ThomasPowers

Buy your first hammer and use it to pay for the one you *want*. Over the last 30 years I've owned 4 triphammers so far: 25# LG for $75, 50# Unknown make for $260 under power, Champion #1 for $750---under power, and a Champion #1 for $600 needs some TLC. A powerhammer can speed up your work; allow you to do things you couldn't even dream about by hand and save a lot of RSI issues. I'd advise you to work toward finding and getting a mechanical fast and saving for the nice one!

Will both be in use at the same time? If not you can share the flue and use a blocking plate on the unused side.

A bickern is also useful when you have your main anvil being a pretty much hornless block of steel. I made my own to go with my Y1k Travel Anvil.

Heat is heat as long as you don't damage the burner by excessive "sawing" should work fine. Personally I like to temper the entire blade first to the edge temper and then draw the spine/tang back further so more of a combo of oven and localized heat source.

I just use a picture of myself forging 2.5" stock on a 200# Chambersburg. Makes the day at work a bit more tolerable...

I have a cole drill which is much like an old post drill but portable. I've drilled a number of 1/2" holes in 1/2" plate with it and it's doable but does make you appreciate *more* *power*

GREAT you've got started! Now is time to start working *smarter* as you make use of the *VALUABLE* experience you now have. (I was a bit perturbed about trying to use a rivet as a punch---rivets are generally made using the softest annealed steel they can source cheaply. Punches are usually a tough medium to high carbon steel or even high alloy steels designed to stay hard at very hot temps. They don't interchange very well...Can you find a pin punch at the local fleamarket or forge one down from a section of coil spring?)

Zinc chloride is the classic tinner's flux used to solder sheet metal, so your toxic waste is actually a useful commodity. If you want to dispose of it and if your used acid still has too low a ph, add lime until it's neutralized. (just regular lime unslaked is NOT needed!) If the original was hot dipped galvanized you should probably look into doing the same for the repair/modification!

OK this is where my comment comes in: Real bloomery wrought iron is generally worked close to white heat where it's almost as soft as butter and you can do a *lot* of forging with a fairly small hammer compared to working modern mild steels at a considerably lower temp. So I would say that the "authentic techniques" are not quite as authentic when using different materials than were originally used. The final product looks like a great usable axe and would be a great learning project to get ready to do it again with bloomery WI. As real WI tends to forge weld beautifully as well build ups of even quite small "scrap" pieces is quite common. My Y1K travel anvil is a simple tapered cube with a spike forged on the bottom and weighs about 25# and I often use it like it was 5 times heavier! (But you can really tell the difference in your temperatures working on it!)

Pretty! Bigger than my H frame which only has a 42" wheel. I assume it cost a bit more too as mine was about US$100 FOB

Getting a good blower set up and putting out the right amount of air is crucial for efficient smithing. The first time a piece goes in the fire will take longer as it's going from *about* ambient to 1500 degF afterwards it should be faster as you are going from 1000 degF to 1500 degF---important to get the piece back in the fire as soon as it stops glowing! Are you stacking the charcoal *high* and making sure the steel goes in the hot part and not down deep where the COLD air is coming in or on top where radiation to space is a concern? I could take a piece of steel to welding temp in a bellows blown forge using charcoal with those times! I assume you have looked into the local blacksmithing group? A couple hours on a Saturday with someone who knows what they are doing can save you *weeks* of floundering around by yourself.

Sounds closer to new price to me. If all you need is a big hunk of steel to make knives on I would look a a chunk of forklift tine at scrap price than a top dollar anvil. It's a bit of a wait but the IBA conference in Central Indiana in early June should have some dandy anvils cheaper than that! Did you ask around the Michigan blacksmithing group? I'd be surprised if you couldn't turn up a decent small anvil for less than that price.

Could you gie a wee thought of putting your general location in your profile so it posts under your name. Helps a lot when trading advice to know if it's locally specific!

For sq tenons I have a couple of old deep wall sockets I use to dress them, by coincidence they come in standard inch sizes, 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, 3/4... I probably spent a dollar a piece for them at the fleamarket.

Just dunking it in a lot of water will not be effective. You need a forceful stream to pound through the steam jacket. Traditionally they used a flume or water tower; however when McRaven did his anvil he used a high pressure hose from a local volunteer fire department. When you get done please do a cost work up of what your company would have charged to make that for a customer---very likely new anvils wouldn't seem so expensive anymore. Getting metal for scrap and using your own uncharged time really makes a difference in the cost!

Well I did not get the sobriquet "Curmudgeon" for nothing! I've seen a number of videos that basically come down to unskilled people trying to show how one should do something---including one infamous knifemaking one by a fellow who was so clueless as to be dangerous that got quickly pulled after a large number of more expert bladesmiths pointed out that what he was advocating doing could result in serious injury and was NOT the way to do it. (There was a sword making one too that I can recall; so bad as to be hazardous as well.) The problem is that on the internet people can't really tell if a poster has decades of experience, college classes in metallurgy, and has actually *written* the books on the subject, (cf JPH) or has seen it on Anime and done it in a computer game and so "knows it all". BTAIM you are welcome to write and post what you wish as long as you do not annoy the moderators! (Of which I am not one on this site.)

