Neil Blythin

I find it difficult to understand how people choose to do this craft (as a a hobby or profession), without having a source of water readily available. 'Running' water isn't difficult to obtain, and I'm not just talking about having it piped in. My shop has no plumbing.... But what I do have, is a camping type water jug with a spout. Fill it up with cool, clean drinking water before leaving home in the morning. When you get to your shop, pop it up on a shelf, workbench, or whatever. A couple of gallons is plenty for cooling a burn, not to mention keeping yourself hydrated while working.

Oh, and in response to your question about dealing with burns - I *never* cool a burn in the slack tub. You never know what gunk is floating around in that water! Not good to subject a burn to unclean water. The only time I'd consider the slack tub is if A hit piece fell down my boot and needed dunk my foot. I always keep a large bottle or jug of cool drinking water at hand for cooling a burn. I also keep medical burn gel and burn dressings in a first aid kit in case I ever get a bad burn. Never had to use it, knock on wood, but it's comforting knowing it's there. First aid wise, the most important thing is to get the heat out to stop your flesh from cooking. After that, keep a burn clean.

Q: "Do you ever burn yourself?" A: "Occasionally. But blacksmiths don't burn themselves very often. Know why?" Q: "Why?" A: "Because it hurts!" I borrowed this response after hearings it once... And have repeated it many times since.

I'm wondering what some of you fine folks do when it comes to packaging up your work? My wife is on her way to a bridal shower today. The gift is a few things she asked me to forge for the couple. All fine and dandy until it comes time to gift wrap ... at which point I realized, that we blacksmiths tend to make stuff that is often over-sized, odd shaped, heavy and/or pointy. Not things that lend themselves to gift wrapping (or for that matter, being packaged for shipping). I ended up using some double-thick, heavy duty cardboard from a box a small appliance had come in. Cut it up and fold it into a custom sized box. The forged pieces were sandwiched between sheets of thick polystyrene foam to keep them from rattling around; and the whole lot then gift wrapped. But all of that nonsense took me well over an hour! You're all a bunch of bright, creative people. What sort of things have you done in the past for packaging things and keep it looking professional? Cheers, Neil

No doubt! But the value if any educational video rests not only in the skill of the featured instructor, but also in the skill of the film maker. In the grand scheme of things, the cost of an individual book or video isn't a lot ... But when you start adding up the cost of a sizeable collection of books and videos, it can be significant. This video has been on my 'wish list', but now that I have people giving it good reviews, I'll move it up a few spots towards the top of the list. Cheers, Neil

There's nothing wrong with those tongs Andy. Nicely done! ... On a side note, can we please not revisit the drawn-out vs welded reins argument every time there is a post about tongs? I think Brian's multi-page thread was quite enough of that debate.

Very nice! I'd been thinking about getting that video - would you recommend it?

Thanks Thomas. I sent an enquiry through Vaughans 'contact us' page (several weeks ago), but haven't had any reply yet. Cheers, Neil

Yes, I am aware of how the search function works twcoffey. This isn't my first post on this forum. Unfortunately, having read through all of the search results, I wasn't able to find the information I'm looking for, which is why (after searching), I posted a new topic. It seems some people out there, are a wealth of knowledge when it comes to anvil history. I am not. I'm hoping one of those people can help me to figure out a ballpark age of my anvil. I am specifically looking for info regarding Brooks anvils that are marked with "J B" as opposed to those marked with the name "Brooks", and if that little tidbit may tell me anything about it (age, or if they had a different product line, or whatever). If you happen to have seen something in one of those other threads that the search term "brooks anvils" returns - something I missed when looking, I would very much appreciate you pointing me towards that thread or post.

Neat. I wouldn't have thought of that - will have to give it a try myself. Thanks

If your forge only has a small blower, you may want to try charcoal - which needs far less air than coal does. You can also make a deeper fire in those flat bottomed 'pan' type forges by adding a couple of bricks.

