ThomasPowers

The postvise nearest my forge is a 4" one fast and easy to use. A couple of steps away is a 6.5" one as anything I need that for is usually heavy stock that can take me making a couple of steps without cooling down much. For my new shop extension I plan to set a couple of inch sq gazinta in the floor and so have a movable immovable post vise that I can work all the way around.

What he said, 1.5 x Dia of rivet. Now you can fudge either way depending on how you plan to head the rivet, (flat, countersunk, connical, dome, etc) I picked up an old metalshop text bookfor a dollar once just for such info, handy to look things up in and easy to understand.

I've bent hundreds of S hooks without a horn. Stick the part you want the bend in over the edge of the anvil and hit it down some then take it and lay it on it's "back" on the anvil and hit the end of the bent section toward you to make a smooth curve. Or just get a couple of pieces of pipe to use for curves. (A nesting set is very handy, esp if the smallest one can have one end squared to fit in a hardy hole or vise.)

Welcome! You will be amazed what you can do when you have the ability to heat steel up! BTW the funny looking clips the railroads use can have up to twice as much carbon content as the spikes do. Think about using them. They'll make a better blade. As for getting things cheap; go right over there! Much cheaper than paying shipping charges for smithing equipment! (or to put it another way we need to know your general location to make good suggestions...)

Try to make it to some of the SOFA meetings in Troy, OH. They are a topnotch group there, we used to carpool over from Columbus to go to their meetings! While I was a member they had several gas forge building workshops where everyone participating ended up with a gas forge.

I have always found it a great help getting a member or two of the local fire dept and police force interested in smithing when I lived in thickly settled areas; helps turn confrontations into "hey someone called can you hold it down after 9pm?" To which you say "sure, no problem!" However some neighbors can't be reasoned with---had one that called me into the fire department about 4 times. By sheer luck it was when I was using our BBQ Smoker and cooking *is* a legitimate exception to the fire rules in that city! After the forth time they wedged the fire truck down the narrow alleyway to see me cooking salmon I heard on the bounce that they told them that the next false alarm would be a $1000 fine and I never had anymore problems. (My other neighbor liked my forge; reminded her of her childhood with a coal furnace in their house...)

That's why you make that one a gate and do less tiring panels for the fence...

You mean like in the second post in this thread?

The neo-tribal smiths experimented with wood ash as a flux. It may be due to the silicates in it but seemed to work though better for higher temp welding. I'd make a difference between what can work if you are *good* at welding and what helps if you are not... As such dirt dauber's nests, ash, clean sand, powdered glass will work perhaps more to the exclusion of air when the silicates melt and so better for wrought iron and welding done at high temps And borax, boric acid, fluourspar are more aggressive fluxes and so work better with alloy steels welding at lower temps.

I have an old down draft forge that a previous owner had used the hood off a volkswagon beetle as the "scoop".

Work on the disk and throw away the beam. "Cold rolled high carbon" is almost an oxymoron in my experience. There is a fellow at sofa who demo's with a disk anvil, he's chiseled his stump to hold it both flat and on edge to give a good drawing surface.

Where in AR? My family was from the NW corner area, (Fort Smith, Fayetteville, Cedarville...)

My straight peen is one of my favorite hammers. It has a nice broad peen on it---looks like a piece of 1" round stock. I never have a problem with one end digging. Don't see how that happens if your anvil is at the correct height for you and you can hit flat.

Now we have a fellow out here who buys anvils and powerhammers and sets them in a building and doesn't use them at all---he's not a smith. They are not set up to use just in rows on the floor. I find this an odd mindset.

Oval dish like a caplet pill? Then Trenton over HB, HB's have an hourglass depression on the bottm from the edge of the base projecting slightly (often worn flat on old ones)

I used to average a "name brand anvil" in great condition for under US$1 a pound in central OH every year just by asking every one I met about them. I feel that is a far better method than posting on an international blacksmithing forum; shoot blacksmiths know and love anvils and trying to buy them from them is not the cheap way to go!

Kyle; are you in luck! SWABA (the NM Abana affiliate) has a southern group based in Las Cruces and a great bunch of people in it! Check on our web page's calendar for when and where they meet and don't be shy of contacting Pep ahead of time. Seems like every time I visit down there he's got folks forging at his shop and he's a great pattern welded steel maker for knives! ABANA-chapter web page I'll be down to see my parents during the Holidays sometime and I would like to invite you to our December meeting of the main group. It's a long drive so I strongly encourage folks to carpool from Las Cruces.

The length of my nails vary somewhat and as the amount of untapered stock to leave for the head is the important dimension the length sizer wouldn't do much for me. However the limited cutter would be very handy for my classes where the students have to make 2 nails as they have trouble cutting enough but not too much.

I made a simple mild steel one to use in my basement with a single firebrick forge. Didn't even make it hot! Drilled a small hole and then relieved it on the back with a larger bit and then cold drifted it with a cut masonry nail (from the back) to get the taper. Sized it for election sign wire (of those days) had to replace it about every 10 nails but as that took about 3 minutes...Made the nails for my Mastermyre chest when the weather was too bad to go and forge outside...

Last door knocker I did was out of 1" bar, made a dragon's head then did a long tapering tail that I coiled up in a spiral for the knocker. The support was sheet stock that I forged into the dragon's wings and had two pieces that came up and made the pivot for the dragon's body. Fold forming helps with the wings. To make a snazzy knock plate do a simple brass sand cast of coin imprints (don't use US coins if you are in the USA) so it looks like the dragon is resting on it's treasure. This is actually a fairly easy to do piece, really!

We really need to see the face *BUT* iff the face is in good condition *AND* the weight is accurate then that is a reasonable price---especially if they throw in the post vice on the deal... (if the anvil weighs 200# then that's $1.50 a pound; if it's 150# then that's $2 a pound so it most likely is somewhere in between) Look for the weight markings and know when and how to use the CWT system vs just pounds.

Industrial coke burns way slower than coal does. It's hard to light--often an O-A torch is used. It goes out unless you have constant airflow--- electric blower rather than bellows or hand crank blower suggested. And can get WAY HOT coke firepots are usually much heavier duty than coal firepots!

This book was compiled as selections from a blacksmithing journal and so lie a modern day forum it'sd full of "this is how I do that" followed by "I have a better way". It is very much a period piece. If you are doing late 19th century re-enactment smithing this book is a mandatory one to own. If you are trying to learn to smith it's not that useful as much of the stuff is done differently today.

Per *pound* charcoal and coal contain about the same number of BTUs; however charcoal is much less dense than coal so you have a lot more volume to burn to get those BTUs. If your forge is designed to burn charcoal---use that. If it's designed to use coal---use that.

Well my usual test for junkyard steel is to take a piece about knife sized and heat it past critical and quench it in water. If it cracks or shatters it probably will make a knife. If it doesn't I put it in the vise and WITH my leather apron on and my face shield on tap it with a hammer---if it's brittle then it will probably make a blade. Then I can repeat the test using warm quenching oil---trying to see which is the better quenchant for it. Remember there is *nothing* preventing a manufacturer from switching what they use for something every other piece if they think the new one will be more cost effeective!