David Einhorn

Also possibly the iron was hammered too cold, or otherwise somehow a crack was forged into the iron. Could also be a combination of factors.

The earliest documented Traveling Forge (with drawings) that I found was in "A Treatise of Artillery" 1780, London, by John Muller, reprinted 2005 by The Scholar's Bookshelf, ISBN 0-945726-47-3. I also have later drawings and specifications for British 1840s and American mid-1800s. If you find an earlier wheeled forge for the military, I would appreciate receiving the information. If my memory serves me correctly, Napoleon Bonaparte (15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821) was the first military commander to decide that hiring farmers and other non-military folks to pull his artillery around needed to be replaced by trained military personal, thus making a huge advance in the use of artillery and military strategy. Prior to that, with artillery drawn by a hodgepodge of civilian equipment. I doubt the blacksmith equipment was standardized either, as it was likely provided by whatever civilian equipment was available. I would be interested in seeing any scholarly documentation of the pre-1700 time period blacksmith equipment, especially equipment used by the military.

About 35 years ago I made a wooden forge and lined the bottom with fire brick. The air source is a pipe mounted vertically, capped at the end with a slit in the cap. It worked OK but you run the risk of the wood accidentally catching fire from a stray spark or the air pipe getting too hot. Once in a while one hears about someone's shop burning down. My goal has been to eliminate flammables whenever possible from the forge area.

Bigger is better

I appreciate all information and examples on decorative tool chests. After I finish my traveling forge, one project would be a decorative tool chest to donate to the local blacksmithing guild/school as a raffle item. One of the biggest challenges in planning the decorative tool chest project is to find nice hardwood that I can afford. Does anyone have a source of affordable decorative woods in the Maryland/Pennsylvania general area?

I have leather aprons but have not used them in over 9 years. I tend to use them when doing all-day history living type stuff where I will spend the day smithing in costumes that cost too much to burn up. Otherwise I have some shirts and jeans that I save for working in the shop, as they are already messed up.

I would say: 1) Tools that were purchased with the intent to fix them tended to accumulate in my shop, waiting for repairs, until I decided to stop accumulating broken tools. 2) A tool is beyond fixing if it costs more in time and money to purchase *and* fix it than to make a new one from scratch.

I suspect that blacksmithing clubs may tend to believe that they are covered by their insurance for things that are in actuality not covered by their insurance policies. In my humble experience in dealing with insurance companies for an athletic oriented club, while insurance companies were very willing to sell insurance to them, those policies in reality covered none of the activities of that group. Only a few insurance companies that specialized in writing policies for contact sports actually had policies for their activities, and then only when the insurance company was provided with a full set of rules for instructors of the activity, and a full set of rules and equipment required for sparring. My humble suspicion is that if a blacksmithing guild/club was not required to provide their insurance company with a complete list of activities and safety rules and equipment for each of those activities, then I would suspect that those activities are not covered. Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and not an insurance expert and do not represent myself as one..... only as a person that has been exposed to situations so as to develop a bit of experience, so that perhaps others may learn from my mistakes.

I third the saddle answer

I read that other thread and it really did not provide any useful information. My question is about the policies that the various guilds and individuals have acquired through ABANA. I would like to read a couple sample policies to see what the wording is in them, and what the policies actually cover, not what people may think the policies cover.

The question came up yesterday after a guild meeting as to what insurance policies really cover. Does anyone have policies that they have acquired through ABANA that they would care to let me read the wording of? I would like to see what the various policies cover in the wording of those policies, for guild insurance, individual demonstrator insurance and individual smith insurance. Some years ago I took over the paperwork for a non-profit group that did athletic activities and found that the policy they had been paying on for over five years was designed for a trade school and did not cover *any* athletic activities! I am not a lawyer and don't pretend to be one. But actually reading policies can be a good idea.

At one presentation I attended many years ago, the presenter said that an important tool to tell you if you are working correctly is a clock. He said if you are not working as fast as a professional smith, then you are doing it wrong. He especially pointed out not to hunch over the anvil and do little ding ding ding hits, and not to hit the face of the anvil with a hammer while working the edges of a piece. Yesterday I also noticed one fellow holding a heated iron over the tail of one of the guild's anvils, while two other gentlemen hit it as hard as they could with sledge hammers. I half expected the tail of the anvil to break off. I expect that the anvils in the guild's school area will have to be replaced every couple of years as they are taking a pretty severe battering. It makes me nervous about taking my almost pristine smaller anvils to guild presentations where other members might use them.

