MOblacksmith0530

Okay a couple of points I would make. Be sure to have a shoulder on ALL tools. The shank should NEVER touch the bottom of the hole in the tool holder or you stand the chance of upsetting it into the holder. If you do upset it into it even having a hole in the bottom may not allow it to come out. Almost all holes unless they are honed have grooves in them and if you swell the shank into these grooves it will become one piece. I use 1" tool holders and I but 1" bolts with an unthreaded shoulder that is a few thou under 1" these are as purchased. I cut the threads off and weld the tool of my choice onto the flat head of the bolt. Keep it oiled up with way oil of bar and chain oil if you don't have way oil. I also make my bottom tool first if it is two piece and then make the top tool and put it in align it and tighten the retaining bolt this leaves a nice mark that I can use to align it to grind a flat onto it for indexing to the bottom tool. If you have a flat where the retaining bolt grabs the top tool it will come out better than if you just tighten onto the round shank that will also swell the shank and make it stick. I have flats on all my tools (some have several) so when I put it in the lock bolt is always on a flat. Hope this helps. I would take some pics but I am out of town and won't be back for a week.

Okay I gotta pipe in here on the nails. Make your header with a tapered hole with the widest portion at the top and the area where you head the nail no more than 1/4 inch thick. draw a long smooth SQUARE taper for the length you want the nail to be minus about 1/8 inch. cut the nail around 3/8 to 1/2 inch beyond where it goes into the header from the top and cut it almost off and bend it at about 30 degrees. Put it back in the fire with the point of the nail up and reheat. Take it out at a yellow heat insert in the header and twist off and put the header over the hardie or pritchel hole and drive the nail down to make the head. Turn the header upside down and lay it across the anvil with the nail hanging over the anvil. start your next nail. As you are tapering the second nail the first one should fall out on its own. A lot of the old books show the taper the other way and it just doesn't work as well as the way I described. Tom Clark and I argued about it for years until he convinced me this way works best. I have literally made thousands of nails this way and as long as you don't try to head it cold it will work every time. I would guess the taper to be about 5 degrees I have never measured it. This way there is no shoulder needed the shoulder will be made on the top of the header. I mean this as educational not confrontational I hope it helps.

I made and older style Brazeal anvil with the flat radius and butcher about 10 years ago out of forklift fork and it has worked well. I don't use it as much now but drag it out whenever there is a need for more anvils in the shop (usually a hammer in). In my opinion mass is more important than many other factors and steel is MUCH better than cast iron. Find a big chunk of something put it on a stand and use it. The money you can make if you are creative will buy you the really nice new or not notch used you are dreaming of and it will help you decide what you need and what you don't. I have a check anvil in my shop that our group did a group buy on in the early 2000's and it was my main shop anvil for many years until I was able to get the Ozark pattern of my dreams. A blacksmith MUST be creative and if you get anything you will find a way to use it and thus smarten (hillbilly for educate) yourself in the process. If you were closer I would let you dig through my scrap pile to find something you could use. Hit up some scrap yards in your area they get big hunks of mystery steel in from time to time that you could make work. Get to hammering and the rest will come if you stick with it.

Oh no don't show the tool holder I might then have to redesign mine..........

Good work, you puts lots into it and you will get more out of it. something to be proud of to be sure.

I like Jims idea of the weathervane........... in the shape of an anvil. Then when it is struck by lightening it will be welded in the direction it was pointing when the lightnening struck how cool would that be............... Well maybe not but it sounded cool when it went through my head the first time.......

What it is is cool, what it is for haven't a clue but I notice teh spiral wheel looks almost like some sort of cutting wheel

Go to a local flea market and fing a cheap cross peen hammer and play with it, reprofile the peen and face as you find what works better for you. ONce you find something you like make your own it is a right of passage for a blacksmith to make his own tools. Seriously though play with the hammer and see what it can do for you. Heat up some iron and hit it using all the parts of the hammer and see what they do for you.

Put a heavy garbage bag over it lay it on its side ain put in as much water as it will hold and close the bag. Leave it for a couple days rolling it daily to put the water on new wood.

I like it a lot. I like the pattern of rivets on the ring it looks good.

Check out aleghany york, they do piston rings and seals. I bought a heavy cast piston ring for a hammer a year or so ago. They have all maner of stuff and may be able to make it or suggest someone who could. http://www.alleghenyyork.com/

I work for a German machine company and have been working with one of their techs for a week and I haven't killed him..... yet, I did actually get an apology out of him the other day when he was trying to get a broken grease fitting out and didn't have the tool for it due to its location. I offered mine and he started to explain how it wouldn't work, I tossed it back in the box and said okay and walked back over to what I was doing and left him to simmer. A half hour later he came over and apologized and asked if I would show him how to do it with my tool. I XXXXXXXX near passed out.

Hey nice job. The square hole looks square to the bar too. Nice look.

I agree with the above save it for a time when you skillls have grown slightly and you can put it to better use or you will be kicking yourself later.

I was at the abana conference and putting another nail in the nail tree and while I was admiring all the other nails I saw one I didn't make with my touchmark on it :). Apparently there is someone else out there using the same letter configuration on theirs I have been using since I was a kid. I woud love to know who it is and see how our names match up.

What does it cost you to run your shop per hour? How long does it take you to make said pair of tongs? Are said tongs as nice or nicer than what you make? There is the value. I make many of my own tongs, I also keep my eyes open for nice tongs in junk stores and flea markets etc. If I can buy them for less than I can make them I will. I still make tongs for myself and for sale as required.

It depends a little on what height you need. I need extra height so mine is bolted to 6 by 7 oak timbers and then sits on the floor and I used angle iron to capture it to keep it from walking around. I have the same setup on my self contained air hammer and both work well. I would suggest some sort of cushion between it and the floor not for the cusion effect but to help it grab I had a tire hammer that wal bolted to the floor and had two pieces of indoor outdoor carpet face to face to help it grab. I hava also heard a lot of people use the stall mat you can buy at the farm store. I haven't tried it.

Grumble doddDjajbAUYIRUJAWFWEEIqueiaouehwieuOQUEIUROISEURHAWIUFH. looks like it might be a nice german patern anvil under that frippery.

Them small blocks work real nice as welding blocks right next to teh forge. I got one that is about 4 by 5 by 6 with varying radiused edges I us to stick welds at the forge especially on small stuff like 1/4 inch chain.

Like has already been said. it is a tool. Heck it is an anvil for heavens sake it was made to be beat on. Use it while using your head it will be fine.

@ R Lepage Be careful with the big hammer until you know their acuracy level or you will be crying over a dinged anvil.

Nice tongs, I lie your edge grip, flat bar tongs they came out nice. My favorite material for making tongs is sucker rod. This is the steel rods they use in oil wells. We can get seconds here as well as used rod. I just forge them and use them as forged. They have plenty of spring and don't get as hard as coil spring which I have had break a time or two. If you overheat the springs when forging it can become pretty brittle where the sucker rod is a little more forgiving. Also if you get the tongs really hot the carbon content in the sucer rod wont usually get too brittle if you quench it. I have heard they are usually not more than 40 points carbon and either 41 or 43 series steel.

Sort of has a "Thor's" hammer flavor about it, nice.

Got any blacksmith tools for sale sight unseen? Ridiculous amount of money for same?

Sometimes. I wear hering protection so if I turn on the air hammer I can't hear the radio. MOstly rock 60's to 80's