the iron dwarf

you dont need a 500 pound london pattern to do good work

yes, john can work copper and brass fast

yesterday we got a mole, the working part of a mole plough or subsoiler.

about 3" diameter and 28" long

mostly I get worm out ones to use as part of anvils I have made but john was having problems riveting a reproduction tudor brass kettle, after making some legs for it so it could be held in a vice he found riveting a lot easier.

it is a hard manganese steel and included is a picture of a much smaller worn out one

or any mild steel you can get that is not plated or galvanized.

'in rust we trust' is wise to remember

this is not about being certified, this is more about one drop of sweat falling into a crucible would mean the entire contents of that crucible being blasted into your face.

one ounce of molten aluminium may kill you or leave you blind and permanently disfigured, also consider the cost of medical care needed

you dont have a lot of money but you want to do casting, do you know what the safety gear will cost for this or what can happen without it?

I hope you are not following the 'king of randumb' looks like he wants people to get an award, a 'DARWIN' award

a friend of mine who has been metalworking for 30 years has a badly scarred face and nearly lost an eye due to a minor accident casting, molten metal got inside his safety goggles and he had a full face over them

use a wire brush to clean off the rust and try shining a light on it from different angles to see markings on the sides of the anvil, I also use a pressure washer to clean them, after that use it to shine it up as that is the best way to get a nice finish without losing metal from the face

that is because you live in scotland, plenty down here

add your location  to your profile ( as vaguely or precisely as you want ) a lot of advice is location dependant and also there may be local people who can help 

you mean occams razor

this is more likely capacitor run than start, better quality ones have a centrifugal switch on the armature or a timer in the box, this one being chinese will probably not have the internal switch and there is no timer in the box but to be sure you would need to open up the motor

the details in the cover are for 3 phase so ignore them, you could contact the makers but it looks chinese

on most you would change the 2 links from vertical to horizontal and move the neutral wire to the bottom

im not a farrier or even the owner of a horse but as far as I know most here in the UK are bought and if required are modified and custom shoes are made ( I do buy new shoes for decorative pieces )

today I have mostly been trying to work out how to set up a saw blade sharpening machine for SHSS blades.

will continue tomorrow

happy to see you are back

found this in a local scrapyard in with a load of used shoes, looks like a poorly made modern copy of some sort of medieval stirrup

can anyone tell me anything about it

maybe someone should do a farriers hammock out of horse shoes closed up and made into riveted maille

your English is very good, better than many here to whom English is a first language and your work looks great

 many different grades could be used from top of the range makers to cheap 3rd world made mowers.

a spark test may help

or check with the makers

best to buy known grades of new steel as it is cheap compared to the time spent making a knife from it only to have it fail in heat treat because you did it wrong for that steel

we have a 300 year old anvil in use that we examined many times over the last couple of years, a few weeks ago I noticed some marks and now we know who it was made by and where, wrought iron does not rust as easily as steel and you may still find marks after a clean up or even years later

a hand wire brush, a pressure washer then check for markings on the sides and on the feet, some only show up when lit from the sides.

also try rubbing chalk into it when dry and wipe off the excess to highlight markings

it is forged, a london pattern, a little sway backed  but very usable and maybe a few centuries of life left in it.

wire brush the table too but dont worry about cleaning it up too much, the best way to clean the face of it is to use it

what part of the world are you in?

IFI covers over 100 countries and maybe members are close by

Im in the east midlands UK

dont go the way of the dinosaurs, they became extinct ( I expect you remember them )

it is a carbon arc torch used for brazing

machine it if you only want to use it as a garden ornament, welding a plate on is a major job as you have to weld it oner the entire area and not just round the edges.

best thing is to use it as it is

rock with wiley coyote arms and legs sticking out

will make a stand soon for it