The more time someone spends using a floor mandrel the more useful they become for that person and the easier they are to use. The trick is to use gravity. Drop the non-round ring over the mandrel and tap it where you see light showing between the mandrel and the ring. Work gently but firmly around the ring tapping where you see light. The idea is to bring the ring to round, not smash it against the mandrel. Then flip the ring over and make any corrections on the other side. Use your hammer and tongs to adjust the ring so that it is level with the floor periodically.

I use Marine grade lithium grease rated for winter temperatures in my Champion 400 blowers, as it does not tend to leak out like oil does. First clean out the old junk. Also, I have found that bicycle bearings for steering columns work pretty good as replacement bearings inside the grease cups on the side of the blower. Replacing the grease in the grease cups might be a good idea too. To find a replacement screw, take the other screw out, measure the screw for size, length, threads per inch, and head diameter. First try Lowes, and/or your local hardware store, then if no-one else has it, take it to your local Fastenal store or check out their website, Home | Fastenal. Fastenal Inc. carries historical type fasteners including unplated square head bolts and nuts.

Still working on this portable forge, according to Government specs. Making the wheels is difficult.

University of Connecticut offered a non-credit intro to blacksmithing course a the smith's house near Storrs, Connecticut, about 35 years ago. I was in the first class he taught.

At the moment I am banding the hubs, for two 57" diameter, 190 lb wheels, for a Civil War era Traveling Forge. So far I put four of the eight hub bands on this weekend and roughed out four more hub bands today. There are four iron bands on each wooden-wheel hub, for a 1860s Civil War era Number 1 wheel. I have been building the Traveling Forge since fall of 2006. I will try to finish and install two of the hub bands tomorrow. Joseph (CivilWarBlacksmith/Reb) you can always park your Traveling Forge in our garage next to the road. ;)

One of my favorite quicky items is a screw driver with a twist and a closed circle for a handle. They work are great paint can openers also. It gives me a chance to explain how screw drivers evolved a bit since colonial times, how one can fit a screw driver to a screw especially the type used on guns which require fitting to a slot in the screws with straight walls rather than the normal slanted walled screws... that tends to get them to pause a bit and realize that slotted screws usually accept a driver that is tapered on all four surfaces. That can lead into hardening and tempering of tools, as a chisel is not much different from a screw driver. As far as the question about shoeing horses, I simply explain that my wife never let me try shoeing hers, but I would be happy to give it a try if they would bring their horse around. Of course no one who owns a horse will agree to that! Plus I explain that horses only need shoes if they will be walking across a surface that required their hoofs to be protected. When my wife had horses, they never needed shoes as they never went on rocky surfaces and never walked on hard surfaces such as roads. As far as not being a real smith, I can only agree since I have only been doing it as a hobby for over 36 years, but I still hope some day to be considered a "real" smith. I have a handout that attempts to cover as many of the questions that people ask, including information about the equipment used, web addresses to find out information, the basic steps in making a knife, my contact information, and the local guild that offers classes. As a professional psychotherapist I recommend avoiding traumatizing kids or adults for that matter. Some people are pretty fragile.

I use the swage blocks fairly frequently, and my larger cone mandrel will become essential, hopefully this weekend, when I try to start putting bands on some wheel hubs. If you have to straighten a ring, cone mandrels come in really handy... a tap here and a tap there... and the ring is now round.

I'm am glad you enjoyed the postings that I made to the Traveling Forge Discussion Forum. I have also posted extensive information on the traveling forge and its construction on the Blacksmithing TWiki located at: TravelingForgeConstruction < BlacksmithInfo < TWiki

An excellent book is: Making and Modifying Machines (Fine Woodworking On) (Paperback) by Fine Woodworking Editors (Editor) 18 used & new available from $3.50 through Amazon.com

Well, I used to work a real job as a software engineer but it damaged my hands. So now I listen to people talk about how depressed they are for income.

You could use BGCM school forges on forge nights and meeting days. You could also help out at one of the historical forges in the Maryland area. 12 by 12 is pretty small, depends what you want to do in it. I moved from Maryland to one block north of the PA line. Homes were about half the price and the zoning allows for a home business. You could also construct some sort of portable set-up that allows you to take your essential stuff to events.