unkle spike

Excellent Demo Dave. One thing I have learned since showing you, once you have the "arms" at 90 degrees, you can stick the cross arms down in a slightly open vice and with a short bend down the gap will open so you can hook it on the anvil edge. There are many people who you show things to and they claim they came up with it, not true in the case of Dave. Nice to get credit for showing him something. In return I learned the quick way to do a "heart hook". I drill mine to make them quicker at demo's, but with Dave's and most peoples quick punching skills, that step would be pretty quick. I generally start my demo on this by saying "a good blacksmith would split this whole thing out with a chisel" (pause) "but I am not THAT good"....gets a chuckle from the crowd. Thanks Dave, keep up the good work.

Have not seen Chris in a while, not sure if he is still forging, all I ever see from him is pics of vehicles and girls....always a bad sign.

I saw that one too Don, either they are complete junk, one a while back minus the horn. Or they put a coat of wax on them and want a mint for them.

I have seen far more 110v welders for sale second hand than welders that actually are suited to our type of work. My point was that if you bought a 110v flux cored HF welder, it would be inadequate and you would eventually sell it to get something more suited to your needs. A tool that does not work is just taking space, and I would sell it in a heartbeat. I don't have any children of my own, so I can't speak as to the selling price of them. :huh:

I debated welders with myself for about 8 months....

I ended up with a Hobart 180 220v machine, and bit the bullet and bought the gas bottle right away. In my opinion flux core has it's place, but once you get the shielding gas, change the polarity and weld with true MIG you will wonder why you would want to flux core.
I have only had my welder trip once for thermal overload in 7 years. For the types of things you describe, tacking, and general use, my Hobart will do all I need. Now they make the 187 amp with 7 amperage settings, and the 210 amp with 7 settings. The initial investment getting what you truly needs far outweighs the frustration of having to sell the old one (at a loss), and buy the new one.

Now keep in mind I am a hobbyist, and my machine does not see full time use like some of the users here.

And as someone here stated, "with the proper metal prep". 75% of a good weld is preparing the joint to weld it.

Judging by the style of the feet, looks Mousehole to me, early mousehole without the pritchel hole. Of course most look mousehole to me. The feet on a mousehole had that angle that ran all the way down, like in the picture of mine.

I have one, the blower and the legs come off and fit in the box, I have this for a winter project this year, refurbing it. My legs are round, and the blower clamps with a bolt & handle combination.

I uses ribbed metal roofing in the area surrounding my forge, ceiling also. After sustained long forge sessions, I can put my hand on the metal, it is still that cool. Leave plenty of space around the forge. I chose not to insulate, as East TN is temperate. You can see the metal surround in the pictures.

I am in the Knoxville Area, feel free to contact me at silvermoonforge@yahoo.com

I am the secretary of the local Knoxville group and may be able to help.

Take care,

Jeff Phillips

Some Guy named Ntech did a demo, it is posted on Anvilfire website, that is the proportions I use.

I wear a Engineers cap much like my Grandpa Phillips wore in his shop, I can't tell if his was striped or not, there may be stripes under a bunch of dirt.
The attached photo was from around 1940.

Julius Scott x sml.bmp

I bought by dimension. I bought a 60 inch by 3/8" leaf spring. I cut two 15 inch sections for the top and bottom leaves, and used the 30" for the main spring. I bought mine at a local semi truck and trailer place. It had 4 or 6 inches of arch which was of course divided in half when I cut it in half. I want to say I paid around 60 bucks for it new.

Tennessee is a big state, where in TN are you located?

I agree with the above, in order to be taken seriously. I see business names all the time that confuse me, what is is exactly that they sell or do?

ie. Jan's Creations (what does she or he create? If I would patronize this person, I need to know what they sell)

Johns Construction and Custom Cabinet Emporium (too long and drawn out to remember, especially if it is listed on the web that way, if he had that on the side of a truck, you could not read fast enough to catch it all)

Jim's Bait Tackle, Transmission Repair, and Music Rental (man pick one thing and stick to it, don't know where night crawlers would end up)

Using FAR too fancy of type fonts on signs. They are hard to read, and in the case of Jim's above would be pretty small when you got all of it on the sign. I think simple, memorable, is the way to go. Silvermoon Forge works for me, silvermoonforge(at)yahoo.com is about the most I would expect anyone to remember for an email address.

I use Shade 5 welder glasses with side shields, they work well at preventing eye burn, and of course flying bits. In forge welding you also have flying flux to consider, and this should temper your own personal decision on what to use.

The first glasses in the list on the link you provided would be MY personal choice.

You may however need to make adjustments in your shop lighting so your immediate work area is bright enough so that you can see your work when it is out of the fire.

I know in wood the laminate structure is superior to solid in most cases. Why would the same not be true in steel?

You could weld the edges of course, but you could also Plug Weld at specific grid on the faces?

I know two for sure Dale Russell and Moony? Are they still in operation or have they gone extinct?

I'm still working on getting or building a forge. I plan on using the rose bud tip until then.
"CRITICAL MASS"? That's worth looking into. I don't have much trouble keeping the wife out of the shop but she watches the bank account like a hawk. I think the thing that did me in was the road trip I took to Arkansas to pick up a 3500lb radial arm drillpress, oh and the trip to Dallas to pick up the vertical mill, and then the lathe, all the deliveries from ebay... you get my point?
Les

I have used both, and given the choice Side Draft is the best choice hands down. I have purchased 12" galvanized round ducting pipe at Home Depot with the swivel elbows. It is pretty cheap. I just had to replace my lower outside elbow, it rotted out after 5 years, the soot collected in the bottom and I didn't know it. The elbow was around $9 and they have straights in 6 foot sections I believe. You would need a heavier piece adjacent to the fire, but you are a good scrounger and should be able to come up with something. The swivel elbows have sections you can rotate to just about any angle, and I would say you would want two 45 degrees to give the slope in your drawings.

Both of them look to be Mousehole's from the looks of the feet, at least that is what I think.

Both are in pretty rough shape, but still usable.

I find it easier for me to tap the piece about halfway around the horn from the top, and flip it over so the end is up and continue hammering.

Good Video Dave, keep up the good work.

You might try to go to a lighter hammer for a bit, and pace yourself at 'smithing so you don't do permanant damage.

Very nice, my 10th set don't look that good.

My slide on my Appalachian Style is Mild steel tube-in-tube. I just use plenty of Moly Grease on it. Grease is cheap compared to replacing parts. I thought about bronze or teflon for bushings, but opted for a light loose fit, and grease it often.

I recently updated with a 2" square tube filled with lead shot, then heated to melt the lead into one solid mass.

When Playing "guess the weight of the anvil" remember most bathroom scales go up to 300lbs, just be sure to lay a board or piece of heavy cardboard on the scale.