Can you please explain the addition of the foam mats Fatfudd? I thought the idea was to have a base that's solid/rigid. You're not the only one I've seen add rubber or foam into the mix, but I don't understand why. I would think it would add an element spongy/springiness...?

I just love an elm stump. I'd like to have a larger stump thats set into the ground, but for the time being a shorter (movable) stump works very well. I've tried a steel stand, and didn't like it. But a lot of that is personal preference. If possible, try both (in other peoples shops) and decide for yourself.

I just love an elm stump. I'd like to have a larger stump thats set into the ground, but for the time being a shorter (movable) stump works very well. I've tried a steel stand, and didn't like it. But a lot of that is personal preference. If possible, try both (in other peoples shops) and decide for yourself.

Correction: Couldn't 'Edit' the post from my phone (not often near a computer)... In any case, I took a closer look and the one side says: 100 LBS JB Not 1 Cwt - was going from memory when I posted before.

Hello All, I'm hoping someone who knows a bit about the history of Brooks anvils, may be able to give me a ballpark age of mine... I've got a 100 lb Brooks. On one side (when viewed with the horn pointing left) it says: 45 KGS ENGLAND And on the other side, it says: JB 1 CWT The lettering is raised, not stamped. There is evidence of some dark blue paint - although anyone could have done that at some point in its past life, not sure if the manufacturer painted them. I suppose I'm wondering during what time period Brooks marked their anvils "JB" as opposed to "Brooks", and also when they started using a metric weight. Any help is greatly appreciated! Cheers, Neil

I'd recently been wondering how this project turned out, and found your FB page. It's absolutely beautiful! It's a very fitting memorial, which I'm sure means a great deal to the community. Those who worked on it should feel very proud. I'm sorry that I missed the opportunity to contribute.

Excellent. Thanks John!

Thanks for the suggestion DSW - I'll take a look for a design of one of those to borrow ideas from. I'm not sure how much he'll end up doing, as there isn't a lot of slate roofs in this area. He just really enjoyed working with it, and we have piles and piles of the stuff kicking around behind the barn at school...

Sorry to resurrect an old thread... My school recently did a short course on slate roofs. A friend of mine really enjoyed working with the slate, and wants to do a bit more of it. During the course, they cut the slate with a bench top shear that looked like a big paper cutter. I'm looking to make some kind of tool(s) for my friend - just not sure what. This slaters hammer looks pretty useful. I've also seen some photos of old 'slaters axes'... Stuart, would you mind suggesting an appropriate type of steel to use, and what parts of the tool need to be hardened (and how hard)? Slate seems fairly soft, so I'd imagine toughness wins out over a sharp cutting edge; although part of the tool you show is a hammer. Have the slaters you deal with mentioned what shape of a point is best for punching the nail holes in a tile? Round, triangular, square? Any advice is greatly appreciated! Cheers, Neil

If he's after stuff that fits in with things of that age, in the UK, you'd likely need to make it out of wrought iron.

I don't think I'd like using an anvil like that one Foundryman. On both of mine, the 4-6" just back of the step is where I do most of my lighter work (has the smoothest face, with nicest edges)... having a whopping great hole in the middle would be a real annoyance.

You can always melt down another country's coins. We get quite a lot of US coins mixed in to our change here in Canada. I assume you'd find some of ours mixed in with your change too.

Nicely done ausfire! I'm most certainly going to have to borrow this idea - my kids would love these!

Many larger, older forums (on various topics) have had to struggle with this same thing - the same old 'newbie' question asked a thousand times. It does get tedious. What a number of sites have done, and works well, is to condense the relevant info from all of those types of threads into a wiki or other 'knowledge base' sort of thing. After that, you clean up the message board/forum portion of the site by deleting old threads. Drawbacks to this approach, is that it takes up a lot of your admin & moderators time to do so. And those users who get off on having high post counts, get upset that that number gets slashed when those old threads disappear. I'm a bit of a computer geek, and have seen quite a few of the Linux user forums go through that exercise. It usually leads to a small revolt by a few very vocal users; and those who remain have a far better site. Just my 2 cents. Cheers, Neil