I do not see suggesting reading the entire books as a promise for citations, (I did not claim to be pedantic). "Two countries separated by a single language"? Basically a lot of the books cover the wide range of "stuff" in real wrought iron and the piling/lamination of it as it goes from bloom to item. Much of the early stuff is quite heterogeneous (one of the discussions I have had with some folks claiming on how early iron wire was drawn was due to how rough the early iron was and so it would be quite difficult to draw---micrographs of extant maille links show that it was not a clean high grade material at all). Pure iron is a much superior material; but it's the heterogeneous nature that drives a lot of how the material was originally worked---a lot of forge welding rather than punching to get eyes for example. Smiths who work with modern materials often do now realize where design is driven by the characteristics of the original materials and so often take shortcuts that the original smiths could not have used. (I have actually supplied materials to several smiths who were sure that medieval smiths worked the exact same way that they did with modern materials and have enjoyed their learning experiences. But then I have been told that I am an evil man...) If I was told "make a modern copy" then I would be pleased to use modern materials. If I am asked to make a replica then I ask "to what degree?" and yes smelting bloomery iron will be done if they want and are willing to pay for it. Wrought iron for a step down from that level with re-working old crude wagon tyres for folks wanting an earlier style material and using a higher grade WI for people not. (When I moved out here I was given 100+ feet of 1" diameter real wrought iron that had been used to mend a cistern after the 1906 quake---100 years out in the elements and I was able to run off the nuts without penetrating oil and with a regular sized wrench! Nice stuff indeed, looks to be triply refined. My knifemaker friends don't like it as it has too little character when etched.) I get notification of most of the UK conferences from the Archeological Metallurgy mailing list; unfortunately this trip is driven by my wife's interests and I am just the "hewer of wood and carrier of suitcases" As Wales seems to be shut down till after Easter, After Easter is when we will be there. We had 5.67" of precipitation last year. I'm expecting we'll see more over there just during our trip. Anything hard to find over there but abundant here that I could bring over and drop in the post for you?

I used to live in Columbus OH and shipped half a score of postvises out to NM with me. Have not found any in Columbus NM so far. Have never been to Columbus GA. That one looks to be within current prices in OH (Several years ago the basement pricing for postvises at Quad-State was $40; last couple of times it now seems to be about $75 so I bought a 6" one for $50 and a 3" one for $20 while I was there in 2010....my friends often call me bad names...) Interesting inverted spring mounting. Looks to be decent condition have you called up and reserved it yet?????

One of the aspects of teaching new people to smith is teaching them that modifying and making their own tools is not only allowed but encouraged. So many of them feel that the commercial design *must* be the best design and I have trouble getting them to understand that most often it's the *cheapest* design the manufacturer felt they could get away with. I, having over a million years of tool using hominids in my background, have the right, nay the mandate, to modify and create tooling to suit myself! Historically you start with everything *custom* hand made to suit the buyer. The we went into factory mode where everything was designed to suit the factory. Now we are on the brink of the third wave where intensive computerization can once more result in everything being custom for the person who orders it. Or as I tell my tool clients "Feel free to bring it back and we'll tweak it until it's *perfect* for *you*!" (and Why I do this as a hobby instead of a job...)

LONG DRIVE! Should be able to find one local and pay for it with the gas savings!

I did not find those books hard to get. Here in America we can go to the local public library and ILL them for free or a nominal charge---here in rural New Mexico I have to pay US$1 per book and get to keep it for 3 weeks. ILL is a lifesaver when you live in remote areas and research uncommon stuff! I'm lucky in that I own all I mentioned save for Tylecote and Gilmour's work. I mentioned the books as much of this is based on the complete reading of the book and not a specific line in them. As real wrought iron is a much more important item in the UK due to historical aspects; perhaps you can share some resources? I'm sure there are quidelines for historic restoration over there. I've read the Real Wrought Iron Co, LTD site for example and was visiting the Blist Hill museum when they were siting in the stream hammers for shingling blooms. (I'll be visiting Hay on Wye this Spring and hope to stock up on more books---I've got a long wish list myself and my study is dedicated to Blacksmithing, historical ferrous metallurgy, medieval arms and armour, historic crafts, etc; I've already started covering the windows with bookcases as I've run out of wall space---of course it was the smallest bedroom in the house!) So what should we continue this under "Properties of historical Iron"? "Iron over time"? "Choosing the proper material for Historical work"? "Oh No Not Another Discussion by the Wrought Iron Wonks"? I'll be off till Monday and may be longer as I may have a spot of surgery then. And I agree pure iron is my definite choice for ornamental work requiring massive amounts of forming. Unfortunately hard to find over here.

I would definitely try oil first and thing about doing a differential temper on it after hardening. The shaft of a chisel is better tough than hard and brittle. I would hammer out the bevel on most cutting tools *hot* and grind or file to refine cold. Tangs on a drawknife should be soft and tough. One method is to not heat them when heat treating but may be easier to do a full harden and then draw their temper back to full blue or *more*. Since you are at a library ask the desk if you can do an ILL (inter Library Loan) on Weyger's "The Complete Modern Blacksmith" that includes his book "The Making of Tools". Most US libraries have ILL. However I don't know what country you are in. Why folks expect a paragraph on-line written by *anybody* to replace hundreds of pages written by an expert....

I think we are at the horse pate state. If we want to continue perhaps we should generate a thread specific to the discussion? BTW my dayjob is with an astrophysics research group on a University campus---to be pedantic here you must always cite sources; just making statements doesn't cut it. I understand that in other venues this may not be the case which may explain my use of terms.

Fleamarket report Socorro NM: 2 spud wrenches, 1 socket chisel, 1 craftsman phillipshead screwdriver, large size: US$7 total.

Mesquite is NOT a good wood to make charcoal from. They do is for it's flavouring of meat cooked over it and as such it tends to not be fully charred (as pure charcoal imparts no wood flavour). It is quite resinous and tends to throw out a lot more forge fleas in a forge or bloomery. When making charcoal from it the resinous pockets make it more tricky to process as they can re-light and burn up the charcoal if not fully out. I have a huge chunk of root they dug out when redoing the local road that I hope to slab using a 2man saw. Unfortunately it incorporates rocks and sand along with the gnarled grain (why the manual saw to start.)