ThomasPowers

Sheet lead was mentioned as a "bedding layer" in old smithing books; also several layers of shingles or tar paper. A good grade of silicone should last for over a decade; perhaps longer than you will want that stand that way... Be very careful sanding pressure treated lumber! (the saw dust is TOXIC)

How about "smelting copper", "Safe way to melt scrap copper" I searched on "copper"

Having had a PhD I was supposed to be training (and was being paid double what I was) and still was getting middle of the night calls on things I had gone over multiple times and even given him a cookbook on I am a bit leary of "certs". I also well remember a lot of "bad blood" that occurred over setting up the ABS. Many lists of things a smith ought to know don't intersect much with what kind of smithing I do too. My wife has been teaching spinning for over 40 years and looked into a program to get a "Master" cert; turned out to be run by a group that was focused on weaving and so all the spinning was slanted toward that and not for the myriad other things one can do with spun fibers. A lot of time and effort to become a Master of a subset of the craft.

There was a long thread on this recently; rather than have us spend several hours typing it out again for you; would it be possible for you to use the search function and read it?

I see nothing structurally wrong with that anvil. Buy an old english one and it might have more than half a dozen forge welds making up the mass *and* a series across the face as the plate was forge welded on in pieces. Buy a later anvil made in the USA and the waist weld might be done with an arc welder! I would tell the seller that you assumed the stand went with the anvil for that price! (And as mentioned throwing in the stand takes it from a meh deal on the anvil to a good deal on anvil and stand) There is an old specialized tool for measuring hardness of things like an anvil faceplate, its called a scleroscope and it works by dropping a hardened steel ball on the object and measuring it's rebound. The ball bearing test (see anvilfire.com for a list of values for various anvils) is just a simplified version of this instrument.

I once picked up a coil spring made from 1.5" stock---came from a large earth mover that was sold at a surplus sale and scrapped---they left a few pieces behind when they torched it up and hauled it off.

It does seem to work that way; you search for a long time to find *1* anvil and then the next shows up---and then you turn your back and the place is full of them! And Matto; I dislike Vulcans and I have owned them and have used them. The only one I currently own has the horn broken off showing MASSIVE porosity in the casting---it should have never left the factory but have been tossed back in the cupola. A friend gave it to me when I found a cast steel swedish anvil to replace it for her Fine Arts Metals classes. She had a student break off the horn setting rivets...The face was worn through in the forward half showing how thin it was too. It is now a proud member of my "Wall of Shame" collection of extremely abused anvils, though pride of place goes to the PW? that is missing the entire top half (hence the ?---but Postman thought it was a PW remnant). OTOH I consider Vulcans "real" anvils and buy and pass them on to new smiths to use while waiting for a better one. They are especially good for folks who need to be discrete in their forging----not as good as a Fisher; but also a quiet anvil. What I object to is folks wanting to sell them for top of the line prices when they are bottom of the line anvils. As far as the three mentioned: The PW and the Mousehole are pretty much interchangable with size and condition and price playing the deciding factors. Some people dislike the "squat" look of the Mousehole, some prefer it as it increases the "sweet spot". If you plan to be doing heavy work the Mousehole over the PW, if you plan to do light ornamental work perhaps the PW over the Mousehole as the horn and heel are usually longer. Both will be weight stamped in CWT system. The vulcan will usually have a raised number ontop of the foot that is the weight divided by 10

See scratch beader for a woodworking use

Find a nice bowsaw frame like a sandvik and make a mega hacksaw with the BSB. Remember to punch the holes a bit closer than the ones on a wood cutting saw blade so there is a bit more tension. This is assuming that this is a metal cutting BSB of course. If it's a wood one do the same and have a wood saw... Then when it's dull make BSB and pallet strapping pattern welded billets

why not just build a lpg forge?

Also if you live in Australia you will get different answers than if you live in the USA. Turn it over if it has an indentation on the bottom it's shape can narrow down what brand too.

I definitely use a "special hammer" and that's the one that's to hand---even used a clawhammer once welding up a billet as a demo for a fellow. More important is dressing the face of the hammer you are using than using some special hammer: Lets see last night I used: a lynch collection hammer, a 2.5# double jack, an 8# sledge, a very small body hammer, a sweedish crosspeen and a french crosspeen---I was teaching and so generally used the hammer that the student in question was using to show that it wasn't an issue with the hammer... And for one student a new saying: "Less time on the net; more time on the anvil!" I need to bring a coal forge down to teach him not to abandon work in it while "playing on his smart phone"...

I've seen a blade forged from lathe swarf at one quad-state. The mosaic damascus seems a possibility. Some people also add finely divided steel to their flux, (but NOT for pattern welding!) Rose bushes or yew plants also a possibility.

“Men wanted as machinists, boilermakers and blacksmiths – up to 75 cents an hour.” Any you can still work as a blacksmith at those rates----if you don't watch out!

What's the ambient? Also the smaller "bbq tanks" are known to sometimes have problems with their flow checks---mandated so that it shuts the gas off in an "unconstrained flow" situation---well a forge burner can look like that if you turn on the gas fast. Bigger "commercial" tanks don't have them. May want to try the smaller tank again and slowly open the tank valve. If still having problems---well a tank exchange can sometimes help---make sure the one you get has a good date stamp; because re-fills are cheaper than swapping!

Does the extra vertical length improve things or just add another little bit of bearing drag? I've got to build one of these someday---already scrounged the anvil, base and upright; really just waiting on getting power to the shop for the welder.

The horn with grease/oil and sharp sand was another method, applied with a piece of wood; boy an I glad that 1: I don't have to scythe stuff and 2: we have modern abrasives and can afford to wear out blades and replace them! (Last time I scythed our yard I ended up with shoulder surgery as it was different enough movement that a bone spur in my shoulder kicked up a fuss---now my shoulder looks like I have toothmarks from a very snaggle tooth predator...) Thanks for checking the Sears Catalog; I often reference them as an example of what was available 100 years ago---like they carry ASOs! (as well as very nice anvils)

However the part that is broken is on the blower and so NOT a high heat situation and brazing is a perfectly good method of fixing breaks in cast iron.

I consider the kaowool in my forges to be "consumables" and I generally rate one class of teaching new students equal to about a year of my own use on the liner. A "no maintenance" forge is one that is never run!

What kind of regulator were you using?

In what country? I doubt they are called that in France or Italy. As I recall they are called scythe anvils in my books on historic agriculture methods. In the USA I believe that the denglestok term comes from the PA Dutch (german). Anyone have one of the 100 year old Sears & Roebuck catalog reprints to see if they are listed there and under what name?

I know of three causes of twist variations: difference in temperature; difference in cross section and difference in composition---with the last one quite uncommon with modern steels; but not totally unknown. With the time factor (9th item) I vote with the clean the fire crew!

I believe he means that it was engineered so you could remove the pins and take one side off to insert the rope onto the pully without having to thread the entire length over the pully. Very handy when you are adding a pully to a system alread tied off on the ends. (or have large ends that might not fit)

Making another mistake: heat treat does not mean "harden" You can heat treat steel to make it softer, remove stresses, change the grain size, etc.

And Vaughn's suggestion will get you forging while you are working on the tongs; doesn't hurt to have a backup for your most used tools.