Michael

Over the weekend took my cutting plate, normally loosely secured in the pritchel hole with a bolt and bent it into a real saddle that sits over the anvil face. Prior attempts to bend the U shape with a 3 lb hammer got me a slight bend before the metal cooled in the vise, just enough to keep the plate from lying flat.

This time I pulled out the 8 lb sledge, choked up on the handle and wailed on the hot plate in the post vise. Very persuasive! Carefully marked the second bend with the center punch on each edge of the plate, about 1/2 the plate thickness from the anvil edge and wailed on it again with the sledge.

Couple of taps with my now favorite persuader to get a snugish loose fit over the anvil and its done. I think I might just drill a punching hole that corresponds with the pritchel hole, I've been punching a lot of holes lately.

Sometimes the solution really is a bigger hammer!

$1.25/lb? yeah, you got a good deal!

Corner of the covered patio. Out of sight on the right is the post vise bolted to a small shelf, which is bolted to the wall.

The Mesquite Charcoal is probably the worst in my opinion for throwing fleas.

I use the Cowboy Brand all the time. Its cheap and its available at the hardware store. Solved a lot of the flea problem by opening up the grate at the bottom of the forge. Couple of big 1/2 inch holes rather than the little 1/4 inch ones it was built with.

The door off a junked dryer would give you a sheet metal space about 18 x 20, with a lip to both keep it stiff and keep the fuel in place. You could prop it up on bricks or drop it into a wood framed table.

I recently redid my brake drum forge with a sheet metal utility cart. Cut a hold for the drum and bolted it in place, centered between the long sides and at one end. works well if you can find a cart like that.

Thanks for all the kind words guys. She is a gem, that's for sure. There was a coat of spray poly on all those handles. Save one that I'll put on my main hammer (great idea, dablacksmith), I was going to handle up the punches and set hammer, which see less use, to preserve the work. A good coat of Boiled Linseed Oil might work after some testing to make sure it won't mess anything up.

Woodburner is a fine idea. Perhaps after a little use I can sell her on "enhancing" and "preserving" her work.

again, thanks for the looking.

Michael

I recently came into possession of about a dozen set tools, hotsets, several punches, set hammer, fuller and swages and had excitedly mentioned in passing to my 10 yr old that I'll have to start looking for a bunch of hammer handles at the flea market to be able to use all these tools at the forge.

Well, this wonderful little girl drags her mother to the hardware store, buys a half dozen hammer handles. Then, secretly in the front yard (the backyard is pretty much all mine), behind the garbage cans, paints and decorates them all and wraps them for under the tree.

I couldn't be more proud of my little darling, and it's nice to see that ONE of the women folk in the house is listening when I talk.

on the bottom I routed 3 feet. the idea is a stable tripod, but I find the stump Will rock just a bit. I have two of the feet facing me as I'm forging, with the third at the far side of the anvil. If I push towards the open space between the feet, the stump will rock that way a bit, but it didn't seem to be a problem while forging over the weekend.

I got the routing idea from this site.

http://www.blksmth.com/Anvi_base_preparation.htm

but I like the ring idea too. Maybe if this set up ends up being too high, I can try the ring on the bottom idea.

Michael

And here's the routing set up to flatten the top.

Here it is done. nothing holding the anvil down just yet. I may do a staple or two over the feet to hold it in place. I'm a bit worried about the oak splitting on me, perhaps I'll wrap it with a steel band, something with a bolt so it can be tightened if the stump drys or shrinks some. I was also thinking about adding my tong rack from the old anvil stand and a strap with pockets around the back side. I've got a bunch of set tools to store.

Here it is done. nothing holding the anvil down just yet. I may do a staple or two over the feet to hold it in place. I'm a bit worried about the oak splitting on me, perhaps I'll wrap it with a steel band, something with a bolt so it can be tightened if the stump drys or shrinks some. I was also thinking about adding my tong rack from the old anvil stand and a strap with pockets around the back side. I've got a bunch of set tools to store. That would preclude rolling the stump though.

couple months ago I was able to get my hands on a black oak stump cut to size I needed for my anvil, kept that measurement in my wallet in case I ever needed it. It took until december to get the darn thing back to my house. Spent christmas day with a broadaxe taking off the bark and a router to make three "feet" on the bottom, couple coats of polyurethane on all that open endgrain.

A week later I nailed a couple of boards to the sides and routed about 3/4 of an inch off the top to make it level. Did some pounding on Saturday and the anvil moves some, the stump not at all. Just yesterday I routed a half inch deep footprint of my 104 lb PW into the upper surface.

Stump weighed 157 lbs before the routing took place. Here it is next to my stacked 2x8 anvil stand. No comparison, the stump is solid.

Yeah, bottle opener and tomahawk are the not too imaginative RR spike projects. I've tried a knife or two but they get a little too "freeform" on me.

Skipped out on dinner with the family to try again, before it got too late in the neighborhood to be hammering under a sheet metal roof (and walls, man it gets loud).

Knocked this out in a little over an hour. Couple more hammer marks than I'd like, the hook could've been drawn out a bit more. I did spend a fair amount of thought today considering the specific steps to making it, which I think helped some. This is I think the 5th or 6th one of these I've done.

thanks for looking

MS

Got an hour to myself over the weekend to try and finish up a bottle opener for my boss. I'd punched the hole and gotten it half drifted a couple of weeks ago and was hoping to finish it up as a gift to include with a 6 of his favorite brew.

