ThomasPowers

Looks like a stout one! What's the ram weight? Is a Waratah better than a Warrantee? remember to drain the tinnies before smashing them with it!

You mean you're near the famous Saltfork Craftsmen Artist Blacksmiths Assoc? http://www.saltforkcraftsmen.org/ Dang I've been wanting to attend their conference from here in central NM I'd suggest getting in touch with them and seeing if anyone near by is also a member and tracking them down. My mother is from the Altus area, Humphreys, I used to be a mudlogger in the deep Anadarko Basin in western OK. Bought a lot of good equipment in some of the small towns! (Ask around the cafe and start tracking!)

Forge welding is one of those things that is a LOT simpler to have an experience person show you how than to try to learn it from a book. If you are near central NM I would be happy to, (or are attending the SCA's Battlemoor event in Colorado where I plan to do some pattern welding.) Did you have a "proper" fire---deep and clean? Did you take it to the correct temperature? Was the piece prepared properly to have minimal scaling before trying to weld? Kind of hard to troubleshoot this way...

Last time I dealt with an intruder trying to break into our house I used a spear. Somehow a bearded naked man thundering down the stairs and heading towards where he was trying to break in---carrying a spear---inclined him more towards taking up sprint running. (I'm cranky if awoken in the middle of the night too!)

Firepots are a consumable in the long run. be happy that you have 3/16" and think that it will be just that much sooner till you can make your *next* one and modify the design to suit yourself after having used it for a while. BTAIM I made a firepot out of the axle cover from a banjo rear end (1930's? Ford?) and it hasn't given out in over 25 years now though it is in it's 3rd forge body and hopefully soon to be 4th!

You mean like these? http://im.videosearch.rediff.com/thumbImage/videoImages/videoImages1/ugoto/rdhash714/steel-toe-flip-flops-7c3.jpg Lets see you would need a hammer and an anvil and some metal moving skills---better hunt down a blacksmith! (got a mirror handy?)

I've got a set of steel toed sandals on my to do list...

S; that's not the forge at Ohio Village in Columbus is it? I knew the smith Paul Ailing that worked in that one for about a decade and they had the bellows mis-installed such that he messed up his shoulder using it. That one looks very different than the one he was using. Low slung bellows can be very prone to back flash so be careful!

Just like places that want *you* to pay to set up and demo to *their* people. They don't seem to understand why we should not be happy to just give them *our* money.

I have friends in Los Angeles! Oh you probably mean that wet state.... Welcome, I would suggest you go to the local public library and ask them to ILL (Inter Library Loan) a copy of Weygers "The Complete Modern Blacksmith" which is all about starting smithing on zero budget and scrounging and making everything you need including forge fuel! You'll probably want to own your own copy; but previewing books through the library's ILL system is way cheaper than blowing your budget on a book you decide you don't like... I second the suggestion that you find a local group and get together with them. If they are not too local you might be able to find people to carpool with to go to meetings---we used to carpool for a 2 hour drive to get to SOFA meetings from Columbus OH, (stopping at a large fleamarket along the way of course...)

We in America come from a very different background from the old guild systems in Europe which evolved to *limit* competition by controlling the market. They often set the prices, set the working hours, set who could set up shop, forbid anyone to work outside the limits of their particular guild----you could have your workshop pulled down if you were caught doing another guilds work in yours! ( I get a lot of "How long did it take a medieval smith to make a sword" questions only to answer that medieval smiths didn't make swords! They forged the blade which would then be sent out to be ground/polished in another shop and then to another to be hilted and a fourth one would make the scabbard. The Cutler would sell the blade and often subcontract the other steps out but no one shop or person did them all! You used folks who were experts in each step and had the proper tools and used them full time! None of this "I will use my capital intense forge today and then shut it down and use a capital intense watermill to power my grinder and then have that set idle while I use capital intense tooling to make guard, grip and pommel, etc".) In America we were a frontier society and people had to do a lot of different things just to survive out on the frontier! So a single smith might make things from a number of different guilds---we know that he would often be the farrier, work on wagons, make edge tools, even pull teeth if necessary. I have talked to european smiths who are amazed at how open we are with sharing our knowledge; of course many of us are hobbyists and so are not guarding our livelihoods; but even most of the Pro's are quite supportive of other smiths. (Some of this may be like armour makers who are *VERY* supportive of new aspirants to the craft realizing that after having *tried* it most new people will suddenly realize how awesomely cheap that "too expensive" professionally made armour is!) As for "secrets" well a lot of things I have seen people claim to have invented I have seen in museums several hundred years old...I tell folks "don't worry about being the *first*; worry about being the *best*!" (Once met a lad at the Knifemakers Guild Show who was going to build a knife-gun that shot the tip of the blade---"Oh like the one from the Renaissance shown in 'Arms and Armor Annual', vol 1 'A Wheel-lock Dagger from the Court of the Medici'" He was very downhearted to find that he wouldn't be the *first* by centuries...) Now we do get into cases where someone will take our freely shared information and try to undercut us---why I say worry about being *BEST*, much much harder to equal the speed and quality of an experienced person! (and they are much more likely to be able to make quick changes to designs that have been pirated and churned out in China to flood the US market.

