glen56

frosty,gday mate ,yes dogs pick up on folk,has been proven over the years ,we have dingoes all a round us but i have never seen any,have seen them in other areas (we were close to frazer island today heaps of dingoes over there ,(the purest breed in aus) huge tourist trade going over there by barge ,folk have been hand feeding them in the past and that has led to fatalities of the human kind ,last 1 not that long ago ,take care ,glen

frosty,ahh love most dogs as much as blacksmithing ,have had dobbies for twenty years or so,a mate had them so got me on the breed ,like most dogs the way there treated is the way they are ,people still freak about them (hollywood syndrome)these critters live in the house with us ,strange our house is never locked when we go to town ,take care mate ,glen

yep hard to keep the dogs from draining the tub(3 dobbies) frosty ,will take on your idea aswell ,have dived for the odd losts bits over the years ,glen

mate thats why brilliant places like iforgeiron are very special source of info ,there are so many gifted folk at your command ,and like the old saying 'what dousn't kill you makes you stronger 'XXXX that dousn't apply when dealing with gear that you have no idea about,ranger dave glad to hear that from you ,take it easy,glen

gday mate ,i use ordinary dirt ,i guess not a huge amount of sand but dirt works well for me ,i find that long things push in and through and short no probs have had this for a good long time and the steel forge is like new ,glen

yep listen to phil mate ,my very 1st forge gave a resounding crack when i built the fire directly on the cast ,welded it up again but a sad thing ,i just use dirt in mine ,cheers ,glen

john thanks for the info about these camera's would never have thought that happening ,maybe were rushing out the 35mm to quick,hang on xray devices

good on you ted hats off mate

dead right ted and john ,ted hats off mate ,hard to look at gear and always try to help,branding is a thing that runs off the back now(with me ) if you know something to save folk get it on ,like you say folk just are unaware,like gal and coal ,too late down the track,take it easy ,glen

remember seeing a plea from a blacksmith in the states 10 or so years ago who stated he was dying from putting gal into a forge ,have done it myself ,never again ,reckon dont do it ,evil gear,glen

thats the go mate ,paint the inside and line it like phil says ,i dont use clay just plain clean dirt long as you use something ,good luck ,glen

nice bit of gear mate,like this ,glen

mate grab various bits of scrap and start bashing,heaps of good folk on this site to help,check your local library for books ,use your imagination,you will find things you need and build them to suit,the hardy is open to any device ,dont loose heart and this will occur,glen

peacock ,its brilliant gear ,like you say no smoke and quick to go ,use a bit more but health wise do it ,tradition has sometimes wings on it ,hmmm ,take care

mate dont feel bad about running out of coal,if you can get charcoal run this ,coal is bad gear ,if you have room on your place to build a cokeing pit do this ,i wont use coal ,just a thought ,its good to take heed sometimes,a guy on anvilfire years ago warned me about putting anything galcoated in the forge he said it was to late for him as he was finished,take care ,glen

looks good bill,amazeing what can be done with the forge ,love forge welded gear,have a very small forge welded chain ,fine wire really,done a lot of years back ,when something was needed done,cheers mate

have just found an incredible source of metal in gympie(recently moved hear)this place is great ,they sell all types of metal,this is blacksmith heaven at 50 cents a kilo,lots of off cuts of flat to rod and reo,the cow bell starts soon ,this state (queensland)is right into recycling,can go on to most tip sites and buy steel off them ,my old state by comparison ,take gear and dump it ,almost body search on the way out,glen

amazeing the youtube gear ,have an old mate that collects these with a passion ,he has all sorts of bells from all over the world ,his favorite is the condermine bell,he would be nearly eighty now but since the age of 14 spent most of his life in outback queensland ,said i would make him a bell and do have the foxfire 5 book (never get bored reading this)went to a swap meet yesterday and found a severly flatend bell ,tried to restore it but no luck ,flatend it out and will use it as a template ,the steel must be wrought ,it would have broken up if i kept beating it out ,thanks all ,glen

thinking about making cow bells,have a basic pattern for 1,any clues as how to go about it ,maybe making it out of old shovel blade,cheers ,glen

recon you have all the advice you need, i put lead flashing under the beast,works well,ear protection for sure ,cheers

yep did time at a pioneer village,a few thousand kays from you blokes but the same questions and answers,used to have school days where a thousand or so little kids would come through ,used to say,pointing at the forge 'does anyone know what this is called' various answers ,got to the anvil and on 1 occasion a small child spoke up and said;thats the thing that falls on wile.e coyote head in the road runner cartoon,take care ,glen

yes its nice looking thing ,the old mate was in the process of showing me things wheelrighting when he took ill,will try and get the book aswell,have never seen 1 like this the others see to pull the wire for welding to the right side ,this is totaly different ,thanks for your help ,glen

an old mate left me this machine ,he never got around to explaining how it works,any one have an idea about it,its different to any machine that iv'e seen,glen

back in the late sixties,went out to an old station down in the riverina part of new south wales,there was a drag chain they used 50 years before that was strung between 2 pine trees,this chain had 5 inch links and was 150 feet in length,lightning had struck the chain and welded into a solid mass ,trees had gone long ago ,power indeed in nature

bloody brilliant job mate,very inspirational