ThomasPowers

"Country Blacksmithing", Charles McRaven, talks about anvil repair and IIRC he used a local volunteer fire department's high pressure hose to quench the anvil he re-heat treated... I like the book as it has a very different style than most blacksmithing books.

As was mentione "Practical Blacksmithing" Richardson is a collect of articles from a blacksmithing journal from the years 1889, 1890 and 1891 (IIRC) and so pretty much *THE* book to go by for that time period. Also there are reprints of Sears & Roebucks catalogs from near turn of the century. Also there are several collections of old blacksmithing tool catalogs on DVD available out there. Betwixt all these things you should be able to get a good idea of what would be appropriate. (and don't forget checking out inventories associated with wills at the local historical society or courthouse!)

"Pressboard" is often quite prone to falling apart when exposed to moisture and while we hope your goods will be well taken care of there is always the possibility that there will be a problem... One suggestion is to make wooden boxes for your tools that can then be turned on their sides and stacked as storage shelves.

Funny I have a geology degree and am a smith and a friend of mine has a geology degree and is a swordmaker. Seems to be a linkage!

I like band saw blade and pallet strapping.

Zarc; we've been trying to help you on how to present yourself to a possible employer. Most of us have had to do this a number of times over the decades we have been working and have been giving you the benefit of our experience. Note that we are taking *our* time and not so great typing skills to answer you; far easier to just ignore you. Also; if this is too much criticism, you may not be ready to work in a shop---I remember getting really reamed out a couple of times in my early working years! I wore a suit and tie last time I interviewed, the fellow who interviewed me and who was to become my boss' boss was wearing sandals, ragged shirt and shorts. Been working here 5 years so far; pay is a bit under industry standard but the informal working conditions were well work a couple of k$ to me.

Pine tar or oil based tar?

Short Dog; if it was untrue then you would be a liar and a thief. Certainly not welcome round my shop! Also if your policy didn't cover replacement then you'd be out of luck as well.

Lime is not as active a flux as borax. Borax runs me less than $10 a year, fuel for the forge usually runs me a dollar or two an hour. I could walk to town for free but I sure would rather drive even though it takes money---and I'm nortoriously cheap. I mean Frugal...

Zarc; please look over your post carefully. Now would you hire someone who can't spell, use capital letters or clearly indicate their location? Could you expect them to read a blueprint or take accurate details from a customer? I strongly suggest you edit your post and make it into something an English Teacher would save as an example for others---a good example that is! Of course this is only if you are really interested in finding such a situation...

Looks like oldstyle rebar as in 80+ years ago. Some of them are high C but not absurdly high C in my experience

Clean quartz sand was the traditional flux for real wrought iron which is generally welded at higher temperatures than modern steels and is fairly self fluxing as it is. A more active flux like borax that works at a lower temp is easier to weld modern steels with. However it can work just as you can forge weld with no flux if you get very good at it.

Now for something compleatly different: A student of mine lived in "college town" near a major University and bought renter's insurance that had a replacement clause. When his equipment got stolen the poor adjuster came to him saying "anvils, where do I get anvils?" So my friend handed him the Centaur Forge Catalog. What was stolen were beaten up farm anvils that they replaced with Peddinghaus forged steel anvils. To rub it in I got to sign the affidavit that he actually had owned the equipment and it had been stolen; both true. Buying it all commercially probably was cheaper for the insurance company as they would have to pay for peoples time hunting stuff; but I still lust after that anvil a bit... My current smithy has no wood in it's construction; not a single piece. The extension however will have 4 utility poles and some recycled stable doors. My previous smithy burned down mysteriously several months after I had moved away---15 years of me smithing in an old frame structure with leaves piled in the corners with never a fire anfd then the new owner moves in and poof!

I made the firepot for my most used solid fuel forge and the "tools" I needed was a $15 angle grinder from HF. Used the axle cover from a banjo rear end; bought two of them made into jackstands for $3 20 years ago and have never needed the other one yet---including a lot of billet welding. Pretty much all that was needed to do was to grind out a couple of ridges on the inside and pop the bearing out and grind smooth where it sat. Using the angle grinder you can make a hole in the side for the air supply to enter and a hose clamp and some scrap and you would have the cleanout covered. I use replacable grated made from expanded metal or cast iron drain grates---whatever I find for free or cheap. Every time I see someone write about how they can't afford something or don't have specialized tools to make it and then go off and spend more money doing stranger stuff I get very puzzled. Learning to design for the tools and processes you have/know is a good thing.

Bent Iron---depends on the location and the officer. Under the concealed deadly weapon law that was in effect in AR in the late '70's my physics textbook could qualify if it was in my book bag as carrying a concealed deadly weapon. Never was hassled about carrying a sword around...

I hope you don't mind if we don't hold our breath while you are hunting for them?

Diver Mike---I bet he has all the tools to manufacture such deadly weapons... Ban Leaf Springs---think of the Children!

A lot of folks round these parts consider the term "normal" to be an insult; cause we all aspire to be cantankerous oddball smithing type folks---eccentrics of the first water! Don't worry you can be "normal"; we just won't rat you out to anyone!

I always used a chunk of firewood for a wooden mallet and it should be done hot.

Start learning to smith with a soft faced steel hammer so it dents rather than me!

There was an old post somewhere about "how do you tell who won a knife fight---they are the one who didn't bleed to death before getting to the hospital". Same with swords. Even in Romeo and Julliet there is an "innocent bystander" who dies from getting in between two people with swords. We expect people to start "ban swords" campaigns since with their popularity and the presence of so many "Saturday Night Special type swords" they become the weapon to hand and very hard for an untrained user to be able to wound without risk of death.

They look like factory made spikes to me and so not of great interest to the historians; save perhaps for the fellow whose area of interest is the history of nail making in the USA---met him at the Iron-Masters Conference one year...

"wood fired furnaces" are actually charcoal furnaces where you are making the charcoal on the spot. Much easier to seperate the two processes and make your charcoal and then use it in a furnace.

Practice! Practice! Practice! Look at how your work shows the impact of your hammer---is it flat or is an edge leading or trailing? Remember that the face of the hammer and the height of the anvil make a difference too! I have one hammer dressed to leave a very smooth surface and another that's domed a bit to be able to reach in and pull out a place that's hanging back.

Don I go through a lot of HR 1/4" sq stock teaching a beginner's class and I have noticed great variability in the cracking department. Some stuff will crack all over doing a simple twist, other stuff won't crack even if you twist it off (well except for the one...). I ascribe it to varrying alloy content of the steel.