Ken G

Chichi, Any chance you have been to Steve Bookouts for one of the barrel welding classes he used to do? Ken

Thanks. Once you told me what they are called, I was able to find other examples. Thanks again for the quick reply. Ken

Wish I could find your scrap pile. Good find.

This is another set of tongs I picked up at an auction. Any idea what they may have been used for? I've searched through the archives and haven't seen anything like them. They look home made and are pretty heavy duty. Thanks in advance for your thoughts. Ken

I'm just a hobby smith but I use my bench mount belt grinder all the time. Not a KMG type. It works great for a lot of metal dressing, wooden handles and the things listed above. If it broke this afternoon I would be off to the store to purchase a new one. I can't imagine not having it. Ken

A magnet will attract so it must be iron. Ken

Here's a couple of pics. Sorry the color doesn't show very true to life. The tube is made of copper or a bronze material. It has a reddish color. You can clearly see the seam where it was wrapped. The keyway is made of brass. Only one present but it looks like there may have been a second one at some point. The rear end of the screw housing is broken off. The inside of the housing does not have threads the entire length but there doesn't seem to be any signs of where threads were brazed and turned loose. I don't think there were ever threads the full length. If there is something particular you want a picture of, I'll try to get it.

Does the tenon mount indicate his is an older leg vise or just a different method of attachment? I occasionally see them on ebay or Craig's list but they are not as common. Ken

No criticism here. I applaud your ingenuity and improvising with what is available. Agreed that a steel top would be better but it is better to be working rather than waiting. Forge on! Ken

I got to order a G2 Guillotine tool. It hasn't arrived yet but I have wanted one for a while and can't wait to use it. It will be a great addition. Cheers, Ken

I can't help but think of how lucky it is that it was unearthed rather than run over or destroyed by the dozer. Pure luck. It has a good home now. Any idea on time period given the tennon mount and brass screw box? Ken

I had a friend at work show up with a couple of leg vises in his truck that needed some repair. Knowing I am a hobby blacksmith he asked if I could fix them. I told him I would be glad to fix them up next time I had the forge going. I fixed the better one (A newer Colombian) and took it back to him. He was pretty happy and said if I wanted the other one I could keep it. He said he had unearthed it with a dozer and it was in real bad shape. I wish I had taken a picture. Anyway, I cleaned it up, soaked it in penetrating oil till the leg moved and the screw turned. I had a old tennon mounted vise that had a damaged screw but other parts were good. The mount bracket and spring are salvage from that vise. . Although it doesn't show in the pics, the worm box seems to be made of brass or bronze? I'm a little leery of putting much pressure on the old screw box but it's an extra and will come in handy to hold things. Sometimes it pays to do someone a favor. Cheers, Ken

Great example of looking, waiting, and getting a great deal for your efforts. Congratulations. Ken

I inherited my first anvil. About a 75# Hay Budden. The face was broke clean off ½ through the Hardy hole all the way forward. I recon what was remaining had work hardened because it was a good anvil even with the face busted. I used it for years. It finally developed a crack running around the waist so I started hunting a new anvil. I put the word out with friends I was hunting an anvil. Had a guy at work offer me an old rusted anvil he had bought for $20. He wanted $75. I think he thought he was taking advantage of me. Turned out to be a 109# Peter Wright. Ken

Too many variables to give any sort of accurate answer. How many hours of forging in your day? Are you working with small stock or large stock? Are you just bending steel or forge welding? How many breaks do you take? Meaning are you working as a professional making a living or just playing around as a hobby? Ken

Congratulations! I don't know about your anvil but it looks like a good start to me. Way better than my first anvil. I don't use my pritchel hole that much except for a hold down and there are other options for that. Welcome to the board also. Ken

Sounds like my number one mistake was welding the collar / ring closed before trying to weld to the shaft. I will not do that again. I do have a half round bottom swage and will try forming a D shape/half round as well. Great advise guys! Thanks for the help. Ken

The rod came from a scrap pile at work and most of ther prints call for A-36. I assume both pieces were the same. Ken

The rod came from a scrap pile at work and most of ther prints call for A-36. I assume both pieces were the same. Ken

Sure sounds easy when you guys explain it. hahahaha. Thanks for the advise and suggestions. I'll give it another try this weekend. Ken

Jim, Agreed on both points. I had planned to use sqaure stock on the next try or at the very least take my round stock to a half round. Do you agree it would be easier to weld the ring as I wrap it rather than forming a ring and welding? I seems by wrapping it first, no matter what I do I will have scale trapped between the ring and rod. Thanks, Ken

I ran into a problem this weekend. I was trying to forge the ball on the end of the handle for a vise. I'm not an expert forge welder by any means but I can normally do better than this. I saw the demo on "I-Forge How To" and it looked simple enough however it was not for me. Welding of the ring together wasn't a problem. Getting the ring to weld to the rod proved to be impossible for me. No matter what I tried I could not even get it to stick a little. I brought both pieces (ring and rod) up to heat several times, wire brushed, back into the forge to bring to welding heat. Slow air, Borax added to the ring and rod while in the fire, got the melted butter look, out of the forge, used easy taps to get started. As soon as it cooled the ring would slide. Tried again with more heat, more flux. Same result. More heat, more flux and wire brushing, this time waiting till I had sparks..........same result. I suspect the ring was not allowing the rod (under the ring) to get to welding heat. It looked like rain so I broke out the welder and welded the ring in place. Finished shaping the ball. I lost mass on the handle so I'll be doing it again this weekend. Unless someone tells me what I did wrong I will use square for the ring and weld it to the rod as I wrap. Will this work better? Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks, Ken

Here's my vise and portable stand. Not good for heavy bending but very easy to move with a hand cart. All of my forge equipment goes into the basement after forging so I have to make some compromises to get mobility. The base is made from old 4"x4" deck post. It's not as top heavy as it looks. The 4"x4"s stop where you see the screw lines on the top portion. I used to have shorter vise mounted to it. Ken

Warren Tool and Forge Co. is more than I knew before. With that info I was able to find a couple of references to them in the 1920s. Thanks very much for looking. Ken

Thanks for looking. I have seen several on e-bay so I did not think the company to be that rare. Ken