Bigred1o1

lol ok thats even odder Hayden i welded up a small 3 1/2 incher that was my fathers first vice that had the the handle slide snap after 35years today as well as making new springs phil i have a 6inch post vice i have set up so i can use it on its side as well as when mounted to the wall so getting a real spring in it means the jaws will now open 6+ inches against gravity so i am a very happy camper

i cant find the post in here to put a thank you in it but i know i found it in here once on the fact that mild steel when quenched in salt water will make a good spring for a leg vice i have driven myself nuts trying to reforge some old leaf springs and just not been happy with the shattering or them being to soft and the hassle of trying to take a 3/16th or so by 2inch wide piece of steel and make it into a half inch by inch piece of steel so anyway i had a perfect fire going today after finishing up some railings and the above comment popped back into my head and 15minets later i have 2 vices with springs in the once more so thanks again

i loved wood turning and i am slowly putting together a inch atlas lathe and that one you have looks even slicker

as always Thomas you do seem to have the proper heading plotted out i do some silver work as well and this had just seemed a bit extravagant to for that but it would be nice to have a very substantial block for that and i can look into seeing how i can modify it

sounds like a good idea i have really not been happy with the quality of the face on my main anvil for when i am doing clean work the knifemakers anvil sounds like it might be a solution

yeah that was my worry as well it has one unfinished end i was thinking of turning into a dishing tool but its just so dam nice as it is the bench anvil idea was what i was tossing around as well right now i am using it as ballast on my anvil stand

oddly i did a number on the roofers they were good sports about it unforchunalty this is mostly fine

yeah i am starting a coal relocation posses still i am glad this provided a bit of amusement and yeah the idea of putting lids on the barrels i am moving it into is a good one thanks all

well at least it still makes fire all i have to say is if my work ends up having a yellow patina i am going to be pissed :P

dodge for the most part its the urine burning that is just nasty you can taste it in the smoke

yeah that sounds like a plan to bad it is under cover i guess its time to move the coal though the washing machine idea has a bit of an appeal to it just imagine the spin cycle i took 2 bushel baskets full and hosed them off so we will see how that goes

ok so i have a free day coming up on Monday and the weather is nice enough i can work out side so i went to my coal pile to bring some down to the shop only to find the cows had gotten into it during a power outage and they left me with a good bit of organic deposits and a good bit of urine in the coal having done a test fire with it it smells god offal for a while and then settles down anyone know of a good way to clean up half a tone of coal or is this just now what i would call hold your nose and turn the handle forging anyway never underestimate the destructive power of stupidity

i cant wait to see the finished project this has been well thought out and documented i sure wish there were scrapyards like this around me that weight you got is fantastic

i dont know if it followed me home persay but it showed up at my place almost a month ago i met a nice guy at a local hammer in who was in need of a anvil and worked in a shop that did a good bit of machining i happened to have three ft of 120lb RR track that i said he could have and if he could give me a 1/4 of it back after he milled it flat on top that would be a nice thing to have in the shop low and behold i missed this months hammer in bc of work and who append to show up but this same upstanding swinger of hammers apologizing for not being able to mill the rr track and said he had got one of the guys where he worked to cut some drops of stainless steel and i he brought me one it turned out to be a 100lb rectangle of 4018 ss (i think thats what he said i was distracted looking at my face in its reflection) so long storry short any ideas as to a good use for a 5x5 by 14 inch slug of stainless i think it is a 32 hardness on the rockwell scail but how ever you look at it its just dam pritty it is milled smooth on 3 sides and one end this was a day where i was covered in dust grime and god knows what ells and this just made it dam near perfect

it is the same on both ends they are rectangular and equal length from the the eye and i am unsure it looks similar to some of there stone hammers but all of those i could find had a blunt blade or state peen off of the back its sort of a bummer its a really impractical size hammer the 6 and the 12 lber but like i said before it has a wonderful rebound so that i keep trying to find a way to use it also i am a sucker for esthetics as to getting one made it is a truly generous offer but the 15bucks i spent on this one was painful i am unfortunately on a very tight budget sins being laid off from my third job lol i run my families small beef farm and at nights i am the handy man for a office at some point when i can spend more cash on things that are fun i will keep this offer in mind but currently my blacksmithing <- (this really should be a word) has to be a self funding bootstrap operation once more Frank thankyou for the offer

well hell you are way out of my bailiwick still it is very nice to know others have similar schemes one the books

if nothing ells the pallets should make good charcoal if you are in a area where you can do that my very first forge was a deep cone shaped one with a good sized blower under it that i used hardwood to fire and if i was not on top of things i could burn my work in it

i would love to see it its always interesting to see how things are set up and what other people have

i always stop at junk shops when i have the time and paw through the random piles i got a nice 2 1/2 cross peen bell system hammer that way for a buck or so it has a realty nice oval shaped slightly rounded striking surface that has been perfect for working metal where people want nice pretty hammer marks left in at the end

yeah dont get me wrong Thomas i love big fires and one of the things i miss is being part of large bronze pores so i do hope to be around a place where people are forging anvils at some point in my life as it is on my bucket list

points taken i was more just trying to find out if anyone knew if atha made a 2 /12lb or a 3lb version of this hammer i have 2 atha hammers and i like them they have a nice sound and a sort of soft yet lively rebound and once again while i enjoy making my own tools i also enjoy having much older tools that i know have passed through other hands before mine i just don't need them to be pretty when they get to me

i am wondering if there was a better spot to post this

as of now i am not messing with it since finding out how old it is i am happy to give it a wrest and keep using my my badfoot anvil that one is a yungster being from 1887

this looks dam close to your hammer and he has a nifty set up for doing a over head belt power feed http://www.ebay.com/itm/BLACKSMITH-FORGING-POWER-TRIP-HAMMER-ANVIL-TOOLS-/120788981867?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c1f95986b

hi i am looking for a 2 to 3 lb atha hammer similar to this one which is a 6lber i love this hammer but for most things its a bit on the hefty side so long story short dose anyone know if they every made a smaller version of this one i have it in a 12lber as well that i found at a yard sale for 2 bucks and resurrected