ThomasPowers

Weld some heavy walled pipe into the corner and slide the "horn" through that and wedge it securely. Thomas

Sounds like an adaptor or two would help---spray paint them different colours so you know which one is for the 1" shanks, the 1.5" shanks, etc. Thomas

Looks "anvil shaped" to me---just not "London Pattern" Thomas

If you do a spring helve paint it up to look like one of those "drinking birds" ... Thomas

C in a triangle is Columbian, made in Cleveland OH. They are often found with the "angle iron and U bolt" mounting bracket with the company logo on the bracket as well. I have heard rumours of a postvise book somewhat like "Anvils in America" in process but have not heard of a date for it yet. You can get a lot more out of your vise stand if it's set up so you are standing on the bottom plate so your weight is part of the deal. My portable vise stand is a 55 gal drum with a piece of 2x12 trimmed to fit and mounted across the top on the inside of the open end by lag bolts. Fill with water and you have 400+ pounds holding the vise in place. drain through the side bung hole and you can pick up the barrel with one hand to move it (with the vise dismounted) Note dropping a piece into the barrel is not fun in the winter... Thomas

Basic rules: *ASK* if you are nice you can often get stuff with no hassles *CHECK* those dumpsters/trash piles might just have something good this time *TAKE* never expect something to be there when you come back (basic tools & gloves & a tarp for dirty stuff in the vehicle at all times) *EXPLORE* rivers in old industrial parts of town can be a steel mine...be safe though! *TALK* that old geezer who wants to talk your ear off---well it turns out he worked for an anvil manufacturer and tells of there being a row of anvils alongside the river bank when they closed the plant down (true tale!). A fellow selling oily car parts howdy'd me at a fleamarket. I didn't need car parts but it turns out his uncle wanted to sell an anvil---515# Fisher in mint condition for $350 *THINK* what businesses might have good stuff or come across good stuff---that knife made from a RR spike might be paid for in anvils when you make it for a scrap/junk dealer *NEATNESS* leave the area nicer than when you arrive encourages businesses to call you to haul off good stuff to "neaten up" *SAFETY* gloves, boots even a hard hat comes in handy to let the owners not worry about you hurting yourself and sueing them...watch out for cars when you stop alongside the road for roadkill iron. and lastly *CONSTANT VIGILANCE* I once ended up getting a 125# Peter Wright anvil and a 6" post vise cause I noticed the vise leaning against a barn while doing a test drive on a car we were buying... I always ask folks with "barn junk" at the fleamarket about the heavy stuff they didn't bring...I spotted a keg down in the ditch near a RR crossing on the way to a smithing meeting---2/3 full of new HC spikes they were not willing to haul it back up the hill when they cleaned up after redoing the crossing---we were. Coming back from a Dr's visit the summer I had pneumonia I got my wife to stop the car and let me pick up the sledgehammer alongside the road---took me 1/2 and hour to catch my breath. Thomas

Well yeah she's dead; but my great grandmother lived out on the farm and milked a small herd of cows and preferred to use her wood stove to cook on into her 90's. I don't think she would fight---just use her shotgun... Thomas

I was going to say that of course I looked like a blacksmith and so does Dorthy---she just looks like a much better looking one...My beard is getting to the length where I should probably start boraxing it if I don't want it forge trimmed. The oddest smith I have ever met was the one that used to come to SOFA meeings in a jaguar, most tend toward rather more "earthy" looking vehicles. Thomas My Mother's grandfather was a smith in Cedarville AR USA.

Hmm looks like my backyard... (actually the trinity site is about an hour's drive away) Thomas

Now Weygers showed how he made a collector to feed the smoke back into the inlet of his blower, more for smoke reduction than use of it as a power source. It was in "The Modern Blacksmith" IIRC and so should be in "The Complete Modern Blacksmith" Thomas

Not tolerating a lot of chemicals very well I've used a medieval method, at night get a shallow pan and fill with water and put a lit candle in the center of it; the fleas will jump toward the light and drown---a little dishsoap helps reduce the surface tension. Worked well in the house. (described in "The Goodwife of Paris")

It's fairly simple to make a set of "stops" for a power hammer that lets you bring metal down to the correct size fairly fast and easily. Exp for a hammer with flat dies: take a piece of cold rolled the correct dimension and bend it in a "U" shape; then bend the base of the U 90 deg so it can be clamped to the side of the die leaving the two legs going across the top of the die with a clear gap between them. Now heat up your oversized piece and run through the gap til the top die is tapping the "stops" and you will have sq stock of your desired size Thomas

Looks to my eye that the piece had that shape too it otherwise he would have tapered it more for the crosspein by forging rather than the sharp grind. Thomas

I had a friend pick up a mint condition wagon tongue vise for $5 at a fleamarket once---none of the other's in our group had asked about it since they generally ran above $100 there and that was too rich for most of us---he asked... Thomas

Salt water comes out a lot of oil wells too Thomas

Maille (as in "chain mail") One quad-state I saw a blade made by a fellow who welded up lathe swarf! (Collected it ina a large coffee can, compressed it under a large press, fluxed it and welded it, nice pattern) Thomas

I built a forge much like Tim's back in 1981 I left the back end of the tuyere pipe open and put in a "ramrod" that I used to control how long an area received air to set the length of the fire. Thomas

I have a cutting plate with the center marked all the way across with a chiseled line and then it's laid off in 1/4" increments going both ways from the center---helps me cut billets into even sections!

I use firebrick in parallel walls to hold the charcoal fire deeper but not have it spread over the forge table.