knots

Yeah, I can do any of hose things. But we modify tools to fit our needs all of the time. Why not this ? Are there valid reasons against this approach or are we just talking philosophy here ?

I have been pondering how I might anchor one of my anvils, a likely Mouse Hole carriage makers anvil ( no step ) to it's new base. I want to avoid chains. Since I move my anvils around the shop using overhead track, the anvil needs to be securely anchored so that the base moves with the anvil. One solution that I have in mind is welding on a couple of tabs with bolt holes to the anvil so that the anvil cam be bolted down Fisher style. Anybody ever done this ?

What is the weight of the anvil ? If it is a smallish anvil it would be easy enough to move from stand to stand. If the anvil is bolted to the stump/stand even a fairly heavy anvil can be rocked one end at a time to place blocks below. I however like the two anvil option. That would allow both of you to work together.

interesting paint job. How did you get the effect of depth ? Paint it, then power wire brush it back to steel for high lights ???? Is it clear coated ?

If you are talking about blades with brazed carbide inserts I doubt that the blade body is high carbon steel. Try the spark test to get an idea of what the carbon content is.

Try a tree trimming company. Tell them the diameter and length that you need. Be sure that the length has maybe an extra 4- 6" so that you can true up the ends. The tree guys are not likely to cut log sections square and parallel. Where I live the county/city collects storm debris after storms . you might try them as well. There is a thread that deals with using a router to true up stump ends if you are not an artist with a chain saw this may be helpful. The final length should be such that the anvil is knuckle height ( standing straight ) when installed.

Were the gloves you using, when burned, lined ? The Econo-Guard gloves had a double cotton liner. I have experienced pin point burn through of the kevlar outer shell bur never through the double cotton liner. I don't use them for welding.

" Thanks Grant. Yes "Lead".

I use them mainly on my hand that holds the work piece, or tongs holding the work piece being forged. The Kevlar is tough and wears well. It protects the hands against effects of sharp edges, and It also gives giving moderate protection against burns . I bought my first pair over 20 years ago and have experienced only benefits, no problems. However , as working with any glove while forging, you must keep them dry. What problems would you anticipate?

About a week ago I posted a topic in the Every Thing Else Forum . The topic related to my search for a source of Kevlar hot gloves . Specifically Carolina Glove - "Econo Guard" trademark glove. No responses were offered, likely due to my choice of forums. Since the original posting I have continued my on line research and the following information is the result : Indications are that Carolina Glove is no longer in business. Their gloves featured a Kevlar mid-weight outer shell with double 100% cotton inner liners. The cost was less than $18 per pair. They were tough gloves. Kevlar and Nomex are the du Pont trade names for heat and flame resistant Arimid fibers. Aramid fibers are cut resistant as well as being heat and flame resistant , and are used in unlined knit gloves for worker protection against cuts ad abrasions . According to one source there are four companies that manufacture these fibers. Refer to Wickipedia for a list of applications. The combination of cut and heat resistance makes this fiber ideal for use in working with hot metal. One of my goals now is to find an American company that has double lined hot work gloves with an Aramid fiber outer shell at an affordable price . One American company, Galeton, has a non heat rated knit Aramid fiber shell glove with a single cotton liner. The link for this glove is posted below. The cost is only $5.00 / pair. I plan to order up several pairs for general work. However I am still looking for a replacement for the " ConoGuard" gloves which I have used for years. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Most of the multi layered hot mill gloves offered are 100% cotton. Using that example I purchased bulk cotton knit gloves and simply placed one glove into another for some degree of heat protection. One benefit of is that as the outer glove wears they can be reversed to place the inner glove to the outside with the wear damaged glove damaged side side up. This will result in a serviceable glove for the opposite hand. Perhaps the single layer kevlar knit gloves could be used the same way ! I have yet to try that but will likely do that soon. Happy Forging https://www.galeton.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=13591&storeId=10601&catalogId=10101&langId=-1

I have one exactly like it other than the following exceptions: Mine has the original cast iron legs. However it does not have the nice fly wheel . it has a single cross bar with cyllndrical weights. Go to Google Books and search Waterbury Farrel ( Foundry) . On page 139 of their 1896 catalogue ( I think that date is correct) you will find this press with a short description. My Waterbury Farrel is a die test screw press. This screw press was designed for tool room use to test dies to be used in fly presses. The screw is 2 3/4" in Diameter and is a two start screw with a pitch of 1 1/2" . As it turned out this machine works just fine for me even without the faster pitched screw. I actually think This press is a better match to the way I work than a faster screw would be. It is a bit more sedate in it's action while still having a very powerful stoke. The master die makers for whom this machine was designed were probably much more deliberate in their work than fellow production workers, and probably often worked alone, but still needed a strong fast press action. Mine weighs 1,700 pounds. I am uncertain when a screw press becomes a fly press. Perhaps someone can enlighten us on that point. But the catalogue calls it a tool room screw press. I think that it is a good compromise between power and speed . However press rating is not given in the catalogue , I have seen no literature supporting the the 20 ton rating claim . Having said that: If there is hard data I would like to know about it. Any way you look at it this press is no wimp. I suspect that the fly wheel would make it even more effective than mine.

