ThomasPowers

More pictures at the thread started in September:

Given any thought to putting one of your oil lamps on a pivoting holder so you can adjust it for what you are doing? Simple one is to take a piece of channel and drill a hole across the legs and then forge a hook with one end that drops in the holes and the other extends out and holds the lantern.

How far from the border is he and does he have access to transportation? The big problem with shipping is the border crossing. If you could arrange transportation to an appropriate spot for pick-up and then let him do the border crossing then things would be simple. "Personal" rather then "Commercial". Actually this breaks down to 2 cases: transport east to west in US and then have it cross; or get it across on the east and then have it transported west. There are standard methods of east-west transportation in place that he could make use of. Blacksmith mail can be very inexpensive; but with an anvil that size handoffs would be an issue. Would anyone in the closest border group in Canada be willing to help out? You might be able to send it closer to the border with a blacksmith attending a conference or meeting. Anybody going to CanIron?

I've found that putting a bottle opener on some of the weirdest things can almost guarantee a sale in such venues.

Fleamarket report Las Cruces NM wooden bucket---old icecream maker---nice bucket US$3 May have to see if the motor is a good speed for a forge blower RR Spike driving hammer: *excellent* condition, good handle, "modern" $5 Socket chisel $1 Brace screwdriver bit $1 Cowboy coffeepot, enameled no breaks on the inside $4 Ball peen hammer $1 Hand painted painting for my office 25 cents---I'm decorating my cube with hand painted paintings at $1 or less

Yes *always* ask if they know someone with one. I started out at a fleamarket and ended up chasing triphammers all day once bouncing from one old smith to another till I finally found a 60# champion for $700 in running condition!

I ended up picking up *another* RR spike driving hammer. I have one I made into a stake anvil; and another I have waiting to be made into such an anvil with a shorter shaft and one with the handle still on it on the hammer rack and then at the Las Cruces fleamarket Saturday the blasted dealer told me $5 for a modern one with a good handle on it and so I had to carry it around for a while till I could get a trip back to the car. 10# can make an interesting anvil if set in a stump and is a handy size for a striker! I try to bring at least 1 large hammer when I demo because you do end up using it for the oddest things. As many smithing questions end up being location specific---not only "where do I find this stuff?" but also "Bob is going to demo that very thing next meeting in your area!" We suggest that you edit your profile to give a general location---please nothing specific! Take a look at mine for an example.

What he said! You can reweld the jaws, deal with cracked legs and twisted shafts using easy to do methods. Messing with the screw and screwbox gets into high dollar machines and time! Now the "perfect" vise will have clean jaws that close evenly, good sq threaded screw. Solid shafts and a complete mounting and spring system. Some people like the beveled legs cause they are "pretty". In general the heavier examples are better than the light ones as they stand up to abuse better. (these were made in all sorts of weights and sizes---I've had large light ones and small heavy ones and vice versa!) 4" is a common size with ones larger getting a bonus on price. 6" is considered a *LARGE* vise and 8" if it's in good repair might be best sold on to a collector and the money used to buy/build a powerhammer... I have a 6.5" and a 4" in my shop close to the forge: the large one for whaling away and the small one for lighter work---much easier to close the vise with my knee on the small one...

Melchior---what is the ideal speed to run your car at? Does it matter if you are on a bad dirt road or on the unlimited section of the Autobahn? Give some thought that the burner has NO ideal setting without including what you are doing. I've run my burner everywhere from extreme excess fuel to extreme excess air depending on what *I* was doing.

Lets see you are about the 3rd or 4th smith from Ireland we've had here *Welcome*!

Take a torch and cut a slot in the aft end and weld in a chunk of structural steel tubing and presto! a hardy hole. Then make an insert with a hole in it that fits into the hardy hole and bang! a pritchel Second design is a lot better than the first but just a couple of big chunks that you have one vertical and one horizontal will work to get started---then decide what *you* need for what *you* want to do!

Well there are *two* wildly different anvils that have an Arm and Hammer logo. One is Arm and Hammer they were in Columbus OH and made EXCELLENT anvils in the traditional way. Their logo is punched *into* the side of the anvil. The other is the Vulcan which was a cast iron anvil with a thin steel face---often fairly soft too. The horn also has a thin steel top plate. They are about the lowest on the quality scale of "real" anvils IMNSHO. Often sold to schools where abuse was expected and cheapness was a factor. Vulcan's logo is cast out proud of the surface of the anvil in an oval "cartouche" I would expect at least a difference in price of a factor of *2* between same sized anvil Arm and Hammer vs Vulcan.

