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I Forge Iron

sanddraggin

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Everything posted by sanddraggin

  1. I had thought the cast iron had a weaker attraction. I was comparing it with something i knew was steel. I was trying to think of a way to identify it on the fly. I know it's not a definitive test and now thinking it might be useless.....lol.
  2. So I was in an Army Surplus store over the holiday weekend out of town and found a new anvil for sale. I first wrote it off as an ASO but noticed that the tag said steel anvil. The brand was Wisdom and were made in China. I hadn't planned on looking at anvils and couldn't find a ball bearing anywhere. I tapped it with a hammer and it had a loud ring and some rebound. The rebound wasn't astonishing but it definitely wasn't Cast Iron. A magnet further confirmed that it wasn't Cast Iron. it was around 150lbs. I didn't have the good sense to take a picture at the time and am kicking myself now. Anyway my point to this rambling is to ask if any one has seen or heard of this brand of anvil.
  3. I'm an overhead crane tech and I go through lots of wire rope. I scrap alot under 3/4 inch but not to much big stuff. Some 1 1/4 inch rigging that failed inspection recently made it into my scrap pile. Find a crane tech. They can probably get you more than you'll go through maybe......EVER
  4. Living and working in Northern Nevada has given me some interesting opportunities. One of which is the occasional work at a coal fired power plant. After getting to know the guys there they gave me some coal to try after I explained the difficulties in obtaining coal in this area. I was told it is sub-bituminous coal from Wyoming and Utah. I was thoroughly displeased with it. It builds HUGE clinkers in a very short time. It cokes up but won't stick together and form a cave of any sort. Very hard to maintain a fire worth having which sucks the fun out of forging. I decided to try and mix it last week with corn from the local fed store. Now forging is fun again. I found if I put a layer of corn on top of the coal it caves up nice and it isn't nearly as hard to maintain. I still have an issue with HUGE clinkers but it's alot better than not forging.
  5. Not bad at all I'd say. Great that your going to put it to use with your son.
  6. Thanks for the Encouragement. I bought a hand brush and tied it to the Anvil stand so we all use it now.
  7. Very nice looking. Thanks for posting. Mine is going to be outside still so I'll probably just mount it and get it to work.
  8. Way to go Kiddo. Keep up the good work.
  9. I had a nice conversation with Glenn after I posted the Girls first try at smithing. He recommended that to help encourage you girls to keep smithing that an IFI account of your own so you could explore would be useful. After much deliberation we decided to let you have one. Keep up the great work!
  10. I was thinking about a way to treat the wood before I bury it but haven't researched it much yet. If I can find a railroad tie around I'll probably try that.
  11. I couldn't find anything wrong with the screw box so was very excited to buy this one. He was pretty solid on his price so I didn't get him talked down but he was asking the same price for his 4" vises as well. I might be able to talk him down on those. I built a spring and mount for my 4" I use now so I'm not too worried about making one for this although it will hopefully be better this time around. Tree's are very scarce around northern nevada but luckily I came across about a six foot log 18" diameter that I'm planning on burying to mount this vise to.
  12. I thought it was a neat old peice but wasn't sure what it was. It wasn't for sale either I just thought it was worth a few pics. I did find a guy in an old mining town of around 40 people yesterday that had a 25lb little giant in an old mine that he has converted into his blacksmith shop. He had a forge and anvil, lots of tongs and top tools. Swage block and mandrel. He lit the forge once and smacked stuff but thats it. I tried to talk him into letting me set the stuff up so it's useable but the town doesn't get traffic. You don't stop by Midas NV on the way to anywhere. It's out of the way and you have to want to get there. It was a great visit and he loved showing me his stuff. He's definatley still a "collector" and not a seller.
  13. I found this in a little town in nowhere nevada when I was buying a 6" post vise. It was in the next door neighbors yard but I checked it out a little. I don't have any experience with PH but thought it was cool. Hope some of you can tell me a little bit about it.
  14. I picked up this 6incher when I followed an ad for a 4" post vise. It has two mounting brackets with it but no spring. I couldn't talk him down any on price but I did get him to throw in the top tool/chisel. I feel like I stole it at a hundred bucks. The other thing I found interesting was what I believe to be a power hammer but I'm not sure. I'll post a pic in the PH forum.
  15. Thats great Mark and fun to see. I'll have to try having my daughters strike for me and see how that goes.
  16. Thanks for all the encouragement and kind words. I got my 10 year old out there today and she got to beat on some hot metal. She made a hook to hang on her desk at school and my youngest made a plant hanger for her teacher. Now I've had all three of them out there working and they all enjoyed it.
  17. Two of my Daughters asked if I would let them do some Blacksmithing. Exuberantly said YES! We went over the safety rules once again even though they know them I wanted to reinforce them and add now that they will no longer be simply observing that the steel is HOT, even if it doesn't look like it. Alas some lesson you have to learn for yourself. My twelve year old touched her piece of black iron while describing what she wanted to do with it. Instantly she knew her mistake and put cool water on her fingers. Not too bad a burn. You can hardly see it, but she did learn which is a blessing. She continued to forge after that. My eight year old avoided burns altogether. She didn't move much metal but learned how to swing a hammer. Hopefully they will both continue. while I started to write this post I realized that they are the 5th generation in my family to use this anvil. I think all the Grand-dads would be proud.
  18. It was nice to meet you. Hope it will light a fire under you. You already have the tools, now put them to work...lol
  19. Guess I get the Dollar. I hadn't mentioned a knife till About my 50th Post....LOL
  20. That's really cool. Gonna have to try that soon.
  21. I'm not offended in the slightest. I was curious what the response would be in fact. I've seen criticism for leaving hammer marks in the blade and was careful to avoid that. There were several factors that lead me to this result. First of all I did remove the scale between each heat with a wire brush and then after the HT I ran a wire wheel across it to remove any more but it obviously left the scale pattern in the blade. Second is that I didn't have much success with etching my last blade. I used Vinegar, lemon juice and salt. I warmed thhe solution up and left the blade in for 10-15 min intervals wiping off the slime that develops in between. It gave a very light pattern so I tried leaving it in a few days with no noticeable change. So since I didn't have much success I didn't want to etch another till I had a chance to get a better Echant. Since the closest Radio Shack is 120 miles away I will have to wait to try that again leading to my next consideration. I wanted to have it finished to give my friend this weekend when I see him. I also have only built the two blades now and wanted to try something different and see what I like. I like this look ok, but I do like the pattern better. You never know till you try. Anyway, thanks for your insight. I look forward to the Knife Chat so that I can improve.
  22. Heres a cable knife I made for a friend. He saw the first cable knife I made the other day and was quite taken with it. He mentioned how cool it would be to seize the end like we do on wire ropes for work only out of copper. This is what I came up with.
  23. Thats awesome. Love they put your name in it. What are the specs on the steel?
  24. Well it's been awhile since I had a chance to do any Smithing, but today was worth the wait. First I finished my new forge. It's got a brake disc for a fire pot and 2" ducting. I got a bathroom vent fan wired to a dimmer switch so I can regulate the airflow. The I went to work on my small vise hardy tool. I built it with two different size shafts so I can use it in either of my Anvils. I got most of the work done on my anvil stand for the 40lb Vulcan. I need to build the straps to anchor it down. After all that I finally decided to fire up the new forge. I have been wanting a hold down that went in the pritchell hole of the anvil. I still had a little time so I went a head and started a new cable knife. Man it was nice to get some work done.
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