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Was just a trappers convention and there where over 50 hand forged traps there but I did not take any pictures. As mentioned earlier use a small long spring trap and size up from there Double spring beaver traps the spring is about 12" long and about an 8" jaws. Wolf fould be larger and bear larger yet. You can use mild steel for everything but the springs which should be hardenable steel. Snowmobile ski springs are about the right thickness but you can reduce car/truck springs in thickness. Most had the jaws bolt through the base plate. Most bear traps have cast jaws with teeth I saw 3 examples of one hand forge trap that the spring was made of 3 pieces forge welded together. The two forge welds were just back from the eyes. The eye must have been made from not hardenable material. Thought it would have been easier to slot/punch and then drift the eye from the one piece but it must have been a materials cost thing or they would have not done the two forge welds. The owner said what the name brand trap was but I did not right it down. Said all of that makers springs were made that way. Have noever seen another brand trap made that way. Have seen were the curved top of the spring was riveted to a straight piece bottom. Bad Roger in Minnesota

I saw in your original post you can not forge due to the apartment but for those who can you can heat the angle iron closing it around a piece of high carbon. Forge weld these together and you have a cutting edge with a soft back. Very similar to a wraped tomahawk BAD Roger in MN

Here all the kids especially boys want a sword So I make swords in one heat or less. First I anneal a hand full of double headed nails Then cold I flatten half the nail cool it in watter and do the other half The double head makes the handle and the rest of the nail the blade. You can do straight or curved swords. I also do one piece roses out of 1/4" round or square nails from 5/16 round

Hee a while back there was a link to a home page that showed pictures of knives that had acopper color His formula has copper sulphate and sulferic acid but I dont have the link. There may have been other chemicals included in the formula also

The local ABANA chapter is www.umbaonline.org There next hammer in is in Aug near Janesville, WI Also there is one in Aug at the John Deere historic grounds in IL They also meet at Centar Forge in Nov I am the librarian for the group

I am proud to say I have one of Lyle's rings It looks perfect to me

When I make charcoal I use a 55 gal barrel with removable lid but you can cover a barrel with a sheet of steel and weights. My barrels have four 3" holes 90 degrees to one and other in the side of the barrel about an inch from the bottom. I have plugs that fit these holes. fill the barrel with the wood with some piles over the top. Light the wood at the bottom of the barrel through one of the holes. Let burn for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until all the wood breaks when grabbed with tongs. Plug the 4 holes add dirt if neccessary so it gets no air. Cover the top again so it gets no air. I pour water on the sides of the barrel to cool but it is not neccessary the Next day I empty the charcoal and start over. I do 3 or 4 barrels at a time. You should get 50 to 60 % charcoal by volume of wood.

looks like a gun off a Fuel oil furnace Any plumber who replaces furnaces should have one as long as you are not in the deep south or an area that mainly uses natural gas I take the copper out of the motor and scrap the rest on the ones I get

Put a large magnet under the heel Mount it on rubber

Welcome to the group and metalworking What part of MN are you from There are 4 active groups in MN Guild of metalsmiths (metro), central metalsmiths (St Cloud), NOrthern metalsmiths (Bemidji) and Supirior (SP) metalsmiths (Duluth) I am from Franklin, MN and belong to IL valley and UMBA Actually I am the UMBA video guy.

I use home made charcoal made out of the 2 X 4 from the center of pallets or other 2 x construction lumber scraps. My forge will get hot enough to easily burn any nails I left in the charcoal. Another way to get less air other than a reostate or air gate is to decreas the intake space ahead of the fan. Use a sliding metal or even duct tape over part of the opening. BAD Roger in Minnesota

Contact Bob Bergman at www.postvilleblacksmith.com he may have dies for sale and he can help with parts rebuild ect if neccessary Sorry to take t so long to answer 781 is in southern Minnesota. Stay away from nazel.com as he tried to rip me off several years ago when I sent him a check for $7800 and then he decided I did not buy anything from him. I hope to be with Dave Hammer in Indiana on the 25 watching Clifton and crew on the steam hammer. Another source for nazel info in Ralph Sproul in New Hampsire. He set up his hammer on plate I belive. He also helped Keane Paradisio, IL, rebuild his 4B I have 25 hours or more of blacksmith conference video to edit before the trip to Indiana next week so I better get back to that. Happy pounding.

