Michael

I LIKE that pipe section with the cutout to create a deeper welding fire! (that's what its for, right?). Have to try that one out. May even have a section of pipe to use, if not, its off to the scrap yard for some more rusty junk!

Got a good 5 hours of forging yesterday, the results shown. Still can't make a forgeweld work for the life of me. Brake drum is too shallow, that's my story. Corkscrew came out better than I expected, probably a little thick in the spiral. The rose from a template was a nice break from drawing and squaring, the restful hour spent bending rose petals allowed a nice arm recovery for punching and stretching the bottle opener.

I use the gel like plugs that are on a springy U shaped band that goes under your chin. I like that I don't touch the ear canal part and when taking them off they are right there around my neck, so I don't put them down somewhere out of reach when I start making noise again.

A bunch of little spark burns on my forearms, usually ignored and noticed by the 10 year old.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I pulled the anvil and bagged the stump out on the patio. A couple good sunny day's (no guarantee of that here in Northern Cal) and we'll see what happens. I'll move onto the borax, then clorox and the stronger nasty chemicals after that. I found it very hard to find logs of any appreciable size in the suburbs and I've got some time invested in this one. I would love to find one of those old 30 gallon oil cans and mostly fill it with sand as an anvil stand too.

Borax I've got!! I'll just mix up with a little slack tub water and swab my anvil stand down. Thanks guys! Easier than bagging it, though that will be plan B I think.

Arrrgghhh.....I was sorting out the piles in the smithy, preping for some limited forging time this weekend, when I noticed a stream of sawdust running down the side of my anvil stump, and a pile of sawdust on the ground. This is a California Black Oak stump under my PW. I've got many hours of time invested in flattening and prepping this stump and I'm NOT gonna let the bugs (bug) get it. In the immediate moment, I splashed some lacquer thinner on the hole and then tipped the oil can into the hole till the oil ran down the side. what's my next step? Polyurythane the whole thing? boric Acid wash? Way too much work just in getting a decent sized log section to let it go. Appreciate any suggestions.

Blacksmithing: Hot Techniques & Striking Projects By: Jose Antonio Ares Paperback: 144 pages Publisher: Lark Books (November 4, 2008) Language: English ISBN-10: 1600593844 ISBN-13: 978-1600593840 I picked this book up at a B&N a couple weeks ago, amazed that ANY new smithing book was in the crafts section of a big box book store. Its not like any other blacksmithing books I've read before. It's beautifully photographed, on a level with Lorelei Simms book. Originally published in Spain, the translation is, at times, a bit odd. But I saw techniques and working methods I'd not seen described elsewhere in my smithing library. Such as punching a hole in the end of a bar, then upsetting the metal back to thicken out the ring being formed at the end of the bar. And rolling a rod around to make a spiral that is then stretched out to form a corkscrew shape. Surprisingly, there is no mention of forge or fire welding at all. All the welding technique is modern. There's also a section on plasma cutting. There are several projects in the book, from cold twisted and screwed together trivets to a very nice waving pennant style of weather vane. The books ends with examples of artistic metalwork, including some very large sculptural installations formed with giant presses in an industrial setting.

I just miss them! There was a lot of great inspirational stuff there in the blueprints. Piles of ideas and techniques and such. I've got a few of them saved and printed in my "smithing" binder, my little gas forge was directly inspired by the blueprint I copied it from. I know the admins are working their posteriors off to get the blueprints back on line, and the efforts are appreciated.

Couple weeks ago I showed up at a Craigslist sale for an old toolbox full of saws. I passed on the saws (modern and trashed) but did buy off the workbench a pile of rose petal blanks (9 complete, couple more partials) for $20. The seller was the widow of a blacksmith, said his name was Rob (or Rod) Waller and he was active in California Blacksmith Association and the Crucible in Oakland. I did a little Googling and couldn't find anything on him, I was wondering if anyone knows about him? Now I just need to find some forge time to get working on some Roses!

Charcoal will work just fine, it was the fuel of choice for thousands of years. It wasn't until the British Isles were denuded of trees that mineral coal came into the picture as a smithing fuel. Don't use the briquets a la Kingsford, but find lump charcoal at the market or the hardware store. The mesquite stuff works but its rather sparky, I like to use Cowboy Brand cause its easy to find. As for starting, I use a chimney style starter. Its a metal tube with a grate in the bottom, a couple inches up from end. Newspaper under the grate, charcoal above, light the paper and red hot coals in 15 minutes or less. I use that time to fill the slack bucket, lay out my tools etc while getting ready. Happy forging.

Yeah, tossed out at the dumpster at the building I work in. Can you believe it? Dumpster diving and opportunity recognition!

That's what I did, bolted the brake drum forge under a sheet metal cart. The cart was easy to cut with a metal cutting jig saw blade and stiffer than I expected once the drum was attached. Don't cut thru the metal walls of the top shelf though. I forge with charcoal and needed the extra inch and a half for depth, brake drum's only about 5 inches deep.

If I've got a decent amount burning when I'm done forging, I'll shovel it into a bucket of water to put it out, then drain the water onto the grass, using the shovel blade to keep the now extinguished charcoal from floating out with the water. then I spread the charcoal out on the forge table to dry. Its usually dry by the time I get out to forge again.

I just did this same project a couple weeks ago. I screwed a couple boards into each side of the stump, making sure they were level to the ground and then to each other, they don't have to be parallel to each other, then a cheap router mounted to a long board and I was able to route the top flat in less than an hour. Wasn't hard to do, far easier than I expected actually.

My anvil's 4 inches wide, its a 104 lb Peter Wright.

I've been looking for the right sized piece of C channel for at least 2, maybe 3 years. Now that I've bent my own, I'm sure I'll trip over the right sized piece on the way home from work today. Isn't that the way it always works?

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