ThomasPowers

I'd call it a cone mandrel! Nice size too. My smaller one was part of a valve covering the stem/packing. My larger one was the nose cone for a ballistic missile. Handy things to have if you do a lot of rings! I wondered about the How too; but either way it's been de-mil'd and is "safe" I have found items in the scrapyard that I didn't want to have *ANYTHING* to do with save for alerting the owner and the local sherrif and making sure they didn't get into their crusher before being checked out...

Yes there is a medieval equivalent of eye protection: first incident: eyepatch; second incident: child to lead you around to beg. It's a good point; i forget that not everyone wears eye protection everywhere except when sleeping. Getting my regular prescription as safety glasses was a great thing! (I swim wearing glasses! I have old pairs of glasses stashed in dedicated places so I can find them if I am not wearing glasses) A loaner face shield is handy to have stashed under the table just in case someone gets roped in to learn or help... Matches in a moisture proof container are a good thing and on campouts I put a bit of firestarter stuff in the tin with them just in case... No the Titanium is not Medieval---it's ancient greek! (just a joke) I bring it to show that A it's easy to forge and B it makes a LOUSY KNIFE---I have a Ti eating knife with a shaving cut off it that I did with my beltknife that has an old file as the edge...

You notice how he gave sizing with respect to how much volume the burner would heat? This is because to some people on this site "small" is stuff under a foot sq and to others "large" is over 1/2" sq; so one person's small forge can be very much larger than another person's large forge.

Yup a US portable cavalry forge; the unusual thing is where it's at! There was also a shipboard model with an electric blower run at a strange voltage IIRC---had a friend who had one and just added a hand crank to it. Makes a handy forging demo in a box set up.

As do over 100 other English makers anvils.....

I'm doing a day long demo at a museum Saturday myself: Canvas Tarp, Poles, ropes, stakes---sunshade for the forge Chair + extra Medieval style Anvils Medieval style: Forge, bellows, charcoal medieval style smithing tools MATCHES won't have lighters near fire based crafts! Mastermyr style Chest to store tools in Wooden buckets 18th century post vise (for real) Mild steel, high carbon steel; wrought iron, titanium Medieval documentation on the items I'm forging med kit Basic starter books on blacksmithing to refer people too----roped to the table! BUSINESS CARDS Notebook and pen to record names, leads on smithing equipment, draw items on, etc Medieval clothing including hat (I don't like sunscreen so long sleeves and a broad brimmed hat!) wagon to transport stuff from parking lot to site medieval/renaissance cooking gear. (Basic tool kit, nails drywall screws duct tape---some other person/group will always forget something and ask the smith to solve their problem...) Generally I also have to bring my tent, sleeping gear, soap, towels, meds, garb chests, camp cooking gear, lanterns, lamp oil, raised firepit, tripod, firewood... Or in other words: one person's list might diverge quite a lot from other peoples list......

I'd consider that stand to be worthless and that bad chip all the way through the face plate is NOT normal wear and tear! Offer US$2 a pound and see if they bite.

We had a fellow in our smithing club that was over 6'4"---he had a dedicated anvil just for his use as it was way too high for the rest of us. I try to have a variety of anvil heights for when I teach and discuss chosing the one appropriate for the person and the task.

I had a student once who was having a terrible time with the hammer. After watching him for a bit striking the anvil instead of the workpiece; I asked him if he was using the dominant hand for the hammer. he replied that "no, he wanted to learn to use his off hand" I told him he was free to damage his own equipment learning to use his off hand; but he was not welcome to damage *MINE*!

As I recall that type of blower may have a removable cap to the gear box that you have to remove 2? visible screws and then *SLIDE* the cap along it's major axis to free up a hidden inside screw. (As I recall you slide it away from the end with the visible screws.) Be gentle with it as cast iron is a fragile material. Tapping with a wooden or brass mallet may be required. Penetrating oil all around the seam highly suggested. Once the cap is off soaking the entire thing in diesel or kerosene or other gunk cleaner for a week or more is suggested and then trying to wiggle the fan back and forth to free up the system (fan has a better gear ratio going backwards into the system than the handle going forwards) If there is absolutely no sign of oil/grease/gunk you might look into electrolytic derusting rather than solvent soaking. Remember the bywords of old machinery restoration is *GENTLE* and *SLOW* far better to take an extra month than to have to fix broken parts---replacement of them is usually NOT an option!

Notice the helve hammer in the back of "the Blacksmiths 1904" picture (and a powerhammer in the back of the school shot too!)

The Vulcan was a similar process and I once ran into a japanese made anvil that I believe was done the same way but probably back in the 1960's due to the quality issues---the face was fairly thin and had cupped when the base was cast onto it. (I must see if my friend still has it and see if there are any marks on it except for the "made in japan"

Thick waist, sharp feet---old english anvil of which there were a couple of hundred makes identified so far...

Most of the yunques I've seen used a PW as the "pattern" and were not dressed well---often the mold line is still visible diwn the face and horn and the pritchel hole isn't present. Some of them were decent alloy some of them were not---they poured whatwver they had left at the end of the day in the ladle. *NONE* of them were heat treated. I've been expecting some to start showing up having been "re-worked" to appear as originals and pass with people who don't realize that PW were never cast and the fresh drilled pritchel hole would be a give away

The stock is supposed to be going through the center of the hot spot not on top of the fire. This looks like "I turned my stove's oven to 450 degF but the pot on top of the stove isn't heating" You need to either cut slots in the side to move the work piece lower or build up the fire so the workpiece is in the middle not on top. With charcoal; building up the fire is suggested. It might save on charcoal if you put in a sheet steel fence right against the inner wall of the brake drum that extends up say 6 inches and has slots on either side to allow stock through. How far is Toledo from the SOFA meetings? We used to carpool from Columbus to them; well worth the cost and effort (and carpooling really drops the cost!) You will learn more about forging at one SOFA meeting than days on the internet!

Or to put it a different way: it doesn't work right. NA burners are *very* picky in how they are built. Making even what you may consider minor changes can ruin the tuning of such a burner.

I get my small orders of stock from a local business that uses steel---a windmill repair and installation company 2 miles from my shop. The sell steel to the public at about 25% to 33% less than the local lumberyard and have a better selection. They will even piggy back orders for special stuff as they get a bigger discount from the steelyard the bigger the order they have. It's about 50 miles from my shop to the nearest steelyard so the travel costs build up fast too. I do tend to visit the "real" steel yard when I'm up that way on another task...

How about a trench forge?

I was checking stats on some new kukri pages and they had some heavier than medieval swords were!

How cold are they? I would definitely preheat the jaws by closing them on a stout piece of hot stock if it was wintertime in an unheated shop to help prevent vise quenching.

Blacksmiths tend to overbuild. At the Circus Museum down in Florida I once saw an exhibit of an old time circus wagon that had been built by a smith with no formal wagon building training. As such he would just overbuild everything to a great degree---as I recall one of his wagons would often end up 3-4 times as heavy as a "commercial built" wagon. Things like 1" thick wagon tires! It stated that his wagons were in high demand by circuses as they *NEVER* broke down (and they could always have an elephant haul it...)

After dealing with several heavy yet delicate cast iron forges that ended up cracking over the years I now build mine of steel.

Output, (both volumn and pressure), of such fans depend greatly on speed; I think you would be happier with a box bellows in the long run; but try it and see.

What do the dates show about the shears vs scissors? (I think my copy went walk about recently)

A bellows would be a much better deal; I've built them for under a US dollar before (plywood from a junked printer enclosure, naugahyde from a junked couch, etc) Much easier motion than having to crank a drill by hand between work sets.