ThomasPowers

Got back from Q-S this morning and still made it into work. Had a great time, though it helped that I was prepared for *rain* as I think I saw as much rain at Q-S as we have had YTD here in NM. NW MO is a pretty fair haul to Q-S; about 1/2 as far as we had to travel though. I hope to encourage more NM people to make it out there when I show off my "treasures" at the SWABA meeting at my forge Saturday. I was really happy to see Aaron C there though I didn't get nearly enough time to talk with him; sounded like he was getting some really nice stuff there though. So much to do, so much to buy, (I bought 5 different refractories while I was there!), so little time, money, hauling space/weight! Thomas

I built my own double lunged bellows---came into smithing in the 1400's by way of the gold smiths IIRC---and decided I liked it better than my hand crank blower---which I had previously decided I liked better than the electric blower I started smithing with. "Cathedral Forge and Waterwheel" Gies & Gies has several medieval illuminations of blacksmiths at work in it; unfortunately while the show the forge and anvil and bellows they tend not to show the shop. May I commend to your consideration "De Re Metallica", Agricola, for a slew of woodcuts showing very nicely how metalworking buildings were made in the 1500's. Easily found in English translation (translated by an american president no less!) published by Dover. Your local library can ILL it if they don't have a copy! Off to Quad-State! Thomas

I've never used anything during the last 30 years living in OK, AR, OH, NM and with a number of anvils. Not even on the loaner anvil that was left outside in OH.

Friday, given good weather, I'll be wearing lederhosen and an aloha shirt in honour of Paw Paw Wilson and R.A.H. (Glory Road)---along with the very disreputable red hat.

Well I'm off to Quad-State after work today---by way of several sets of kids and grand kids so I won't get there till Wednesday or Thursday. Anyone else going? (By a stroke of luck my disreputable red hat turned up---even more disreputable than before!)

I hope to be at Quad-State on Wednesday and I can haul that useless piece of plunder\\\\\\\ metal far far away for you! It would make a dandy upsetting block for the floor but why not swage block 3 of the four edges and leave the last one alone as a Brazeal style anvil. Or to quote "Big Trouble in Little China": "Marry them Both!" Actually I think that make a swage block will be very expensive in time and tooling---I know you could easily buy one far cheaper than a machine shop would require. Is there a local VoTech that might take it on as a project for a donation to their end of the year party fund?

I'd suggest you look at medieval illuminations of smiths at work before designing it then to see what was actually used over what folks nowadays believe was used. Thatch is a fire hazard, especially if you go medieval and forge with charcoal! For a nice post and beam shop take a look at the one Charles McRaven had in Country Blacksmithing. Once when I was in Hollister MO I hunted it down and saw it in person. IN gets a lot colder in winter than England does in most places so if you try to replicate an original please take that into account.

If you are in the USA you could get concrete form nails that have a double head on them. Cut or grind off the top head and make it your spike and then use the bottom head as the rivet end in the cup and cut the long shaft as needed to make the rivet through the supporting piece. Here's an example of what I mean---they are calling them "duplex nails" You will need to make a bucker with a hole in it to set the spike end in so you can rivet the other side tight---drill a hole in some 1" rod and dress it to fit the curve on your candle cup. Have it held in your postvise or make it a hardy tool.

Is there a local spring shop you could buy "new" scrap from? Drops we call them in the USA as they are what drops on the floor when you cut a piece to size for a project. Often I can get them for scrap price plus a little boot (extra) like a hand forged trinket, or doughnuts, of in some cases a sixpack of beer; sometimes after telling them about why I want them I have to make a speedy get away as they dump free pieces in my truck faster than I can say *enough*! Most coil over here is more like 5160 than 1095; but a manufacturer can use *anything* they think will work---and change it at anytime!

Actually most I have talked with do not want to "make a sword" they want to *own* a sword on the cheap. I suggest they mow lawns and *buy* a good sword and only want to teach the ones who want to make one because they Have to Make One and are interested in the whole practice. I'll put almost anybody through a basic knife forged from coil spring; however I have learned over the decades that only about 10% get *finished*. Most bog down in the tedium of filing and end up abandoning the project. Yet they at least *learned* something and only took an afternoon of my time. Swords deserve better! I have a student currently making a falchion and I spent a lot of time holding it as he forged with a heavy hammer two handed; but I'm making *him* call the spot to hit as I slide the blade back and forth on the anvil at his call. (If it's cold I'll stop him---but he's gotten good about making that judgment himself). I have also let him learn the basics of various types of abrasives as he starts to clean it up. As a falchion the POB is forward and when it's ready for HT we'll check out the vibration nodes and make tweaks to the position of the guard to shift one into the grip if necessary. This is more like a "senior thesis" for someone who has been working with me for several years. If he just wanted a sword I would have told him to buy one. Now to wean him off titanium knives....I had him forge one once to impress the yokels and now he's decided he like impressing the yokels...sigh, he's young.