Well most of those look like Vulcans---not a good brand for extreme repairs and a lot of abuse going on there. (Shape of horn, shallowness of cutting plate and blockiness of heels is what I'm going by) Might do ok at about half that price----of course his in good shape and work fine has no credibility after how he rated the anvils; looks like he doesn't know anything about smithing stuff; *or* he's trying to find buyers who don't know anything about smithing stuff. I'd suggest a VoTech welding program pick them up and try to fix them; though after a lot of work they are still the bottom of the real anvil list in terms of quality. Pay $70 for a 100 pound anvil; put $200 of time and rod into it to get an anvil worth about $150...enough incredible deals like that and I'll be attending your bankruptcy sale...

One of the methods used to come up with a typology of medieval knives is how the steel edge is applied, *all* those methods and even a simple but weld were used in Medieval European knifemaking. When you have worn through the steel part you take it back to the smith and have him weld on a new piece. "Knives and Scabbards", Museum of London, has information on how medieval knives were made---and out of over 300 medieval examples excavated in London I don't recall a single double edged one!

Note the lack of pritchel, compact form, sharp topped feet. So probably pre 1820's and possibly within the made by hand with tilt hammers standards. What I'm wondering is 30 CWT would be over 3000 pounds as it's supposed to be a traveling anvil my guess it's an 3 0 or 84 pounds

Well I know about 1/2 dozen folks making a living making jousting armour and dozens making foot jousting armour. Wall Street Journal once did an article about that proverbial bad economic choices in industry of buggy whip makers. Turned out the factory they interviewed was working massive over time trying to keep up with the harness racing demand and was doing quite well!

Just a little help with the jargon "smithy" is the building "smith" is the person; so calling us smithies is like calling a group of mechanics "garages". You may have read Longfellow's poem? "Under the spreading chestnut tree the village smithy stands; the SMITH a mighty .... Many people interested in the craft do not want to put in the practice necessary to do well in it. Just like music or football or even video games you need to expect to put substantial amounts of time in it to get good. Starter projects are usually designed that a new person can make something that actually "works" and so not get discouraged by making ugly scrap while building their skills up. In general I have found that people who insist on jumping to the difficult stuff first tend to drop out before ever getting the skills down to make such items. The hours of work to produce trash gets them down whereas starting with the simple projects has them making useful (and salable!) items from day one. I have always been puzzled why some people expect to be able to do work of a caliber their first time at the forge that in past times would only be expected of a person who had served a 7 year full time apprenticeship! Close knit? but most of these folks I have never met in person. What we do share in common is experiences. We often quibble back and forth; but most of us freely admit that there is more than one way to do things. And offers to teach in person for free are common amongst the smithing confraternity. Smithing is: fun, creative, cheap to get started; but you can refine your skills *forever*. I've known folks smithing under 10 and over 90 years old. However it's not for everyone. I suggest people dabble in the cheap end until they decide if they want to continue with the craft and start acquiring tools that can build up to quite a sum---my anvils are worth more than my pickup, (actually two of them are each worth more than my pickup...). I teach what I know for free and after 30+ years of doing so I know that 95+% of the people who I teach will not go on in the craft after the first "honeymoon" period. Maybe 5% of those will come back to the craft later, making 9 out of 10 a dead loss of my time, materials, fuel, experience. Yet I continue on---it's what I do for fun and want to share that fun with others. Out of that last 10% left I know I have started some xxxx fine smiths and someday at conferences and on forums like this some respected smiths will get asked how they got started and reply "there was this crazy old coot with a disreputable red hat..."

