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I Forge Iron

glen56

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Everything posted by glen56

  1. the gun doc is right,always preserve a piece of the past,an old mate of mine did restoration work on Norfolk island of the coast of Australia in the eighties,it was notorious in history for being a convict island and not a lot of convicts survived,he bought back some amazing nails forged by convict smiths,these plus others proudly displayed on a board,never forget the past
  2. use a stainless beer barrel that found at the tip,wine barrels made of french oak last for ever if looked after,the barrels came from down south u.s.a.and were used in storing bourbon whiskey,the wineries used them for their ports and other fortified wines then sold them for 50 bucks,most the same size as a 44
  3. mate dont go close to gal items in any fire,why when theres un coated steel there,gal is evil
  4. yes mate ,good advice is always welcome for sure, seems harmless enough the art of heat and steel but lots of things to be careful of
  5. always had my anvil height at text book level,but after a while came to the thought that raising the height was the thing for sure ,only thing i found was miss cued shots sent the hammer way back, always tilt my head out of direct smack zone (found that wearing my seeing glasses helped a bit)but to new folk ,the hammer transmits the energy you put in,can get relaxed when doing repetitive hitting ,just something to keep in mind
  6. thanks for that mate,makes me appreciate the old damascus things i have and didn't think about the work that went into every barrel, did hear somewhere the amount of steel in a double shotgun ,more than i thought,glen
  7. good grief,have built up a couple of flinters but nothing like this,a national treasure is mr gusler,is the man still going and who owns that rifle,these guys are rare indeed
  8. yes,one of mine ,a big fellah as well was stripped of thread to tighten it up, got the stick welder out then ground it back with the angle grinder ,going fine after 25 years,amazing what can come back
  9. thank you for that mate,most incrediable thing i've seen,done a bit of muzzle making but in awe of this bloke,glen
  10. seems an old post but gave up useing coal after seeing what looked like spinning shards of glass in coal smoke,only use hardwood charcoal now ,still careful when the wind blows my way,burn my own in a converted 44 gal drum,got to be careful for sure,glen
  11. dug an old 303 heavy barrel out of the ground a while back,it was used as a tree stake until the tree claimed it,made a good snake ,put it on a board and presented it to captain of our club,the head looked good with eyes and the 'H' between the eyes
  12. they way I make charcoal is using a clamped lid 44 gal or 200 litre drum ,put the drum with holes punched in the base ,half inch holes will do ,put the drum on a few rocks about 2 inches off the ground , 30 or so holes in the base ,I burn hardwood ,iron bark or spotted gum ,find the tougher the wood the longer it and better it goes ,but wood is wood ,cut it to about foot long split lengths pack it into the drum and start the fire on top ,depending on where you are (qld Australia here),at about 1 and a half hours wack the lid on ,clamp it and knock it off the rock base ,with a shovel seal the base with dirt ,best charcoal you can do ,cheers ,bloody good xmas and all
  13. good to see mate,new this old italian bloke ,he was sixth gen blacksmith ,born in a shop in his fathers town ,tear welled in his eyes when he related not one of his many grandchildren wanted to know about the art,since died and gear sold,your lucky mate,glen
  14. gday mate ,excellent job ,these things are fun to make (lot of shovel marks on if left out) try making it the other way round so the scales slide ,once again great job,glen
  15. glenn,yep the nada-second makes sence indeed,a well placed hit on the bonce would render and leave most folk no option than to repeatedly utter nada ,ahhh, a few simple tips to help folk new to the art,cheers mate ,glen
  16. good point mate ,iv'e raised the height of my anvil away from the standard (lots of folk do this ,mainly to look after my back ,hunching who needs it )the main thing to be aware of is that exact demo ,be very aware that a hammer will smack you fare between the peepers in a millie second ,i tilt my head for that reason,the odd miss will send the hammer over the shoulder (not that i miss many times,ahemm,,ahh somtimes)seeya ,glen
  17. yes lot of good advice above ,things effecting me are lumps forming in the hammer hand (not painful maybe the onset of arthrites,maybe not )mainly shoulder probs ,bought up all anvils and swage blocks to save bending the back ,learnt to tilt the head in case of a big miss strike ,hammers go over past in a millie second ,anybody heard of the use of krill oil as an aid against arthries ,glen
  18. yep all the good advice above ,chop and grind them into your hardie size,always handy to form stuff on as well
  19. glen56

    lost book

    gday velo,this 1 was called the village blacksmith ,will look for your book for , sure,velo,do you own velocette motor cycles ,happy hammering ,glen
  20. glen56

    lost book

    gday frank,yes this book is as you say not the be all and end all of blacksmith books but was one that i must replace as it was left to me by a mentor and good old boy,yes the horse shoe is renowned for catching luck all over the world(even found a few for a couple from thailand last week who send them over to relo's to hang in front of there houses),mate very impressive work ,shame were so far apart would love to do 1 of your courses,(not haveing an aussie holliday any time soon) ,cheers mate ,glen
  21. glen56

    lost book

    530,lot of books on the subject on this site ,will start saving to grab more ,thanks mate ,glen
  22. glen56

    lost book

    good to hear from you dave,got on to the amazon site and found it,its called the village blacksmith by aldren watson,will try and grab the blacksmith's cookbook as well,great site no idea there so many books on smithing,thanks,glen
  23. glen56

    lost book

    lost a good blacksmithing book ,was left to me by a good old mate ,it was an hand illistrated book maybe back in the seventies,but loved this book,cant for the life remember the name but its the only blacksmithing book that mentions a blacksmith is the only person that can hang a horseshoe upside down to put luck into an anvil,cheers ,glen
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