Dan P.

They sell a similar looking hammer at Angele.de.

Looks pretty cool!

You may still find a few men in this country who are Registered Shoeing Smiths (RSS after their name). I think that means they were farriers before the 1975(-ish??) law requiring registration of farriers, so they didn't need to jump through so many hoops to practice.

Plater is also a term for a sheet metal worker in this country. Further identification is need before they are employed, otherwise strange and misshapen ducting/very thin horseshoes may result.

As the proprietor of a traditional forge, to this day I still offer dentistry, haircuts, circumcisions, marriages, baptisms, legal council and medicinal bloodletting. You get what you pay for. 

I had one guy having me make repeated modifications to a set of neck/hand/foot manacles.  After a couple modifications it got so weird I ended up telling him to shove off.  

I have had a few NSFW jobs. Some of them quite alarming!

I would not personally buy a ductile iron anvil. Perhaps not all ductile iron is equal, but the one I've used was rubbish.

If I was to fork out for a new US made anvil, I might consider an Emerson anvil. 

Your access to funds will vary but cheap arc welders can be had for £100 or less. A few years ago Aldi had one or reportedly not-horrible quality that they were putting on special offer for £35!

Seek and you will find.

"No weld sideblast tue" suggests that the ability to weld is a knack that can be done without.

Make the effort to acquire a basic skill in welding, and it wil pay dividends.

The people preparing the food will be liable, not you. 

Anything further to that I personally would ignore, as it comes down to hygiene, not materials.

Bacteria don't have any harder time living on forged s/s than forged m/s. Meat is either cooked or it's not, and that's about the end of it.

Answer; Yes

 

 

Now a tradition we have been fostering in the smithing community is the ringing of the anvil by smiths when another smith has died 1 blow per year of life.

My great-grandfather was a blacksmith who lived to 137 years old. At his funeral we couldn't find anybody who could count that high, so we just rang his anvil till we got bored. 

True story!

Beautiful hammers, Steve!

That is as amazing as it is absurd! 

It might be pertinent at this stage to point out that a "rounding hammer" is a hammer used to round or turn shoes. Nothing more, nothing less. A four pound hammer for turning a shoe? That's got to be a big horse!

 As for what I do about it, I dip every thing in phosphoric acid now. you don't need to rinse, and its safe enough to stick your hands in (rinse off afterward), Take care, Matt 

I think it's important that we know what dilution you are talking about, for practical purposes, but also because I cannot imagine it is safe to stick your hands in, say, 85% pure phosphoric acid (or maybe it is?).

I find if I take the workpiece up to a heat where the borax is fully oxidized or  "dry", it should be nice and clean after a good brushing.

I generally don't suffer from this problem, but I'd be interested to have a read of the original thread. Any chance of a link?

 

There is one exception to that. If the gun has recent proof marks from either the London or Birmingham proof house. Any weapon that passes muster there go right ahead and do whatever you want with it. ;)

George

This is a very irresponsible thing to say. 

If in doubt (and you should be) take it to someone who will accept liability for their decision of whether it can be fired or not. Do not trust random internet opinions when it comes to questions of safety, especially where metal and explosives mix.

I have my main anvil at wrist height.

You will often find older anvil set-ups quite a bit lower, as a high anvil soon becomes difficult for a striker.

Perhaps start at the recommended knuckle height, or a bit lower. Then you can add little bits of wood or whatever to raise your anvil as you so wish.

Certainly I think most smiths nowadays mainly forging detail work will have their anvils a good deal higher than in times past.

...is to illustrate that you don't NEED to reach for a big honkin hand sledge to get more 'bang' for your swing, rather that you can increase your power just by improving your swing technique...   ...with the intent to increase head velocity at the time of impact. Usually by maximizing the range motion of each of the pivot points in your arm and snapping through with your fingers just before impact, which will REALLY goose up velocity, and therefore energy, without needing to exhaust yourself lifting and swinging a heavier hammer.

 

I think this is the point, and it transcends the particulars of weight or the size of the individual.

Mark Aspery maintains that a 2 lb hammer, swung twice as fast, delivers 4 times the force of a 4 pounder.

Dave

So why not swing the four pound hammer twice as fast?

I think Frank nailed it. This is a forging competition, not a good illustration of how to swing a hammer day-to-day.

I would also add that while they are interesting and informative, I don't think mathematical equations are going to be of much help. 

I'm not really seeing a problem with the twist. It looks twisted to me!

If this were my "problem", I would set that length aside and come back to it.

After doing a number of these, you might find your feelings have changed.

Ultimately, the job has to be right, but also factor in the fact that it is handmade, and also factor in that if you want to maintain productivity you shouldn't get too caught up in details that are unimportant, as this one (with all due respect for your concern) seems to be.   

Many pritchell holes are pretty small anyway, as they were/are for making nail holes, as the name suggests. Not a lot of drifting to be done in them much beyond 10mm or so.

A bolster plate should do, or do as smoothbore suggests; a hardy with a pritchell hole in it.

Spark test it. Might be shear? Might explain provenance, and would increase the value.

Dan P, I stated what I stated, and I've shown both steel and clay, and I have never attacked anyone's methods or tools! You, sir are incorrect. Maybe you should read all of this over.

Now let's talk about better methods of skinning a cat. What did you all think bout all those examples?

Well I think the examples were interesting, but I have no idea how the material they were made from behaves. 

Some other things;

If you look at the weld I tested to destruction, you will see that the material is bent, as per the test. In your clay version, it's not bent, the weld is just separated. That suggests the weld did not take at all, not an unsound weld.

My opinion of the weld with the collar; a total waste of time, just adding more weld boundaries and more material to forge down. An interesting experiment, perhaps, but not one I see catching on!

The weld with the upset ends; I'm guessing this is supposed to be the same as the "blob welds" a picture of which featured earlier in this thread. Seems fine, except that the work involved is many times greater than necessary.

Brian, you have indeed attacked other peoples methods. This whole thread is dedicated to such an attack, as is your thread about welding on reins.

Interesting pictures, though they do not ring true to me. It would be much more informative to see them done in steel.

Well, actually, we have seen one of them done in steel, and the failings attributed to this weld by the original poster have been shown to be incorrect.

I can think of no kinder way of putting it, Brian, but you have been proven wrong.

That's not a personal attack on you, just a statement of fact;

The wastage you predict does not necessarily happen.

The deformation of the main bar you predict does not necessarily happen.

The weld you claim is intrinsically unsound has been shown in the one instance to hold up to lifting a 400lb anvil.

Feel free to discuss and promote other ways of doing things, we all do things a little different and there is more than one way to skin a cat, but I think it might be time to move on from attacking other people's methods or tools as inferior to your own.