Ridgewayforge

I would like a critique of my letter openers. Be as harsh as you care to be! I want to improve!

Use it for a week, then see if you like it!

That is a gorgeous anvil, and it should serve you well! You are a blessed fellow indeed to have gotten those gems!

First off, you are a blacksmith. That is far too little. You can make a goodly sum off of this. Charge an hourly wage. A GOOD hourly wage. Unless you can make one in 10 minutes, charge what is right. I would put a diamond taper on the sharp end, about 3 or 4 inches long. Then, have him drill a hole slightly smaller, and hammer it in. That should do it, I would bet.

That can do everything, it looks like!

Well, while we're on the topic... What CAN I use leaf spring for? Is it only relegated to use as knives? I suppose a spring fuller can be made from 1/2" coil spring without too much difficulty, right?

To post pics, make sure they are 600X800 pixles, then click more reply options on the reply tab, then select add files to post. They should upload. Then you click "add to post". Sounds like you did great! Welcome to IFI, as well! Start at the beginning, read the beginner posts, you will learn a lot. A lot of questions have already been answered. Don't hesitate to ask, just try and find the answer first. If you can't find it, ask. We are happy to help! Also, post your location on your profile and maybe there will be smiths around your area who you can frge with. All in all, a great buy! Do the hardies fit to your anvil? Let us see pictures, if you will. We love pictures! :)

The very fine line between mutilation and invention is very fine indeed...........and also subjective. I think, although Bill Pieh might have brought 50 together to agree, we might do well by agreeing that we cannot agree. To George it will always be mutilation. To some Tex it will be making the best use of a tool. I would like to propose that we end it with disagreement. Yes, we do lose an anvil with crisp clean unbroken lines. But we also gain a swedge anvil that is still very much usable, just in a different function. So, for every opinion there is an equal but opposite opinion. I would advise every reader to use their tools responsibly, but in a way that makes them the most efficient. As to those blacksmiths and farriers who will gripe at the loss of a perfect tool, I advise you to go and buy every perfect anvil so as to preserve the history and the tools for the future. That way you are happy, and so is the person who modifies one. If you are not willing to spend the big bucks to buy a perfect large top brand anvil, I dare say there is little right for you to go about criticizing someone elses use of one. Ah, there. I just lost two more pennies to this lovely forum! I hope we can still all agree to disagree and get back to hitting hot metal with rocks onto bigger rocks!

Well, I am convinced now that Carbon Steels are the way to go. Someone mentioned using leaf spring. All I have is leaf spring that is 1/4 thick or thereabouts: how would I make usable tools with it? Dave, do you use 1/2" coil spring for just punches and drifts, or do you use it for other tools as well? I am going to be making top and bottom fullers and swedges, really. I am going to be using a hand hammer for the time being. Nevertheless, I want my tools to last well after I am gone. (or as long as humanly possible!)

It worked, you made money off that anvil. Now you could, if you desired to, buy an "antique" anvil and keep it stored for the next generation's next generation..... or you could buy a new anvil, modify it for your needs, and make another sum of money. Think of what the romans would think if they knew we had taken their precious cube anvil and added a horn a heel! A travesty, for sure! And I'm sure SOMEONE had a fit when Fisher started pouring the cast anvils, while everyone and their dad had a forged anvil. Its the evolution of a tool. Perhaps one day your modified swedge anvil will be the norm for some company's farrier anvil line. I for one support you. One day all the "old" anvils will rust away, and I think we put too much precendence on anvils becuase there seems to be little chance of anvils being mass produced for what hobbiests would call "affordable". I want to make my blacksmithing profitable, and I know one day I might just have to buy a new anvil. If so, I will do it. It is like photography: You can take pictures as a hobby with a $50 Wal-Mart point-and-shoot, or you can take higher quality photos like a professional with a $1000 DSLR telescoping lens with all the stabalization and do-dads and nick nacks accompanying it. It all depends on what you're willing to put in. If you need to use that expensive camera to capture a special shot where there is a good chance the lens would be ruined, a serious photographer might deem the sacrifice acceptable. This applies to anvils as well. Tex sacrificed the heel's unbroken smoothness to obtain what he needed. Only, in his case, the whole anvil was not busted, but rather had several new uses. Take plowmakers and chainmakers anvils. They are not "standard" london pattern, but they were invented by someone who probably took an anvil and modified it well before Hay Budden or Peter Wright started to mass produce the special styles. Sorry for the rant, it just seems logical to modify tools to make the best use of them.

Have you had continuous success with mild steel? I would start off welding mild steel to itself: Make yourself some flux spoons, chain, faggot welds etc. And then once you can continuous get the weld to take, then move on to your froes. Don't try and rush the processes. Understand it first, before you move on to froes and axes.

There is currently and will always be, I predict, a want for things hand made and made in America (at least in the United States, I should clarify). I know my dad and other members of my family turn to me when they need a tool or a nice gift for someone. There will be a place for it. As long as one person keeps in alive, it will remain.

Hi all, I was wondering tonight if mild steel can be used as material for top and bottom fullers and swedges. I know that it might not be ideal, but it makes more sense to me to use 3/4" round mild as the starting stock and make some instead of sourcing some reasonably priced carbon steel to make these tools, of which I need. Is there a great advantage to using tool steel? Becuase they will be used on hot metal, I would believe that they would hold up well, although I'd like some more experienced opinions. Thank you, Patrick RidgewayForge

I would like to contest that pick-up tongs are meant to pick up steel out of a swedge block, or off the floor, and are not to be used to hold metal when it is actually being forged. I could be mistaken, but that's how I learned it.

Great looking tools; I am curious of the steel used in each, and a description of each. That is some good work and I think I may "borrow" your ideas sometime!

Nice clean work, well done and well finished! Tell me, what is the story behind your touchmark? It looks beautifully designed and I am sure that there is some significance as to why you chose it.

Big-D, do you forge the bits and weld on the reigns or do you draw down the stock?

Looks like an abused mousehole, or a bad forging, or some smaller company's anvil. Nice Brooks anvil on top, too!

Looks good, how do they work? And, could you explain how the bending forks are adjustable?

It would be less distracting also to sand/grind the handle so that the top is flush with the top of the hammer eye.

I don't see your touchmark; is there a reason for this?

Today I traded a piece of damascus and two 1/2" Stainless rods for about a dozen cut pieces of leaf spring, half a dozen cut up pieces of coil spring 1/2" round, 4 1/2 ' of 1/2 square mild, and 17 railroad spikes. Also included was 7 files. The largest was 20" long and the shortest was 10".

For tongs you can also drill the rivet hole. Taper square, octogon, round, square, octogon, round. (I usually skip the round until the end. It still works.) Also, use the horn to draw out metal faster.

The first video is by Gary Huston, and the second is Brian Brazeal. The tongs turned out well, when I attempted them, but I would go with larger stock. The tongs I made are perfect for holding leaf-letter openers.

Hardy is a good tool to have, very handy. Holdfast is another good one, could even be made from scrap rebar. An anvil helper is a good option, helps for punching holes. Veining chisel for making leaves, More tongs are always welcome in a shop, and many sized punches are always useful. Bending forks, as already mentioned are very easy to make for a vise, just use a piece of round stock bent into a U shape. Flux spoon if you are going to be fire welding anytime soon, fire tools, handled hot cut, slitters and drifts, small set hammers, riveting cross peins, hand fullers made from ball peen heads, flatters (if you weld), as well as all already mentioned. Make it, review it, make it better, and soon you'll have a shop full of tools, and a head full of knowledge!