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I make my own out of 2 X 4 lumber with a 55 gal drum I have three barrels cooking right now Made a pickup load in the last week

You need to finish your piece Cut lines with chisel or cut off wheel ect braze with the brass rod anf grind or file to shape

one of the limiting factors of a small press the size of the throat. Think of what size diamater work you do and see if it will fit under the tooling. Your can only do 2 times that size as you can work away from the middle to both sides

Congradulations A track pin isnt that pretty tough steel to move Heard of people using them to make hammers

You could do flame straightening but bend instead. Heat one side with a torch and spray a fine mist of water on the other. I watched John Adolph do a similar demonstration.

Welcome to the group Looks like a great conference coming up there in OH

If bending cold with jigs you have to alow for spring back but 3/4 square cold would take a big bending fork and a bunch of nam power. To make a bending jig bend a piece of 1 X 1/4 or 3/8 material around a curved piece and weld this to angle iron. Take a new piece and bend this around the jig you just made and it makes the next size bigger jig. Weld this to angle iron and continue till you have a set of jigs to make what ever size you need to bend. Do the bending cold and again there will be spring back but to make an even bend the piece must be an even temp and cold is an even temp You dont have to make the jig a whole circle but only a portion of the circle. Start the new stock on the jig, make the bend then advance around continue to bend till you have bent enough

Welcome to the site Join in dont just be learker

If you had a big enough press you could do it cold with a sandbag

To my knowledge there is no central registration point. Many times I heard the old boys say An artist sighns the front A machinist signs the back and A blacksmith doesnt sign anywhere. I know this has changed over the years with touch marks being more prevelent. Ivan Bailey said he did not sign because he made the money making the piece and he felt if the antique dealer years from now wants to make the money saying it is an Ivan Bailey they would have to research the piece to prove it. People who make reporductions of old pieces say to mark with a date to stop the piece being resold as an antique.

I make charcoal in 55 gal barrels I have 4 2" holes in the sides I fill the barrel with 2X4 letting about 12" stick out I light the barrels at the bottom holes and let burn uncovered for at least an hour to 1 1/2 hour depending on the wind strenght ONce all or at least most of the wood is burned all the way through so when you grab it with tongs it breaks I plug the holes with metal plugs and cover the barrel with a steel lid. Some of my barrels have remove able lids I seal and one has just a piece of steel that I put over the top and put a cement block on to make air tite. You need the fire to stop burning so it goes out and becomes charcoal and not ash. sometimes I pour water on the top and sides of the barrel to cool the barrel to put out the fire faster

Welcome to the site go to the home pager here look for groups on the right side check out AFC alabama forge council They have forges through out the area that have monthly meetings. Join in with them for hands on instruction

Thanks for the notice It is too far for me but passed it on to some of the locals incase they did not see it.

Welcome to the site Beautiful fork on your web site Great to have an expirenced smiths here who can chime in with the threads and relate there expiriences

After it is all done get a little black felt and some rose oil from a head shop. Hide the felt in the center of the flower and put in some oil Then the rose will even smell like a rose

Charcoal does burn up fast I add a couple of handfulls almost every heat or sooner. I liive in a rural area and make you own carcoal out of 2" X 4", nont sure what that is in metric, scrap construction lumber. Pine oak maple it doesnt matter to me. I use a 55 gal barrel with a resealable top. Cut 4 2 inch holes in the sides mear the bottom Make steel plugs to fit these holes. Stack the barrel full oof lumber with about 1' sticking out. Light the wood After the wood has burned for at least an hour and is in the state that when you grab it with tongs it breaks and is no longer solid but burning coals. plug the holes and cover the top so it doesnt get air. The fire will go out leaving you about 40% carcoal of the volume of wood you started out with If I use wood with nails (iron wood HA HA) after it is charcoal I use a large magnet to remove the nails. Otherwise you will have nails burning up in the fire giving off sparks. These hot nails will also try to weld to you work. There is a different way to make charcoal were the smoke is captured and sent to the fire to burn up but it looked like too much hastle to make to me. I have an unlimited supply of scrap construction lumber so do it that way.

Your going to love the new used air hammer Does yours have the two holed in the dies I made top bottom tooling that bolts to these holes instead of a saddle Especially for the top die holds everything in place. Chisel lines in two pieces of plate attach the bolts to make grape vine. Fuller pipe to make apples, candle holders ect. A lot easier than a smith magician I use one bolt on the bottom die and two on the top

Wondering how much expierience you have blacksmithing. If you have been doing it for years and have gotten good enough to sell things to others locally other than you friends and relatives than you may have a chance making a living If you are just getting into blacksmithing you will never be able to compete with the imported stuff from walmart and other big box stores

Hammer prices vary considerably depending on where you live. The further from the uppermidwest were most of the hammer were made and probably used due to sharpening plows the higher the price. I see you live in Indiana so problbly a lot less than the 3 coasts. With people building air hammers and now the tire hammer, which is a very sweet machine, little giants have come down some also. Ussually anything under $1000 running is a deal. It all depends on the depth of the pockets and how bad ou need something. One mans steal in anothers rip off Let us know what you decide on buying If you dont buy maybe someone else on the list would be interested

Was mid 50s here in southern Minnesota today What little snow left was buisy melting. It ussally gets nice and dry and then we get a few inches of heavy wet snow to make it muddy again

Glad to hear an update on tom's Sale. I am passing close to there but not til the day after the offical sale ends. Which hammer did you buy I have a SayMak and an really happy with it. Anyone else going to the sale let us know how things are going and what is left. Good to hear they are planning to still be in buisness. Will the school continue ir is that done?

Welcone to the list

The one time I watched it done was by the late Doug Hendrickson (Dr Iron). He used the wad of fiberglass insulation wearing a leather glove. The insulation will not burn as the local scrapper plugs his pour spout for his aluminum furnace with it. I should watch the video again to make sure what type flux he used but I watched a tinsmith solder and he used sal amonic (spelling) as flux to clean his copper iron to tin it with solder.

Do you use a vacum to get the wood sealer further into the bone? If so what is you set up. Electric vacum pump or hand type vessel you use for the vacum container. I bought a couple of 5 gal paint pots cheap years ago to use but never got to that project.

Welcome to the group Ask a lot of questions Check out a local blacksmith group for tailgate sales see list at GS0003 Blacksmithing Groups | Getting Started