bruce wilcock

i have made floor fires to weld heavy sections ,all you need is ,a blower, with a blast gate, a short stainless steel tube to make the tweer, steel flexi pipe to join to blower and molding sand to make the pit ,dig a hole and trench for tweer and flexypipe damp the foundry sand ,and ram it down hard ,set the tweer and ram the sand around it ,set the blower up ,throw in some embers and coal, start the fan ,and get your iron hot, 1 hr max,

some where there is a blueprint i sent in making a hammer ,and i sent glenn a short film making hammers , all our hammers have deep cheeks ,the trick is is in the tools you use to draw the cheeks ,draw not batter out ,i will forge 100 pluss heads out on the same drift ,i make all the hammer drifts in die blocks and if they flattern i jump them up and put them back in the die blocks to pull them back to shape, i use hot die steel .

hammer and tongs lay'd on the anvil and apron to cover ,thats the end of the day.

the old long steel ammo boxes with the strap hinged lids make a handy oil tank ,make a mesh liner with two handles to lift the work peice out ,make shure the lid will close tight with the mesh pan in place

the value ,is what its worth to you, if you have a job for it that cannot be done without it ,the job will pay for it ,and the pain of handing the coin over will pass, if you have no work for it ,its expensive whatever the price .

mutton fat was the lube for leg vises, and the mice loved it.

we have a simple shear that we made ,using a slots cut with a angle grinder in a heavy spring and a thick blade like a chisel with a flat wide edge that fits in a box section holder welded on ,the shear is welded onto a 6x6 1ins plate ,to use it thread the bar through the slot that fits best drop in the chisel and hit it with the striking hammer,i used to carry it around to cut shoe iron.

when pricing a job ,remembre ,your bread costs the same as the customers.

same with me ,a cart tire ,and a tamper made out of 1ins plate 9ins sq with the old frost studs we used for the draft horses welded on the bottom, we had small sacks of the frost studs left over from the work horse days ,the studs cut the coal rather than pound it to dust and keep it a uniform size.

the anvil dosnt look that bad , all the hanging end will dress up and give you a sq edge and the rest will radius off thats all it needs ,we have a small wright anvil mutch the same size ,the one we have is ,as new, it was unsold stock , and the face is crowned and the edges have big radiuses nearly back to the hardy hole ,a flat face with sharp edges is a reletively new thing ,,we are rough on anvils and knock lumps out of them often ,and use bigger anvils ,so it has stay'd under a bench for over 30 years with me and my father never used it before,

no bother keeping cool ,tho we had a heat wave 9c phew i dont think i can work its so hot

we have for over 30 years ,just poked the gas cutter into the hearth and instant fire ,then we can on with the work,

the oil on water is only a light sheen not enough to burn apart from a flash thats put out as you go into the water ,

the softest quench is oil floated on water,push the job through the oil into the water and dont move it about,it only needs a small amount of oil just a skim ,to leave a coat on the peice as it goes into the water .

try ,as hard as the devils hearth stones, the Sheffield cuttlers used that and so did my father ,i use it if the job isnt going too well.

to jump anchor stocks we sling them in chains and swing them against the hammer anvil.

we use anthracite if the coal is poor , i find it easy to work with,if you can get hold of some coal a small lump shoved into the fire when you leave it to work on other things will keep it going .

its not to good to see but it looks as if the edge has at one time been got at and welded up , if thats the case ,if you will feel better weld it up , but if its not been welded before i would leave it ,and get using it ,we do weld anvils up, but we give them a hard time ,i have some anvils that are unused ,like new ,but in my line of work they are too small and we would only knock lumps out of them so they hang about the smithy under benches so not to get under the feet.

a chain makers tongs are very short in the bitt ,and the tongs used to make short link chain are only as long as the round bar size used to make the link

rather then junk yards try ,engineering shops ,or fab shops ,if as in the uk they will have bins of drops or ends .

if you only need a C. S .and a F letter stamp all three have open ends and with a set of warding files ,wouldnt take long to make.

chain making ,made a good bit , for 3/8 long link cut of 7 ins and for a start dont even make a scaph just lap them over at the crown ,get your anvil up to the fire,some of the women chain makers worked of the end of the anvil facing the pike ,for small chain cut the rod with a slanting cut and its all the scarph you need .The rod you are using ,if its free cutting or HT rebar it proberly wont be the easiest bar in the world to weld .

i have a set 1/8 ins and numbers ,made in the USA, so it says on the box ,i got them in the UK ,so you should be able to get them ,for less money ,they work well ,the letter is on a flat background so they arnt as easy to position ,i ground the edge of to just leave the letter proud on the ones i needed and its a big improvment.

there is a swage block at the side of each of the hammers ,and they get used as bolsters driving out drifts and sutch ,on a daily basis there is one shared between two anvils and that gets used for upsetting and for bending using the holes ,the down side is it tends to attract tools and becomes clutterd ,so that i ocasionaly through a tantrum and heave the lot off it accross the shop ,comments like dad we have to use it as well, set me off again ,it isnt a bla--d bench,

my favorite hammer has a 50 hp motor on it