Neil Blythin

That's fantastic! So few people add that part to their instructions ;-) I have a friend who, when giving driving directions somewhere, will say "Go past such-and-such, and you'll arrive at a stop sign. Stop. Then continue..."

I think that any true 'trade secrets', back in the day (say on the Middle Ages), would have been about metallurgy, heat treating, etc. How to heat & beat something into a particular shape, or types of joinery would have been fairly wide-spread knowledge for anyone wanting to know. But if your shop figured out how to make better, more durable stone masons tools - you'd keep that process to youeself. Also, if you read some of the late 19th / early 20th century books on the subject, they were using some pretty nasty and dangerous chemicals (such as cyanide) ... Again, if you were the master, you may be careful who you show that side of the trade. Probably not a good idea to take your new 14 yr old apprentice, on his first day, and ask him to sprinkle cyanide all over the place. Especially if you're then going to have him put on a pot of tea for you and the journeymen on the shop.

Sorry if this reply is going too far off-topic, but since we've started talking a bit about the chemical properties of copper, I thought I might share a bit of trivia with you... I happen to be a locksmith, and have in interest in vintage door hardware. I remember coming across the fact that brass had germicidal properties, and that is why it was used so extensively for the hardware in hospitals and other public buildings. When I studied it a bit more, I found that there have been numerous studies in recent years (the ones I read were from about 2008 onwards), seeing if the use of brass or copper hardware and fixtures in hospitals would help prevent the spread of antibiotic resistant 'super bugs'. The results were very promising. One hospital replaced light switches, toilet seats, door handles and lavatory faucets in a large area of their facility, with ones made from copper. When they tested them, they had 95% fewer germs (bacteria, viruses, etc.) vs. the stainless steel ones. It's pretty neat stuff!

I really wish people would stop advocating the 'burning-off' of paints and other coatings.... Aside from the obvious safety issues (I know a lot of people burn off coatings 'outside'), burning these various chemicals really isn't very good for the environment. Small sand blasting cabinets are cheap.

Yes. Yes it does! Sounds like a great road trip ... Now the issue becomes finding space for your new (and what will be an ever-expanding) toy collection. I've always wanted to try my hand at glass blowing. Let us know how that goes.

Wow! ... So just how naughty does one have to be during the year, to get such a large lump of coal in your stocking?

Completely Amazing!!!

Find yourself a *big* hardwood tree stump. Something like hard maple, or oak. Basically the bottom of a 2' diameter tree, cut off at a comfortable working height ... Then give it that 1 3/4" steel top. The stump alone would probably weigh in the neighborhood of 300 Lbs. That's plenty of mass for light work - and you'd have a nice big surface area to play with. You would also have lots of edges that you could grind to different radii. Enlarge and square up one of the existing holes to hold hardie tools, etc. There are lots of useful things you can do with a piece of thick plate.

Wow, I can hardly believe some of the low prices some of you guys have found anvils for (even when factoring in inflation for the older finds). I've been hard-pressed to find anything 'good' for less that $2/Lb ... $3/Lb is still a reasonable price around here.

I bought an older Brooks anvil last year; 100 lbs Very good condition (clean flat face, good edges) $2 (Canadian) per pound. Southern Ontario, in 2011 Recently purchased a Peter Wright 250 Lbs Fair-Good condition (fairly flat face, edges worn in places, but a section of edge that's good, very clean horn). Paid $3 (Canadian) per pound.

That's hilarious! I know a few architects who would blow a gasket if you said that to them ...Hmm, I may have to borrow that one.

Actually, I have quite a bit of experience doing CAD work, mostly in MicroStation; and think AutoCad is a complete and utter piece of garbage as far as CAD software goes. Drafting machines are awesome! I just saw that a friend of mine has one tucked in the back of his barn - but they're way too big. The drafting table I use is fairly small - but big enough for my needs (E size paper is the largest I ever use). But for most stuff, I just use 11x17 copy paper - which my own home-office type of photocopier can easily handle. Perhaps for the same reasons that I like smithing, I much prefer to draw designs by hand rather than staring at a computer screen. Don't get me wrong, CAD soctware does have its uses too ... It's just not the first thing I go to if I need to draw something.

