bruce wilcock

that goes with the job.

when your best suits have burn holes.

as i have retired from shoing the end of this year the horse customers got togeather and invited my wife and myself to a party ,some i have shod for three genarations ,we had a great evening ,and they bought me a bike ,a great present ,i now go out with the grandchildren for a ride on our bikes .

all the best for the new year ,health ,wealth and happyness.Bruce

the studs are usualy cast iron and knock out with a hammer easily, its not a good idea to get them redhot and then shove them under a hammer.

never let your hand pass under a hammer whatever the size ,we have a shop full of tongs ,the tool that is the most usfull working with hammers is a long handled sweeping brush keeping the pallets clear and to push tooling off with the back of the brush,each hammer has a brush at the side .Bad habits are easy to pickup and dificult to break ,men that work in forging shops as a gang are worth watching ,each man has to watch out for the gang ,thats when the long brush comes in handy around a neck to pull a man back if he is being drawn intowards the hammer concentrating on the job ,working on your own ,to just go out and get a hammer and set it to work without some help from a compitant forging smith ,can lead to poor work practice ,bad habits, some not danger, but slow laboured work ,making a simple job into a epic .

steady lad

a worn file with the teeth ground off and forged to shape is a time tryed favorite and still takes some beating for a one off quick tool.

wrought iron drills leaving short chips ,

for me chain and old anchors , some of the anchors are half slag and need working up, the sea is close by and local divers know i can find a use for there finds ,olso fishing boats get them in there nets usualy with some chain attached ,and bring it to the smithy ,this can work out to be costly iron as i can find myself fixing boat gear for ever ,mind you dont start cutting up artifacts as some of the anchors i have are of a big age and i leave them propped up ouside the smithy ,if one of you near the sea contacts a diving club ,and one with a bigish hammer coggs it down ,the last chain i got came from a dredging company.

yes John you are right ,years back i olso found there were more usefull size hammers lying arongd in yards with the belts of ,than running and doing a job.

John, you can have mine ,when im done with it ,not just yet.

i have seen a similar stake at a brewery the coopers used it to work up the bands and to punch the holes and set the rivet.

yes your gramer and spellin looks fine to me , nice to heer from a scool teecher,

the v swages get used the most in my shop ,

when working on a anchor 1/4 ton and up ,the job holds a lot of heat for a long time ,and to get the best out of the men 6-7 lb is around all can be managed ,with a gang, there will always be a man feels he can use the heaver hammers ,but his pace will slow down as the job goes on ,and pull the rest of the gang down ,when we do a anchor forging the job takes thee days ,the welding hammers are long headed 5 lb hammers on a 3 ft shaft there is a bit of heat to face, the main problem you will come up with forging a anvil is stop the job from crushing the coal and falling through the fire ,you will have to get handeling holes in the block first job so you can hold it up in the fire to get the feet welded on ,we set up a three legs and held the dogs with a chain

a swing hammer is easy to make but not so easy to get used to ,still they get the job done

there is the bottom of the anvil in one fire and the top in the other soaking

four of us forged a anvil 2 years back , the anvil was made in six pices ,boss with handeling holes then the feet were welded on ,and the top was forged in one pice and welded on ,

yes i think that covers most of the job , tho our anvils face E-W becouse when the job is on the anvil the weld will be pointing N-S,

35 years back i welded a punch and shear ,i got it for scrap price, the frame had snapped at the jaws ,i used the gas cutter with a big tip got a big area red fluxed it with borax and used some piston rings as a filler ,then coverd it ouer with sand to cool ,i still use it ,not so often now as i now have a hydrolic shear

collaring like most jobs the more you do the easier it gets ,the basics have been well coverd by H Wooldrige, the most important and easily over looked part of the job is that the parts to be collared, must fit together well no daylight if there is a gap a collar will find it.

no one has mentiond jumping up ,to get the shoulders, i have used sq section springs unwraped a coil and jumped a swell in the middle ,inough to hold in the anvil then taken good heat and drive it with a striking hammer to form a shoulder then cut to lenghth and flattern the cutting edge

8 stone, 1 stone =14 lbs

keeping free from debit, rearing a family ,bying a house,and smithy ,off the end of a anvil ,isnt plain sailing, the main asset you will need is ,self motivation,if you have that go for it.