Dave Leppo

-Set of wood-boring gimlets (2 thru 5 mm & countersink) - for dad (two handles complete – still R&D’ing the cutting bits)

-Poker (complete) and stand – first two items for fire tool set – for mom

-Finish pic frame which was an October birthday present – for wife

-RR spike hand cultivator to match trowel & weeder – for wife

Non-smithing – finish bookshelf (paint) – for wife

And she asked me last night “what are you making for the grandmas, aunts, and uncles?!!!”

Are the sides parallel when looking from the top, or do the "faces

mine does the same thing, too. The original I wore out on some big Stainless, the replacement is made from rebar w/ the texture ground off the work surfaces. This seems to be tougher, but hasn't had the workout of the origional yet.

Looking at a copy of a 1908 Sears catalogue last night – they sold various forging equipment – they warned of drawing the temper from a steel anvil face by laying a hot piece of steel on it. Made me wonder if a lot of the old wrought & steeled anvils may be softer now than when they were new because of years of heating from all the hot steel in contact. OTOH, you would have to be working some big pieces to actually get something that massive up to tempering heat, and you would see the face change color!

Sorry for the hijack.

Here

Thanks for the info. this is a wrapped tommahawk head in which the forge weld keeps opening back up at the eye. I think that the forge weld never really took well to begin with, and I've tried to re-weld it w/ the forge so many times now that I'm running thin on material.
I will try the O/A flame on a test piece first to get the feel of it, and weld away!

Is it possible to gas weld real wrought iron, and how tricky is it?

Oxy-acet.

I assume i neet to find som off-cuts to use for filler; the same material

further resources, not included within this site's relm.

http://www.anvilfire.com/index.php?bodyName=/FAQs/coal.htm&titleName=anvilfire.com%20Blacksmithing%20FAQs%20



Look up all the IFI forge blueprints and faq's, as well.

The firepot should be about 4" deep FOR COAL, deeper for Charcoal. If that's the depth of the inside of the brake drum, that's great. But it would probably be nice to have the flat table surface flush with the TOP edge of the brake drum.

If you need to make it deeper, you can bend a piece of flat bar into a ring that sits around the top edge. Again, I think the table should be close to the top - of the flat bar, in this case.

The drum has to hang, or be supported underneath.


But these are just improvements; suggestions. What you have looks very serviceable.

I have changes I would like to make to mine, but I also have projects I want to do, so I just keep putting them off, and my plans continue to evolve.

ONE OF THEESE - I'D SETTLE FOR A 100LB

Blacksmith Power Hammers - Iron Kiss Hammers, LLC.

Warm the anvil enough and it will radiate the heat while you work, heating the rest of the shop any you; much thermal mass:)

A lot of thin-walled tube forming is done over MANDRELS. Bending is done over a flexible BALL Mandrel. (That's how they did it for Motorcycle exhaust when I worked there). I suspect the twisted forms are done by this machine similar to what NeatGuy is doing with his Nibbler, but maybe with rollers. Since the machine exerts consistent pressure across the pipe, distortion and collapse is reduced. During my last year @ the scooter plant, HYDROFORMED pipe was starting to come into use.

A collapsed twist is not always bad. Check out Decorative & Sculptural Ironwork by Dona Z. Meilach.

Here’s a TP holder I made from 1" od pipe. The 180 deg. turn on the right was twisted AFTER the pipe was slightly flattened to encourage collapse.

Jack Andrews, in The New Edge of the Anvil said that when he worked over a dirt floor, he would sweep the floor smooth in the morning, and by the end of the day he would have created a motion study of footprints in the loose dirt. He includes a diagram of tool usage based on this data; page 9. This will vary with the type of work you are doing. I suppose if you have a hard floor and are not too anal, you could sprinkle dust over it and work over that.

New Edge of the Anvil: A Resource ... - Google Book Search

Thanks for all the input. It could be a one-time specialty item to serve a specific purpose, and we may never know.

still, I'm curious, and am posting this to re-fresh the thread, incase some relative old-timer wanders by.

I dont think powder coating would hold up as well as plating - I hear once the plastic surface is knicked and moisture gets in, it quickly spreads corrosion underneath.

Of course, plating could have similar problems, just take longer to manifest.

If you had a buyer willing to pay the cost for plating, it would be worth it; but not for your private collection.


AWSOME WORK, anyhow!

What if you had the piece electroplated - chrome or zinc. this still wouldn't last forever


Librandi's Plating

What does one use the DISC BRAKE ROTORS for? I have a set I rescued from the steel dumster, and would like to tell the wife WHY, but I dont know.

(other than stopping the car!)

Each hook is about 3" dia. How does the spring work for hobbling a horse?

This piece was forged from ~3/8" stock. Its like a double hook w/ security springs rivited on. Anyone know what it was used for?

RR spike hand cultivator per my earlier description - the work of Mr. Sutton

I got a beautiful "hand cultivator" as a trade item this summer. The working end is split into six tines and the handle flattened, among other stylish features. Much to nice to use. The piece won the "Iron Master" vote for the day; the PABA Kutztown Blacksmith Days. Made by a Mr. Sutton. I will add a pic if time permits.

at the bottom of my "drain" is a cast collar about 3" dia. this sits into a 4" dia pipe, which also acts as an ash collection point, with a gate at the bottom. I blow air in the side of this 4" piece with a 2" nipple, welded in.

firepot.pdf

Glad the bell trap worked for you; i've been using one for a few years, but I only use it about 4 hours per week average. Mine is about 4" deep, and I find that good for coal. I understand that charcoal calls for more depth.

What is #23?