Anyone able to zoom in on the tag and clean it up?

Yes, what seems to be the problem? I've taken a pattern welded billet, stood it on end and forged it down into a disk without weld shear. If you do a good weld no problem! Billy Merrit has made a pattern welded RR spike, (much like Hrisoulas once made a knife into a file...or A.G.Russel once flattened and honed an Al beer can until he could shave with it...)

Keep your ear open for an anvil repair clinic held by a local blacksmithing club affiliate. Our group had one where a friend's anvil got 5 hours of welding and grinding to get a face restored after it was milled too thin; just for the cost of the consumables too! (Gunter method of anvil repair, preheat, proper rod, postheat...)

Mailmaker nailed it: Regin and Sigurd. In some versions Regin is one of the Northern dwarves skilled in metalwork. The reason he's smiling is that he can now get an anvil more suitable for the date and place where he was supposed to be working...

Postman; the man who wrote *the* book on anvils, has identified over 200 anvil makers in the UK; many of them making quite similar designs---often because they worked at another maker's place before they went off on their own. So if you have no markings it's most likely going to end up a "Maybe".

"• Wrought steel will not rot in contact with the ground." Danger Will Robinson, Danger! BS! BS! BS! HYPE! HYPE! HYPE! I find those a rather ugly design and not suited for a bench unless you run a bar from the crosspiece to close to the middle of the bench to prevent racking. And as mentioned: copying a commercial design sort of defeats the purpose of doing it yourself. If you need one with that general shape take a look at Albrecht Durer's signature---a lot more "flare"

You have a lot to live up to there!

Seasoned or you can use paraffin wax on it hot as it's a food-safe coating---get the stuff used for sealing jam jars when canning. You don't want it to smoke when applying but you want it hot so the coating is very thin! Re apply as necessary.

Looks a bit like some overheating near the tip---be sure to normailze several times if it's an alloy that profits from it. So What alloy is it?

Actually the slot on the side of the Fisher for the Blacker hammer is so that there an area where the edge of the top die and the edge of the bottom die would line up perfectly. The two large hardy holes are for tooling. I used to own a Blacker that have been through a fire at another smith's shop right after it was totally restored---OUCH! I sold it to the Fisher Museum for the same price I had in it to keep it out of the scrapyard. My main shop anvil is a Fisher blacker hammer anvil with the slot; not from the fire but from a RR shop in Columbus OH. It's how I learned about nesting sq tubing shims for the hardy holes as getting tooling with 1.5" hardy stems is a tad expensive...The first QS after I got it I was asking Postman about the odd slot in the side and he just laugh and told me to walk three sellers up and there was a blacker with the anvil on it! As for giving my name to the local auctioneers, there is an implement auction 2 miles from my house that I have stopped going to---Fred Moore is related to them and has *much* deeper pockets! Note that his anvils, vises and triphammers are all stored nice and dry in a place that I don't think can burn. Someday they will be back in play and NOT SCRAPPED OUT! So take a deep breath and sigh it out knowing the the young smiths will have their chance even if some of us old farts won't...

"Orcrist, unfortunately, is buried with thorin oakenshield so we can't know both for sure until the hobbit comes out soon " You mean beside the book where it says it would alert the dwarves to enemies approaching? All three blades Glam, Or and sting were forged in Gondolin and would glow in the presence of orcs---read the entire series over 20 times over the years and will be reading the hobbit to the grandkids over Thanksgiving!

Woody you might want to do a little research before you start spreading erroneous information. I had a friend who died when his metal fume fever morphed into pneumonia. Paw Paw Wilson. There were contributing factors; but Paw Paw most likely would still be around if he hadn't gotten Metal Fume Fever. I prefer to err on the side of safety than to be asked to give the farewell toast for another smithing friend at Quad-State.

If they are not in the screwbox perhaps they were damaged by people working on top of them with something in the vise---ie the damage to the thread and the damage to the screwbox may not be related save through someone doing damaging work. The threads look nice and square. If I had to repair the screwbox I would braze rather than weld. As the screw and screwbox are the heart of the vise that is something I *ALWAYS* check before purchasing. If I can't see them that drops the price by at least 50%. If I can't see them and the vise shows evidence of hard work/abuse that drops the price to scraprate!