ThomasPowers

Unfortunately that for a lot of these young folks their ego's have been babied throughout school and the net reinforces the idea that *everybody's* views on a subject have worth whether the know diddly squat about the subject or are just guessing or are a world renowned expert on the subject. Remember the you-tube video from the guy who said "I've only made *one* sword so far; so here is how you make a sword" and then the methods he suggested were so bad and even possibly dangerous that there was a large number of people warning folks off from that side and it was finally pulled? Or all the young people who come up to me at a Demo and tell me they know all about blacksmithing because they played a video game or watched anime...

Cheap modern katanas were banned as I recall due to sword crime.

When someone comes up to me and says "Make me a sword!" I say "Sure hop up into the forge!" Many people don't realize that a poorly made sword is probably more dangerous than a well made one as it has more failure modes along with being a sharp pointy item.

Wide face! Then get a fork lift tine and make a narrow face anvil from it.

I second and third Quad-State! I'm driving in from New Mexico for it in a 22 year old PU with no cruise control or AC! Hope to see you there! http://www.sofasounds.com/conference2011/2011index.htm I've been doing quite a bit of medieval cooking tools lately as I have a friend who does medieval cooking using medieval tools rather than modern stove and oven. Her Peacock was quite tasty last campout as were the ducks, home made noodles, cobblers, etc.

The one I got had a leg hold trap spring installed as the spring. I put in a standard spring as I gussied it up for resale.

Does your grade matter to you? Think about showing your instructor one like CVMikeRay posted pics of vs a "rusty". I know which one I'd give higher marks for design and execution for! You can deal with changing the height adjustability by making multiple sets of dies of different heights. With a good design for die mounting it would be about as easy as it is to change the height on a LG. Small powerhammers: There was a fellow in SOFA who made small powerhammers that would fit in the hardy hole and use the anvil as their anvil---5# was one I remember. He demonstrated that they actually worked. And then there was the one PTree had mounted on his hat where they forged a sewing pin with it...

I'd stop there and *USE* *IT* for a while to see what you really need. For ornamental work some pitting is OK for knives or non-ferrous metals forging you may want a quite smooth surface. Note that even so the entire surface does not need to be "clean" as long as you have a "nice" section the rest can be "not nice". Before grinding on the face you should determining how much face is left by finding the weld line between the face and body. If it's thin DO NOTHING! If it's fat then a bit of clean up will do little harm. I have one anvil that was stored in an unheated shed in OH in a boggy area for 50+ years before I bought it. The face had fine pitting from temperature change condensation all over it---I left it alone as working hot steel on it will grtadually polish the face clean and smooth---scale is an abrasive you know---as it rust!

Probably 58 kilograms or 127.6 pounds!

A good weight for a Katana is about 2.5 pounds, make it lighter and it won't "chop" well as there is not enough inertia. Ti loves to absorb gasses when hot turning it brittle. Great if you are making swords for people you don't like; but be sure to collect payment in full *before* they try to use them! It is quite funny that many people talk of european swords as being overly heavy, almost crowbars rather than swords. Yet for nearly 1000 years the average weight of a standard European sword was about 2.5 pounds---the same weight as a katana *and* European swords tend to be much thinner than a katana in cross section so which one is the crowbar? Don't believe what you see from Hollywood or Anime!

I've tried the pattern welding of cast iron and steel after reading about it as a possible method used in early times to make blades. Since then I have read a lot more modern research and believe that that process was more of an "urban legend" than reality. When you heat such a billet to welding heat for steel and smack it molten CI files out in large gooey drips that fly through the air decarbing until they *BURST* into sparks when finally the iron gets to burn after the excess carbon goes away. Forge welding is generally a way of lowering the carbon content of a material so if you are willing to babby it enough you can get it into a steel range. I don't know about micro puddling; but I did read that Kelly did his experiments on the Kelly/Bessemer process in a refractory lined barrel so *that* can scale pretty small!

Looks nice; but you might think about heating up and dressing the welds a bit afterwards---a long skinny horn or bickern helps and hides the "modern" welding. Tig or O-A welds can often get the fillet look of a forge weld without forge welding too. Now find someone with $$$$ that wants a gate for their wine cellar!

Where will it be located? Nice scrolls going from the feet to the tube are a pretty design *if* people will not be walking through a confined space with the base a tripping hazard. If it would be a tripping hazard a flat disk, perhaps with plasma cut designs would be better. Or put the scrolling as the legs and have just the tube rising above it. An adjustable tube might be nice as many churches have a number of Processional Crosses, Candles, Flags, Banners, etc and the better the fit the better it looks. Perhaps a series of nesting tubes with slight tabs at the top to make them easily changed out?

I was at the State Fair last weekend and had a good time!---Never got out of the SWABA Demo trailer; but a good time none the less! Of course this was the NM State Fair...YMMD

According to the UN manual on blacksmithing in backward areas you can heat mild steel and a piece of cast iron and crayon it onto the mild steel leaving a higher carbon steel layer for edge tools. Other than that Cast Iron is pretty much useless in the forge.

You can make your first set of tongs with no tongs by starting with pieces long enough to hold in your bare hands---this is not all that long 2' will be sufficient. You cool the holding ends as needed.

Yes definitely too much stuff---why they need *ANOTHER* pot rack---Christmas is coming better talk to him *soon* about the second one...

Did you try a different blade with it? If it's not a problem with the bladee then you have to check the alignment of the blade holder. Keep the running gear oiled!

O&R, I used a broken blade from an electric epee to hold the coil while cutting with a dremel. It fit my 1/4" coils well and had a trough where the wire went so the cutting disk didn't hit the epee. This setup allowed me to cut a number of links before pulling them off and re-seating the coil.

They were a traditional material for native american arrowheads after they became available. Of course the old wrought iron bands may have been a bit thicker than the modern mild steel ones. How about using them in pattern welded billets? Decorative bands sawn/punched/filed for woodwork projects? Stock to make repousee leaves from.

I very carefully chose a wife who had a different craft that she is passionate about. So she understands how one could "need" more than one of a tool; but never wants to use mine hammers, tongs or anvils as her craft passion is *spinning*.

I soak in household vinegar and then wash under running water scrubbing with a wire brush to remove the scale sludge.

About 2 weeks ago I bought a Columbian post vise in Albuquerque NM for US$30, on the backside of the stationary jaw it had Columbian Co Cleve in fine RAISED letters and 35 (weight) on the front of the moving jaw.

Yes, sounds like a "RR forge" all right. I have one in much worse shape---the smoke hood was made from a VW hood, etc

John your local library should be able to ILL a copy. Inter Library Loan, you have to ask someone who knows something at the desk though. I live in rural New Mexico and the local library can ILL items I haven't been able to buy after 4 years of a standing book search on several web sites! I tend to ILL books before I buy them to see if they are a good use of my limited cash.