metalmangeler

Hello Zak, our next regular meeting will be in Jan. I think it will be at Pat's shop. it is on the Springer system near Palmer.

I just got back from the Fairbanks Christmas show we do. It went better than last year still questionable as to making wages.

I did not check these to begin with as I thought it was asking what we were making ours to. I really like this though as it gives me perspective, though I should be able to down size some as I think the steel I am using is of better quality. Thank you.

my thoughts were pretty much the same a s Justin's. Great job.

a friend bought what I think is a kit for one of these. The air system in the kit is way undersized.

I lock mine up on the plate side as I think if the pin rotates it may bind like a tong rivet. Now you have 2 oppinions.:)

I seem to be in the minority here, but I rarely heat my anvil when it is cold. If you do not miss and hit your anvil with your hammer, you should not have a problem with the anvil being too brittle. It does suck the heat out of your work. This is a big problem when welding other wise not so much. working outside in a heavey rain storm is a bigger problem. My shop is not heated other than by the forge, so it is cold in the winter.

I was thinking that he thought seeing the floor was normal, likely he thinks my being confused is normal also only he may be to polite to say so. It was a Christmas craft sales show. One of the better ones.

I was at the south high show yesterday as well as Vince and Jim. First show I have done with 3 smiths at the same event. I don't think any of us did as well as we would have liked but the weather getting in was better than I ever remember. Vince and I stopped by Jim's shop afterward, way to organized. I of course was confused as you could see the floor, Vince thinks this is normal.

Sometimes when drawing on the far side of  the dies, (or by pulling the project) after turning 90 degrees the bar will want to twist so that you will be forging the narrow rather than the wide side of the bar. With flat dies drawing  by pushing or on the near side of the dies will often correct this.

1/2 hour sure sounds like a lot to me also. How cold are you talking? In the winter I prewarm my air compressor and tumbler with a small area heater like a milk house heater. I normally only do this when it is 0 f or colder. 

 I might make some of those hardy hole tools I mentioned at our next meeting unless someone has a better plan.

Some wild Dall rams will have up to 1 1/2 curl. Also some can lose enough of a horn to have only have like 1/4 curl left, I do not think that these are truely broomed off like you see so often with big horn rams. I think they might get an infection like a hoof abcess and just lose a major part of their horn. These can help with lost horns being explained.

The computor just eraced my reply if it does is again I will go do something else. As Chinoby pointed out it looks like you made mirror images rather than identical this will give you a right and a left pair of tongs if you make the other halves and finish them. What I was seeing in the first photo the top tong  the 2nd shoulder is angled the wrong way, this shoulder is to give relief, but it will bind if assembled as is. I think if you are right handed you angled the tong away from your hammer hand rather than toward it while setting the shoulder on the far side of the anvil.

   My suggestion of getting help is only one way to learn, I think it would be much easier than trying it all on your own, the videos that you have access to now are a big help rather than just looking at a pair of tongs and going at it on your own. You are very close to getting them to work, so keep at it and they will soon start to fall into place.

It looks to me like your 2nd shoulder is angled the wrong way.

I would suggest if you can find someone who is competent that you get that person to forge one jaw one step at a time while you do the other jaw right behind him. Then the same with each following step. Do not let them just make the tong 1/2 in front of you, you need to follow, they will need to go slow.

Jim I have noticed that about half the anvils I come across have the horn on the wrong end. I don't know what the guys at the factory were thinking.

Hey Jim buy one for my B.D. it is coming up. I will make you a nice horse shoe for trade. :)

   On a more reality based thought I am thinking I will be making some hardy hole tools for my truck anvil as I seem to have misplaced the hardy for that anvil and another specialty tool I had. I expect when I stop shoeing that anvil will be used in the shop or by one of my daughters so I should tool it up.

You could also make a bolster using a 1inch or such square and making a U then you could use this over your hardy hole.

If I were making an eye hole in that I would not bridge with the working end on the anvil. I would just let the upset part hang over and only support the shank. You may need to make a hole tool, or portable hole if your hardy hole is too deep to reach. A good place to fine one already made would be on the end of a large hydrolic ram or such.

A lot of the time if a twist lacks uniformity it is due to the heat not being uniform or the steel not being of uniform thickness. since your twist is tighter in the center farther from the vise I would think maybe the vise took some of your heat and it also looks in the picture like the metal may be thinner in the tighter part of the twist. So perhaps both problems. Often if these problems look likely to occure the smith will cool part of the twist to control what happens. The normal method is pouring water on the hot steel, you might want to try it on the knife steel that you have not spent much time forging. I would expect if you do not get too carried away (do not cool below dull red) this should work fine.

Hi Pat I was able to hand out most of the flyers Sandy made at the Girdwood Forest Fair so maybe they will bring in a few extras. I plan to call some of the knife guys I have not yet got to tomorrow, this is pretty late for that, but better than never. I am thinking that I will bring over the grinder on Friday will that work for you?

Hello Jerry I used a build up rod I got from Monte's father on my Haybudden years ago. It is softer than the anvil. Seems to work fine. I preheated the anvil to about 400f I think. I just air cooled it if I were doing it now I might slow down the cool, or I might do the same.

Be sure you bring an anvil finding one here will be more difficult than down there.

If it were my anvil I would radius the edges some, but depending on how you work some people really like some nice sharp edges. You might want to do a little rounding and then consider whether you want more. I think as a new smith you would do well to go a little at a time, when you take it off what you can put back is not original. I mean it is not a sacred object, so you can modify it, but be carefull as this is a lifetime type tool. I have modified some anvils, some of those modifications I would undo if I could, others I think it was a really good choise.

I have 2, some of them were a little soft out  of the factory. My soft one work hardened nicely. I would buy another if it was in decent shape and the price was good. I think the one you are looking at fits that catagory.