ThomasPowers

Did you see if you could ILL that book from the local public library? I've been lucky in finding books that go for several hundred dollars using the small town library here. Costs me US$1 per search but being able to hold the book in you hands allows you to decide if it's worth the money to get your own copy! Might be hard as it looks like a self published book: The Spruce Forge Manual of Locksmithing A Blacksmiths Guide to Lock Mechanisms (ISBN 10: 0615118224 / ISBN 13: 9780615118222 ) Bill Morrison Publication Date: 1999-09-10 Binding: Spiral-bound The Spruce Forge Manual of Locksmithing is the only volume of its type available in the United States. Unlike most locksmithing books, which deal only with parts replacement, this book illustrates the techniques and tools utilized in the making of hand forged locks. Illustrations, original lock patterns, and step-by-step instructions guide the reader through the process of traditional lock making.

(not to mention your SO getting awakened a lot too! I started sleeping much better once my wife got a CPAP system and I didn't wake up and start counting seconds and elbowing her when the count got excessive between breaths---I found it very hard to go back to sleep when my wife wasn't breathing.)

What a great project! I have a question or two though---(do I not always???)---you mention "both styles of cross peen" I have seen about 30 different styles of crosspein so far and expect many more are out there. In my forge we commonly use french crosspeens, swedish crosspeens, English/German style crosspeens and several wonderful old ones that were Lynch Collection---the same style but ranging from light delicate ones through forging hammers and up to a sledge I particularly like. They look a lot like some of the medieval ones found in the period illuminations. So which are the "both styles" Perhaps fat and thin peen? I tend to like fairly substantial peens save for a couple I have that are used almost solely for ornamental texturing. Tempering will depend a lot on what carbon content you end up at in your bloom; but bloomery iron tends to be shallow hardening so base your processes on that to start with. Will you be forge welding on higher carbon ends as was commonly the case? (I have several old hammers I have bought that have wrought iron bodies but steeled faces!)

NO. There is no "Railroad Steel" There are a bunch of different steels used for Railroad use. Like asking "Are all apples red delicious?" Well the Red Delicious ones are but the rest are not!

Frosty, your measurements of 35 years ago might not be the same as today!

I believe there is a company still making hand crank blowers---in India. Shipping might push the price above getting an old one though. (And the ones I have seen are not as nice as many of the old ones were...)

Clay and wood ashes are traditional fluxes in some places---usually for real wrought iron which is pretty much self fluxing all by itself in lower grades. Dirt Dauber nests (a clay tube built by an american wasp to hold it's eggs and a meal) have been used as flux. IIRC this was in one of the Foxfire books, perhaps #5?

There is very little charcoal in charcoal briquettes. In bloomery work Rehder states in "The Mastery and Uses of Fire in Antiquity" that the reducing zone is around 12 times the mean fuel diameter above the tuyere. Think what that means using briquettes! As all the early pattern welded swords were made in real charcoal fueled forges (and japanese swords are welded up in charcoal fueled forges to this day!) if you are having trouble reaching welding temps it's a forge design or user error. If you are just starting trying to forge weld to fix a mistake is rather a big stretch.

Depends on the details! Real Wrought iron? Clean silica sand or powdered glass will work Mild steel? borax High alloy tool steels? a mix of borax, boric acid and fluorspar What kind of forge? What kind of fuel? There is NO BEST without all the details! What's the best vehicle? Well are you commuting 200 miles a day or hauling 16 tons of gravel---or heading to outer space!

I came into blacksmithing though bladesmithing so unfortunately my high carbon scrap pile is larger than my low carbon scrap---I end up buying new mild stock; but have a gracious plenty of HC to hand. One of the first things I do when I get home from the scrapyard is to spark test my finds. I also find a lot of HC rock drill shafts from the 100+ year old mines out here. I try to get the ones without a central hole as besides the whole hole issue there has been incidents where an old rod was used for explosives tamping and the hole has been filled with stuff that did not like a forge fire!

My rule is that you can use it all day without your back hurting from bending over it. So the knife forging anvil is higher than the heavy stock forging anvil! Having your most used hammer hit *flat* naturally and not be canted up or down is another way to look at it. Actual height is pretty meaningless as what's perfect for someone 6'10" may be WAY to high for some one 5'2".

