Neil Blythin

Sculpture like this fascinates me ... I could never do it. I don't have an eye for it, and would have no idea where to start. Absolutely beautiful work!

I like to burn a mix of charcoal and coke. Charcoal is actually my prefered fuel to work with, but you go through so much of it ... I find adding in some coke (usually a 50/50 mix) slows down the rate at which I go through the charcoal. I've tried straight coke, but also have difficulty getting it hot and keeping it going in my small forge (with the hand crank blower). It wants to go out as soon as the air stops. Hence the charcoal to keep the fire going. If I hook up the electric blower, and keep the air going (even at a fairly low rate), then I can burn straight coke.

Nice job! A custom booth is always a great idea which really make a vendor stand out. The major difficulty being, that there are a number of different 'standard' sizes of booths for vendors / demonstrators. If someone does a lot of shows, it's a good idea to make up a bit of a modular system, where you can mix & match components to get different sizes of display.

Looks like it will be amazing when finished! Can't wait to see how this progresses. Nice work!

... the USSR? Wow, you're showing your age there a bit ThomasPowers. Well that, or you've got a time machine ;-)

I had been told (by more than one person) that here in Ontario, to be "legal", railings had to have a stamped drawing (by an architect, engineer or 'other designer' as designated in the OBC); and had to be installed by a TSSA certified welder. Anybody else know about that?

I've got a family member coming to visit from the UK sometime this autumn ... think I'll ask them to bring a pair of those boot-type safety clogs over for me. For those of you who wear these things, what's your recommendation / experience as far as type of sole? They (Walkley) seem to have three options: "Shod Sole & Heel", "Iron Sole & Heel", or "Rubber Sole & Heel". What are the benefits or limitations of these various types?

This is my current set-up: It's not ideal, but does the trick. I'm starting to build a small shop, which I hope to find time to complete in the fall. My forge stays outside, everything else gets dragged in and out of the garage. This forge did come with a hand-cranked blower, which I'm going to rebuild. I'm currently using an electric blower - the arm where the hand-cranked blower would normally attach has a switch for the electric blower on it.

I'd never heard of a golf ball being used as a handle until I read this thread ... so I tried it yesterday. It was very comfortable in the hand! However, I don't like the idea of having a plastic around anything hot. I think I may try a wooden ball handle ... or perhaps I'll forge myself a steel golfball and use that.

If the carpenter is using a saw blade that's designed to cut particle board, but is actually working with hard maple - the problem may well be the saw (or the material), rather than his ability to make a cut. Or if you want to go with your 'recipe' analogy, if you substitute baking soda in place of flour, but otherwise follow the recipe to a tee, the cake will still fail. One issue is most definitely that we don't always know what alloy we're working with.

We are currently going through the process of clearing out my late in-law's estate. My father-in-law was a very interesting guy, he'd been a prospector in his younger years, and a millwright later in life. In any case, I'm finding some really cool books in is library - some very old, technical books. Today's find: "The New Encyclopedia of Machine Shop Practice" by George Barnwell. Published in 1941. The entire book looks like useful info to me, but in particular there are chapters on the "Heat-Treatment of Metals", "Welding, Soldering, and Brazing", and one on "Forging".

I just picked up this horizontal band saw last night: ... Recently had a scary incident with an abrasive cut-off disc breaking up on me. Luckily no injuries, but it made me think there must be a better way to cut my stock. $100 on Kijiji, in great condition, with a bunch of extra (new) blades.

Some people are really stubborn too. They get a price stuck in their head, and won't budge. I've seen a couple of anvils on Kijiji, priced very high, that keep getting listed & re-listed over and over again, for the same price. One has been for sale, off and on, for nearly 2 years ... but the guy won't budge on his price. It takes all kinds, eh? He probably will get some sucker to pay his price ..... eventually.

Steel really is an inexpensive material ... if you don't believe me - take up woodworking for a while and come back to smithing when you're run out of cash ;-) If you're going to go to the trouble of making tools, make sure you've got decent material to work with. Yes, automotive coil spring is a half-way decent tool steel. If you have some, great. But if not, rebar (ug, really?) isn't your next option. Go to a metal supply store, and spend the $5 or $10 on some new stock. The piece you'd need for a spring fuller won't cost much at all. It'll still be way cheaper than buying a commercialy made tool, and you'll save yoursel a lot of frustration.

