Neal L

You coulld make a simple bracket to mount the vise like the one on this new vise.

I like your choice of colors.

It looks like I can finally upload pictures

A lttle off suject but it relates. Do any of you have my kind of luck? I've been thinking when it cools off a little I'm gonna get back to some serious forging. Well here it is October, wife and kids are away, nothing special on the honey do list and it's as hot as an August day!!!!. Well I'm gonna get off this computer and go sweat for a while. I hear the shop calling me. Yea i guess I'm addicted.

I'm in a 24X30 now and I need more room. Go as big as possible and design it for adding on in the future.

I sent the pics to Glenn. Maybe he can get them loaded for me.
I know he's a busy man though. I really appreciate all hje does to keep this site up and running for us.

Go here and look for the image resizer. tool.Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP Once you get it you can resize a picture with just a couple of clicks of the mouse. All you have to do is right click on the image you want to resize and pick resize image. Then a box opens and give a choice of small, medium or large.

Is it just me or is everyone having problems uploading pictures?

I've always heard people say I'll do that when I get around to it. Well somewhere I saw a round piece of wood and written on it was ROUND TUIT. So if someone says i'll do it when I get a round to it you can give them the round tuit and say here ya go now get busy. LOL

I've been saying I'll paint my tire hammer when i get a round tuit. A year after the build i have painted my hammer. I'm trying to upload some pics but for some reason i can't get ti to work

I'd love to see a picture of the outside of the building too. That's a very cool building to be working in. I'm sure you will enjoy it.

I made a side draft hood using the plans on this website. Steel s-draft drawing
It really works great.....not too difficult to fabricate.

16.5" truck brake drums make good base...they are heavy but still can be moved.

I perfer the bandsaw. Cuts can be made while you do something else once you get it started. Not near as messy and to me seems more accurate, I have some problem with the blade jumping off but not that often. One day when I can afford it I will buy a more heavy duty band saw. I had a Dewalt chop saw and the motor smoked on it after about a year and a half and I had only used it now and then. Just my thoughts and experiences.

We could form an activist group call People for the Ethical Treatment of Anvils (PETA), oh wait.... that acronym is already taken :rolleyes:

You might want to try making your weld with a fairly fresh fire. It seems to be easier to get heat early rather than after you have been forging all day. I saw Jerry Darnell demonstate once and he said he always does his welding in the morning. You might already be doing this but about every other tip I can think of has been coverd. What type of blower are you using? If the heat is the problem you aren't getting enough air.

Look at the steel and not for sparks although you might see a few sparks as you bring it out of the fire. Bring the steel up to a good red to orange heat and wire brush the piece to remove scale. Flux and put back in the center of your fire. Watch for the steel to get bright yellow to almost white and have a greasy or wet look as if the surface is has some movement to it. Bring it to the anvil and give light blows to make it stick and a little harder after it has stuck.
At least this is what works for me.

Mine is probably 30 yards away in the back yard. I live on a contry road and have a neigbor across the road. Once when i was starting up the forge and the wind was blowing the smoke straight over the house they came running thinking my house was on fire lol. Othe then that, no problems

The question would be is it a steel anvil or cast iron? If it's steel or cast steel it should work just fine. Don't waste your money on a cast iron anvil

Looking at the end rules out a Peter Wright but i have no idea what it is

I'm in the process of making a handrail with balisters for one door of my house. My wife doesn't have the patience to wait for me to make all of the pieces so the scrolls are from King. So although I have the skill but not much time I'm getting the same look but a lot faster and lots cheaper if I figure in my time. The hand made stuff would be more for the high end client that wants to know someting was hand made. The average person I'm sad to say don't know the difference and dont really care.

I want a gas forge one day but when I do get one I'll still use coal. For me the advantage of having the gasser would be to run out to the shop for a short time and not have to start a coal fire and then wait for it to cool before I leave. On aveage i've found that three five gallon buckets makes 100 lbs of coal. So even if you are paying 30 dollars a hundred lbs (i payed closer to 10 dollars) thats only ten dollars for a full day of forging.
I'm sure coal is much cheeper but if you are inside build a side draft to get the smoke out.

Wish I could make a find like that.

I might have to call and get more info.... only an hour or so away from me.
BTW Looper, I like your forges. I hope I can scrape the dollars together to get one someday.

Really nice work.