ThomasPowers

Peter Wright is a great anvil---I own a couple as well as a bunch of other brands. Some people like Hey-Buddens more than PW's but I think that that's more a Ford vs Chevy thing. Now as to that one: it looks like a good anvil from one of the top tier brands and if 200# a great shop anvil that would be perfect for a working shop. Make sure that it's weight *doesn't* include the stand. I've run across more "bad weights" through auctioneer estimation than I could shake a stick at! If you go; bring a ball bearing and try to do the ball bearing test on it---face looks a bit cruddy to test, might see if they would allow you to run a hand powered wire brush across it (and across the areas usually stamped!)

I wouldn't worry about the galvanized pipe; looks like it was already dealt with, shouldn't get too hot toward the elbow with cold air blowing through it. If it works without a flame holder then Bob's your uncle. If you need on put one on. note that the bends in the air line help increase turbulence which helps with the mixing. I own one quite similar that was built in a Forge Building workshop put on by an ABANA affiliate and bossed by the designer. Works quite well. I light it with the air adjusted off, gas on and then add air until I get the loudest roar and brightest flame impingement for a neutral burn and then nudge it a tad to get a reducing burn if needed. I would think of adding *another* 1" layer of Kaowool and then coating the inside so you have 2" insulation. On mine the burner pipe fits into a slightly larger pipe welded to the shell allowing you to take the burner off and fiddle with it---like replace the pipe with a different on or try a flameholder.

Nice! If you are willing to put the time into tooling they can be a great help in the shop especially for incising lines, *punching* or *slitting*, making indents in your work for screws, etc. I like the old ones better than the new ones---a personal foible

Having a selection is good. What is great and speaks to the soul of one person may be totally off-putting to another. I like Weygers' scrounge and recycle ethic; others prefer a book that starts "go purchase a 20' stick of 1/4". 3/8" and 1/2" sq stock and cut XYZ inches off one of them to make this project."

Inlet that stump to hold that piece both on the flat and on the edge and use it in both orientations as needed. What you need to do to make it an anvil is to hit hot steel on it! Nothing more, nothing less. cutting and welding will most likely decrease it's "anvilness" unless you are doing full penetration welds and then for something that sized you could *buy* a chunk that was more compact for the cost of the consumables!

Well If you made up a batch and took them to somewhere like Quad-State and had a decent price on them you would probably sell a good number of them. Not knowing where you are at it would be hard to say what you would get in Australia or South Africa or Hong Kong, Canada, the UK,...

Mr Few Hammers; I've never painted my ceiling yet; why would I need to? Propane forges and good chimney on my coal one seems to do fine... Also excessive ventilation is just about right and the ceiling starts at a 10' wall and goes up to a peak so it's not real close to smoke that escapes. What's kind of funny is that my walls are the propanel off a co-worker's roof that was dinged by hail. It turned out that there was a roof penetration for a woodstove that ended up being in a handy spot on the wall for a chimney for the forge to go through. 10' of 10' spiral seam vent pipe at a very steep angle. (I have a couple of stainless chunks for the last bit when I get the shop adjusted just right...)

Stewart when I got started around 1981 I had the Modern Blacksmith in one hand and the tongs or hammer in the other---still have my copy with big black thumb prints on the pages. I really liked his scrounge, make do and do it on the cheap philosophy---especially as I was getting most of my iron from farm scrap piles and making my own charcoal to forge with. (Note that his results were exceptional even with the "found" starting materials!)

Well it's like this: I signed up to be the assistant when Ric Furrer did the "3 ways to make steel" demo at quad State one year and he mentioned those books and so as soon as I got home I went on line---still wearing my coat!---and ordered the only used set in America at that time. So they were still expensive but a lot cheaper than *now*. One of the books in my library cost more than the first two triphammers I've owned; actually cost more than both of them together! (and many the time I've coveted a book on steel that costs more than my truck...I'll have to wait for an online version someday!)

