ThomasPowers

I disagree, lots of steels I work with are over 1% and not just the new high alloy steels; old black diamond files were 1.2%. They work like steel. I will agree that some of the high alloy steels will cottage cheese on you like trying to forge cast iron (H13, D2, etc) but they are not a cast iron as they don't have carbon in them as graphite but rather as complex carbides. (May we leave white cast iron out of the discussion?) It's the graphite that makes a "cast iron" in my opinion! Semi steels, nodular cast irons, etc still have graphite it is just in roundish forms rather than lenticular ones. Puddled steel is a method of going from cast iron to wrought iron only stopping somewhere in the middle and items made by that methodology will be forged to shape and so should show forging rather than casting tattletales. Cast iron has a lower melting temp so if your foundry is not controlling the carbon content it's wasting fuel and putting a greater strain on the refractories as well. The line is a bit murky these days with some high alloy steels up there at the 2% C line; but as I previously mentioned no graphite!

Once you get to the medieval period I know of no example of butted mail that wasn't an in the field repair or strictly for ornamental use. During the age of maille the *wire* was worth a lot more than the labour and since riviting is at least 10 times as strong as butting (see the pull apart test data over at armourarchive) it would be like having your rolls royce converted into a yugo!

I'd say mousehole or OTHER old english maker. "Good lord we have a marxist revolutionary on the forum!" and a zombie one at that!

They are out there, thing Causcus (sp) region, Turkey---middle east-central asia. Since vises are pretty recent I'd go with a set of swages (top and bottom). Perhaps the eminent purple flower of gentility, JPH, will weigh in as I remember has had made them before.

Except that should really be 2% in Charlotte's post.

1050 - 1075 would be my choice. or 5160

Frosty; The geneva convention explicitly forbids me from posting such pictures!

Also for "spring" applications. It has been used a lot for non-sparking tooling for the oil patch as well. Beryllium scares the bejezus out of me after I read up on it---especially when I talked with a fellow that worked in a commercial brass foundry that told me they were required to junk an entire train car load of brass scrap *and* clean/decontaminate the scrap container it was dumped in if they found *1* piece of Be containing scrap.

May I commend to your attention "The Celtic Sword" Radomir Pleiner as a good metallographic work on the metallurgy of those weapons that were used against the romans. Why would wrought iron not be as correct? It was what the romans used after all even if they were using high grade versions. Or are you trying to say that low grade wrought iron would not be close to what the Romans used? If so you could refiine the wrought iron to get it to a state closer to what they used. More work but a more "accurate" material.

Prices for heavy stuff can depend a lot on WHERE YOU ARE AT. Which you did not mention in your post. I'd look over it closely as "good running condition" can be anything from pristine to you could stick your finger in the babbet bearing slop! Out here that would be a bragging price; other places it might be a bit high.

I'd more likely guess it was just "free" advertising using something he knows will not sell!

How do you get over 140# when it's marked 127#? American anvils are NOT marked in the CWT system but in pounds! It might be off a couple of pounds from 127 but not very many...

Yes store it separately! I know of several sad incidences where folks tried cooling part of something they were working on only to find out it was *not* mild steel! "PLINK"---#$%^&&%^%$! You can do your own colour code and paint the ends, or stamp the ends---always cutting from the *other* end when you need a piece or use a paint pen to write the spec on the end and side. I have few known specialy steels (H13, W2) that are kept in a special place and then a "medium to high carbon scrap pile separate from the mild steel scrap pile (or the wrought iron scrap pile for that matter...) And remember there is no standardized colour code for manufacturers! What one manufacturer may paint green another will paint red!

My favorite one was made from a wrap around leather mini skirt. No changes necessary it just wrapped less around a much larger waist.

Axle steel, large truck leaf spring, RR car springs---all heat treatable and all a bit of a pain to work with in large crossection!

Very topical too! I can see how alphas and omegas could be alternated with the crosses as well. I just hope my vicar doesn't see that! (I'm already keeping the antique pews from self destruction and taking care of main door issues gratis!)

I tell my students that *everything* they do to make a simple S-hook is directly applicable to making blades---hammer control, drawing out even tapers, rounding, bending, etc So don't think that learning the basics are a waste of time; think that every skill you get down is one more step towards that *great* sword you see in your mind's eye!

What about using a screw jack then to supply the upward force? Always a good idea to have one or two around a workshop...

May I suggest you mention the LOCATION in your post rather than having people click on another link to find out! BTW the mailing address is St. Johnsville, NY 13452 So of no interest to me here in NM; but I had to dig in another layer to determine this.

Two other methods would be to: 1 trim it down and have a stout vise with shorter jaws 2 make a good set of jaw caps from angle iron to cover it HW back when I was in the blacksmiths happy hunting grounds (OH) I drew the line at having 10 of them on hand at any time. Didn't stop buying them when a good deal came by say US$25 or less; but I would then pass them on to others or upgrade my pile and pass one of those on. Now I wish I had piled them high and moved them out here!

I was getting ready to sht down for the day at my last SCA event when a fellow came by and asked if I could do a rosehead nail for him; so I dug out my 1/4" shorts which I save for nailmaking and did him one for US$1! after you have made a couple of hundred of them they tend to get tedious...

Like caltrops---to use them you throw them away!

Softer faced anvils do better for ornamental forging using mild steels rather than blades or tool forging that may use hot hard alloys. Not know how you plan to use it I can't do anything but guess on if it would suit your needs.

I use a farrier's rasp and use it to rough dress things like cut ends that may have a bit of "flash" still on them. I usually work at a low red to black heat---it's faster than filing on it cold and the aggressive rasp wouldn't work on it cold.

Hickory and holly should make decent handles (perhaps scrub oak as well depending on the piece.)