tomhw

Thanks for the kind words, everybody.



I actually like lead. Lead is my friend.
However, I should have added the necessary "outside voice" caveat;

NEVER USE OR BE AROUND MELTING OR MOLTEN LEAD WITHOUT A FACE SHIELD AND RESPIRATOR!

Or at least goggles (not safety specs), and definitely a respirator.

What Glen said.

First: Learn to manage a blacksmith's coal fire. This is a basic skill that, when mastered, will enable you to take advantage of most of the other techniques of hot work.

Second: How long the coal in your fire will last depends on what you are doing. If you are working with small stock, less than 3/4 inch and just drawing, punching, cutting, shaping, or upseting you will use much less coal than if you were welding billets for a pattern welded sword.

More heat more coal.

You cane be frugal but don't be stingy.

My Father-in-law had a plow mule when he was young. It ate so much mule feed that he decided to wean it from the mix of corn, cane syrup, and oats. Just about the time his mule was weaned... it died. Some mules are stubborn-to-death.

Better How? More definitive, yes; but not cheaper or easier! I can run the spark test and have an answer before I could even make it to town to buy acid and polishing materials.

If you are bleeding out what is better---the sterile designed for the purpose bandage in the med kit back home; or the dirty bandana you have on site in your pocket right now!

That anvil is a cast iron steel faced anvil. It is a Vulcan brand you can tell this by the round cut out on the back foot on the middle. This was a low quality make of anvil to begin with. Some one at some point really disrespected it as well The horn and face were covered with steel most of that has come off at this point. Some one also welded the horn back on you can see by the thick weld at the base of the horn. Other than the occasional light bending operation this anvil is useless for what one would consider blacksmithing. That horn is likely to come loose if it is hammered upon with any force. Its a conversation piece or a tarp weight at best. If it were a car it would be a Yogo that someone ripped the motor out of and turned into a chicken coop. Now its rusted out and full of droppings and you want to put it back on the road.

Bet you a sizable amount the body is cast iron!

Years ago an old wheelwright told me that black locust is the best wood for hubs. Nothing about honey locust.

Do a search for blacksmith

http://imagespublicdomain.wordpress.com/category/national-archives/

Liberally - is that more or less than a liter?

No reason to use accelerates, the alcohol is better used as a disinfectant. Besides it id difficult to find 90% as most times the same size bottle at the same price now only has 70%, or only 50% alcohol.

"In a properly managed fire the recently introduced fuel insulates the touyer and fire pot from the the burning fuel." ???????????

How's that again? I add fuel to to the top and edges of the fire, green coal becomes coke, which burns up as it settles into the firepot, releasing radiant energy to heat the metal that I place in the burning embers. Some of that radiant energy heats other things, including the firepot. The unburnt ash and clinker settles to the bottom, but not enough to insulate the firepot. The recently added fuel serves to keep some of that radiant energy off of me, but I don't think it is helping the firepot. Claying the bottom of the pan would keep some off the heat off the twyer, and certainly keep the cast iron pan from cracking.

Clean, cheap, and effective: I just dump the Kingsford charcoal into the fire pot, liberally pour 90% alcohol (both available at Walmart) over it, and light it up. I maintain a steady blast until the charcoal is alight.

I don't think that a fire pot should get hotter than a black heat. A properly managed fire should have the heat focused above the touyer and fire pit. In a properly managed fire the recently introduced fuel insulates the touyer and fire pot from the the burning fuel. Using coke or charcoal requires more attention than coal because of the speed with which the fire spreads through the more pure carbon fuel. Though I am using charcoal now, I prefer coal to coke or charcoal because the smith has the most control of the fire with a good, high quality, bituminous coal.

When you blow your nose save the item (kleenex, hankerchef, paper towel what ever), then use it to start the fire in the morning.

If you have no experience and no preference for a kind of hammer or a maker of hammers get the cheapest ones you can find. Modify it as you gain experience until you know what you want. Then make your own.


I have ball peen, cross peen, straight peen, and double faced hand hammers weighing from half pound to 4 pounds in eight ounce increments. I also have some rounding hammers and sheet metal hammers. Some are slightly modified commercial hammers, some are heavily mofified commercial hammers, and some are of my own making.

I ahve forged steel using a claw hammer, a brick hammer, a hatchet, and a rock hammer. Use what you have and see what you like.

Timothy, well done- in every respect.

Michael, that is a great photo. It shows the smith's understanding of wrought iron's strengths and weakness and how to anticipate and use them for the project at hand. If you buy the anchor hold on to this section; it has a wealth of information on how to use wrought iron. Because of how it is made wrought iron is strong along the grain and weak across it. See how the smith reinforced and added iron to compensate for the iron's weaknesses in the small bends and stress points while maintaining a modest cross section along the long sections. It is good work by a good smith.

Old wrought iron is extremely variable in terms of purity (eg. hot short, & etc.). The best wrought iron can be welded in a very wide temperature range. Most available old wrought iron is not of the best quality. Test what you have to determine your approach.

When my days as a professional I often used a 6lb hand hammer. I never had any problem in my dominant right arm. I did get "Popyey" elbow in my left elbow. My left elbow produced a large spherical swelling that took a month to go away. I have no problem since then.

Now that I am old I sleep most soundly at about 74 degrees F in the summertime here in Louisiana. Anything above that is too hot for me to have have a reliable deep sleep. Steel? Steel is not interested in its heat-forced structural change until the temperature has pased well above the maximum temperature for human life.

I use Walmart's Royal Oak lump charcoal because it is cheap and available. If I could get a good quality, clean, low sulpher, bituminus, at near the same price and availability I would use it. If I was still a full time professional smith, rather than a hoby-smith, I would use coal and also gas forges.

In the episode where they make the pintle hinge, what's the point of thinning the part of the pintle that wraps around the upright pin? Welding the two together is sensible, but is welding necessary? Or was it simply a byproduct of forming the two to one another? I'm thinking the archeological finds are degraded and assumed welded, but I don't know that they would actually be welded. I could be wrong, and I often am, but I don't see the need to weld the pin to the spike that goes through the timber.

Thoughts?

Beth, that is a concertina belows and a side draft touyer in a heavy iron frame. It likely dates from the late19th century or early 20th century. If it is in good working order it should be worth £400 to a collector.

I am sorry,I didn't understand that this was a popularity contest. I thought that you were interested in the ideal master of the discipline in which one was devoted.

Well done. Have you used it yet? Does it tend to drip from someplace other than the wick channel? Keep going. Don't stop. Perfection is promised; eventually.

Who: Samuel Yellin.
Why: Mastery of his medium and a refined eye for space and movement.

I am voting "mule shoes" and venturing corrective shoes for the rear hooves to prevent interfearance.