David Einhorn

Very impressive. Thank you for sharing.

Here is an old patent for a portable building from year 1861. It might give you a few ideas.

Leather can be purchased from any leather supplier, or you could use rubber roofing material, plain tight weave canvas, or rubberized canvas (think Tool Dip), or fake leather-like upholstery material.

I posted a fairly complete set of step-by-step instructions on building a bellows.  Repairing is the same processes.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.289928167720933.63430.146477635399321&type=3

As far as I know, no one builds bellows for sale due to the high cost of materials.  When materials for the bellows shown in the pictures reached $500, I stopped counting the dollar cost.  Adding the labor over a two month period to construct it (gluing and curing each part takes time), and one would be hard-pressed to find a frugal smith that would pay for materials and labor. 

My advise is that if someone is offering you a free bellows, to run as fast as you can and get it.  Even bellows in very poor shape go for over $800.00

Steel Heat Treatment Handbook (Steel Heat Treatment Handbook, Second Edition) by George E. Totten and Maurice A.H. Howes (Jan 15, 1997)  $20.00 ........................................................................................

Heat Treater's Guide: Practices and Procedures for Irons and Steels by Harry Chandler (Dec 1, 1995)

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Newbees wanting to make swords is a sore topic on this forum:

http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/23664-words-of-caution-for-budding-swordsmiths/?hl=%2Bmagic+%2Bsword

 Excellent ! Thank you ,sir, that is precisely the answer I was hoping for . I appreciate the information. A blacksmith is a fool if he doesn't know his tools :)   I really wish I knew how old it was, but I found absolutely no markings of any kind. Is there any other way of dating tools like this ?

Probably not unless you plan on carbon dating it or having the iron otherwise analyzed.  If you watched the sparks as you ground it you might have noticed if the spark pattern changed significantly from lots of sparks to much fewer sparks as you ground the pointy end.  Older hot cut chisels had a piece of high carbon steel embedded in the end of iron chisels.  Grinding away at an end with embedded steel edge eventually would grind off the carbon tip leaving a soft iron edge, thus the change in spark pattern coming off the grinder.   A more modern solid steel hot cut would be less likely to display a change in spark pattern as the end is ground away. .... not the ideal way to redress a tool that might have only steel at the very end.

From the same book mentioned above (the book is free at the above url):

Actually it is a chisel with a handle.  Versions of handled chisels are still being made and sold by various venders.  It is also referred to as a handled hot cut.  For example:

- https://www.blacksmithsdepot.com/page.php?theLocation=/Resources/Product/Punches/Chisel_-_German_Handled_Hot_Cut.xml/

- http://www.centaurforge.com/Cutting-and-Slitting-Chisel

The sharp end is placed against the hot metal, and the flat end is struck with a hammer to drive the chisel into the hot metal.

Also, as a reference:

http://books.google.com/books?id=PjpVAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=ornamental+forging&hl=en&sa=X&ei=UU3UUI7-G6-F0QGQl4GoBA&ved=0CDwQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

has the following:

Makes sense to me too to have the lower chamber a bit larger than the upper chamber, more with a smaller bellows than a medium to large chamber.  The opening of the lower chamber is limited in part by how you hang it, the bellows hook, and what if anything you might hang from the bellows hook as a weight.  If you are using it as a portable set up you might not want the weight hanging from the hook, or the hook to hit the ground.  The other consideration is the swing of the bellows pole.  I expect that you will find that there is a comfortable motion of your hand and arm when pumping the bellows.  For a medium to large bellows, the larger the bellows the quicker you are likely to reach the limit of comfort in moving your arm up and down.  I find the hand-on-the-pole movement for my comfort to be approximately about 6 to 8 inches above my head to about mid-chest level. 

Excellent, thank you for sharing!

Thank you for your service to our country.  Give us some sort of idea what area of a state you live in and we are likely to help find a group or smith to help you learn.  Sorry to hear about the PTSD.