We seem to be looking at this from different angles "They aren't deadly because most folks don't die from them" and "They can be deadly because some folks can end up dead from them" Sort of like "You can't drown swimming because most folk don't" vs "You can drown swimming because some folk do" I have never said that *All* exposures to ZnO result in death. Though if you read the Australian government site they do mention that ZnO seems to have a worsening affect on CO clearance another issue with smiths. I have an old weldor friend who has gone through metal fume fever a bunch of times and his description of it is profane and graphic in the extreme. mentions one time he was cutting off a galvanized well head down in a large pipe and had to have his 14 year old nephew drive the work truck home as he was too busy tossing his cookies. Shall we agree that, in general, breathing ZnO is a bad idea and should be avoided? Some folks may counsel avoiding it more strongly than others *AND* if effects some people more than others---probably the base of all human experience---your mileage may vary!

Having taught people legally blind and a fellow who was a thalidomide victim and seen a one armed knifemaker I can say that many folks with disabilities will really have to work hard at *NOT* being able to learn to smith. I have experimented with smithing sitting down as it may come to that some day to me and I wanted to be sure I could forge in a wheelchair if necessary! However many smiths are worried about the liability of teaching them or don't want to invest the extra time needed. (remember that to people making a living off of their craft time is money; so be gentle with them!) Persevere! I don't know of any group that mandates work to be a member of it as so many of us go through life issues over time; talk with them to see what they really mean.

You burn less gas at the lowest pressure setting that will heat the forge to the correct temperature---why we often harp on *insulation* as the forge is a heat balance: Heat In vs Heat Out Heat in costs by the minute. Heat out is a one time insulation cost (well until reline time...) and the savings build up fast! I had an old forge with tattered insulation; still worked ok but I had to crank the pressure up. When I relined it it was *melting* work pieces at the same pressure that was "ok" before. You have a good handle on the fact that a balanced burn is the most efficient; however we often nudge it reducing to cut down on scale/decarburization for blademaking. When I tune mine I tune for a balance burn---brightest flame impingement/loudest sound and then nudge it a bit less air for blademaking. I may check the tuning after the forge is up to heat if it looks to have changed slightly. If I'm teaching with the door wide open for multiple people to work at the same time I will up the pressure a bit and retune if needed

On the whole blades tend to attract a lot of hype as you have to figure some way of validating the high prices they bring. In the higher levels of the craft the makers *name* is often more than 1/2 the cost---but when you are in the lower levels a lot of hype seeps in. I apprenticed with a professional maker and used to attend the Guild Shows with an exhibitor's pass and got to sit in on discussions of this. If you really want to invest; buy the best knife of a fellow that's on the cusp of making a name for himself. Often they will be doing as good or even better work than the "big names" but won't have the price boost *yet*.

Spooky!

"The complete Modern blacksmith" by Weygers has instructions for making a rail anvil including hardy and heat treating. If you are in the USA you should be able to ILL this book at your local public library---but you may want to suggest to your relatives that it would make a good Christmas/Hanukkah/Dwali/??? present.

I have a couple of halogen work lights I bounce off the shiny white ceiling of my forge if I need to work after dark.

Get a nicely rounded crosspeen and lean to pull the steel out to the side. springs like that also make good repousee tools and small carving tools for wood and bone.

I would get one of the RR bolts, (you could use a spike but it's not nearly as tough). Heat a piece of say 1/2" thick steel to nearly welding temp and drive the round head of the bolt down into it making a swage---probably take a couple of goes and holding the bolt in tongs and having someone strike with a 9#+ sledge would help. If you don't want the round shape of the bolt---grind it to the shape you do!

Woody when my Dr says that the Flu can be deadly as it can lead to pneumonia I don't tell him no it's not. I accept that fact that it's the secondary infection that kills but it's set up for by the primary infection. (and I get a shot for *both*---as an insulin dependent diabetic my immune system is considered dicey anyway; I was out for a month with pneumonia once and never want to repeat it no matter *what* was the original cause probably legionella) I've had a student spend a week in the hospital from Metal Fume Fever, a young healthy 19 year old kid who didn't heed my warning. No it didn't kill him he was still a young healthy kid when he got out with a massive unpaid hospital bill as he had no insurance. As stated I prefer to err on the side of caution and if no smith ends up with metal fume fever ever again I will not be upset. My grandfather smoked unfiltered camels for over 50 years and had no signs of cancer when he died. I don't suggest to others that *they* try the experiment. If you care to read the threads you mentioned you will find out that I posted to one of them and so HAVE read it. The other I thought was adequately replied to by another at that time.

