Timothy Miller

What you are are proposing is a whole bunch of work and the results will be less than perfect. The idea of a cone mandrel is to produce smooth round rings most likely what you produce will not be smooth and round. It takes a lot of skill to to forge plate into a smooth and true cone. Many very skilled smiths would flat out refuse to try what you are proposing for good reason. Do you really even need a cone mandrel. I have one and I am a full tome professional smith it gets used about twice a year. More often than not I make a quicky form for the job at hand.

If you consider the height the ram would need to be plus the tooling the screw seems about right for that size frame. I have seen drawings of fly presses like that in old books for cutting saw teeth in s saw makers shop.

It is missing the ram and guides. It is about %75 of a fly press. The holes in the frame were to hold the guides. Good luck you have a bit of a project on your hands.

You would need to establish what kind of steel you are dealing with first. Then temper it to a very tough temper.

I have never seen one of those before and I am a serious tool collector. Its stuff like this that keeps me coming back to this site.

I have 3 and I have sold a few over the years. After a wile the tools just come and you start wondering do I really need 10 anvils and a side yard full of rusty stuff.

Heading up this afternoon

My advise is don't pick it up by your self.

That is not a Trenton it is a fisher they were made in Trenton. They have some value if they are complete, the missing parts are hard to replace without advanced machining skills.

Sorry my bad I guess I am a bit sensitive because the guy who does my CNC cutting thinks I live in the stone age because I do forging. he keeps his anvil on his desk and thinks its a quaint old toy. So lets see some pictures there are many NY members here that would want to see what you got. New anvils go for 5 bucks a pound and up.

I would not be so dismissive of the value of an anvil in a welding shop. You may not see then as relevant in a modern shop but in the hands of a skilled workman many things can be done, with out the need of expensive machines that require set up and more effectively than banging on a layout table. I would set up one and not use it a cutting/grinding/welding stand. Even in the most modern shop there are issues that come up that require good hard surface to pound on.

A recent yard sale find. A little piece of Long Island history here in iron. This is an summer eel spear or eel gig forged in the Fordham Blacksmith shop in Sag Harbor by J.W. Fordham. It is from the late 19th century they made eel spears and other fishing gear form the 1820's up until the early 20th century. There tools are known by the distinctive rolled socket. These are rare and collectable. Winter eel spears look different they have hooks not barbs. You can see in the last photo that the tines are held in the mortise with a wedge that is riveted in place.

Buy it all. figure out how to use it later. I would need to see pictures to give you guidance on price.

But how would you attach it to a bench?

Bobby is a real fun guy on top of his outstanding talent.

Looks next to useless in that configuration. I would agree it is a cider press screw or wine press.

There is nothing nice about a skull cracker just my two cents.

So when you flatted RR spike falls out of your Chanel locks and burns a hole through your pants scaring your leg for life you can say the pain was subjective and as good as any other feeling.

The more I forge the less and less I see as subjective in the craft. Much of what we do is governed by science, physics, well practiced technique, and visual/intellectual understanding of forms found in our world. The people who embrace skill and knowledge will always be better craftspeople.

Love it Frank.

What have you been smoking? Tongs are demonstrably better than Chanel locks. Carbon steel with known properties is better than unknown scrap for making knives. I take joy in a job well executed with a quality product at the end of it. Sorry to harsh your buzz dude.

Doc is not a neck bearded keyboard jockey he has something like 40 years of forging under his belt.

Just remember hardened steel jaws protect the vise from damage and keep the jaws from deforming so they grip evenly. Brass copper or aluminum jaw covers are there to protect the work. This is best practice biased on 100's of years of collective metal working experience. Dismiss this at your own risk.

I would go with W1 tool steel because it should be long wearing in this application, its easy to get and you can quench it in water. Second choice would be O1.