Thomas Dean

Finally got around to posting pictures of some of my work. Comments are welcome. I am always open to suggestions too so you don't have to worry about "hurting feelings". After all, it's how we learn!

I would say Yes, repair it. Not to question your skills, but how good of a welder are you? and do you have the equipment to do it right? Rob Gunter also has a welding procedure for anvil repairs, do a Goggle search and type in 'anvil repair', it should get it for you. IIRC it was published by ABANA in one of their publications. Either procedure should work, I just suggested Rob's for another view of how to go about it.

Some folks have to me "DO NOT REPAIR" and anvil, learn to work around the bad spots. I can appreciate their views as I hate to see something repaired wrong. And 'wrong' can happen real easy when repairing an anvil.

The tempering of the face will most likely be the hardest to achieve. (don't forget the temp-stick) But it is doable. I've seen a couple of sad anvils go through a 'make-over' and come out the other side looking like beauty queens! Nice crisp, clean edges with great rebound.

Another (usually) untapped source of scrap steel is from a local fabricator, such as a gate manufactor, fence builder, etc. Go to the office, introduce yourself, and tell them what you want. (take safety glasses, gloves, and a hard hat) Most likely they will let you 'dive the dumpster' for small pieces of scrap. Don't be greedy and possibly you will get to come back. On your second trip think about taking them something you have made from your 'find' in their dumpster. leaf key fob, candle holder, "S" hooks, "J" hooks, anything. They will problably enjoy it and appreciate the fact you are trying to learn a "lost and dying art". !!

My best friend has a shop like mentioned above and he lets me have his 'drops'. Mostly 1/2" and 5/8" square although I do get rounds and different types of tubing. And never get greedy. I also take him my scrap and dump it in his scrap bins...after all, he sells his scrap to the local scrap yard and most of MY scrap started out as HIS scrap. (and I made a BUNCH of scrap when I first started learning this wonderful skill of blacksmithing.
Good luck and let us know how it works out for you. Pictures too!

GREAT! You are welcome to stop by my place on any of your trips down. I'm just out of Longview towards Hallsville. We have 2 extra rooms and a full bath at your disposal if you choose. (Might cost ya a demonstration at the forge and anvil hehe). Seriously, my Casa, your Casa. Sorry my brother didn't ever get in touch with you while you are up there, he lives in Halls, Tenn.

I too would like to catch that group headed to Quad State, but that's a LONG way to be couped up in the same car with Sandpile! Thomas P and Ellen wouldn't be so bad....well, Ellen wouldn't be anyway ;)

Nice looking tool! Could be a soldiering iron for sheetmetal work. I started collecting copper irons several years back but have not seen one like this. Thanks for sharing.

Read in the paper today that they are expecting around 500 of the original survivors to be there today. This is the last reunion they plan to have as they are in their 80's and 90's now and since it is every 5 years they don't think any will be around for the 70th.

GOD bless them and any of you reading this who have served and are serving.

Just a suggest as to what to do with 'extra' ball piens. you can cut or chisel different designs in the ball ends for doing 'fancy' detail work. I've seen someone with a LARGE assortment of hammers that were done like this but can't remember who or where I saw it. (part of getting older...memory loss) I have about a dozen hammer heads I plan to do this to. And most I paid for any 1 hammer was $1.00. (None had handles).

Great score on the wad of tools you got. I love it when some one gets a score like that and show it off. Have fun.

I'll let Mills explain 'finish hammering'. 'Burnt looking' is usually just that, burnt . The thin stuff you really have to keep an eye on. 'Points split, thin edges split' comes from working too cold. Once the color has left the piece back to the fire. Tsur Sadan told the class I was in that we, as a rule, work our metal too cold. Most smiths out to of the U.S. will go back in the fire at the heat we are coming out of the fire. Hence, we work harder and have more problems with splits and such. (I include myself in this as I get impatient sometimes). I do know not everyone does this, work too cold, but as a rule we do. As for the dents, dings, and roughness I would think that will go away as you get better. The saying "Practice makes perfect" is not true. "PERFECT practice makes perfect." If you continuelly do something wrong you won't get any better. Know WHERE you are going to hit the piece, how HARD you want to hit it, and WHAT you want it to do BEFORE you hit it. Sorry for the length. Hope something here helps.

