matt87

Our Bill of Rights predates yours, and infact formed much of the basis. It contains an equivalent to the Second Amendment but we have had the best part of a century now of those in charge banning and restricting for 'the public safety' and the general populace have followed like the good litle sheeple that the are. The knowledge of the RKBA has all but died-out in this once-proud nation and I honestly can't see it being reacknowledged without a major change in most peoples' way of life and mindset. That's not to say I have given up; I will continue doing what I can to campaign, to intoduce newomers to shooting (even just to show them that guns aren't bad), and to shoot as much as my time and money allow. If you live in a freer country, please do everything you can to keep it alive.

(On a related note, congratulations to you Americans on the outcome of today's oral arguments in D.C. vs. Heller!)

I've made a couple but I won't show you as I'm sure you enjoy your sight... files are good recycled steel, as are springs.

Spot on, mate. Its great living out of town

Sucks living out here; we serfs aren't allowed pistols, unless they are muzzle-loaders or airpistols.

the 230 grain security system.

As provided by Mr J Browning? :D

I saw an article on a blown gas-fired glass-blowing kiln a little while ago where they spent quite some time discussing this and similar problems. I think they decided to use a solenoid-actuated gas control valve, so if the power went off so would the gas. They also had a therocouple so if the power came back on while the kiln was hot enough to ignite the gas, the gas and blower would come on, else not.

Ah, good points there Thomas, my hat is off. There is of course the Huntsman process too; European from the 18th century I believe. May I please have the reference to that thesis?

And while I would like to exclude pattern welding from the term damascus actually both wootz and patternwelding have been generally know as damascus for over two centuries; so it's a bit hard to claim that one is excluded from the term. It's just a bad term if it can be used for quite different things; english is rather famed for it's ambiguity. I prefer to leave damascus alone and only refer to pattern welding and wootz myself. You may notice that german also uses the term "damascus" for pattern welded items as well.

I prefer to use the term Damascus to the steel form the swords of Damascus -- that is likely Wootz steel (from certain periods at least...). I think that Damascene is a much better term for the more modern version. But I suppose it's like the magazine vs. clip debate; you can get by talking about putting a new clip in yoru Glock as most people will be able to figure out what you mean. When you talk about putting a clip into your Lee Enfield with a clip though, it can get a little more ambiguous! (Enfields have a detactchable magazine but the mag can be reloaded with clips from the top...)

But this is quibbling over terminology; far better to spend the time looking at the pretty stuff!

Exactly. :cool:

Non-new anvils on eBay usually go for way less than less than

Thanks for the info guys, I'm not all that clued up on 'proper' anvils, as you've probably noticed ;)

Hi wssd, and welcome.
We typically would use mild steel for this today rather than iron due to its better cost and availablity. You can try hardware stores, welding stores, engineering supply places etc. What you need is hot rolled mild steel, or over here we call it black steel. This comes with a slightly rough, blackish grey finish on it already. You may have to buy a longer length than you need and cut it to length. You cna do that with a cheap hacksaw and something to hold it steady (vise, or clamps and a heavy workbench). You might get lucky and find somewhere with a suitable piece in their scrap bin they will let you have, for free or pennies.

If you need want a dimpled, 'rustic' appearance, bang it with a ball-pein hammer a lot! Oh and heating it gives it a blacker finish, though this can be rubbed off with use. Seal with a clear laquer sray if you don't want this.

I periodically torture myself by looking at the numerous anvils on eBay going for a song and wishing I had a car, hoping against hope that a lightish one appears within transport links. Came across this little thing, and the shape intrigued me.
anvil and sack truck on eBay (end time 11-Mar-08 13:08:20 GMT)
Looks (from what can be seen) to be wrought, and a little swaybacked. The pattern isn't London or Portsmouth, or anything I recognize as such, though there is something a little Colonial about it to my eye. Any thoughts anyone?

[No links to seller, FleaBay blah blah blah]

If it's a hood ornament, won't rusting be an issue? I appreciate you want to get some Damascene/forgewelding experience, but I think you should consider mokume gane. You can make it from a variety of metals (varying difficulties I understand), including nonferrous.

