ThomasPowers

Some people would say that San Mai is just a very low layer count pattern welded material. Though in traditional japanese bladesmithing the various pieces will have quite a lot of folding and welding to refine the tamahagane from the starting bloom pieces.

What hardened outer layer formed by hammering? If you are working above the dislocation climb temperature the only hardening you are going to get is through heat treating and they heat treat too. In fact you are less likely to mess up the steel machining than forging with the possibility of burning the metal, decarburizing, grain growth and scaling. It's just forging is a whole lot more fun and you can work with metal that's not in bar shape, forging is often a lot faster than grinding too.

I'll have to see about posting a picture of the casting voids where the horn broke off of the vulcan I have---you pretty much could stick pencils in them and some met the surface so I don't know *how* it was sold in the first place. (It was a gift for my "wall of shame" collection of badly damaged anvils) Also the ones; yes plural, I have worked on were quite soft. (I have a friend whose shop is well stocked with them and when I work there that's what I have to use). So I don't think they are junk; but just at the bottom tier of "real anvils" and all I have gotten over the years I have sold on to people starting smithing for prices that reflect my opinion of them. I still advise people that have noise/neighbor issues to look for them if they can't find a Fisher; but I'd be willing to pay a premium for a Fisher over a Vulcan.

Propane requires a different cutting tip however.

Any VoTechs near you with a welding program? They might be a source of skill and might do it as a class demo---especially if you cover the consumables! (Or last time I used them I made a contribution to the end of the semester party fund)

really thick so I assume it's one of the thick dimensions. A tractor torch would help a lot. Straight lines or curves? I'd think some folks down near any ship or sub building centers would have the skills. Do you have the little rollerwheel with your torch?

2". I had an amusing incident when I religned my blown forge with two inches of kaowool. As the original 1" insulation had degraded I had been turning up the gas to compensate. The regulator was thus set for the old insulation and I accidentally melted the stock into a puddle with the 2" insulation the firse time I used it. I ended up turning the regulator way down to get the same heats as I was used to. I also remember this when folks tell me that a propane forge doesn't get as hot as a coal forge---a puddle of steel sitting on a fire brick is quite indicative that it gets hot enough for me!

I'm with NJA; I expect Vulcans to cost way less than other brands of anvils---including the various swedish cast ones. They are quiet though; however you can quiet a loud anvil by proper mounting of it. What makes me nervous about the swedish ones is that it looks like it was painted recently which always sets off my "what are they trying to hide" button.

Unless you are providing free possibly international shipping location is a MUST!

Wind is another factor, as is alignement. I had to move my aspirated propane forge into shelter Saturday when the wind picked up. Looked so good in the little building we used that the site owners suggested I leave it there....I'm trying to get them to build their own set up.... I looked at that video and noticed it didn't show anything about the regulator or gas bottle---sort of like asking why you car is having engine issues and only showing a picture of the body...

Actually heat dehydrates the rust making it take up less space. It also allows the hole to expand a bit more than the item stuck in it---remember the old science experiment about the ball and the hoop and heating them both the ball will still fit through the hoop?

Actually I think it's the opposite: most blade quality steels are made in large ammounts, like 20,000 pounds minimum and the big boys don't want the hassle of selling you 2 pounds. What you need to find are the re-sellers that can buy in large amounts and then sell to a LOT of knifemakers in small amounts. So Knifemaking supply places generally sell small pieces of stock, Aldo in NJ is justly famed for his steel, etc. Large industrial supply stores often sell various steels in small amounts at a premium too. However if you want a weird alloy it will be hard to find it in small amounts, order 20 tons and they will *make* *it* for you, want 2 pounds and you need to find someone that has a drop.

I offered to let an observer taste the end of a red hot bar but he said he already knew what it would taste like; intrigued I asked him "what?"----"Pain and Regret" was his reply. (This was a small group of friends standing around the forge while I was teaching a new guy...)

I liked my double lunged bellows better than my good hand cranked or electric blowers. Used it for about 20 years and fiannly gave it away when I moved because I knew I'd never build a new version as long as I could frankenstein the old one. I had mine set up so that I could get a billet welding coal fire pumping it with my pinkie!

The woodcut is from De Re Metallica and so that design dates AT LEAST to the 1500's A.D. If that's too modern for you there is a description of making bellows in Divers Arts from around 1120 A.D.