Out of charcoal, lit the little MAPP gas forge instead. Heats the half inch stock pretty well. Got to use the newest anvil tool, a small cone off Ebay. Haven't finished grinding it down to fit in my 7/8 hardy hole, so it goes in the post vise.

The D on this church key type opener was shaping up very nicely. Got the tooth punched neat as you please and just as I was straightening out the loop and thinking about the handle....I snap the loop!!

Looks like a little cold shut that burned almost through. Wish I'd seen it sooner.

Serves me right for working fast. If I pick up another gas cylinder on the way home from work, I MIGHT be able to knock another one out before dinner.

Forgive the image, I cut off the offending stub and just layed it on the scanner.

Michael-Frightening the neighbors since the year Four

Oh no!! you've got gnomes too!

Thanks, the drum's 14 inches across, a little over 12 inch opening cut in the table. I built the stack back when I tried to use coal, for charcoal is mostly just directs the smoke up. I have a spark arrestor screen installed inside it. Patio I work on is covered but hardly airtight. I like the idea of dropping the stack down to the level of the forge table and adding a side draft opening to it.

Michael

flower's a wonderful idea, considering your fancy for this person, but when I saw the thread title "office worker", I was immediately taken back to this image I've been meaning to make for a while

http://www.ironringforge.com/HomeProjects/CubicleHook.jpg
http://www.ironringforge.com/HomeProjects/CubicleBack.jpg

From a guy named Marc Godbout's site.

Be a nice way to bring metalworking into the cubicle environment.

Michael

I've been working out of the same brake drum going on 5 yrs now. The other day, sticking out of the dumpster behind the building where I work was a nice sized sheet metal cart for the taking. Take it I did, home on the train to turn it into charcoal forge version 3.

I lit my first forge fire the day after thanksgiving in '04 and the try to celebrate that date each year while snacking on turkey leftovers and hitting hot metal, this year I was jigsawing a hole out of the cart and drilling (even more) holes in my now venerable brake drum to bolt it to the underside of the upper shelf.

Its nice to have a table space around the firepot, working with charcoal (Cowboy Brand) I need a deeper fire most of the time. Now I can pile the fuel up well over the top of the brake drum without it spilling over onto the ground.

Had to rearrange the smithy some to accomodate the larger forge. moving shelf the vise is bolted to.

Knocked out a couple of Aspery style leaves and a aff-hassed hanger for my shop sign. Also tried using some of the newest handled punches, on 3/8 stock, messed up the first two tries, using too wide a punch for the stock, but having fun with the hot set cutting off the offending attempts and starting again.

The big blue cart on the left, gotten for $5 at a garage sale was originally going to be a forge table. But its both a little too large and some darned useful for holding the gas forge, the tool box etc that I couldn't bring myself to cut it up.

Michael-frightening the neighbors since the year Four.

Thanks, me and my buddies were lucky to hit that sale when we did, the whole haul was a bit larger, including brace driven nut drivers, adze head, broadaxe, slick in need of repair and a very cool flywheel that will be the basis of a lathe. Most of the smithing stuff had been sold off already, only rusty post drill parts and some really big foundry tongs were left. The set tools were in boxes of hammer heads and by careful picking (and a current tetanus shot) the smithing tools made themselves available.

I managed to get my hands on almost a dozen set tools, hot cuts, punches, a fuller and set hammer at a garage sale recently.Got a chance to try them out yesterday. What a huge difference punching holes and hot cutting are with a handled tool, rather than a long punch!!

It must be the added mass of the set tool, I cut the point off a RR spike with the hot set, a weighted chain holding the spike down and it was much easier to keep the cutter in the cut than with the hardy hot cut. Same with the punch. I haven't had the chance to use the handled fuller, swage or set hammer yet.

this is the third bottle opener made, out of the RR spike this time, it only took about an hour, instead of the two plus the prior ones took to make.

Michael

Here's mine. 104 lb Peter Wright. Stacked 2x10s for stand. Cookie sheet under the anvil to hold the can of water to cool the punch, the soapstone, catch the hardy after cutting. Staples holding the anvil down are driven right thru the cookie sheet into the stand.

Not really the same as a demo at a fair, but the old tool group I'm in had a gathering recently and I did a little nail making demo,which went over very well. I'd put together a small kit that would fit in a box. MAPP gas forge and for an anvil, a 30 lb chunk of 3x3x12 steel, stood on end in a fitted plywood box, couple hammers, nail header and some 1/4 rod. Our host was nice enough to chainsaw me a white oak stump to work on, it wouldn't fit in the car for the ride home but someone with a truck brought it about halfway home for me, have to go pick it up soon for the backyard smithy.

Anyway, set up after lunch and started knocking out a few nails, within a couple of minutes the group gathered round and the kids took a real shine to making nails. At first with some helping hands from me but they picked it up quick and were very proud of their work.

Now, I pounded out attempts at artistic stuff of a good year before I figured out how to make something functional, like an S hook. I really should have started with nails, live and learn.

here's mine, this is in copper, I've also got a flame cut version out of 1/4 inch plate that needs a hanger.