ThomasPowers

It sort of depends what you want out of your Smithing, (I'm sure Grant would prefer that *everyone* make their own smithing tools and nobody would buy them pre-made, right?) I long ago learned that I can make a pattern welded billet and forge it into a knife in the same amount of time it takes me to make a decent set of tongs and of the two I got into smithing to do knifemaking. Being able to make your own tools doesn't mean you have to; just as you can be a woodworker without cutting and drying your own wood. (I did forge a set of Ti tongs for use with my gasser) My favorite hardy was the broken off end of a jackhammer bit, I forged the broken shaft end to fit my anvil and was ready to use it! I prefer thin hardy edges and am OK with re-dressing them after teaching a class of students. Cold cuts for notching/nicking cold steel have a broad "fat triangle" shape to them so they survive hitting cold steel on them.

What? What? What?---you must be imagining things!

Not to mention that often the anvils with the large thick heels are things like Fisher's and Vulcan where most of that thickness is cast iron and so not nearly as strong as you might think!

Well a punch removes metal, a drift moves metal and a slitter cuts and moves metal Tool steel is generally high carbon or high alloy steel. so 1095, W2, etc are tool steels But as you have noticed cold steel is a lot harder than hot steel and may people use non-tool steels for low use "tooling".

Tom does great work and you can go to his website that includes coinage at Shire Post Interdimensional Postal Service and Access Center Also send him an e-mail; he's nice folks and would probably be happy to discuss the aspects of your coinage---including that striking identical reproductions of many coins is not legal and what it takes to do a similar but legal version.

Well I should call it $20 a week +/- $1000 as since we do stick to a budget we have money in the bank and if I was to run across a hundred+ pound powerhammer in great shape for $1000 I could call up my wife and she would agree that's not a deal to miss and let me buy it! One of the secrets of getting good deals is to be always looking for them and then having the cash to buy them on the spot! If you are always broke spending money on bad deals then when a good one wanders by you have to watch as someone else gets it! As it is I get to spend my "vice allowance" on *anything* with no spousal oversight; also allows me to have money for presents to her that doesn't go past her as comptroller. It works for our marriage; her previous husband was a spendthrift and she suffered for his excesses; I'm willing to live with the constraint to have a happy wife---25+ years so far! And the only thing we owe on is the house!

Is this a hobby or are you supporting a family? Putting in 100 dollars or work on every $10 job is a great way to see your family on food stamps. Various types of jobs have various quality levels. Ask a machinist if he always works to a millionth of an inch precision and if not why not?

Don't forget to edit your CP to put in your general location so folks can invite you to local stuff! exp if you are near central NM we're demoing at the Festival of the Cranes in Nov and have a great meeting in early Dec!

Do you buy by the thousand tonne lot on the commodities market? Or do you buy from a local dealer who would go bankrupt if they sold all the expensive stuff they bought when prices are high at a price lower than they paid for it?

Especially if you edit your user CP to let folks know your general area---might be a smithing conference or meeting *close* and if we don't know where you're at we can extend an invitation!

They are to grab something large that has a hole or handling holes in it and may have been supported by a chainloop in use. (Look at the handling holes in an anvil for an example of how they might be used) Pretty well useless save as a curiosity unless you are doing LARGE work and have all the necessary equipment to need them.

I notice that it seems to be folks that really haven't done much smithing at all that are worried about age and price of their equipment as it that had anything to do with doing good blacksmithing! Shoot I have an 1828 William Foster (one of the few brands that date stamped their anvils) and it's plum worn to pieces; a good chunk of forklift tine is a much superior anvil to it! And note that condition is a much higher correlation with price than age---that 1828 anvil cost me $5 or about a nickle a pound, one 100 years *younger* cost me over a dollar a pound! jyatulis, what do you do when you need to know your own weight? Go on line and ask folks?---or do you step on a scale and weight yourself?

Lifting rings and tow toroids (doughnuts) make good dishing forms too. I have a collection of them going from small to quite large indeed! As for prices somewhere between free and say $2 per pound depending.

Finally had time to dig in my library: "The Story of Metals", John W. W. Sullivan, American Society for Metals; has a reprint of the Catalan Forge drawing from "Steel and Iron", W.H.Greenwood pub 1884 Colonial Williamsburg Historic Trades Annual, vol 1, "Reconstructing the American Bloomery Process", David Harvey

You can solidstate weld silver. You won't get any deffinition from it unless you do use other metals. I would suggest explosively weld it myself. May I commend to your attention "Solid State Welding of Metals", Tylecote, to learn way more than you ever wanted to know about the subject. As for explosive welding they do that on a regular basis behind the local mountain here at NM Tech. As for learning I've always like : "There are those who can learn by reading about someone doing it and those who can learn by watching someone do it but there are always those who have to pee on the electric fence themselves..."

AZ? Bet you a dollar they're the Mexican ones!

The buffer and the wire wheel are one of the few pieces of equipment in the shop that stay up all night plotting how to HURT/MAIM/KILL you! *NEVER* give them the chance. Watch them as if they would grab your piece away and try to kill you with it at any time when in use! Wear protective equipment! This is also a situation where bigger does not equal better---I worked with a swordmaker who even on large swords used an underpowered buffer as if something went wrong he wanted to be able to stall out the buffer rather than have it grab a 40" long blade and sling it around the shop.

And we have a local fellow with over 300 anvils in a building on his property---he doesn't smith btw. You learn to wait for the estate sale, hurrying it along is NOT a good idea!

It's more than just tons it's application rate as well. The large quick spike in pressure for a screwpress helps "shoot" the metal into the die cavities better than the same pressure exerted slowly by a hydraulic press.

This boils down to: "is a dump truck better than a race car?" and the answer is that it depends on what you are trying to do and that if you don't even know how to drive you probably don't need to worry about the question right now... For what I do a powerhammer is best; for what a friend does a press is best ;for you ????? Thomas

Don't forget helping them clean up the place by hauling off rusty scrap metal for free!

I get a "fleamarket allowance" to cover all my vices and vises of $20 a week I hope to get it bumped up to $25 a week when my wife goes on Social Security. Makes working on the cheap kind of fun and we never have to worry about the family budget. I'm building a 20x30' shop extension off my allowance and whatever I have accrued from selling stuff I have forged (and materials I have scrounged for free!)

Any trees near your work space? If so you may want to screen it in so you don't get leaves building up in your gravel. Very nice not to worry when you drop a piece of hot metal... You will want/need a postvise You may want to tie it into one of the support posts to have it very stable. If so think about your work triangle!!! Angling your roof to catch the breeze is handy in the summer but can be a tad brisk in the winter in VT...

We have lured him to the dark side, The Emperor will be pleased! (I don't buy coil or leaf springs at fleamarkets as it's generally so easy to get them free from garages!)

Well worth the effort and bother indeed!