Timothy Miller

I have met Tony a few times he is a fun guy to hang out with. Remember he is making props for movies not historicaly accurate blades. Its funny how wrapped up in this stuff people get. And yes he should bolt down that hammer.

The corners of the fire pot don't nearly take the punishment that the sides do. It really only needs to hold about 20 to 30 lbs of coal and iron at the most. as long as it can support that load and the fire is contained you'r fine. One pass to make it air tight will do the job. The sides will burn away long before the welds are eroded by oxidation from the heat of the fire. Extra passes will make you feel like you did a good job but that will not add anything to the functionality of the finished fire pot.

I always call before I head out when meeting a stranger on a internet deal.

I would rate it as OK not amazing tool and not a piece of junk either. I would be happy to own it would I use it much I don't know.

No not exactly. I think some are a bit forge shy they will stick with procedures they feel safe using. The integral bowl represents a higher level of skill and integerity. Dont get me wrong its a wonderful hawk but the one thing my eye wants to see is the fillet under the bowl not a seem where the bowl has been screwed in. What really inspires me is a craftsman is willing to take the risk of doing a dificult forging. Doing it hot is doing it with out a net. Relying on stock removal to do the hard parts takes away some of the wonder and meaning behind a traditional hand made object. I should say also that I am not capable of producing a hawk at that level of finish but this is my opinion viewing it as an art object.

I love them. I made a few for myself a few years ago.

In the past ability and willingness to work hard was at times lacking as well.

I have that exact vice in near mint condition. It requires no improvement it is the best vise I have ever used. I have spent 100's of hours filing at it.

Sounds like an excuse to justify a work around, aka lack of forging ability.

I remember reading in an old book on vice work that the vice should be left with the jaws apart 1/2 of an inch with the handle in the down position. I thought to my self at the time why bother. Well upon further experience it really made sense for two reasons. One, if the handle is sticking out at an angle it can catch on your clothes and cause you problems. Two, the vise is open and ready for work, with a quick turn of the handle either way you can grip stock bigger or smaller with little effort in the range of most frequently worked sizes.

Upon further inspection you have all the parts. The original washer is in place I have that exact vise. I use it almost every day. It is a wonderful tool and grips very well. Those vices as far as I can tell were drop forged steel. I think it would be safe to straighten it cold because the bend is small. You just have to be careful many old leg vices are a metallurgical hodgepodge. With some parts forged from wrought iron others steel and even some cast iron here or there you need to know what you are working with and proceed with caution.

The trade is incredibly deep. There is art in every corner of it. Even the industrial smith forging a bolt is an artist in that moment. They are using their personal judgement and experience to form the metal correctly, to a mental template using their eyes, hands, ears and whole body to make that object. Even if the product is not art the act of making the product is. I have dabbled in many aspects of the trade. For example I forge tools for silversmiths. I have forged many hinges and latches. I have made 100's of feet of fencing. I have forged over 10,000 nails. I have forged several thousand c scrolls with snub ends. I have made sculpture, home furnishings, fire place accessories and restored antique ironwork. You start to understand what looks good intuitively. Your hammer is your agent of change every blow does something for ill or good it becomes an extension of your being. You start to sort of own shapes in your head and can translate them into your work big, small, inside out upside down and broken up into parts. Every tool is a possibility to make a new thing to make it better and more cleanly. You body follows your mind wile you work and the forging develops as you saw it in your minds eye. The things you make look just how they should look and you know how they should look because you have studied every bit of metal that crosses your path. You start to understand there is a over arching structure of infinite though related shapes and forms even if you can't articulate it properly. This idea is something that will consume your thoughts for as long as you have possession of your mind.. There is art in a bolt there is art in a scroll there is art in the curves of the final and the lines of a file. Those who do not see this are uninformed technique is art. The best art has always been a marriage of craft and intellect from the Lascaux Caves to a space shuttle launch. If you don't think a rocket blasting off into space is art your just not thinking.

The brazed coil was the original way internal threads were made on vices. Cut threads are a more modern invention. All of my older vices have brazed threads.

If i saw you I would say there is some guy forging over there.

I bet you could hold at least +/- .1000000" with that lathe.

His first picture is of a steel butt I guess that could put things in perspective.

It would be best to heat it to a orange heat not heat it to dark red. Steel when heated to the lower end of the visible heats is not really hot enough it is possible for the steel to crack at that heat especially if it has been strained before at that location. If you are worried about ruining the nice old brown patina wire brush it wile it cools down it wont exactly match but it will look good. Also you are missing a washer between the screw and the front jaw of the vise. If you don't have that it will wear into the body of the vise.

That's the guy you are arguing with, Larry H.

You need to be able to do this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftB5f83Cghk

Abana has the Journeyman grill project. If you don't make your living forging. I would say if you can complete that project, make all the hand tools needed to forge it and the finished product is pleasing to the eye. Then you can call yourself a blacksmith.

I did not consider my self a blacksmith until I had been forging for 5 years and other people started calling me a blacksmith. I was getting paid to do it and paying my rent doing it. I used to say I do forging or I like to blacksmith. I don't think hot bending a bar or owing a forge and anvil makes you a blacksmith. You can wish something with every fiber of your being but that don't make it so. Hard work practice and study are what it takes to get there. Think about what it took to make this would you even know where to start to make the simplest part with a equal level of finish? http://wiscohisto.tumblr.com/post/32352264609/wrought-iron-masterpiece-cyril-colnik-munich A blacksmith made this. I'm not that good very few are. Just look at it and think of the skills necessary there are many things you wont even understand.

I have done similar to make bolster blocks you will have some swelling around the hole that will need to be ground off or forged back in. Its not that hard but you need to make the proper drift.

Wow a hand forged lathe they must have wanted a lathe real bad.

You got a real good deal. That is an early PW you can tell by the sharp line above the base.

Its February in the northeast the ground is frozen and I mostly do exterior iron work. I got plenty of time.