I use a drafting table, paper & pencil. The licensing fees are far less than with AutoCad

I call in a licensed pest control person, who applies the appropriate insecticidal dust. We had a nasty, large, inground yellowjackets nest this summer. My 3 year old son managed to disturb it while playing in his sandbox. By the time I got to him and his sister (in response to their screaming), he'd been hit 12 times, and my 1 yr old daughter had 9. I was stung 14 times while rescuing them, two of those on my face, very close to my eye. I contemplated nuking them with gasoline ... However, I've always been told that while its okay to deal with a visible, above ground near yourself - underground or in-the-wall nests are best left to a professional. Just my 2 cents. Cheers, Neil

Thanks Frosty - I'll look up the NC forges and see if I can spot something similar. Here are a few photos of the forge in question:

Hello Folks, I'm not sure if this is the right spot or not (if not the Admin or a Moderator can happily move it)... A friend of mine recently acquired a "forge", and asked me if I knew anything about it; which I do not. His father was a high school teacher, and the school was clearing out equipment from a long abandoned shop class. Among the pieces of equipment was some type of a gas forge. I'm having trouble getting the photos off of my camera at the moment, but will try to post a few pics later. This forge is a tall square tower like structure. About a square foot in 'footprint'. It has a firebrick lined chamber, with a rectangular opening front & back. The odd part is that it has a hole in the 'roof' that holds a crucible. So to me, it's some sort of a melting furnace for metal casting. But my friends father swears up and down that the school never did any metal casting, and had used this device for forging. It has a manufacturers ID plate attached which says: "Wayne Forge Ltd. Toronto - Ontario" I've done a bit of Googling, but can't find much info on this company. Is anyone familiar with this type of forge / furnace? Do you know if it can be used (or converted for use) for smithing? Or is it primarily a metal casting tool? Again, I'll try to get a few photos up later - but any info is greatly appreciated! Cheers, Neil

Anyone want to bet that the shop, forge, etc. are liberally insulated with asbestos?

I'm not personally keen on the idea of taping belts back together ... But if you must, I'd suggest using glass filament tape rather than duct tape. Filament tape has far greater shear strength.

My anvil has a 7/8" hardy hole ... which seems to be one of the more common sizes. You can make your own hardies to fit, or can grind or forge down the shanks of 1" tools. I've also seen adapter sleeves to allow 3/4" to fit (Centaur sells some).

Are the belts new? I had a whole bunch break on me over a short period of time, but they were old. Not old as in used, they were 'new', but were old stock that the store was selling off. I think the adhesive at the joint had dried out / weakened.

Are there not any commercially made gas forges made elsewhere in Europe? I would think shipping would be less than overseas from the US ... And taxes, customs, duty etc. shouldn't be as much of an issue buying from an EU country.

So, about six months ago, I made myself a couple of new anvil stands. They were four lengths of 6x6 pressure treated posts, tensioned together with lengths of threaded rod. I also forged a bunch of hooks and such for use with these new stands ... hammer holders, etc. On the weekend, I went to hang up a hammer, and it's hook broke and fell off. It had rusted through completely! I knew that pressure treated lumber was prone to accelerated corrosion (particularly the ACQ type), but the speed that this happened surprised me. The threaded rod is hot-dipped galvanized, and seems to be holding up okay so far. The lag bolts I used to secure the anvils had started rusting too. They were galvanized, but I guess the coating wasn't as thick. Looks like I'll have to spend a little extra on material, and re-make all of my tool hooks out of stainless.

Re: Brass - It's not quite as fine as what you're describing, but I'm a locksmith, and have used the brass filings that come off of the key cutting machine. Locksmiths generate a lot of this stuff, I keep a paint can full of it, and find it useful for all sorts of things.

Oh really, is it the same one? Was listed in Kitchener, 300 Lbs for $300? When I saw that one, it had only been listed for about 4 hours. I replied immediately but never heard back. By the following morning, the ad was down. If that's the case, I've got to say I don't think very highly of the guy that's trying to flip it. The word "jerk" comes to mind.

This was just posted on Kijiji Ontario: http://ontario.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-tools-hand-tools-409-POUND-ANVIL-WOW-WOW-HUGE-blacksmith-ferrier-W0QQAdIdZ404725116 409 Lbs listed for $1,150 in Granton, ON (near London).