Sorry to hear about your roof blowing off....now's your chance!! Run your stack straight up and roof around it! hehe...Maybe no one will notice :)

Ezra, I have used revit forges for demos and they are fairly good IMO, not as good as my shop forge but then I don't do big projects at demos. You got to remember you are doing demos. If the project takes longer than 15-20minutes then you tend to loose people. (kinda like watching paint dry if you ain't the one doing the forgeing) As for the tong rack and /or a hammer rack I just normally take the tongs I KNOW I will need as well as what hammers I will NEED. Plan out you demo and know what you need. At the end of the day you will be glad, (ahh, that was the sound of experience. ) Something else yo might want to consider are pictures of you work, and possible a few pieces to show. Unless you are selling stuff limit what you take. Make sure you have enough coal! I was working a demo with several other smiths last year and fortunately a couple of us brought extra coal. Sorry I don't have pictures of my 'demo' forge but it sounds like the one you have explained. I replaces all the bolts with new and it seemed to tighten up the thing, less 'wiggle'.

I am demoing at our historical museum this Sat. and I'm taking the forge, 127# anvil, 4" leg vise, twisting wrenches, some tongs and hammers, Material to make 'purdy things', couple of files, beeswax, coal and water. Also a fire extinguisher, makes the city officials smile when they see that!

Mart, First, HOWDY form East Texas! now about books, ideas, etc....The above mentioned books are good, some better than others, yes. One not mentioned is a new book by Lorelei Sims : The Backyard Blacksmith. check out Lorelei Sims - Artist Blacksmith / Welcome to the Vortex of Hot Metal Yea, she's a Lady but a DARNED GOOD blacksmith!! Jim Carothers was at my house this a.m. and he had the book in his truck. He told me it was one of the best books on blacksmithing he had read. Also check out other shops, as Ed Thomas mentioned above. Ask to spend a day with them, working their layout. You may take ideas from several different smiths and come up with something that works best for you. And like anything else, you can start with someone else's way and tweak it to suit you. Good luck, and Oh yeah, WELCOME to IFI.

JW. I'm not sure this will work, but hey, I guess you'll try anything right about now. Grab the bottom of the cork screw and try to unscrew it from there. I think it will open just slightly from there up and slip off. Don't put too much pressure as this will open it too much can it may not spring back where you want it. Not trying to tell ya how to do it mind ya, but maybe you are getting it too hot and it is shrinking onto the rod. Good luck!

ME TOO!! Thank you Glenn for this great site. Thanks to all who who post here, by doing so you have help me with ideas, info, and encouragement. Pictures you post make me drool! Outstanding work!

For those of you who have LOVED ONES serving our GREAT NATION, please know that you and yours are being prayed for by the Deans. Thank you.

Phillippians 1:3-4

HAPPY THANKSGIVING everybody. You folks across the big waters, down under and other parts of the world are included in this also. After all, You really don't seem so far away.

WOW! great to hear you are getting your hands warmed (by the forge) so soon! Some of the BEST blacksmiths I know are Ladies! Do check out what clark-kentski suggested >> Lorelei Sims - Artist Blacksmith / Welcome to the Vortex of Hot Metal . I had the pleasure of attending a 2 day seminar she did for our group in Texarkana, Texas this past April. Awesome Lady and VERY talented! She also has a new book out that is great for beginners and the experienced as well. (you can order from her site) May I suggest that Minnie get a degree in Art, seems you get more for your work if you have a bunch of letters after your name. Good luck young Lady and please keep us posted! I would like to see some of your work also so post pics in the gallery! ;)

Howdy form East Texas! I have one IDENTICAL to this one. Bought it this past spring from the Saltfork Craftsmen and Blacksmith Assoc. out of Oklahoma. (I'm a member) They have them made and sell them to members and others as a found raiser. A nice tool, weighs approx. 65Lbs. This one is much smaller than the ones Glenn linked to but the do somewhat the same thing.

Here is a link to their site: Saltfork Craftsmen Artist-Blacksmith Association On-Line Trading Place , well...you will just have to copy/paste it. sorry, I don't know how to make it to where you just have to click....

There are 20,000 grades of aluminium! Alum. has an oxcide that needs to be buffed off, use a power wire brush.The preheating mentioned above is a must when welding 1/2" and above. (you'll be longer welding it the it took you to grow. ) TIG is usually preferred but there are places (truck trailer manufactures to name one) that use strickly MIG. depends mostly on what type of alum you are using and what the sevice is. We use TIG on our alum piping and plate work. T61 alum pipe uses 5356 wire, 3003 alum plate uses 4340 wire. when we weld flanges (3003 plate) to pipe (T61) you have to use 5356 wire. Use ZIRCONIA tungsten when TIG welding alum, and the heavier the material the larger the tungsten. You don't point the tungsten either, it should have a nice round ball on the end. AC current, Argon purge. Now, if you are going to apprentice at this shop, they will teach you how to weld the stuff, after all that is what an apprentice is, a STUDENT. Good luck.

