matt87

Champ, Deluxe, Bassman... I'm not fussy, they's all got their place, like a Centurion, Titan and a Gladiator! They seem to sound good no matter what guitar you put through them.

Euurgh not a Marshall... one of the '50s Fender tweed amps surely :D

Some smiths use clean sand. Others use sand daubers' nests and I've heard of some smiths using charcoal ash. English smiths traditionally didn't use flux; they pretty much relied on having a clean fire and not producing (or brushing off) the scale from the joint.

Common laundry borax is boraxdecahydrate which means it has 10 water molecules per every one of borax. This means when you apply it it will whizz around for a while. You can buy anhydrous borax (farrier suppliers I think, and ceramic suppliers). You can also heat a tray of hydrous borax in the oven for a couple hours to make partially anhydrous borax, or heat a tray to melting point in the forge to produce anhydrous borax.

make 2, sell one? ;)

We used to have a 'science' program over gere called Brainiac. They filled a swimming pool with custard (from powder) to demonstrate its non-Newtonian characeristics. Think the powder is corn flower, vanillin and yellow.

Drop forging involves a power hammer. A plate called a progressive die is attached to the anvil face and the head face. This is somewhat like a mould, but instead of molten metal being poured into it, red-hot metal is placed on top of the bottom die and the hammer slams down, forging the metal into the cavities in both of the plates. Bang, one blow, one axe head. Repeat ad nauseum, all axe heads are identical (barring die wear). It's not blacksmithing of course, so it's evil ;)

I'm thinking of making some nutcrackers as per the BP for me mum...

JohnB showed me a good one: sunflower oil. Wire brush the piece and gently heat to 'touch hot'. Apply a good but not excessive layer of oil with a rag, paper towel etx. You want enough to give a good coat but you don't want it dripping. Heat the piece again and watch out for a flare. The hotter the piece the darker the finish. Suppose you could probably use veggie oil, corn oil, peanut oil etc., but haven't tried it yet.

It lets us know how the village smith was thought of and their place in the society.

Very true. I suppose that since 'by hammer and hand, all trades do stand' 'most all village people visited the villagesmithy on a regular basis (please no jokes about policemen, builders etc. ).

Ecart, could you fix it with epoxy putty or similar?

Outdoors in the small concrete cube that is my back yard. Can get bloody cold when its raining and you're waiting for the iron to heat...

Surely you mean navy rum? As much as you can afford, mate!

Smoke is not an energy.

Well I guess this sums it up Thermite welding - Wikipedia

Sadly not, as it is a private home. I'm sure you understand.

I understand completely :)

My girlfriend wants me to make (assemble, my bladesmithing woudl truly suck) her a sheathknife. She's picked out the parts, now I have to put it together. Lucky old me eh? :D

I believe in being armed but I also believe that some are better suited to it than others. A free society is defined by self determination. Without that it is no longer free. Whether removing all weapons or issuing all weapons.

I agree. The government making available a decent rifle and/or pistol to each eligible citizen once they reach a suitable age for little or no money makes a lot of sense... though I wouldn't neccesarily want to force people into it.

I use charcoal exclusively, but then I am a rank n00b with a history obsession, forging in the tiny back yard to my rented house... There are many features I like about charcoal: it's renewable, it's the more traditional fuel (in terms of number of millenia it has been used vs. other fuels ), it has virtually no smoke, no complex or possibly dangerous gas fittings and valves, you can make your own fuel, and it doubles as one xxxx of a barbecue! I also hear it's virtually self-fluxing, but then I haven't attempted forge welding yet...

Dan, are you willing to reveal the location? MY parents live to the NW of London..

For now, I just put a jumper on under my overshirt. After a fwe minutes of pumping the bellows or swinging a hammer, I'm not too sure it is winter...

An outhouse paper holder? Could be as simple as a spike to drive into the wall.

When I have more space, I have a few of them projects slined up... power hacksaw and model lathe for instance. Great site!

Loaded chamber + safety is one thing, but I'm sure you wouldn't put your hand over the muzzle of a loaded gun if you knew the trigger sear were worn out of spec...

+1 Frosty! For most of the 3,000 years of iron usage, general-purpose anvils were often hornless. Japanese swordsmith anvils still are. Plenty of very good work can be done on a hornless anvil. Heck, look at the work Viking smiths were able to make on sub 5lb lumps of wrought iron! :D