CurlyGeorge

Hey Stan. Did I miss something, or did that guy not tell how to get the plans? I know, I'm a liitle slow, sometimes. :wacko: But other than seeing where you could get most of the working parts, I didn't see where to get the plans. I may have to do like I did with my tire hammer. :D

Your idea of the pipe and flage should work fine. You can either use round bars, or as Drewed said, use a floor drain cover or such. :)

Hi Randy and welcome to IFI. Lets go down your list. First, what you are describing indeed sounds like a rivet forge with a ratchet pump that operates the blower. I have had one and they work well, although you would get more air with less work if you had a hand crank blower, IMHO. Next, as for lining the forge. There are going to be guys that say that you have to line the forge with "X" amount of clay for "X" reasons. I have been using a rivet forge on my demos for years and have forged 3 days straight, at least 8 hrs per day, and I have never lined my forge. It works just like it is, even for forge welding. The one BIG thing that I will caution you about, especially if not lining it is, DO NOT pour water on the coal to put your fire out when done forging. You will end up with a forge that is in several broken pieces. Spread the fire out and let it go out that way. Next, you sound like you have a 2 1/2" hole at the bottom of the pot. You will need some sort of grate to keep the coal from falling down the chute. The plate that you mentioned will work. On my shop forge, I welded several 3/8" round rods accross the opening allowing enough room for ashes to drop thru and air to get up to the fire. I hope this helps. You are about to get more tips and advice, so standby and don't take mine as the only way things should or can be done. These guys have a lot of GREAT info. Read it all and use what you will. My 2 cents. :)

That's a cool and versatile belt sander. When you get info on how to buy the plans, post them, please. That may be one that I would build. Thanks for sharing the video. :)

Hey Peter. Here are a few pics of the combo dies that I made for my tire hammer. The top die bolts in place, while the bottom die fits into a slide that has a locking pin to hold it in place. The dimensions of the dies are: flat die, 2" wide and 2 1/2" front to back. The half round is a 1 1/2" round that I split down the center and is 2" long. I then sanded it off so that the face of the flat and half round were flush. I welded the pieces to a square piece of 4" X 4" X 1/2" plate. They work great. :)

WOW!! That looks like a factory job. You did a great job on it. That is something that I do miss about the factory that I used to work at. They had some nice 2" belt sanders. Thanks for sharing. :)

An easy way to get it in the back of the truck, if you don't have a way to lift it, is to set up a 2 X 12 ramp and just carefully walk it up the ramp. That's how I loaded and unloaded my 250# Trenton. Worked great. WOW!! What a score!! Congrats!! :)

Peter, I'll try to get some good pic of my dies, today, and post them for you. I made them myself. :)

Hey Shootfirst. Welcome to IFI. I grew up over in Bluffton and still have a lot of family in your area. I sent you a message about the coal. Not sure if my contacts will be able to help or not. But I'll give it a try. Good luck. :) Curly George Spallinger

Not sure about the LG but I use a set of combo dies on my tire hammer all the time. Right now that's all that I have. So far, they haven't given me any trouble. On your LG, I think that I'd take John's advice and contact them about it, just to be safe. :)

What's the name of your new punch lube, Sam? I'd like to try it too. That hammer looks cool. :)

You done real good. That's a good price for that anvil. Use it as is. If you find that some of the edges need cleaned up, do some VERY light work with a sanding flap disc. But I'd use it as is, without any work on the edges. :)

Hi Liz. I use a rivet forge when doing demos. In order to get my fire deeper, I set a fire brick on edge on each side of where I want the fire and build the fire between the bricks. this allows me to keep the fire narrower and build it up deeper. This method is a quick fix to the shallow fire problem. Hope this helps. :)

Looks like it took, Gerald. Good job. :)

The anvil rings in Illinois. Kathy and I send our condolences to Tom's family and friends.

LOL. Kathy will be glad to hear that. Talk with you soon. :)

LOL. Don't know about being a hero. But I WAS patient. :)

DANG!!! I'll bet that anvil was cold. :D Congrats, Dad.

I built my tire hammer for about $50 US. That was about 3 years ago. I scrounged parts for about a year before I finally had everything that I needed. My "blue prints" were pictures of other guys tire hammers on IFI. I had no measurements but guessed at them from the pics. I had to make a couple of adjustments. But it works, now, and it is a life saver when doing a large order using heavy material. :) There are plans available for the Clay Spencer tire hammer. Do a search on here or Google Clay Spencer Tire Hammer Plans. You won't regret making a power hammer. :)

I'll be there. Are we gonna need more coal, or do you have enough? :)

Went to Pontiac, ILL this morning and got to meet Randy McDaniel, (Randy, on IFI). He was the guest demonstrator for the Illinois Valley Blacksmith Assoc. conference at Threshermen's Park in Pontiac. Took a couple of pics of him doing a demo of a sunflower leaf. He also showed how he made the pineapple for the gate, (Remember his post on that?). Also got to meet 781, while there. Had a great time but had to leave early because of a prior commitment. So I didn't get to see his afternoon demo. 781 was taking video of the demos, so maybe he will post them. While I was there, I just had to try holding this anvil. Looked like a real one. Even had the "patina". But it was actually made out of sheet metal. :) Sorry for the fuzzy pics. I got a cheap cell phone and it does not take good pics. :(

Eric, make a saddle of mild steel to lay on top of the face when using your chisel. That way you won't have any more chisel marks in the face. Nice looking anvil. :)

Alan, prayers are on the way from Illinois, too. Don't give up. He will see you through this.

Nice job. Great looking hawk. As Thomas said, Almost too pretty to use. Thanks for sharing. :)

Good job. That turned out real nice. Now, take what you learned and add to it. Keep on practicing. You're off to a great start. :)