ThomasPowers

Archie save that big piece to do some restoration work---sounds great for a large barn or church or chest hinges; make them *pay* for using the right stuff too... Get used to working wrought with less valuable pieces. Thomas

The old smithing books talk about repairing both horn and heels that have broken off. I think the heel has a greater tendency since the hardy hole acts as a stress concentrator in the corners and folks tend to pound a lot on hardy tooling. The heeless anvils are one of the best buys in smithing IMNSHO as they are generally *cheap*, have a lot of face left and have the horn which is a handy thing, you can hold hardy tooling in a post vise or make a socket for them that mounts on the anvil stump. My loaner anvil weighs about 125# has a nearly mint face and no heel and cost me $40 I'd like to get a hornless anvil of old pattern to use for medieval events. Thomas

So tell your parents that you want a copy "The Complete Bladesmith" for Christmas; read it on boxing day and head for the shop! Thomas

Meco3hp; read your sig line... Thomas

We make hoof picks from horse shoes; never met a horse owner who complained thay had too many of them! To fancy them up you can make the handle in into a horse head... For upscale owners a horse head bottle opener from a horse shoe will generally fit the bill. Thomas

*NEVER* assume that something will be there when you go back for it. If you pay a deposit try to get it in writing---tell them your wife does the books and you need the proof that you didn't spend it on whiskey and wild women. It is a heavy thing to move but if you expect to move pretty soon and you want to pay on time, try to arrange pay-off for after the move and run out and paint SOLD on it with your name. If you decide you don't want or need it turn it loose on the rest of the smithing crowd; if you were withing a 100 miles of me I'd buy it and pay you a finder's fee! Thomas

I have never heard of a shoe that was high enough carbon to harden to make what I would call an acceptable knife. Like RR spike knives it's "cute" but not something I would want to admit to carrying. I know of no evidence that it was ever done historically and I've been looking at knives from pre-horseshoe days through the advent of modern steels. A lot of early blades are just plain wrought iron, though even in the iron age there is evidence that they selected for harder alloys for blades ("The Celtic Sword", Radomir Pleiner) even before they were heat treating them, (high C or P alloys are harder just out of the bloomery than plain wrought iron). By the time they were doing blackpowder even low grade knives had some claim to carbon---though case hardening them is documented. (See some of the indian trade knives and why chisel edge sharpening was used) Thomas

For the lettering we used to find it at art supply stores in college towns; sometimes in office supply stores. . Thomas

Dan, the 2x72" belts come in every grit known to mankind from individual boulders glued to the belt to micron polishing belts I swear are just made up from the backing with *no* added grit...They also come in a wide variety of materials. The 6x48 belts are more limited in my experience. So have you read about handling in any of the great knife books that are out there? Your local library should be able to ILL them for you. I live *outside* of a town of 10,000 people and it's the biggest town in the county!---and my public library can get them for me... Thomas

I had a container built for my hobby tools---it has 2 10' roll up doors... nice joinery in a very classic way! Thomas

Could have been much worse---does the term straddle injury ring any bells... Thomas

Go powered, geared down motor with a foot switch control, takes only one guy to roll it as you can guide it while your foot is doing the power control. With light weight small hose I'd go with hardened pins press fitted into a disk and the disk have the axle that goes through the bearings. Nylon "guide" disks would be easy to fabricate too. Have you talked with the local VoTech about doing this as a class project? Thomas

PN once sent me some pics of a hammer at Scott Forge working some 30" diameter stock once... Thomas

If you start with 5/16 round stock and remove the center 1/3 there is no steel alloy that won't be pushed together---or break, just too small I would think such a small diameter bend would be hard on the hose too!. When looking for high carbon steels call up hardware stores and ask if they have "drill rod", Often O1 steel and found in many sizes---but I'm with the prior suggestion buy thick and forge the end down to fit 5/16---but remember that isn't a very strong dimension and hose is *heavy*. Thomas

When driving all the holes for my wife's studio walls into the concrete slab I bought a brand new star drill at the store, (don't faint Sandpile), I found that the striking end was too soft and ended up going through over an inch of it doing the holes, not that many of them and only about 2000 hits per hole on the tough ones. Thomas

I have a friend who used to be the smith at a historical site and told me the story about the time they were having a special "kid's day" offering hands-on activities. Well he cut out some brass and was having kids dish brass ladle bowls. One father *demanded* that his 4 year old be able to participate even after the smith told him he was too young. So he sets a piece of brass on the dishing stump and gets out a nice light ballpeen for the kid to use. The father crouches behind the kid and leans over as the child picks up the hammer and swings it high hitting his father on his forehead right between the eyes... Upon recovery the father admitted that perhaps the child was a tad too young... Thomas

irnsrgn; naw I'm testy'er than usual what with this broke up toe giving me conniptions! Thomas

Osage orange splits a lot when drying rounds though. Thomas

Well the stock answer to that question is that the only thing you know of that is hard enough to pound against a grade 8 bolt and not get damaged is his head and whyfor was he wasting money on chisels! Thomas

Welcome Rio; I'm going to be in Las Cruces this weekend visiting kinfolk and going to the medieval fair. Make sure that those steal of a deal anvils are not some of the ones being faked in cast iron from Mexico. They show up at the implement auction up here in Socorro NM all the time but are re-castings of namebrand anvils in plain cast iron---a hefty chunk of steel is better than a cast iron anvil as I'm sure you are aware as a welder. The NM ABANA group is SWABA; don't know if you would get to many meetings as they often meet in Alb or Santa Fe. Thomas

Actually you ever seen a USPS postal money order? Common in many foreign countries for the post office to be the way to send money; but around these parts most folks get them at their local stores... So they are not quite aligned on how things are done around here... Thomas

The firepot I use is a round one made from a 1937 banjo rear end axle cover---found two of them modified into jack stands and paid $3 for them at the fleamarket. I ground out the interior flange and bearing and just popped a grate into it. Used it for over 15 years now and still have the other one as a "spare"... Thomas

Do you want it deeper, shallower or what? Thomas

Folks spend too much time trying to put everything in a single box. Coal varies a lot from place to place; some work reall well with water; some don't. Some types of work is improved by special types of fire. Trying to say that *your* method is the best one without taking all the variables into account is like me saying you all have breakfast wrong cause you don't eat what I eat for breakfast. I have always held by the saying "In blacksmithing there is only *ONE* way to do things...and that's ANY WAY THAT WORKS! BTW the old catalog I have for cast iron large forges calls it a water tank and a clinker breaker---I guess the manufacturer had it wrong 80 years ago...You had better go and put them straight! Thomas

Well I needed a name for business cards and a lot of business out this way has a new age/art flavour to it so I picked "Recycled Ranch" as my "show name" and to cover items I make from metal scrounged from old farm/ranch scrap piles. Now my motto is "Have Forge, Will Travel" and has been for 20 odd years... Thomas