You might keep your eye open for a rock breaker bar AKA spud bar cheap at a fleamarket---or find a place that rents equipment and ask if they have a broken or bent up one to sell to you cheap. Usually a good medium carbon steel---better than a RR spike and usually about 5-6' long with the chisel end being at least 1" sq, the top end is often round and slightly smaller in diameter.

But it's these prices that people find when they look to see how much the anvil they have to sell is worth.

The GFI safety circuits tend to go bad really really fast and then be expensive to replace when tripped---like one of them should cover getting a powerstrip with an on-off switch. Now including such a outlet in your total system is a good idea and any external outlet should already be on such a GFI circuit. When I dug a trench forge for working a long piece I blew it with a shop vac and dealt with the excess air by having the output hose of the vac *not* fastened to the inlet of the 3' long tuyere. I left a gap between then and could adjust airflow by how close or how concentric the pipes were.

I lived for 15 years in OH and as I remember it you don't get notified you are officially a member, you just started receiving the newsletter as it came out on it's sometimes erratic schedule. Doesn't get you much save for being able to attend classes that are members only or first for signing up. The big part of being a member is supporting a group that is GREAT and does GREAT things instead of "mooching". People who "give back" are generally much more welcomed over time in almost any group I have been a member of.

I assume you know basic forging then and have a setup that can handle longer and larger pieces then? Or is this one of the "I'm going to learn to swim and my first go at it is to swim the English Channel" type of things where you are setting yourself up for frustration and failure. If it the second I strongly advise you to start off with smaller projects and build up your skills and muscles to handle the larger one. One way is to look at applied ornamentation---handforged flowers, tendrils, ornamental grillwork, etc. and start by making them as freestanding pieces and when you get good, (takes at least 6 of something to get the basics down pat for most folk), then step up to a project that incorporates those pieces---like a gate, lampstand, etc. And when your joinery is sound go on to the big project. This also allows you to grow your shop as you go along---much cheaper than saying that day 1 you need the large forge and large anvil and large vise and layout table---*NOW* (for example if you want a 6" postvise you can probably find one for US$600 in a week; I found one for $50 2 years ago by just keeping my eye out for one over time.)

They *both* are good starter anvils and I might have gone with the left one if it's price had a heavy cut to it due to condition. (bought one with no heel for $40 once that is still used in the shop for beginners and heavy sledging as they would have to work a lot harder to damage it!) With the choice of either for a good shop anvil the one of the right is one you can take to Demo's and be proud of...

Mine is 1/4" plate with one end forged down to fit my hardy---so it doesn't swing away when I'm working at an angle to the surface. When one side gets too chewed up, I heat it in the forge and bend the hardy stem over to use the other side. When both are too chewed up it goes into the "scrap for the scrappers pile" and I make another

You might want to see what successes they have had in a backyard metal casting forum. While I build my bloomeries from adobe dirt and straw I have always sprung for my forges as they see a lot more travel, vibration and thermal cycling---all hard on refractories!

For a letter opener I would not harden at all!

Have you thought of practicing by making a set of handled tooling? Say a series of punches of different diameters. Also start scrounging hammer/sledge/shovel/industrial mop handles as they are much stronger wood than dowel and can be re-shaped for handles---getting a good used farrier's rasp can really speed up reshaping them too. A broken long handle can often be cut back to sound wood and reused for smaller items. Now don't everyone faint when I say this; but a RR spike is fairly close to the size of a horseman's hammer type of warhammer---much faster and lighter than people assume they were and once you get better you can forge weld a higher carbon cap on both ends for the impact surfaces...

Yes; but probably not as well as cheap plain old borax.

Nope now you'll have the reputation of the Glass Picket Rail go to person! When I get a potential customer that won't allow any DFX changes in a design it's usually an indication that I should raise the price as they will probably be a pain to work with. (DFX = Design for X: [Manufacturing, Installation, Maintenance, etc...])

Too high is hard on the shoulder, too low is hard on the back. The "sweet spot" is specific to you and how your body is put together. May I suggest you take a chunk of 2x6 and mount that and then move the drill up and down along that until you decide it's just right and then bolt it in firm at the spot you want to have it.

Now it's time for Patrick to post a picture of them working some 40" diameter Titanium at Scott Forge. Their tongs have an engine, wheels and a steering wheel!