Old N Rusty

In London, at the Tower museum I saw much maille, acres of it! One shirt, had double rivets in each link, It looked like the rings were 3/8" I.D. That impressed me big time!

Turn away from the DARKSIDE! this poor ole world got enuff weapons! It went from items to cut and bash to the thermonuclear! Now our very existence is threatened. "Look what they've done to my song.ma!"

Alexander, that stair railing is absolutely beautiful! I can see you are not restrained by the 100mm code, Here,and some other places,no space on a railing can pass a 100mm ball. I am wondering, did you really get.... fourteen thousand, five hundred dollars? It would be an astounding price here. Great work.

I agree with John, You might have some VERY old wrought iron rails. How much did you get?

If you found his website goto the search box type in welding. OR enter the scrapyard scroll down and see on the right side TRADE TIPS

Mike Rowe, (dirty jobs guy) has a website " Mike Rowe Works", in his site is a wealth of job tips , especially the section on welding. Worth a look.

It's cracking good, Grommet !

Blake when you get down here I will show you THE BIGGEST pile of unfinished great ideas, ever. Not having such a forum as this, and working alone, I had to improvise, adapt, and figgure it out myself. What I am trying to say is - enjoy the energy! This feedback nay and yea is great! Do not let it bum you out.

Jake,I use an old trailer ball for the very same thing! I never claim to have invented ANY smithing tool . It has ALL been done before.

Another Texan! Just what the world needs. Congrats!

Stan forging with a pair of gloves on his hands? Must be new at this. Just tryin' it.

Man I have paid to be in the yeller pages for going on 18 years. Oh ! why couldn't these folks have ask me if perhaps I would have been interested in buying blacksmith tools! I feel the high prices paid for SCRAP certainly encourages "crimes against equipment".

can I be a POSER? see my profile? want a pic?

Bliss you are moving, but don't know where? If you want to legally emmigrate to the USA, as an established biz I can sponsor a foreign blacksmith. In my 17 years of biz not one American blacksmith has applied for a job.You getting out of S.A. before it goes Zimbabwe like?

Frank, I work alone,a flatter with a competent striker would be wonderful to have ..but the same could be said for many top tools, sets especially.

put legs under it it will be a fine layout , flattening, rosebud,(heating torch) jig table and as said before a magnetic drill will STICK ! and it already has holes for drilling through good find Caot!!

Thank you Frank, so much to learn, so short a lifetime,

Bliss read Alex Bealer's book "THE ART OF BLACKSMITING" Alex covers the basic building and maintaining of a coal fire, what kind of coal should burn, and what happens to coal in a forge.

Tom good start on that sharp pointy thing, I do hope it is for the KITCHEN and not a conan. Your anvil, very good radius on the corners. But I think you just didnt want to sand it TOO much. The face of the anvil cannot be too smooth and shiney! I see rust pits and dings that have now been transferred to your work. If you got a mirror finish on the face of your anvil face, the finishing of anything you forge can be mostly done by hammer and hand.

I am so stealing that idea! My table has been the scene of my twisting efforts. In the last decade I have noticed it getting more and more difficult to scramble up on top. Could be I am getting old n rusty.

I haven't read anything about filing that would turn me away from and electric sander/grinder, files sit on the shelf with the hacksaw.

I wish someone who actually knows about FILING would start a thread. Hot filing is a mystery to me, and it is something I would love to learn. All the files I own rusted to a smooth surface almost immediatly,,, well,,, almost EVERYTHING in my shop, the smith included is old n rusty.

good job! now light it !

I would not know if a carpenter finds them useful, but I cannot use a fiberglass handled hammer at all.

Thomas you hit on the solution I missed telling. the length and shape of the handle is important. I like my stick to be from inside my elbow to my cupped palm. the shape of the stick where i grip it is a flat oval , a rectangle with the corners rounded smooth , I want it no fatter than I am able to wrap my fingers around and touch the fingernails to my palm, That handle geometry works for me. A sears crosspeen is a good weight hammer,and soft enough that misses don't ding the anvil face. The head needs some smoothing with a sanding wheel around the edges as well as the cross. The hammer comes with a stick that is way too long and fat , providing plenty for modifying to fit.