edge9001

I agree, love the look of the lock. any chance you have anymore pictures of it.

My first attempt at a ballpein hammer hawk, had the same results. only mine the hammer head broke off and fell into a sand like consistancy. turns out it was a cast iron hammer. some very cheap hammers same as ASO's are meant to make money, but not really concerned about quality. I've seen several cheap junk store hammers mostly ballpein hammers that are made of cast iron

EricI would Did the rasps fit in a the flat rate box? how much is shipping? I have only one shoer I've been able to locate so far nd he is not responding to my calls or emails.

How do you get the glass marble in the latch? My reasoning is cold glass would crack if the metal is wrapped aroung it while hot enough to move. did you Heat the marble first, or is my reason ing just that far off?

Well I'm a bit jealous. Your setup it prettier than mine, lol. As I've said before, if it's functional and you can stand the sight of it, then use it. you should see how ugly my smithy is.

youcould always make and sell some old style wagons. they would be great for re-enactments, or even smithing carts for shows. After all, someone had put some hard work into making that metal into a wheel, take advantage of thier hard work. OR... just cut em up to shorter pieces and just add it to you stock pile.

it's not a new tomahawk, I have pictures of it in a previous post. this was just my first try at puting it to use. Unfortunatly I have no pics of the trip I couldn't find my camera before we left. I'm still working on the first ax project.

function out ways beauty, especially when its for personal use, not resale. At least thats how I feel. You should see some of the blades I;ve made when I needed to cut something and couldn't find a knife. I've sharpenedta single edge, heated and quenched a piece of mild steel flat bar just to cut a piece of rope, only to reused that same bar later for a project.

I just got back today from my first camping trip with my FIRST tomahawk. As you might remember I made it from a small ball pein hammer. This thing worked beautifully, held its edge woderfully, and made short work of any thing I put in its path. Theres nothing like a torture test by a 9 year old to prove a blades quality. Now to make a cover so I can carry it in the woods safely, right now I Just have a cardboard zip tie and duct tape cover on it.

They followed me home I swear!!! thats the story I gave my wife, and I'm sticking to it. I just got my new tools home today. 1. A custom build 20ton press cleverly disguised as a 20 ton press bender. I figure if I fill the gap at the base of it with a large chunk of steel, then I havea nice surface to mount to for a press, and the upper half I can make a thing to clip to it. 2. My first propane forge minus the regulator and hose. The door to this thing is thicker than I thought it would be at 1/2 inch. and there is no "pass through hole" in the back wall but, for my current purposes, that's fine 3. old antique craftsman "power" hacksaw. I just don't yet have a motor to run it. I'm thinking of repurposing a washer or dryer motor. I have both around here somewhere and without pictures I have a Victor cutting torch with three new tips and circle cutter, a pair of asbestos gloves, and the plans that were used to build the propane forge. I got all of this for $200. and to beat it all the guy who built the forge and press and then was nice enought to sell themn to me is a retired machinist. hehe, that means quality built products for me..hehe can any of you find anything wrong with this forge or anything else here other than the insulation not being coated. give me some feedback guys, I know with this bunch I might regret that later but lets here it anyway. the best part I only had to drive 9 miles. The family and I went camping 9 miles from this guys house so the rest of the travel time was already accounted for...lol

I have my new propane forge!!! and it's about time...lol This forge and my new bender were both hand made, and as we all know hand made toold can be great or terrible quality items. luckily for me the Jim, they guy I bought them from, is a retired machinists from a government run printing company. I'll send pictures later tonight or tomarrow. I now need to find a regulator. Should be an easy task.

I've seen rigs that instead of burning the wood in a barrel and then covering it, they put fill the barrel full of wood close it then light a fire under the outside of the closed but NOT sealed barrel kind of like making a large oven and baking the wood into charcoal. if you use this route, make sure to provide somewhere for the gases to go, most I've seen will install a pipe for a vent and vent those gasses into the fire inder the barrel and using the gas as additional fuel for the fire. it takes about 3-4 hours for a 55 gallon drum

Those bellows are a perfect example of what I';m looking for....cobbled together to fid a purpose. odd? maybe. did it work? definitely! thanks

you could make a handguard for a knife out of one of them.

I'm taking the family camping soon. This trip has inspired me to start making camp use items. We have all seen the camp fire setups that from a spit to a tripod, as well as the pot hangers(the names for these escape me). Other than these and axes/tomahawks/hachets, what else can be made for camping and camp site use. no matter how odd the device or how hard it is to make. Show me picture or even drawings.

I think For this project I'm going to find a large ballpeen hammer, or maybe a small sledge, then I'll repurpose it to an ax. pawn shops yard sales and flea markets here I come!! lol

thingmaker, I would love to see a picture of that setup. Any chance of that?

that sounds ike a plausible accessment to me..it's a linemans hammer...or just the coolest smithing hammer(with a hole in it) i've ever seen.

I found this listed on craigslist today. It's too far for me to drive anytime soon so if any of you need it...here it is http://huntsville.craigslist.org/zip/1813401453.html

there is no picture in this post

when it comes to heavy metals, lead is not the only one. Even gold is considered a heavy metal, so you could be paving your driveway with gold.

I can see some Blacksmithing content in that...a vehicle to make a winch, and soapstone pencils...sure i can see it

Akad, charcoal is the easy one. You can make it for next to nothing. just search youtube for purgatory iron works. He has some great information on not only making charcoal but also on general blacksmithing. then there is Walmart, at my local walmart a 20# bag of charcoal is only 3 bags for $20.50. I only buy "multiples of three" bags at a time (ie 3, 6, 9 ect ect) this way I can take exact change to the store. trenton at purgatory iron works is one of the reasons I got started with blacksmithing. his ideas are also how I can afford to do it...cheaper is better. here is a couple of his videos I'm sure there are cheaper ways to get forge fuel, but thit is the way I do it. Soon I will get my gas forge and then I'll be searching for a way to get cheap propane.

Let me stasrt by appologizing if this post belongs somewhere else or if it's already postd somewhere. now...what are some of the things that have been cobbled together, safe or not, I'm just curious what kind of, and how many McGuyvers we have in here. Have you had a need to do something and had to find a way to make it work withpout the "proper" tool or part? how did you do it? what was the craziest thing you've had to do? I know all home made forges and presses CAN be considered cobbled together, go for it, list them too.

I've already made a heck of a hawk from a small ballpeen hammer. It honestly is one of the best tomahawks (in reguards to edge holding ability) I've seen in years. What do you think John? Find a large Ballpeen hammer and use that, or a small sledge? as for a tooling, How would I make a punch and drift? I'm not sure if my skills in the forge are ready to make these tools, but I want to try. My purpose of this is I'm takeing the family(wife and 5 kids) camping soon(a few weeks away) and I want to take a small ax, so I can make the camp equipment instead of carrying it in, as rope and para cord is lighter than all that metal. so i figure why not make the camp ax to take with me. for those who can't tell I'm a tinkerer(my grandmother is always commenting on how I make some of the oddest thihngs as well as some of the most useful) I've even made things that would be cheaper and easier to buy, just to make them myself.