I've usually seen the opposite done, that is to round the first inch or two where the horn meets the table.

A video on forging an anvil:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1WB26KZuuJ8#!

Wonderful leather work, very very nice.

When in my shop I usually wear a long sleeve cotton shirt, and find myself wearing a treated cotton welding shirt more often to help my clothing last longer.  

In contrast, when participating in historic demonstrations I usually wear a cotton shirt with the sleeves rolled up.  I don't tend to wear an apron unless forge-welding in order to stay cooler.  I sewed myself a linen early 1800s work shirt as shown in the American Civil War sketches and photographs and plan on wearing that shirt when I roll out my wheeled Traveling Forge.  Those sketches and photographs all show the smiths with their sleeves rolled up.

When I started blacksmithing, I confess giving myself some pretty severe burns.  Once I burned myself sufficient times I developed an automatic pause when reaching for black iron, and the habit of quenching before touching.  I also made a pocket size pair of tongs that I can keep in my back pocket so that I can pick iron of unknown heat up, and to be able to point with when assisting beginners.  I found burns and the resulting pain to be a good teacher towards improving my work habits. 

Again, very nice leather work.  Please keep us informed on how well they work out for you.

Thank you, sir. for passing along that information.
Am I correct in interpreting the anvil depicted as a stake anvil?

Yes, you are correct it does appear to be a stake anvil.  And the vise appears to have a stem that goes into the hardy hole as well as extensions that wrap around the sides of the anvil.

If you are looking to construct a U.S. Civil War era forge, my recommendations would be to construct a larger forge than the small "Portable Forge", because it does not heat metal very well.  A friend had his reproduction "Portable Forge" at the last museum reenactment.  I brought my Naval style forge and placed it next to his forge, and he decided to share my forge for the day.  Any of the larger forges, Naval style, box-forge with bellows inserted into the side of the wooden box, or a wheeled Traveling Forge would be much easier to use than the small Portable Forge.  The wheeled Traveling Forge was the most common forge used by both armies North and South, and the wooden box forge was documented as being used by both sides as well.

I also feel that the stake anvil and the hardy hole anvil of the "Portable Forge" while nice to have for display, in my humble opinion are a lot of labor for the return on your investment of time and money.  If you like building stuff for the fun of it, constructing copies of the "Portable Forge", its special vise, and anvil could be great fun.  However, the vise, anvil and forge just don't seem to provide the functionality that would justify the effort to construct them.  One of the larger forges, and more standard vise, and anvil will likely, in my opinion, provide better service to cost ratio.

Please look in your PM (Personal Messages) for further information.

Posted Today, 10:09 PM

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.289928167720933.63430.146477635399321&type=1
Third image from the left, first line from the top. Blue prints of a portable forge, lower left portion of image, showing the tool box and tools, to include the anvil and the vice.

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You are referring to A set of drawings of the mid-1800s U.S. Civil War portable “mountain” forge

The blueprints that you are referring to is a set of drawings published as a reproduction of the period government drawings in book form.

I don't think anyone would want me to post all the pages here. I suggest acquiring a copy of the book from Antique Ordnance Publishers:

Title: The Civil War Mountain Artillery Portable Forge, Book Number 29

Author: Captain Albert Mordecai
circa 1848 through 1850s
Reprinted by Antique Ordnance Publishers

ANTIQUE ORDNANCE PUBLISHERS
BOX 434, 3611 OLD FARM LANE
FORT GRATIOT, MI 48059 Phone 1-810-987-7749
aop434@webtv.net Fax 1-810-982-1052

Their catalog may be viewed:
http://gunneyg.info/.../AOPCatalog.htm

Forgot to ask (see what I keen about my memory, raising girls leads to early senility) do you have a high resolution image of the above mentioned blueprint?

I am not sure which of the two forges you are asking about.