I've noticed that folks get quite irate when you seem to think that *THEY* should know what they are selling and not misrepresent it. Had one ask me how they should know what it was they were selling, then that they were disabled and couldn't get to a library to research things they bought at auctions for re-sale. (Of course they could go to the auctions and definitely had internet access as that was how they were re-selling stuff!) Don't know how many times I've seen bunion stretchers for shoes advertised as "Blacksmith's tongs"

What a surprise; my Parents spent 4 years in Naarden and I was able to visit them several times. Leaves are often used as ornamental items for fences, railings, even mirror frames. They can be mixed with wood too if you have made a number of individual leaves and do not have a method of attaching them to steel. Nails: find people in historical houses that want hand forged nails to mount items There are several other smiths in the Netherlands, often involved in historical recreation. It would be great if you can find someone local for you to talk with.

Forge welding may not be that hard but learning fire management and proper hammer control is often a matter of practice. I have had a number of students that I did a welding session with that then report they have problems. When I check it out I find they are trying to weld in 1" of fire or in 16" of green coal, or a fire that is 80% clinker---and proper welding fire was lesson 1!

Well it's *easy* when you have a pro coaching you and yelling "Don't look at it HIT IT!" (what my coach did back in 1984 when I was trying to learn the correct temperature colour for welding and he was trying to get me a good weld...). It's when you are back home alone staring into your own fire that it gets difficult!

Curving them generally makes them a bit more friendly to wear, is it new to you? That design goes way back.

Can you get over to Caniron, http://www.ontarioblacksmiths.ca/CANIRON8/index.html fastest way to get started is to hang around folks that are already doing it! They can help with supply sources and smithy designs too---I don't think one designed for lots of 100 degF days with very low humidity and high winds would do you any good. (like mine in New Mexico) Of course for bladesmithing you MUST have "The Complete Bladesmith" James Hrisoulas. Just checked, Caniron is just about a clinker's throw from where you are at! Start selling plasma now and perhaps a kidney as you will *WANT* to spend some money there---I drive 1500 miles to get to Quad-State in Ohio in September and I'm not nearly the farthest to come, (I think New Zealand won that one)

In February I had the proverbial "15 year old kid" show up at my forge at the SCA's Estrella War. It was school day and his mother came along as a chaperon for their home school group. She told me that the only reason he had gone on the trip was to see the forge and I told her that with her permission I would be happy for him to stay while they visited other demos and if allowed have him do some forging. So after the demo for the group we suited him up in the leather apron and he got to make his first project---a S hook. He did well. Then he started asking all the *RIGHT* questions about pattern welding---not anime of BS off the net; but he had actually read up on the subject in *good* sources and was asking about what he was unsure of. So I took one of our fun-sized billets---23 layers of BSB & PS and welded it up to show him the process. Then I had *him* draw it out and I did a smoothing run then nicked it and folded it and stuck it in the forge and told him that *he* was welding it this time. So I stood over him coaching him on when it was ready to flux and when it was ready to weld and he got a good weld on it. He was flabbergasted when I told him to keep it. Out of the hundreds of kids that have asked me to do the very same thing---why was he one of the few that "lucked out"? He had done his homework, researched the process from good sources and asked intelligent questions. He was safe around the forge. He listened and acted on instructions and didn't try to tell me he knew it all when he didn't. He also had a parent who supported his interest in learning. He should go far---maybe not in blacksmithing, ones interests change often at that age; but whatever he does he's got a good grounding in how to learn.

RR, they look very nice indeed for that genre; particularly in the design as well as the execution. Good tough well made using blades! Hope they sell out and that box comes back full of orders for more. I would stencil that box "Open In Case of Zombie Attack"

Wow and OH is just about the low point in price for blacksmithing stuff! I blame the internet for doing away with localized prices.