Stuart Stegall

You can always find out who's rail it is, then ask them ... chances are they will say no, but if you're nice they might refer you to who they scrap to. (Scrap relationships get weird, but sometimes you get lucky.)

I would agree that everything we do is dangerous, but there's definitely a difference between smart dangerous and not so smart dangerous. That said, cresote isn't super dangerous in this context: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creosote#Health_effects Just don't go breathing it in.

I believe there's been a significant rise in the price of coal forges in the past 5-6 years, like on the order of $50 (I purchased 2 of them for this, 1 CL, 1 in Person) to starting at around $250. Only speaking of complete setups with the blower here. Anvils have gone up over the years, and in some ways their prices are even worse considering their material/labor costs.

There was a frozen one on craigslist a few months ago, sadly it was soooo bad, it would have been easier to just build it anew.

Easy outs as far as any I've ever seen have spiral threads like this - - these are left-hand threaded for right hand bolts/screws, though they make right-hand ones too for left-hand bolts/screws. I've seen a few reamers for non-ferrous metals that looked like those - they have non-tapered threads.

Why can't you use Argon blown on the piece? It's really very cheap, though I didn't think induction forges had a lot of it. Gas forges generally are pretty forgiving from a scale point of view.

Follow http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/yhst-17797617870419/twistjawtongs.pdf and get any size flat, not just the one mentioned and 2 pairs of vise grips, when you come to the twist, use the two pairs of vise grips right next to each other to make the twist, as long as you pay attention to the alignments, it doesn't really matter how bad they look. You can also use round stock with little modification. Since you've made a nail, maybe you can make ... a nail header - it's fairly easy to do with a railroad spike or a large grade 8 bolt. (The bolt will probably be plated, but this is easily removed in vinegar overnight.)

It's interesting to note the differences in price steel is between locales ... 3/8" (similar to 10mm) round is $4-5(£2-2.50) for 20ft (length all the bars come from) - there's like pennies differences between hot and cold rolled. I however am too cheap to buy the new steel, so I buy used from the outdoor yard, which is not the same as the scrap yard in that it's still fairly organized, it's just they cannot certify the steel and it might be rather rusty. That steel I buy for $0.12/lb.

I used black silicone caulking under and 80#s of chain around the waist to quiet my anvil - the rebound is still awesome and it makes barely a thump. I actually thought I had to have a "hot work" permit for my 2 forges, but when my fire department inspector came by, he told me it wasn't necessary. I do have code enforcement "issues" a couple of times a year where this code inspector comes by and issues as many weird citations as he can. The funny thing is shortly afterwards I get a visit from a "handyman" who wants to fix those same weird issues ... (They totally look like brothers and I've reported it to the city IA department multiple times.) I wish the "country" wasn't soooo far away from where I live.

I found their extra fine 6" wheels and bought one, hopefully it'll be satisfactory. I use the wheel for final sharpening of less than flat blades (like carving tools). I'm guessing that the grit will not be high enough, though I have a 4000 grit Japanese waterstone wheel as well,

Interestingly enough, I think this is a totally different deal. I'm pretty sure what I'm looking for uses a VERY fine abrasive, like pumice and they are white similar to an white PVC eraser. Weygers talks about the same kind in his Making of Tools book. Guess I should mention I use this for honing. Sorta like these: http://www.esslinger.com/pumicewheels-whitestyle999soldinpackagesof100.aspx

Hopefully this is the correct forum for this quest, but where do you buy rubber abrasive wheels these days? I have been looking for them for a while today and I cannot seem to find them. My grandfather used them forever and the one I got from him has finally bit the dust. I'm guessing they are called something else, but I cannot seem to figure out what that is.