1) The only image I have for drawings I modified for a mid-1800s U.S. Civil War naval type forge is shown:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=307490855964664&set=a.289928167720933.63430.146477635399321&type=3&theater

2) A set of drawings of the mid-1800s U.S. Civil War portable “mountain” forge is available:

Title: The Civil War Mountain Artillery Portable Forge, Book Number 29

Author: Captain Albert Mordecai
circa 1848 through 1850s
Reprinted by Antique Ordnance Publishers

ANTIQUE ORDNANCE PUBLISHERS
BOX 434, 3611 OLD FARM LANE
FORT GRATIOT, MI 48059 Phone 1-810-987-7749
aop434@webtv.net Fax 1-810-982-1052

Their catalog may be viewed:
http://gunneyg.info/html/AOPCatalog.htm

Reprints of measured diagrams created by the U.S. Federal Government
to manufacture military equipment for the American Civil War,
including blacksmithing equipment used by the Army;
the Civil War Traveling Forge in Field Artillery Traveling Forge Book Number 61 and
the Mountain Forge in Civil War Mountain Artillery Portable Forge Book Number 29.
Also of interest to someone constructing a Traveling Forge is the book Civil War Field Gun Limber, book No. 21

Welcome, sounds great, keep us informed of your progress.  As always, smiths are visual folks, so pictures are greatly appreciated.

I am wondering about the various living history events in both Europe and the U.S. in that folks ask what equipment they can acquire that could be used at as many types/times/places of historical presentations as possible.  Does a smith really need to purchase a London pattern anvil for 1838 through modern presentations, a colonial anvil for U.S. colonial through early 1800s, and even another anvil for medieval presentation, etc.  Or can we recommend more generic/ubiquitous equipment such as a stake/stump anvil with one end square and the other end rectangular? 

Also, in a similar way can a smith also use one forge arrangement for multiple historical period presentations?  For example a wooden forge with a bellows nozzle entering the side of the wooden hearth of the forge (also called side-blast) ?

My question for folks that do smithing presentations at living history events, is whether a stake/stump anvil would be out-of-place at a presentation of their time period and country/location.  

I would get a copy of this book titled: "Tool Making for Woodworkers" by Ray Larsen or the book, "The Making of Tools" by Alexander G. Weygers

and take a class or two in blacksmithing at your local blacksmith guild. 

Very sorry, but I don't believe there is a short answer to your question.

Ciladog has made excellent points.

For the switch it is useful to know: its voltage 120 or 220/240, and its maximum amperage rating

For the motor it is useful to know: whether it will accept both 120 and/or 220/240 wiring; and its amperage rating

The same for the solenoid; voltage and amperage ratings

You first need to identify each piece of the puzzle for their amperage and voltage ratings, that determines their compatibility between the electrical parts, and how they are wired.   120 and 220 use different switches and different wiring.  High amperage motors/devices need different switches than low amperage motors/devices. 

If in doubt, have an electrician wire it for you.  You are not going to save money if you burn up your equipment and/or hurt yourself.

Disclaimer: I am not an electrician and I do not pretend to be one.

A few thoughts:

- slice them into 1/8" discs and use them under candle cups when making candle holders

- slice them into about 3/8" thick and weld to handles, drift a tapered square hole, to make tools for making nails

- slice them into 1" lengths and weld to angle iron to make one side of a bender for your vise(s).

- mount them on end as small anvils

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Now the silly thoughts:

- point then on the ends and make large lawn jarts

- weld them and other scrap into a random sculpture, put on a hat and scarf and insist that it is art worthy of a museum

- gather up some large plastic soda bottles and use them as bowling balls at the next picknic

- paint them to look like soup cans and put them discretely into the inlaws' pantry.

I bet that folks here can keep this thread going for the next five years! :)

Very nice. Thank you for sharing.

It looks to be in great condition for its age.

A photo or two would be helpful. Are you sure that the firepot you have is designed to have a tuyere plate?