Dogsoldat

That 's a big old beauty. From what I can see, I think the smaller 'hardy' is actually a small stake anvil with a pritchel in it. Anyways I'm sure someone with a little more knowledge will chime in soon enough.

Nice work, You guys make it look easy. Makes me wish I had a striker or two to help out.

Thanks Thomas. It is a neat device. I had first thought it might be something railroad related, drilling holes in the end of the track or something. Dad figured drilling something out on farm equipment. Can't remember now what he had said, think it was something to do with knives on a swather Really wish I had money and room for the 5 window gmc's never mind the drill press and pedestal grinder. And the big vise just keeps niggling away at me. Just know that it's not very likely that whoever buys the place will look after it.

Went to an Estate sale today. Guess an old rancher that had lived in his shop for years passed away. Wish I could have been there for the initial shop cleanout. All sorts of good stuff being given away. Missed an anvil, guessing it was around 150lbs as the brother had said it was carried away by the guy who bought it.

home job pedestal grinder $100

cool old drill press $200

beauty of a post vise. to be left as a selling feature for the shop :( wouldn't take $75 for it. screw was well greased nice and tight.


4" post vise with broken box no spring was seized up got it along with 2 scythes, rock hammer head and masons straight peen 12lb I believe for a $20 dollar bill. There is a ?5 stamped on the moveable jaw could be a 35 it's hard to tell due to dings. haven't seen any other marking yet. the crosshatching on the jaws is still quite bold. the vise was half buried in the scrap steel pile. feels good to rescue it.



$800 obo for an old truck.





clamp on drill, handle ratchets. might be just what I need to re-drill some holes in a logging truck bell housing aquired with vise


the box is freed up just need to get some measurements and turn a new end to be welded on then just like new. So if anyone has some measurement on the total length of the box on thier 4" post vise would apprecciate it.


straight peen and rock pick

either a 1S or a 15 stamped on the bottom of the mounting plate.



Took a buddy back because he was a little interested in the trucks. Wish I had more room. All the bits an pieces, odd's and ends were going into the scrap heap to be shipped out. cans of bits for an old brace and bit. pulleys ratcheting 20ton jack, all sorts of things old and unique. Made me sad, but can't bring it all home nor pay for it. Need some pay checks first.

Techniques of medieval armour reproductions by Price is an invaluable resource and the is another that is an online manual, Basic Armouring, A Practical introduction to armour making, by Paul Blackwell. I not sure if it is to still be found as it was a long time ago that I had printed it out.

looking on Craigslist, and this trenton pops up

31 in.long, 4in. wide, step down is 2 3/8. the feet is 13in. long and 10 in. wide and 11 1/2 in. high.


anyways what would this thing weigh approximately. Looks like something I shoud have in my shop. would just have to find a way to aquire it.

With the right tabs welded on it would make a beauty of bolster plate base.

Any logging outfits in your area or commercial truck dealers? Might want to look for a bunk pin or carrot. Keeps the bunks on a log truck from turning when empty. Will look in the shop on monday, think we have one upstairs. Will try to post a pic. All it needs is the ring for the chain cut off and a shank put on. Might be a little small at somewhere around 2" dia by 8' long. But it is something to thimk about.

Making a bolster plate isn't all that hard even in 2" there is a Mark Aspery vid showing how. Makes it look super simple. Mostly it's all in the layout and drilling of the holes. Then the right chisel to dress it out. Only thing that might make it harder is if the piece of plate is hardened.

I think you will be looking for an 'ORB' fitting for that now whether it's metric or standard is the only question.

http://www.goodvibesracing.com/orb_fittings.htm this is what they look like. Just the first goole link I pulled up.

hope it helps

I'll assume I almost made the perfect score and ended up with 1020-1040 steel. Wrought would have been super sweet.
You could be right that it is just a forging hammer. Either way, made for an interesting find. Now if I can pry myself away from other chores. Need to make some bolt tongs to hold all this new 3/4" stock I have. Thinking maybe a spearhead or three in the near future too.

I'll have to go back and do some digging. But vaguely remember 1045 being used for axes. If the stuff I have hardens enough might have a few other projects to play with...

cut 2 more bits off the end, bent til broken in vice.
cut thru a 1"piece of A36 round rod similiar coarse grain, but no pull out in the middle

touched angle grinder to stringer, to a sliver of mild plate and A36, spark the same near as I can tell.

shined one bit up toss it into the vinegar jar for a while and see what it looks like

It's not impossible that it could be wrought. Would be very cool if it is. I Don't have any Wrought around to compare spark tests with. It does harden a fair amount. Doesn't seem to be fibrous down the length of it where rusted and pitted. Though where bent/broke at cut it does pull apart a little funny. Any links handy for good ways to test that I have missed?

