the rescue!!! Yeah I know that's why I'm still single.

You might be a blacksmith if....
Your questioned by the local police about your multiple inquiries about where you can buy "coke"

Stove cement comes in caulk tubes, is easy to apply and is a treat for sealing up pesky joints in stovepipe.
Phil

Hey, Just come on, and if this is who I think it is, bring some of that straight spring and we'll call it even.

Is the fee $100 like the conference class?

Is the meeting still on for tomorrow and if so, what is the subject of the meeting? I haven't been to one in a while so I'm out of the loop.

I'm in the process of building mine . It's a 15x20 lean-to added on to the back of my motorcycle shop. The roof incline is a 12ft to 8ft height difference. I have the option to widen it in the future if needed. The floor is packed red clay sand and I will soon be adding a two to three inch layer of pea gravel. I'm mounting my post vice, buffer and bench grinder on post instead of on the work bench. That should leave more room for rack space on the wall for supplies etc. Good luck and be sure to follow all building codes if there are any.......I'm so far out in the boonies that no one even hears my anvil ringing!!!! .....and I love it !! 

Thanks guys. I've decided to turn down any request to do this. A set of blades cost about $60 shipped so it's cheaper for them to buy them than it is for me to get sued!! Besides, who owns a tractor and hasn't invested in a grinder? Thanks for the info! 

I told a guy today that I'm getting into blacksmithing. He wants me to learn to sharpen his bush hog blades. I've spoken to a few smiths about it. The most recent conversation the guy told me he hammers the bevel at a steep angle that's almost flat according to him. He said he tried tempering them but found that they last just as long if you let them cool by throwing them in the driveway leaving them for a few hours. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Revolution time? Let me get my tomahawk!!! Lol it sounds like all the more reason to join a forge counsel or form one if there isn't one in your region. I'm only 35 and I remember as a kid in the early 70's the train coming through my hometown of Ethel, MS. There was always coal left behind from the train cars. Also the I'll never forget the wood shaving and coal smoke coming from the town smithy operated by Mr. Lawson Burchfield. 

Thats coal country around there, I was raised about 20 miles from there in Jasper. You might contact the Alabama Forge Council there and Im sure they could point you in the right direction.

Jerry

Where would you find the nuts?

Ciladog you hit the nail on the head. Thank you!! Hopefully I can post pictures when I get this repaired. I haven't figured how to post pics since my only internet source is my Iphone. Thanks again!!

I have to disagree with using babbitt to repair the treads in a vise box. They just won’t hold up to the abuse. Some vises boxes were made by forging material into a tube and threads were then brazed into it. Some later vises were made as cast with threads cut into the box. There is a proper way to repair a leg vise box. Dick Sargent posted a blueprint on the process but since the blueprints are not currently available I’ll tell you what it said.

I know this process works because I just repaired a vise using it.

If the threads are brazed into the box (you will know if you see brass between the threads and the tube) then remove them by putting the box in a forge and heating and pulling the threads out. Or, you could turn them out on a lathe. If the threads are cut or cast, you will have to turn them out in a lathe.

Then make new threads by wrapping stock (say 1/8 X1/8) around a good part of your screw. You really only need about 2 inches of thread. An OA torch works well for this. If you don’t have a lathe, you will need to size the stock to fit into the box.

Take the threads you made and put them in the box, add flux and brass and put it into a forge, either coal or propane. Bring it up to temperature and rotate to let gravity and capillary action do it thing. That is the way vises were made before there were screw cutting lathes.

Then start working the screw into the box to break up the flux. Use grinding compound to cut clearance for easy use.

Multiple nuts would be hard to keep from jamming. How would you hold them in the box? You would need to keep them from rotating and moving lengthwise too.

If your grandfather gave you a car with a blown engine---would you refrain from replacing it?



Great analogy!

Has anyone used the pouring of Babbitt in the screwbox to form the threads? This is my grandfathers post vise so I don't want to damage it so I'm a little against brazing if there is another way. I've also concidered getting three nuts threaded on the screw and building a cage of sorts to hold them online and form a new screwbox that way. Any ideas will be appreciated.

I was talking to some blacksmths this weekend at the French Camp Pioneer Day Festival. They were telling me that many used to get coal from Carbon Hill, AL. Do any of you know if that's still true? I'm looking for a place I can buy bulk coal within driving distance of my house. I live in central Mississippi.

Would it be possible to mount the chimney outside the building, and then connect to the forge through the wall?

no leaks in roof, I think Uri posted a pic of a similar design.
The chimney sounds to big to me too, unless you have a very big fire.

Good tip here.

http://www.anvilfire..._loss_stack.htm

What is the current length of your chimney pipe?
What is the distance from the forge to the roof?

A chimney that size draws both ways. When not in use it will draw water out of a passing cloud, and in winter will launch most every BTU in the shop skyward.

Hey guys. I'm to the point in building my shop that it's time to punch a hole in the metal roof and seal it around the forge chimney. The chimney pipe is 3/16th thick pipe that's 20 1/4 inches OD. I've been told that the best sealant for this is rain gutter caulk.