Mende

Welcome:D! Who's Sandy?( is it any of my business? )

Thx guys :D

I don't get it :confused:

Although I've been posting and reading here for about a week . .I missed this section ..and since I just made "Member" I think it's still OK for me to introduce myself. ( a somewhat formal introduction can't hurt. .and better late than never )

My name is Mihai ( Michael would be the English equivalent), I'm 18 and I'm from Severin, Romania. For those who haven't heard about this country . .Dracula came from here . . as well as some gymnasts and soccer players ( Nadia and Hagi would be the most famous). For those who live in this country . .please contact me!

A few years back I started building a shop because I really wanted to make swords and possibly armor, not knowing what it would take. I decided not to quit this "hobby" after I bought a 4.4 pound hammer with my allowance money. At the time I thought that it would be embarrassing for me to quit after investing so much money .( I didn't know how much more time and money I would put into this along the way)

To make a long story short. .I finished and inaugurated my shop on the 10 of September this year.
I joined this site to learn more . .and help, where I can, with some theoretical knowledge, as that is the only kind I have so far ..and it's still not a lot.

As far as I've seen everybody here is very nice and respectful and willing to share knowledge ( and even give some personal tutoring. . in some cases.) and I'm very happy to have joined .

Outside with roof and some permanent walls (attached to a building etc)

I'm not a member cuz I;m too far away ..but I put some stuff on that i think would help.

I was always curious. . how does working with a Japanese hammer differ from working with a normal one? ..Is it easier/harder to aim? Does it have more/less bounce? Is it easier to control? Do you have trouble getting it to stay perpendicular to the anvil? ( just any differences will do. .I'm just curious )

Id you're a smoker .. .It would be better to lay off them cigarettes until your headache passes . .and about the CO poisoning. .Co forms STABLE bonds with Hemoglobine while CO2 and O2 form unstable bonds. Any red blood cell that has CO in it has to be killed ( in the liver) and replaced. I say ..don;t smoke and take some ADVIL ( not anvil) . .

oh ..got it. . .feel so dumb for not seeing that ; ;

Does this forum have a poll application . .in which we can click on stuff to vote or somethin?

Anyways mine is Inside, heat available in cold weather. ( from the forge itself and from a woodburning cooking stove ..)

I have a galvanized cauldron of thin sheet steel. It works ok . .but then again I havent werked too much in my shop ..as I just finished the forge at the end of this summer .

I'm trying to repair an old wooden beer keg tho...for a more rustic touch ..

Thx guys. ..

Mild steel can be either case hardened ( a thin layer of carbon will be absorbed by the steel and it will make for a hard case with mild steel inside - hence the term) and WORK hardening. . .which is done by beating the steel until you compress the molecules together and it;s a bit harder than before. . .quenching undoes this. . .
Hex bars are often tool steel. And Vanadium, chromium and manganese CAN affect the hardenability of steel.

Shall we move half of this thread to the forum on Linguistics.com ?:P

good then ..so it appears that i should keep it there until it screams out to me huh?

I think that's actually the way to becoming a blacksmith . .learning ALL the ways to screw up . ..after that . .you can only do good. ..

This should be a Blacksmith school motto .."Teaching people ways to screw up since. .18**"

It weighs a bit over 2 pounds.

I can't see the image, it keeps saying an error message. I probably can't help you with what it is, but I would like to see the diagram. Will look up a mason's hammer.

When I was starting out and gathering tools ( I'm still very much at the beginning but when I was REALLY starting out) I bought this hammer from a guy who told me it was a blacksmith's tool ...

He sold it to me for less than 2 bucks and said it's used to cut iron. . .and as I was a Newbie. . I thought it might be useful.

It has 2 semi sharp peens. .one straight, one cross. .. .no face. .

I found similar tools listed as Opposite hammers .. but it didn't say what they were for.
I don't have a pic. . but here's a diagram I made in MSpaint. So what should I use it for?

It's most probably a Romanian cast steel imitation of an Austrian style anvil, minus the cathedral windows. (It's surely cast . .judging from the shape of the horn and the line down the middle)
Romanian made anvils made during the communist period bore no markings. .if they were made for internal use. They were also more functional than aesthetic so only the face was machined. the rest of the body being left as cast. ( exactly like my German double horn - only difference being that that was cast at Topletz)

If you found it near you it's probably a "limited edition" model cast in Resita.
If so. .keep it well .. Resita was making very good steels back the in the communist period ..although they lost many of their formulas after the revolution.

Okay then!. I'll surely try it a couple of times:)

You should try to target some privately owned decor shops. . .the kind that sell incense and polished river rocks and sand blasted glass and stuff like that ...

Women especially will buy anything if it looks like there was a lot of work put into it and there are a lot of hammer marks on it. ..the whole HANDMADE thing is big right now.
The work can't have obvious welds ( regular, not forge welds those are nice) or material that's been left as it came from the steel-works.

Make stuff look like you shaped them from a meteor in the fire of a volcano under the light of the moon and quenched it in dragon tears. . .( I hope you understand what I'm trying 2 say here.)

Also pictures and a website would make you look a bit more official..
Get a fake beard or mustache ( if u don't have one) and take a picture of yourself wearing an apron behind an anvil with something red hot it ure tongs. .and a hige hammer. . .( wearing your apron without a shirt and being a shinny with sweat and coal dust may bring you more than just customers. .but you say ure married..so .:)

You can boils down vinegar to make a stronger acid to etch. Make sure it is carbon steel if it is stainless it will not work. Use nail polish to act as a block on the area around where you want to etch and just have your picture and initials bare. It will take a few times do a coat leave for a while the wash of if it is not enough repeat until you get it the way you want than use nail polish remover to clean the blade.

Good luck
Bob

You know .. I'm considered to be a real sick puppy by my friends. .. but I see I've been outdone. ..

( what about it you use a wrought iron or ASO for the job? would that be ok? )

It's an imitation . . cast in a foundry near here. . .or so I've been told ..

It follows the German STYLE ..but I doubt it was made in Germany . ..

It is still made of good quality steel .. and has a nice ring to it. .