Bentiron1946

Didn't know her but it's always good to give up a prayer for a fellow smith's family. Praying for peace and closure. Jerry

Looks like a good start in the trade of smithing. Keep at it and you'll soon be trading you goods for more iron and tools.

Hello and welcome to the forum. Cuttle bone casting is a real kick isn't it. I have done most of mine with Sterling silver not any of the low melt metals like tin, antimony, bismuth or lead. I have cast a few hundred pounds of bullets though and for that I used an electric melting pot which sure made life easier than a gas burner. Anyway your Benzomatic should do fine for antimony which has a melt point of around 1,1600F or there abouts so that torch should work fine. Sterling silver has a melt point of 1,640F or there abouts so why mess with antimony when you could be casting Sterling. One thing you need to watch is not getting the metal to the point where it boils and then vaporizes, that's one of the problems with casting, metal fumes can poison the body very easily. Vulcan the god of the foundry was portrayed as lame, early bronze was made with arsenic before it was made with tin and it caused neurological damage and made one appear lame and the image stuck when a god of the forge was created. So be careful to do your casting in a well ventilated space or better yet out of doors.Casting as well of forging is so much fun because it involves fire and tools, just can't beat that for a good time now can you. Best of luck with your project and let us know how it turns out.

Worth about $10 but I wouldn't pay that much plus postage. Gals that work wire like them but not much use for a serious jeweler.

Looks like your got a good deal on all that stuff Josh, not a bad deal at all. :P

WOW, That's sad to hear, he had some interesting stuff for sale and was inventive in his approach to the craft. I will be praying for his family, God's peace and mercy on them. Jerry

John's correct on this one, an Asian knock off of a quality European model. The good ones are made from high quality steel and the bad ones are cast from scrap. Not worth much but some novice will get suckered into paying big bucks for it on eBay. OK, Here it is on eBay http://www.ebay.com/itm/Jewelers-mini-bench-anvil-round-base-/300842810738?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item460ba0fd72 ain't worth much.

I have seen a full size bucking bronc made out of horse shoes with rider, pretty amazing seeing this thing, took a moment to realize what it was made out of. None of this small time stuff like nicknacks for this guy, he went big.

From what I see it looks like a Kinyon style hammer. Maybe it's name is Ron?

Nice little rod shear, I got one similar a few years ago and it sure is nice for cutting hot rolled rod for making rivets, brass and copper too for the same purpose. Those are some nice used jack hammer bits, some unusual shapes.

I remember as a kid bending a coat hanger back and forth to break it, boy did I ever get a burn on my fingers from doing that! Glenn, Yeah, we kinda missed that it was good publicity for the craft of smithing and maybe piqued an interest in the physics behind the demonstration.

When you wire brush it other stampings and markings will appear, then take more pictures.

It looks old enough to be he great-grandfather's anvil, could be a family heirloom. Doesn't look to be in bad condition either. To clean it up put a wire brush on a 4" hand held grinder and give it a good brushing, NO abrasive disks please.

Woody, I'll be praying for Kristy and Jackie. Kristy for healing and Jackie for peace of mind during the whole process. Cancer is a scary thing to hear. God's peace and blessing on all of you, Jerry

Well that's an unusual way to light a coffin nail! Way to go, blacksmiths rule!!!

Well I guess someone from Southern Arizona had better give you a welcome. So far we are relatively warm and dry but could use a little more rain in this part of the state and snow in the high country. We have some great smiths in the state so if you get tired of the rain come on over and dry out for a little while, I sure someone will let you sleep by the forge.

I may need to buy that book, used ones start a thirty one cents, such a deal!

Nope nothing here, I'm with Frosty on this one, I'm just taking life one day at a time. Mark, Ifing I was healthy I could gather several tons of wood just from folks who trim and cut down their trees and place them out at the curbs to go to the land fill, eucalyptus, ash, pine, palo verde, mesquite, citrus, mulberry and many other types of wood. It's a shame it all gets buried away where it does no one any good.

Jerry, I will be praying for your wife and you, it just don't seem right sometimes for these things to happen. I will be seen a request to some others to be praying for you as well. Trust God to get you through this one moment at a time. Keep on praying for peace from the Father. Jerry

More sage words from James Binnion http://ganoksin.com/blog/binnion/2013/01/02/age-hardening-sterling/

Steve, You are on the list. It takes two genes for those types of things to get passed on so you may not have to be concerned about it too much. I will be praying for your birth mother's pain and your pain of heart so that you may have God's peace about you. Jerry

Will miss your daily comments, prayers for a quick resolution for a decent job.

I'll be thinking of Mary and family, praying for her peace. Jerry

I used to do a fair amount of shooting, small bore rifle and pistol target. Got pretty good with my model 64 Anshutz rifle, at 25 yards off hand I could shoot a five shot group the measure 0.24" center to center in the "X" ring. Then with my Ruger Mark I semiautomatic pistol at fifty feet I could put all ten shots off hand in the "X" ring. I also had an 03-A3 Springfield with a "C" stock with a Lyman 1,000 sight and could put a ten round group in ten ring a 500 yards and all ten in the black at a 1,000 yards. It ain't all that easy to hit the target at a thousand. I have owned a plethora of handgun, rifles and shotguns over the years, once I added them all up and it was well over two hundred but those three have stuck in my mind the most. I only have one of them left now. I used to do a lot of archery but doubt if I could draw a forty pound bow now. Life sure changes on you. Enjoy you youth while you may.

You sure do get some fine wood out of the wood pile for use in craft project that's for sure.