P.S. I didn't say much about the MIG process because we don't use it here but it is good for the right applications, as is anything else. (the purge gas is best if you use a tri-mix tho. 92-6-2, argon, helium, and Oxy....best as I remember....)

IMO,the only time you would need to braze stainless is when you are welding the stainless to copper or brass.

When we had the alcohol plant running (we made 200proof ethelalcohol) we lined the reactors with copper sheets 4'x8' and welded a stainless strip 2"wide to one end. We then welded the stainless strip to the stainless wall. The reactors were 5'ID approx 30'long and 7"thick. Acid, pressure, & temp. would eat everything but copper and silver. Parts of the inside of these had 99.999% pure silver to protect the walls. Also had 3 spray rings in the quench pot that was made out of 2" sch.80 silver pipe that we rolled into a 28"dia. The hard part of all this was butt welding 1/32" silver sheet to make parts! NO warning when you were about to burn through...just a LARGE hole to fill in. Yeah, I know you probably weren't interested in all this, but...

Howdy from East TEXAS!! and welcome to IFI! Glad to hear from the man we all prayed for and THANK YOU for your service. Sorry to hear that you are so close kin to Sandpile tell him TDean says HOWDY. You are fortunate to have him as an uncle. (You'll get real addicted to this site, so be careful)

I clean after each use. If burning for extended time I will 'fish' out the clinker and continue. I usually will save some coke back for demos as it doesn't smoke as bad but also use green coal. I have found that my fires are easier to tend as well as being hotter. It doesn't take too long to do if you do it every time you lite up. I suppose if you use strickly coke you wouldn't need to clean as often, just fish out clinkers as needed.

As far as starting the fire I use a couple of pine cones. We live on 60+ acres of pine and hard wood so the cones are in abundance. I have used Sweetgun balls also. both work great. Our pine cones are not the large ones like up north, usually 2-4"dia. and 3-6" long. 1 match, 2 pine cones, handfull of coke/coal BINGO! Ready to have fun!

Ditto Frosty. You can do more by blacksmithing than welding. (and I've been welding since '73!) Your work will be more appealing to the eye.
"I'm interested in producing artistic garden gates and trellis type objects to start out with, and see where it goes from there." Pretty ambitious for starting out. May I suggest some smaller pieces, check the BPs, then 'grow' into the larger projects. All above is MOO. (my opinion only) Good luck and keep us informed how it goes with ya.

I haven't built one YET!! but the ones that the 4states iron munchers (texarkana,tx) group built they used 1"x4" flat and welded up the side for the anvil. (I think this was the only change they made.)Cheaper than the 4"rd and works just as good. I was able to get a 3 1/2ft piece of 4"rd at $0.04 per/LB! Friend was selling some 'scrap' and I unloaded what I could before he hauled it to the scrap yard, he was getting the 4cents and said I could pay the same. Put 1600# in the back of my 1/2 ton F-150!!

At 11:38 Central time still no bids....DUH!!!! I paid $60.00 for a 105# Hay Budden, $100--146#PW, $50--125#Acme, $325--185# Hay Budden. I have 3 other anvils that I paid less than $100 total. They are out there, keep looking. Ebay anvils would be a LAST resort for me.

Have you considered building an "A" frame? It can be 8ft wide and have a trolly for the chain falls. I don't think I would use a wire come-a-long. I just don't trust them. (cable breaks, slips, yada, yada, yada) Good for some things true but not for lifting and holding weight. (MOO>>my opinion only<<)

I agree with clark-kentski, your 6x6 has enough to do, and jimmy seale has an EXCELLENT point.

FWIW, if you want to "clean/wipe" your wire before it goes through the liner just use the filter off of a cigarrett. (it's really the best use for one anyway ) If you can, keep the wire covered, don't allow the wire to get dirty from what's in the air. I use a short piece of hose between the spool and the drivers on my machine at work. My personnal machine (at home) is a Miller 250X and the wire is inside so no problem.

If your machine can run .045 flux core/dual shield and you don't have the correct liner and drivers just loosen off on the drivers. It will work, just takes some tweaking time to get the rollers to the correct tension. (of course you have to use the correct size tips)

33+ years in the welding trade and still learning! The field changes SO STICKIN FAST! Welding on some 2205 Duplex Stainless today for a pressure vessel, fun. Education, education, education, it will pay for itself in no time. Good luck and BE SAFE!! Welding can be very dangerous, both to the welder and from the end product if the weld is of poor quality.