Well I called the Plibrico Company, the manufacturer of PLISTIX 900, this morning. their telephone has been disconnected. It appears that another good company has gone belly up. My problem with most commercial products is that you have to purchase the products in quantities that grossly exceed my needs. The unused product has a short shelf life, consequently I usually throw away more than I use. This seems very wasteful. So I need to find or create a dry product . All that I need is to seal my forge furnace, so the Kaolin slip idea is still an attractive alternate. MD your recommendation of mixing alumina with kaolin is the basic formula for porcelain clay body or slip except that bone ash is some times also included as a flux . Bone ash is a source of phosphorus so it makes sense to consider adding it in some proportion to your proposed mix. Could be that the addition of bone ash would reduce the friability and tendency to crack. I think I will order some up and run a few tests.

The Kaolin clay slip seems like a convenient coating supply solution. Since the commercial coating/sealer products usually come in quantities greater than are needed for most forge furnaces and have a short shelf life they are expensive and seem wasteful . Has kaolin slip been used and proven effective for coating ceramic fiber forge liners over time. What would the service temperature range be. I have something like 50 pounds of the stuff and know from experience that shelf life is not an issue if protected from contamination and kept dry.

Tried to call and e-mail Carolina Glove to place an order - no response. Have they closed up shop ? I still need some kevlar gloves. The ones I have been getting lately form my welding supply are not holding up well and so I am looking for a good source of gloves that are high quality industrial weight. What brand gloves should I be looking for and where ? Preferably Made in the USA.

After I bought my first auto darkening welding helmet I almost trashed my old welding helmet. However since I do a lot of bending with oxy acetylene it occurred to be that a more comfortable solution than goggles would be to cut the bottom of the old helmet off at about nose level and install an appropriate shade lens. That works well for me since I to wear glasses as well. Trimming the bottom makes the helmet lighter and cooler to wear. If you have an old one that is hanging unused on a nail there would not be much to lose if you don't like it. Good luck

Ceramic supply houses have an anhydrous form of borax that works.

I have VFD on my drill press. Being able to slow the spindle down takes a lot of risk out of using hole saws in these kind of set-ups . The resulting cuts are usually a lot more accurate. I suspect it also increases the life of the saw blade as well.

Last time I did that I welded a sleeve onto the pipe elbow that would receive and hold the propane supply tube. The sleeve had a set screw for to hold the supply tube. The set screw allowed easy removal of the supply tube, hose, and regulator. So I prepared the sleeve, with the pre-machined hole, welded the sleeve to the elbow and used the sleeve as a drill guide. I will post a photo of the assembly in the gallery section. and here if I can figure out how.

Maybe these fullered corners have practical origins based on limitations of the materials used to make ancient blacksmithing tools.. Consider that steel was a precious commodity until the mid eighteen hundreds when the Bessemer process was patented and it becomes clear that the common material used by blacksmiths for their tools was unlikely to have been, exclusively, steel before that time. They probably used the equivalent of wrought iron for hammers, set hammers, and general tooling. If that was the case then reforging their tools would have been needed as an ongoing maintenance chore. In the case of wrought iron set hammers the set face corners would have likely deformed in a way that the fullered corners would have corrected. It would be interesting to find some tools of this era and test this theory.

Also looks like the hardy hole is further back than normal. Looking under the heel. Is there evidence that the hardy hole was relocated ? Normally the Hardy hole would be tucked back closer to the body of the anvil. Also the photograph shows a notch on the side of the anvil a few inches from the end of the heel that would be about where I would normally expect the heel to end. Maybe an old repair ? Interesting anvil. For sure a keeper.

' Now that is an interesting concept. I haven't seen seen the double rail thing before. You would get a better/more solid forging surface if you could grind the rail top really flat and braze the plate to the anvil body. Once years ago, in desperation, I used a radial arm saw to grind the dovetails into a set of power hammer dies. Used a 6' grinding wheel. You have to take light cuts and push the radial through from the front rather than pull it through. Did a good job of grinding a flat surface. This process creates lots of sparks and swarf . I would not recommend doing this inside. The resulting spark/swarf debris welded itself to the shop concrete block wall. Wear breathing protection, full face mask etc.

You can also cut a pickax through the eye for V shaped stakes. Or reforge the V into a variety of forms.

What is the best source of heavy duty plastic squeeze bottles for oiling machines. I have been looking for bottles with long spouts or ones fitted with pull out extension tubes without success. McMaster Carr has bottles but not what I am looking for. Other specialty sites as US Plastics don't seem to have them either.

Years ago my parents bought their home place down in Texas. The property had, at one time, been part of property owned by a driller. Way in the back there was an area which had a lot scrap metal that had been left behind including a big old drill bit that looked like a tuning fork. Probably weighed something over 200 pounds. Probably to small for oil. I could see how those fork tines in a larger version could have been run through that bridge opening when sharpening. What a prize that anvil is.