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I Forge Iron

ThomasPowers

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Everything posted by ThomasPowers

  1. ThomasPowers
    Not often seen with blacksmith's vises over here as the spring opens the moving jaw as the screw opens. Machinist vises generally have them though. Is this a common item in European blacksmith vises? What we do generally see is a dished washer between the front of the vise and the bulb on the screw the handle goes through.
  2. ThomasPowers
    In Ohio there is one where they used the actual anvil of an indigent smith as his headstone. As I recall one of the Sofa members arranged to have the hammer that was welded to it rehandled as necessary. Unfortunately I recall a report that the anvil was later stolen.
  3. ThomasPowers
    Yes good tooling and hammer steel indeed! Not usually high enough carbon for bladesmithing though IIRC.
  4. ThomasPowers
    I always thought that was a swedish style. As horns are usually soft wrought iron and faces welded on toolsteel of the times a double step would make sense.
  5. ThomasPowers
    Oh yah that's an oldie just look at those stubby little feet on it! Probably not a steeled top on the horn but a badish weld in the merchant bar wrought iron it was made from. I totally envy you that one!
  6. ThomasPowers
    Yes the *best* way is to tell the staff to move it.
  7. ThomasPowers
    "Anvils in America" by Richard Postman has serial numbers: date for several brands of american anvils And is considered *the* book on the subject
  8. ThomasPowers
    And skills?
  9. ThomasPowers
    Well I have shopped at the Black Hole, (Los Alamos Atomic Surplus Store), when it was still active. I appreciated their staff's use of geiger counters when checking out new items...
  10. ThomasPowers
    They are designed by people that don't really know anvils; I've several cartoon anvils that might have served as models for the "I gotta come up with an anvil design". Probably not a lot of UK anvils to work from in China. The mexican ones are merely being cast from original "real" anvils and not designed from scratch. It is interesting to look at modern anvils designed by SMITHS like the Nimba or Rathole ones. You can tell what features they wanted!
  11. ThomasPowers
    I wonder if that is the one I once owned---had my only anvil stolen a couple of days before a day long demo at a museum and had to run out and buy *anything* and a 220# Buffalo ASO was all I could find---around 1982....Used it the *1* time and it would dent *under* hot spring steel being worked. Never used it again. Sold it at a loss to a fellow who promised NEVER to try to use it as an anvil or sell it on to someone as an anvil...That incident is probably why I now have back ups for my backups for most of my smithing tools.
  12. ThomasPowers
    I'll start charging the leyden jars!
  13. ThomasPowers
    The whiteboard today pretty much nailed a lot of us old tool guys. '> though I'd like to know were to get surplus Polonium backup power supplies...
  14. ThomasPowers
    As the bricks *NEED* to move as they heat and cool why would you want to bind them together? Easiest way to build a burner is to buy one. Not knowing if you have skills and equipment for welding or machining makes it quite hard to chose a method that would be easiest for YOU. Would you still like the "easiest way" if it was twice as expensive as buying a burner? Note that blown burners are much simpler to build than aspirated ones but require a powered blower to use.
  15. ThomasPowers
    That anvil is not worth US$100! It is a cast iron ASO and will be quickly damaged doing standard blacksmithing tasks that a proper anvil should withstand for a century or two. Seller is clueless or trying to scam someone by pricing it at real anvil price!
  16. ThomasPowers
    You may have heard of a "double bitted Axe"? You probably know the Eye, how about the Poll?
  17. ThomasPowers
    Trophy spouses are *supposed* to be the money sinks in the family! US$25 is my weekly allowance for all my vices and vises: books, coal, propane, beer, SCA events, Fleamarkets!!! Luckily my eldest daughter did her undergrad on her own not owing anything. Then she was accepted into the Vet program and the student loans started and we started kicking some cash to her as she couldn't work like she did undergrad with the vet school load.
  18. ThomasPowers
    CHECK THE CARBON CONTENT! If it's a high C steel you have *prime* trading stock as that's a great size for certain blade projects! Do you know what it was used for in it's previous life? I've been cutting RR rail and welding tanks with dewalt steel cutting disks. I get them whenever I can find them cheap at fleamarkets and Quad-State.
  19. ThomasPowers
    Where is the cut out on the far side of the firepot? Long pieces often need to get heated in the middle! Also does that hammer handle show grain run out? Helps to select handles where the grain goes all the way from the head to the base of the handle. They may replace for free but gas and time swapping them out is probably NOT covered!
  20. ThomasPowers
    There are a number of methods of quieting a loud anvil. I strongly urge you choose 1 or more and DO IT/THEM!
  21. ThomasPowers
    What did you think of "The Complete Bladesmith" by Hrisoulas?
  22. ThomasPowers
    Benton what does the underside of the anvil look like?
  23. ThomasPowers
    Back when it was a 2 hour drive each way to get to SOFA meetings for me, we started a carpool; lots more fun and cheaper to travel in a group. We would stop at a good fleamarket on the way and descend on smithing stuff like a hoard of locusts---and then go have a slice of pie at the FFA booth...
  24. ThomasPowers
    flash back suppressors on a propane system with no high pressure oxygen involved? With Acetylene they are required since Acetylene will "exothermically disassociate" even without the presence of oxygen. Propane doesn't. So it's HUGELY more dangerous to park your car in your house's garage than to use an aspirated propane forge without flashback surpressors
  25. ThomasPowers
    How far are you from the Southern Indiana Meteor Mashers? Might be worth a drive every now and then. Also think about going to the IBA conference in early June a bit above Indianapolis. (and before you say too far just remember I plan to drive a 25 year old truck from New Mexico to Ohio to attend Quad-State...)
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