There's black widows in my shop and around my house but I never thought to epoxy one to a hammer handle! So how is it working for you? I have a range of sledges with short handles; but they are all wood handled. Don't like fiberglass handles and the UV out here is horrendous so when the fiberglass starts to break down---well you don't want to slid your hand down the shaft when striking.

Stewart can I have any anvil you get that you *can't* lift? I don't need a hernia/back issues to prove I am a man. I can use my brain to figure out how to move heavy objects without damaging myself!

OTOH 4 guys "complained" (B&M) quite a bit when we moved my 515# anvil for a meeting using pipes through the two hardy holes---1 at either end. Perhaps it was because they picked it up *before* the shop doors were open and so had to hold it while someone went in the side door, threaded themselves through the shop and opened the end doors... One item of the first day's class when I teach at the local college is to "Not pick up an anvil until there is a place to set it down!" (unloading, set up, tear down and loading are part of the class "fee" to get me to haul 4 anvils and two forges up to the fine arts building)

Start thinking about how swords differ from knives. Look at *good* designs (historical examples NOT replicas which are often very poorly made and often far too heavy!) Figure out why they did what they did to get the POB, COP, vibration nodes, etc (Vibration nodes are very much a sword thing and can make the difference of a sword that sticks in your hand like it was glued there and one that wants to jump out of your hand when you hit something with it!) Figure out why and how heat treating may differ in a sword vs a knife. Be willing to fail.

That whole page never says diamond on it. They would be pushing that if they were using it. So like the post above it Tungsten Carbide probably mounted in an Abrasion Resistant steel. Can't forge Tungsten Carbide and AR steel can be useful for tooling but the shape is not a real helpful one to start from. Places buy tungsten carbide scrap. I'd see about selling it and buying known good steel. However if you do find one with little wear see if it can be used as a drift, IIRC Hoffi uses drifts made from tungsten carbide tank penetraters...

Sam how do you teach them good design and control of vibration nodes and heat treatment of a variety of steels in that short of time?

Why cut and weld? Just use a good sized chunk as it stands if it has a flat side to it somewhere! Remember it doesn't have to be a London pattern anvil to be an anvil! "there is no need for a wide face when forging": well it depends on what you are doing! I met a 5th generation smith in Stroud OK once that had take one of the old oilfield bridge anvils and flipped it over---built a stand to hold it upside down as he needed a wider anvil than the bridge anvil (and they are wide to start with) for a job he did quite often.

What he said! *Knowing* the tax code is a must for a small business and a good accountant can make or break your business! Just consider depreciation on your tools---might mean a profit for you some years but no hobbyist has to take it into account. If you are making stuff that has a liability potential then a LLC makes a whole lot of sense. Is there a local community college that offers small business courses? *WELL* worth the time and money! Also see if the SBA (Small Business Administration) offers any courses or workshops locally.

The diamond stamped in the side is the trademark of Trenton. Have then flip it over and check the depression in the base. If it's a caplet that's another Trenton sign IIRC. If it follows the outline of the base thats a strong Hay Budden sign. However I don't see anything indicating it's an HB over a Trenton looking at that Pic.

Start visiting all the boot sales you can but only buy stuff when it's cheap! I often find hammers at scrapyards buried in the muck at the bottom of piles---picked up a nice one in the UK like that once---wrought iron body and steeled faces! learning how to replace a handle is a basic skill for hammer users!

We used an engine hoist to move my 515# Fisher into my truck. Then at the house I slid it to the back of the bed and "kicked it" off the tailgate. Once on the ground I used a couple of 2x6"'s and pipe rollers to move it into the shop. Once in the shop I put a couple of lolly columns up to brace the bottom of the roof truss and then used a come-along to lift it in place. Having had a pair of college students drop one of my anvils on it's nose on an "industrial" concrete floor I can say that my anvil suffered no damage and the floor has a nice chunk missing where it hit. Smart people can be really dumb sometimes! To move my large screwpress I put skids on the bottom and lifted it off my truck under a large stout tree with a chain-hoist and then chained it to the back bumper of my truck and *SLOWLY* drug it over the gravel to in front of the shop doors and then used rollers to get it inside. Triphammers I used a come-along to help slide it off the back of the truck and upright *SLOWLY* and then used rollers and a pru bar to move it in and out of the shop.

If you have to you can use most anything---I've seen documentation on forging using peat as the fuel, also buffalo dung. However good coal makes forging a joy rather than a trudge. I plan to buy several hundred pounds of good coal at Quad-State and carry it nearly 1500 miles home!

When I teach the first project is an S hook and I tell them that *everything* they do to make an S hook is directly applicable to making a blade---helps focus some students. I did the into lesson for a teenager at the NM State Fair last weekend and was able to assure him that he was doing better than many of the college students I teach.

Shall we mention the people who think 2 screens of info and a 2 minute video published by "who knows" is a good replacement for several hundred pages of a book written by an expert?

What about skipping the pipe and make the holder a series of vines twining up with the gap in the middle for the shaft (probably make it with a piece of pipe as the mandrel...)