simmonds

Zsartell, that is BEAUTIFUL. Think I will steal that design. :)

Well I thought the advise was good myself Frosty. ;)

I got some LARGE U bolts from the steel yard for next to nothing. Not sure what steel they are but they make great hammers.

:) Sorry Dale, but this is just darn FUNNY!!! An iron Barbie! Ha Ha Ha. Surprised that little girl even thought of that. LOL Doesn't even sound safe as a toy. Gonna weigh about 2 pounds when finished....I feel sorry for Ken. :)

I found an old flypress while flyfishing the McKenzie river here in Oregon almost 20 years ago. I tripped over it while casting and wading in shallow water. I am assuming someone had been using it for an anchor on a river boat. Didn't know what it was at the time but a buddy and I through it in the back of my truck. It sat in my garage for quite a few years till I finally brought it to the dump (by request of my wife). If I had only knew what it was at the time. Although it was heavily rusted, it was restore-able for sure. Fast forward to the present and I am sitting here reading post like these and kicking myself. :(

Post a small video on YouTube so we can see that sucker in action! Very nice fabrication and engineering Jose. Beautiful!

Very nice!

beaverdamforge - NICE WORK!

Daryl, Great job on The Thirteenth Warrior. I always loved that movie. I would love to have a chance to do iron work for movies as you have.

The movie Pirate of the Caribbean has a blacksmith scene. Kind of Hollywood version too but the shop looks really cool just the same.

Last working days in the shop???? Those look great. I cant think of a better way to burn up 50 pounds of coal.

Basically, brake drums make horrible forges if fitted with legs and used with no table (the famous INTERNET brake drum forge design), but if you cut a hole in some heavy plate, supported in a sturdy angle iron stand or something similar and drop in the brake drum to use as the fire-pot, you have an EXCELLENT forge. If constructed well, fitted with a nice ash dump and possibly even clinker breaker design and fed with a proper air supply with sufficient volume, this forge will work every bit as well as one with a commercial fire-pot. And with proper scrounging can be made for FREE or very little $$$$. Chris.

If it is a small buffalo with pressed steel housing and 1 1/2 inch outlet I would stay away from it. I see those in perfect working condition go for 35 to 50 dollars around here. On the other hand if it has a 3 or 4 inch outlet, is heavy cast, is a Champion (especially a 400) or Canedy Otto, then I would grab it. They are usually very easy to free up and you can never have to many blowers in my opinion.

Feukair, that is amazing. I cant believe the things people find in the ground when digging a garden. Happens all the time. Anvils, blower...and now grinding wheels. Nice.

Really nice. Thanks for sharing including pics of the tools. So whens the demo???? :)

Looks beautiful. Nice latch design!

Shame on you Frosty ;)

Check this out Blacksmith Anvil Peter Wright 200 pounds Craigslist post was deleted by it's author. Why is it that when decent anvils in my area come up for sale they usually have some "custom" hack job done on them. Kind of sad it, it was a good price too.

Great job.

That is one of the better looking Vulcan's I have seen. Great looking edges and face. Seems to be one of the early castings too due to the clean detail on the logo. The later ones, the logo is hard to read. These are nice quiet anvils with sufficiently hardened tool steel face to do quality work. Usually these anvils were purchased by schools and have seen hard use by students beating cold steel and misses and chisel and punch marks everywhere. Yours seems to have survived well. Nice score. Chris BTW - Approximate value in my neck of the woods would be around 200 to 300 dollars in that nice condition. Beat up ones usually sell for around a hundred. For free, you got a heck of a score!

Nice grinder Frosty!

Great idea! Have to try that one.

Amen to that!

Dave, I say if you can afford the space, do it. You will really enjoy it if you are not there trying to recoup your space cost. Just have a good time, be friendly and focus your eyes and attention on the few in the crowd who seem really interested (usually children). Sometimes you will also notice someone sitting back in the crowd who stays for a considerable amount of time. Those are the people who are being drawn into the hobby and are the real reason to attend shows like these anyway. Do it and have fun. dablacksmith, I will have to drive up to the Oregon state fair and say hi. That should be a good time. Have you done the Oregon or Washington fairs before? Chris

Thanks Peyton. Was looking forward to watching it. Guess I got a few weeks to go. :)