Dave Leppo

http://www.anvilfire.com/power/jyh/pelgroms/be-jyh.htm CLICK ON "PELGROM'S SELF-CONTAINED HAMMER

SHOP-BUILT SELF-CONTAINED HAMMER
SORRY IF THIS IS NOT WHAT YOU REFER TO

Copyright

Wire brush your work while it's still hot. Hot scale will brush off much faster than cold scale. This even works to remove the mill scale on a fresh piece of hot-rolled stock.

I don't actually sell anything - YET - but I've thought a lot about and asked about this.

A start may be to look at the prices of others on their websites. One consensus seems to be: Don't underprice. It hurts you and other smiths.

http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/f7/prices-forged-ironwork-6047/

Still, I think this could be used for various smithing aplications, if it's tough enough.

like this: BP1016 Leg Vise Tool | Blueprints 1000

why do you ned to "turn off" the forge? We coal-burners don't put the fire out when we are not heating a workpiece, we merely pull the piece from the fire. Could the solar beam not constantly heat the chamber? You could turn it off manually when not in use by tarping the mirrors.

He started blacksmithng in Germany just after WW2 and said there they ground up pricks as flux

I, too, have a spelling problem. I usually know exactly what I want to say, but I can’t always spell it. But you wouldn’t find too many errors in my posts (a few). I either type my post into MS Word (you can use any word processor), or type them in the message window and cut-paste to word; let the SPELL CHECKER help me, and then cut-paste back into the forum. If you are online, I guess you have a computer, and I think most come with some sort of typing aid. This is not infallible, but it catches a lot, takes a few seconds.

Help, maybe, to those who have these troubles, and think it’s important. I sleep better!)

Thankfully, for Mr. Power’s sake, at least you gave your location! (GRIN)

Sorry for the hijack

I have had some luck with using Rebar for tool making. I would recommend testing heat treat procedures on some sample pieces, and don't expect the results to hold for different batches or different sources.
A real “Junk-Yard” steel, but not necessarily “Junk”
IMO

Nice. How well does it work?

I’ve been working with a stone mason, re-hardening his hammers. I heat the whole head to non-magnetic and quench in FLOWING water (coming rigorously out of the faucet into a bucket). Then I polish the sides of the hammer so I can see the color when tempering. I have my propane torch clamped to a table leg so the flame comes straight up, like a Bunsen burner. Just above the torch tip is a piece of flat bar with a 1” dia hole, where the flame comes thru. The hammer head sits atop this, and I lay a small piece of flat bar on top of the eye, constricting the heat in the eye cavity. It takes a while to get up to heat, and I flip the head over a couple of times in the interim.
The stone hammers have more mass toward the pein, so I aim the flame to that side of the eye.

this works for about any smithing hammer.

I'll get some pics next time I do a hammer.

I know she'd rather I spend money on smithing than at the "PA Wine & Spirits Shoppe"

BTW Highland Park single malt on sale this month!

Don

did anyone mention covering the floor w/ sheet metal? It could be bent up at the bases of the walls to form a sort of base board.

there can be quite alot of hot steel flying around, especially if you are cutting a corner off something w/ a chisel

glove left hand when holding short punch ONLY

LOOKS LIKE A NICE START

I wouldn't necessarily call rebar "crappy", though others here will disagree with me. I happen to have found some rebar that has suited my purposes, with enough carbon to be hardened. Of course, I have to treat it accordingly when forging, like any steel with higher than average carbon.

I mounted my Peter Wright to a Pin oak block that was about 18x18x24. It was sawed green and I put some linseed oil on it - about two coats, I think - and started using it. It developed some small splits as it dried (the first year), but they never bothered me, and haven't really gotten much bigger in the last year. I strapped the anvil down with some 14 gage sheet metal strips.

My new (1870's) Fisher I have sitting on an oak log that's HOLLOW - about 30%. I shoveled some stone dust and coal ash into the hollow to help hold the log in place. The anvil is over 200 lbs, so I’m not worried about having the base be heavy. The only treatment I did was to strip the bark (where beetles like to hide) and add some borax to the filling in the hollow to deter termites (dirt floor in shop). I’m more worried about the insects than splitting or checking; this log has been dead for a while. A hollow is lighter and easier to move, providing that there’s enough wood left to support the anvil. When I decide that I like the location and orientation of this Fisher, I will strap it down with some 11 gage strips, like the PW.

I would definitely recommend a side-draft setup. The Hofi version posted is good if you want to go out thru a wall rather than the roof; I have a modified version of this which just uses 12” round pipe going out thru the wall. The “Super Sucker” side draft looks good, too.

http://www.iforgeiron.com/forum/f7/pics-my-forge-setup-9718/

You don’t need a smoke shelf like the “beautiful iron” guy says.
IMHO

It really doesn’t make sense that the shot would be stacked in pyramids on the deck of a rolling ship. These pyramid stacks are unstable, and the shot would be rolling about the deck in the slightest swell. If a rolling ball would happen to go down a hatchway, it could conceivably pop right through the hull of the ship.

Term: brass monkey

I get a rash on my arms when using the bench grinder. It is from the hot sparks hitting my arms. It does not hurt at the time, but later, in the shower, it gets to me. Goes away in a day.

BILL CLEMENS'S SUNDIAL

theres some more pics in this same gallery
http://farwestforge.com/Forum/bsgview.php?photo=3234&cat=&by=Bill%20Clemens

D-Mike

If you really want the blower to be Hand-Crank, seems you could find a belt-driven blower and an old Bicycle, and rig something to work using the Bike drive train...

I use beeswax on my punches & chisels

Where the heck is the introductions forum?