Old N Rusty

I have one forklift tine 78" long with a 24" beveled end . it is 6"x 4" , in good straight condition. Come to Baton Rouge with a pocket full of money and haul it home!

Glenn Conner sells coal, very good coal , a Lot cheaper than that! I heard Glenn has something to do over at IFORGEIRON . com , and might be contacted there.

Duct tape?

That is a very nice piece of forging. What would you charge for it at the crafts show?

I am very impressed with my RT straight peen hammers. RT makes the BEST!

We are constantly re cycling the water spray by arranging the bars in the forge so they channel the run off into a bucket . This bucket refills the slack tanks and fills the cat drinking water . You mentioned the noise, depressed air escaping constantly , irks my ears more than any banging, or grinding. For those smiths that engage in bending or twisting operations with mild steel , do not quench the irons , let them cool by themselves . I have seen mild steel harden enough to break in the scrolling.

A mister is so hi tech , I just tie the garden hose to a jackstand and aim a small spray from the twist nozzle on the ends of work in the forge . A very fine spray is all that it needs to keep the ends cool.

Check out a hand held band saw, a Milwaukee , or a Portaband, ETC. the total cost of the saw should not be more than two hundred dollars.

Forgot to mention the INSIDE of an ox bottle bottom is a dandy raising stake shape , and fine thick steel . If the oxygen bottle you get free from the welders supply has the valve busted off and holds NO pressure it is perfectly safe to torch cut. Only Oxygen bottles !!!!

As Bob says the best bowl shape and the cheapest mobile tool that I have in my shop is the bottom of an oxegen tank carefully cut at the proper hammer height when welded to a tire rim. For those smiths that work on dirt simply dig a hole like a post hole so an Ox bottle bottom is the height you want and tamp the dirt around it I doubt you will hammer it into the ground. Laurel Machine and Foundry , Laurel Miss. casts anvils and swage blocks with rounds on one side and spoons on the other .

Tim, I have been wishing for an ironworker ideally a Piranha 75 T for many years , I saw an old Rogers ironworker and wondered if a new one would last better with TLC.The old machine had a lot of side slip and was just wore out , it cut a 1/2" mild steel bar in a sorta rattle.. jerk ! and left a kerf all bent and sharp. But any machine is always gonna be WAY OVER THERE when I am at the fab table, and need a fast cut . I hold the work in a small vise and cut it with a 1/16" cut off wheel . I know how to hold the grinder so very little of the wheel is not covered for me to see the wheel start to cut. From the bottom of the bar and up the nearside in a newyork second. After nearly total cut off is reached I stop and break off the bit left holding. Smokey... a little, but not as nasty as chopsaw smoke. and I have a 20" box fan with a 20" x 20" aircondition filter taped to the intake side . I am always moving this fan to blow all smoke away from me and filter the air I breathe,, a little . These wheels are so very dangerous that there should be a test to buy them. They can cause a lot of stitches to be needed very fast .

Chop saws, cold cut carbide tip saws , band saws , table and hand held. I got 'em all, and still prefer my trusty victor torch and the thin cut wheels for a 4-1/2" grinder. Here is why, I get a 100 piece bundle of 1/2" square bar delivered, after lifting it off the truck with the chain fall and spreader bar, I lay all on "saw horses", and spread the bars out. This is where i find the bent bars and cull them from the pile. Making sure all the ends are lined up and square, I can draw a line across all at 4' from the end, at 8'.These 4' bars ,200 of them are for scrolls. 4' being the longest piece I put in the forge and power hammer, and have room to swing around a scroll jig easily. As the ends ALL get hammered to a taper a torch cut is just fine as is and does not need grinding. The remaining bars go on the rack for use as frames for the scroll panels. For the cutting and fitting the scroll work designs to match the full size template, I have found no method faster or easier than a thin cut- off wheel in a 4-1/2" side grinder. Beeing old and lazy I do not want to handle the 20' material, one at a time , feeding any kinda table saw. Not everybody is doing production scroll work , I know. This way works for me.

I sure would like to make the flintlock fire starter, The one that looked like a pistol on Pawn Stars. If only I had the time.

I can remove steel splinters that are not too deeply in my skin that they cannot be felt on the surface with a very sharp knife dragged so the HAIR EDGE catches the splinter and pulls it out. Drag the blade , don't slice.

Very nice! I have made a bit of four bar braid like that but never thought of what to do with it. Now I do. thanks!

I had an idiot drive a chisel into the face of my mousehole anvil. The dings closed up nicely with a lot of ball peen hammering and T.I.G. welded 1/16" E 70-S2 mild steel . Weld with very low amperage , peen each tiny pass. Do not build up a bump, just fill cracks. I would not use a grinder at all on the anvil . A belt sander or sandpaper flap discs should be all you need to finish it .

Howdy maytes , I hope y'all have a grand time! I wish I could come . Wooloomooloo bars ! What larks!

Flower power ! That is a very beautiful orchid. The whole piece is ART! Made in Oz, who would have guessed !

An automobile drive shaft is thin wall pipe . usually 3" diameter, several feet long. There are plenty of them everywhere.

Hello Danny , where are you?

Paulky , call Harry Potter.

Only Mustang brand T.I.G. welding gloves are big enough for my hands ALL other brands "large" is just too small, I got big hands! When electric welding, or using the gas forge and power hammer I wear gloves, I never have gloves on when forging at the anvil.

Poor dead horse beat down INTO the ground. If I may make a small correction it's Saint Francis Whittacre.

I happen to know the entire history of my anvil. In 1838 A.A.Broussard set up a forge here in Baton Rouge. It seems he did well till the War Between the states. In 1865 Broussard buried it to keep carpetbaggers from stealing or destroying it. That could be where that lovely rust came from. In 1876 he dug it up and started A.A.B. co a steel fabrication /machine shop. this shop lasted till 1971 when the last heir retired and sold the shop. I was working as a welder there when the new owners decided to clean out all the "scrap" laying about. This scrap included complete templates for making "clamshell " crane buckets , and bottom dump concrete buckets. Some beautiful pieces of industrial art in themselves. These templates were center punch marked with all the rolling radius and bending instructions necessary to make the buckets. All scrapped , against the wall,behind these, was this anvil . I told the foreman I really wanted that anvil and $50.00 to HIM got it in my truck. This was the start of my long journey to the shop I now own. I love this anvil a lot. $500.00 would not be enough to get it from me.

Here is my old mousehole anvil.http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/35923-dscf1967/