Don't forget "Folded a million times!" When someone tells me that a blade has an outrageous number of layers I ask if the smith died of radiation poisoning; then point out that the layers would be smaller than the iron atom radius and so the smith must have been splitting the atoms... this one gets 2 thumbs up from the peanut gallery

It has mounting holes to mount on a bench and I too have seen the whole anvil vise combo together. I would not think anyone would risk scarring up the knave of an axle and have seen the wagon tongue vises that do not look like that. I would suggest your friend does more investigation on it.

Usually that type of set up isn't strong enough for a metal cutting saw blade. HOWEVER look into jeweler's saws. Some what similar and designed for metal cutting blades.

Same sort of deal, a little juntique store in a stripmall of similar, had a fairly bad set of farmer's tongs; but if you don't ask you won't know. They wanted more than a set of good new tongs cost and I told him that I wasn't interested as I commonly bought such tongs much cheaper. The owner went out and ranted to his helpers how folks wanted him to give stuff away. BS I NEVER asked him to sell me them cheaper. I just remarked that I commonly bought them cheaper and went on. OTOH down the road a bit was a large antiques junkyard---several acres. They had one postvise with broken off back jaw crudely repaired. Screw and screwbox looked OK so I asked what they wanted $90! I explained that I was buying vises in good working order for a lot less and was looking at it for repair parts. He asked what I would give, $20; he countered with $25. Nobody was angry. I didn't need it at that time and walked. If I run across someone needing a screw and screwbox for a 4" vise I might stop back by. I don't visit the place with the tongs anymore...

Goats make Walmart look like a good thing! Goats are browsers not grazers as such they much prefer rosebushes and fruit trees to grass. If you don't have them they will gladly climb fences to get to your neighbors! I would point out that just because you have some chickens about doesn't mean that all the stuff in the packages came from them. I have run into a number of folks whose sales outstripped their production capacities and made arrangements of various levels of evil. My wife is a spinster and was the vacation milker for a friend's goat dairy to boot and goats are evil; save for when you need to clean out an old pasture trying to go back to woods, or a poison ivy infested plot and you still need to watch them all the time in case they decide to go walkabout to eat the neighbor's stuff instead.

Excellent and so when it becomes a business and suddenly your prices jump because you then have to take in account all the incidentals your customers will have no problem with that? San Antonio should have classes set up by the SBA, (Small Business Administration) TAKE THEM NOW, start off the way you plan to continue. I know a professional swordmaker that one year just how the depreciation of his tools was calculated for taxes was his entire profit for the year. (and he was selling multi thousand dollar swords in the 1980's!) Working only when you want to is a description of a Hobby not a job. Look into having another skill to fall back on/pay for the needed equipment. Welding is often a good mix with blacksmithing.

DON'T RETIRE IT; USE IT! or see that it gets to someone who can use it. I just spent from 9am to 3pm yesterday forging on an anvil like that, mine's a Powell, it's a great anvil with a hard flat face. It's funny; but the hot steel didn't notice that there was supposed to be a heel and hardy, it squished between the hammer and the face just like the anvil was a complete one! I especially like my anvil for teaching new students with a lot of strength but poor hammer control. Give them a soft faced hammer and they can't damage your anvil! Anvils have had a heel and hardy/pritchel holes for only a couple of hundred years, while they have looked liked that anvil *minus the horn too* for several thousand years. I tell my students to actively hunt for such anvils as they are still great anvils and go for a song usually. I paid US thirty cents a pound for mine. If you "collect" anvils then getting that one in use by a aspiring smith frees up an anvil for your future collection.

"The Cementation of Iron and Steel" would be a good read for him then on how carbon migration works...

On the other hand Tijou probably had 20 or *more* people in his shop and the first power hammer I have seen good documentation on pre-dates the year 1000. Doing it all by yourself is NOT doing it like they used to do! We come down to the limits of how much horsepower a single person can generate and for how long. Gearing up/down/sideways; using modern abrasives does not change that basic limit. The way around it is to design your projects so they don't require much in the way of grinding; hence the neo-tribal focus on less than 10% stock removal. If you are familiar with the NT's then, you'll know me as Bog Iron. Now as to using the double barrel system---you can only use one barrel at a time otherwise you are standing in VERY close proximity to a wood stove---ever made that mistake wearing levi 501's? You are also building up creosote on your forge area. Separate them, or even better in your location get another barrel. Make a sifter shovel to transfer coals from the stove to the forge---what I do. If you want to do good blademaking you will need decent light, as a safety precaution as well. I love my skylights in my shop which are just a strip of fiberglass in the metal roof---I did position them on the end of the shop away from the forge; but I get natural light through the gables and doors as well.

It would look real good cleaned up and placed by the fireplace to crack nuts on during those long winter nights!