Now that you tell me where White is I go through there every spring going to the gun show in Watertown Roger Degner

Welcome to the group I live in Franklin, MN which is about 85 miles east of SD on Hwy 19 Talked to a couple of SD smiths at the ABANA conference. They were from Rapid City which is where the next ABANA conference will be in 2012. I used to run into a SD smith or two at auctions but cant say where they were from. The last few years auctions have been so crazy in prices I quite going. Paying more for new worn out chinese tools than you can buy new.

I saw Brian and Lyle at LAMA this spring and they were excellent. I am driving down from Minnesota just to be in the two day class and to watch Brian again.

Last year at SOFA Ryan Johnson did an excellent demo and made 3 styles of hawks The first was slit and drift pipe hawk. He cheated and had the hole drilled, actually milled but he teaches college level machine shop and had the equipment. The second was the typical forge weld using a hose shoe rasp The 3rd was welded from two pieces of 1/4 X 1 flat stock. This was welded infront and behind the eye. If you ever have the chance to watch his demo or are on a committe to pick demonstrators he was excellent and beyond. He also did finishing and mokume our of quaters. There is a DVD floating around of this demo.

Congradulations on the hammer When it is up and running please let me know how it is at 781@mchsi.com A couple of years ago I would have ran you much higher on the price. If this was the recent Ebay purchase my quote was $1200 for shipping and I figured another $1000 for a set of dies. Then I would have needed to add on to the building ect. Power would not have been a problem as I have 3 ph 200 amp service but no access to a large fork lift and the trucker would have wanted it off as soon as he arrived. Which is why I stopped $100 less than your bid and did not run you up more. As it is I dont use the hammers I have now but It would have been nice to have to bring in Steve Parker or even get Clifton to drive out for a workshop.

redroof inn 7 miles away or less was under $40 a night I have a room there but am staying elsewhere and will cancel shorty

I used fauscopper (sp) from welding supply it takes a patena just like copper comes in flat sticks need oxy torch to melt

Nathan Robertson, Max MN, is also repairing a KA150. His broke a 3/8 stainless tube for the air. How many KA150s were made? I heard there were only 4 of them is this correct.

As a child we used to go to my grandparants place and play with mercury. We would push it around pick it up with our hands ect the eat fried chiken with out washing our hands. Several years ago in Minnesota some kids broke into a buisness stole some mercury then took it home to the trailer park. They brought in a hazmat clean up crew and had the trailer park closed for weeks until they finished the clean up. I think it was only a few OZ of mercury Times have changed Of course I remember 28 cent a gal gas and once bought a 25# little giant hammer for $5

I am arriving the Sunday night before the conference and will be also helping set up and tear down Big John thanks for vollunteering you shop tools and time to make sure the ABANA comference goes off with out too many hitchs Looking forward to meeting you. I heard good things about you while on the last ABANA sewt up conference call I am going to the Mississippi conference the weekend before and coming two days early for that for a class with with Brian Brazeal I saw him demonstrate at LAMA and was so impressed I signed up for the class Thanks Brian

Clay is demonstgrating at BAM friday and Sat with a morning class on sunday. Location is Sedalia, MO fairgrounds

Welcome to the group The Indiana Blacksmiths IBA are having there anual conference in June ap Tipton (I think) Check the afiliate listing for there web page Usually some blacksmith equipment for sale there Also they are a great bunch of people

I watched Ryan Johnson demonstrate at SOFA 2009. Excellent smith He explained how his tactical hawks were made with a drop forge out of one piece. They were then sent off to heat treat and the owner of the heat treat company did each one to make sure they were done right. I agree I would hate to have someone depending their life on something I made especially a freind. There is heat treat issues ect. But with that said if it came down to haveing none or one I made I would rather have the one that might fail compared to none. Make a sample then try to destroy it and see how it holds up. Be sure to were safety equipment just in case.