I'm interested in the mention of repeatable, predictable patterns. Wonder if we'll see Mokume Gane number plates soon? :D

Big box (wood, metal, masonry), with tuyere penetrating the side. Add ashes, sand or whathaveyou and you can have whatever shape of firepot you like.

If you burn veggie oil, no more so than propane (CO and CO2). Used motor oil etc. often contains small amounts of heavy metals, so all approriate safety precautions should be used (the best being not to do it ).

Ah Vladimir, I thin kI have you beat, I'm 20

Seriously, welcome to probably the best addiction you could ever hope for.

Haha Habu, I recently had a very similar idea to that re: water jackets from pipe nipples and reducers.

File cutting is amazing. Making a couple of my own is on my list of 'things I want to do one day even though it's probably not worth it, because I'm just a little bit crazy'.

Cool, I use an almost identical setup! I find the parts of the track other than the 2inch x 3inch 'top' part very useful for various tasks.

The one far right is not a hammer but a flatter; this is a set tool which is placed on a piece of hot iron and struck on the back with a sledge hammer to achineve a smooth finish.

Sean, may I ask what role you represent at reenactments? I'm a little confused between your BS gear and the Legionaries in your avatar.

I've seen 3/4inch mentioned in British texts. I've used a back blast coke forge before, and IIRC it had a 3/4inch inner diameter. (And about 3inch outer diameter )

Pictures of the two sites aren't all that exciting, mainly due to the weather. (We spent much of the day inside a cloud.) Here are a couple of pics I nicked from some friends.

The first picture gives an overview of the smelting site, which is located in a small river valley. The horizontal platform in the centre of the picture is where the smelting actually occured. The two vertical dark blobs are people. Much of the platform is made up of slag and other smelting debris, as well as earth dragged down form further up the slope. As you can imagine, this is a considerable amount of material. The site is completely littered with tap slag, as well as furnace lining and charcoal. There are several large pieces of slag (over 12 inches in diameter) which have been broken up from even larger pieces. They have a shape indicating that slag was tapped into a bowl-shaped depression. These large pieces show perhaps eight layers, each one representing a different smelt. The slag is quite dense, containing much 'wasted' iron, in the form of iron carbonite. (Roman-period smelting was not as efficient as that of later periods.) We took samples of these slags and will be analysing them later.

This smelting site is knonw to have been operated during the Roman 'occupation' (i.e. between AD43 and AD410). It is not obvious however exactly who ran it (the roman army, locals supervised by the Romans or local entrepruneurs). It is known though that the Romans were the main consumers of the iron smelted here and the qualitities of iron produced were far in excess of local demand. Charcoal was produced on site, and iron ore (haematite mainly) was transported to here, as charcoal was the more difficult to transport (it crumbles too easily).

The extraction site is locally known as Roman Lode, though this is a modern name and does not indicate a neccesarily Roman exploitation. It is known that this area has been exploited and mined for approximately 4,000 years, though not neccesarily continuously. There is evidence all over the local landscape showing mine work from throughout this time. The picture shows a typical open-area excavation thought to be from the Roman period. They range from just a few feet deep to perhaps 15 feet. (I suspect that many of them have been partially refilled due to soil falling in.) The area is rich in various iron-bearing rocks, and the ores have been exploited until the early to mid 20th century.

These sites were excavated a few years ago, run by my metallurgy tutor and two other archaeologists at the uni, who accompanied us on the visit. (There is another dig being planned at the moment.) If you're expecially keen, PM me and I'll point you the direction of excavation reports etc.

Hibernicus, I'm afraid I'm not familiar with him, and a cursory Google search returned nothing relevant. What is his area of expertise?

There are some interesting/useful tong articles on here: iForge Blacksmith Projects
#132 is probably very good for a beginner
#114 is... probably a good aspiration :D

There was an earlier mention of animal dung as a fuel. Now I have a 1 year old great dane pup as some of you know. Well I have to clen up after him and so guess where it goes if I am forging? It results in some interesting colours in the flames but does burn. I don't think I would want to use it as my sole fuel but cocktailed with my smithing coal it is OK. I frequently use wood as a fuel without any problems. It is just bulky!

Interesting. May I ask what you feed him on? I'd have thought that only herbivore dung would work, due to the large amount of cellulose etc. (the undigestable parts of grass).