I was just talking about this sort of thing the other day with a friend of mine. He is in the junk removal business, and had been called to give a quote on hauling away some asbestos siding. We got talking about all the 'hazardous' things that people never gave any thought about in the past. I remember having actual lead toy soldiers. My wife remembers her dad having large pieces of lead in the garage that they'd play with, bending and molding it by hand. My friend was talking about how they would break open thermometers when he was a kid, to play with the 'quicksilver' (mercury) inside ... pushing a glob of it around in palm of their hand to see the neat way it moved. Scary, scary stuff, eh? But as dangerous as all these things have proven to be in their natural state, we have to be doubly careful ... as the hazards associate with them can increase dramatically when we get it hot in a forge!

I'm planning on building something similar at the end of the summer. I'll be doing a small (10' x 12'); Post & beam construction, the walls infilled with 'cordwood masonry' ... unsure of the roof at the moment. I like a metal roof, but am having the house and garage re-shingled over the summer, so may just ask the roofers to leave me enough to do the shed / shop to match. 10' x 12' is because that's the largest we can build here without a building permit. It's not that I have any issue with permits in general - but in Ontario, you need a stamped drawing from an engineer or architect, which I believe to be a complete waste of time & money for a small shop. I'll probably pour a pad next to the shed/shop, fenced in with a pergola over the top, to extend the shop outdoors in good weather. ... although, now that someone else has mentioned it, cob sounds like a great idea too. Hmm... will have to give that some serious consideration.

I use something called Weldbond - it's fantastic stuff! Glues pretty much anything to anything else. Metal, wood, glass, leather, stone, pourous or non-pourous in virtually any combination. It's non-toxic, cleans up with water and dries clear. I've even used it as a primer / bonding agent when patching concrete. It looks like ordinary white glue (colour & consistency) ... and doesn't make a mess of your fingers like super glue does.

As a bit of an aside, have you seen the videos on YouTube of the Manuel Guerra shop in Cuenca, Ecuador?

I'm afraid I haven't had much luck finding a lot of info you in a single book. Most of the older locksmithing books I have in my library, have a short section in them on lock making. When put together would be fairly comprehensive ... but unfortunately is spread over a half dozen books. Have you read through the lock making articles on anvilfire? They also have an electronic copy of a book by John Chubb, entitled "On The Construction of Locks and Keys". It's from the 1850's, and so is now in the public domain - it's probably the closest single reference book that you can easily obtain (a free download). The Spruce Forge manual is really good, if you can find yourself a copy. There are a few good lock-specific forums, which have some great info on lock making (threads which document members projects). Old Locks and LP101 are probably the best ones.

I made some copper roses for both my wife & mom... They were the first roses in the garden this year.

Thanks for helping to identify this thing guys! I had no idea what it was. I've got plenty of old saws kicking around the garage, so I can put it to good use for its intended purpose.

I have a 3 1/2 year old son, who loves watching me any time I'm working (blacksmithing, wood working, etc.). I love that he's interested, and am amazed by how much he learns by watching ; but I'm paranoid about safety. I've been looking for good child-sized safety glasses for some time now, and hadn't been having much luck ... until now. I just received a half-dozen pairs of "Dyno-Mites" child safety glasses that I'd ordered from an on line supplier. They are fantastic! They are the first I've ever found that securely fit little faces. I'm going to make sure I always have a few pairs kicking around for young spectators. I'm not selling these, and have no vested interest in them. I'm just a parent of two small (and inquisitive) children. For other parents & grandparents out there, I highly recommend looking into these. In my research, I also read very positive reviews of the Remington child-sized shooting glasses. They were the other one I was going to try, but I'd ordered the dyno-mites first. However the shooting glasses may be more widely available (especially if you have a gun club or range nearby). On the topic of children's PPE, can anyone recommend good kids ear defenders?

A friend of mine has a junk removal business. He was driving past yesterday, saw me working outside and stopped. He was on his way to the scrap yard to drop off a load, but asked me if I had any use for this odd vise before he scrapped it. I don't really know anything about it, but its obviously meant for sheet metal / thin plate. The jaws are 9" wide, but only open 1/4". It was free, and bound for the scrap, so I'm sure I can find a use for it.

Bentiron, the book David linked to is a good general book on locks, but doesn't have the kind of info you're looking for. I'm a locksmith by trade, and have a fairly extensive library ... I'll take a browse through a few books and see if I can find one that has what you're looking for. Unfortunately, info on lock making is fairly rare.

When I build my shop later this summer, I plan on using tamped clay. I've been in two shops with a clay floors before, and found it an excellent surface. It can be made very smooth (even 'polished' to a degree), and is very comfortable to stand on for long periods. I'm sure it has its drawbacks - but so do most surfaces. Anyways, even though its not a common flooring option, it may be worth researching / considering... Just my 2 cents worth.