Most crucible steel items are forged; it's the *steel* that was originally cast---the term dates back to when steel was generally derived from wrought iron by the blister steel and shear steel processes. Huntsman in the 1740's figured out he could melt blister steel and thus get a slag free uniform carbon content steel known as "cast steel". It was a big thing back them with countries vieing to see who could exhibit the largest ingot of such steel. (Krupp was once accused of exhibiting a cast iron ingot where upon he cut a piece off and forged it---because as we all know you can't forge cast iron!) The grain size of cast items was quite bad and so the steel profited from a lot of forging to refine the grain; but the stamp "cast steel" meant that it was the high dollar special stuff instead of the cheaper blister/shear steel. I still buy old tools at the fleamarket marked cast steel even though with the Bessemer/Kelly process of the 1850's all steel was pretty much "cast". (Sheffield in particular was still teeming cast steel on into the 20th century for specialty steels.) For way too much information on this (for anyone not crazy like me...) "Steelmaking before Bessemer: vol 1 blister steel; vol2 Crucible steel; Barraclough (ILL it as the prices are getting high!)

I'm lighting my shop with one electric light on a fixture like that---very handy to swivel it around to shine on the vise---or the anvil; or the swageblock; or the... I've also used propane camping lanterns---as I get older I like more light!

"acid etched titanium blade silver inlaid ivory handled vampire hunting swords" I could so make those; but they would have to rent a truck to deliver the money I would charge! Now I'm lucky that I'm usually demonstrating at events where I can invite someone back and hand them the hammer---it's become my favorite entertainment when I get hounded by "experts" who have never hit a piece of glowing metal but know all about it because of video games...Doesn't take long to find out that the hammer and anvil are different than a controller and what someone who knows squat about smithing programs into a game. And every once in a while you will run across one of the next generation of smiths and get to help them realize it!

I was visiting an Open Air Museum in Germany back in the '90's, (Bad Windsheim), and of course gravitated to the blacksmith's shop. The smith working was in his 80's and spoke very good English due to having spent several years as a prisoner of war in the United States. I showed him a billet I had brought with me, BSB&PS, and asked if he could weld it up. He admitted that he couldn't and I told him *I* could. With that he grabbed me by the shoulders and lifted me over the crowd control rope, handed me a hammer and demanded that I show him. So I spent several wonderful hours showing him how I weld up a billet and discussing his collection of Roman iron artifacts. (My wife took the kids around the rest of the museum and bought them icecream at the restaurant---where she overheard the blacksmith's assistant talking to a gentleman in the restaurant about "Amerikanischer Schmied and Damaszener-Stahl". We later learned that he was talking to the Head of the Museum...) Truly one of my best memories of that summer in Germany. I gave him the billet to finish into a knife as well as the rest of my "sample sized" box of borax. (Yes I traveled with a billet and borax; spent 89 days in Germany on a business trip and *knew* I'd be suffering forge withdrawal; and it seems that most smiths I have met are always interested in watching folks weld up a billet...) Perhaps I was able to weld up a coldshut leftover from the war as well...

As I pointed out the issue is with getting across the border; transporting it east to west is a fairly easily arranged thing *if* you don't have to deal with the customs brokerage issues. If someone from the USA could drag it up to Caniron getting it freighted to the west should be fairly simple---right? (even though it ends up further east to start in Quebec...) Not as efficient as getting it hauled to Vancouver Washington, USA and then having the new owner schlep it across the border; but sometimes you have to go with what is possible rather than best.

I wonder if Shane was there as part of a group like the SCA and so not an "official" merchant. The Southern branch of SWABA was at the small Renaissance Faire in Las Cruces NM last weekend. I was escorting my wife to sit and spin with the local SCA group when I ran into their set up. Receiving permission from my spouse I spent all day Saturday at their set up manning the table and talking up a storm. Next year I hope to attend and bring down all my forging tunics and get them in garb! Maybe I can talk them into trying out my Y1K set up too... They were doing it as a demo and so it was costing *them* to be there showing off the craft and a great job of it they did! "working the crowd" is a skill just as teaching smithing is and both of them can be separate from skill in smithing.