Little sad. A lot at the north end of town is being cleaned up as scrap. Tons of old treasures here and there. A good 2/3rds of it is nothing but scrap the rest... If only a guy could really go through it and have a place to keep it til it found a home. Did manage to pick up a bunch of 3/4" round stock that use to be bridge stringers. Think it is 1018-1020 hardens some but not enough that a file skates. Can make a heap of tongs an things now. Darned good score for $40.


Made a set of tongs out of the material seem to have turned out pretty good. lots of spring in the reigns. Goofed up on the offset for the reigns when making the first half of the tongs. So the material was retasked to 2 leaves. The metallic flake silver paint sure shines them up.



This is a pic of the grain as is off the stringer material. The next is after quenching in water.



An old Japanese Gentleman passed away recently and his kids were cleaning up the garage. He had all sorts of goodies stuck in the corners. Kinda like vultures on a carcass down there. Found a few hammers that I needed as well as this interesting one. Anyone seen anything like it. Makes me think of cutlers hammer or maybe something to do with trueing saws? Feels nice in the hand.


Would post a few more pictures, but they are not wanting to upload . At least the important ones made it.

They are quite pleasing. The bodies of the birds are very good. The scrolled base is nice to. the only thing that I find isn't quite right is the legs, not sure whether its the diameter of them or the bend is the wrong way, kinda hard to define.
Either way would like to have them sitting on my mantle!

Has anyone ever tried filling in the majority of the engind cavities with concrete? Might be the best of both? Any thoughts?

Think it has to do with the amount of steel needed. As well you end up with a thinner skin of high carbon. Takes fewer sharpening to wear through it. Of course there could be other reasons, take somebody with a little more knowledge than I.

I find that I have to ask a stupid question now and again. If nothing else to get me closer to the RIGHT questions to ask. Google is your friend, but if your google is weak, or you keep getting boxed into the wrong set of deadend pages for what you are looking for it can get frustrating. All to often I can see in my minds eye what I want but just can't quite find the info. Its all about knowing the right terms/jargon for what you are doing. All it takes is a friendly bump in the right direction and a lot of us are off and running again.

This site is a marvelous resource. The people here are what make it doubly so. I just hope that everyone stays open and helpful no matter how pathetic many of us new guys seem.

Had a bunch of that at the shop. D-8 cutting edge and corner bits. somewhere around 1 1/2" th. Been recycled into the rockguards on the 322 cat loader. Have to snag a chunk when we change out the cutting edge on the 8 again sometime in the summer. I asume you torched and then took a die grinder to make your square hole.

Have a bunch of black locust that I had collected to make bows. Split a chunk out, Square it in the tablesaw take a draw knife to it til I'm happy. Touch up rough corners with a farriers rasp. goes pretty quick.

Okay, Thanks guys. Gives me a direction to go. Just have to find time to get back out there and experiment a little more then.

The touch mark was pretty simple, used a letter stamp on the end of a piece of chisel material and then ground and filed the rest away. Pretty happy with it. Just have to remember to use it far more.

Played around in the shop a little today. Wishing I had a whole lotta steel. Need to make a few tongs and leaf hammer. Did pretty good with the stuff that I had. Turned out 5 leaves, wife and kids are trying hard to claim them. Daughter might make a shop helper yet. Had her holding the leaf on the anvil so I could chisel in the veins. I like the shape and feel of the 1st, 3rd and 5th best.



I want to put my mark on them, but not entirely sure how to get it on the back and keep it there. Stamped the last on the back but it disappeared by the time the veins were in and the edges rippled a little. How do you guys go about stamping them or do you even worry about it. Is this a case of setting it on a wooden block and veining so the back isn't smoothed right out again?

Wish I had a power hammer of some sort, might get out and play around a little more with bigger stock. Figure I did pretty good upsetting 1" out to 2". Just have to practice getting it eventer. Must get more propane. Down to alternating weeks with the other mechanic. Snowing like the dickens and now road restrictions are on, our logging is basically done for the year. As usual lots of time no coin :huh:

After seeing just how easy Mark Aspery made it look in his youtube video, just had to see what I could quickly turn out. Quite satisfied with it as a first attempt be even better if I hadn't run out of propane. At least I have a good sharp square corner I can work off of now. And a few Ideas of more tooling I would like to have.



Little happier with my vise bolted down to the floor, doesn't move about, always a good thing.

Spent the last week fixing the ripper mount on the D-8 small crack though 4" of casting. built up pin bosses at the same time as there was 3/16-1/4" of wear on them. Almost makes me comfy enough to build up the edges on my anvil.



Looking at the tooth for the ripper all I could think about was there is one heavy anvil 3" thick x 12" wide and about 6' long. Just couldn't come up with a good enough reason for it to go in the scrap bin... Ah well. Sure the opereator will wreck it some time, he's good at that.

That is just...inspiring, things just aren't made like that anymore. Thanks for posting