anvil

Interesting, thanks. I have a nice bar of reforged wrought given to me by a blacksmith friend. These were made from hoops or strap off an old narrow gage rr water tank. Its very clean wrought. Ive seen these hoops at scrap dealers and wondered what they were made of.

alas, there lies the slippery slope. After securing my hand forged cleats to my bare feet, I'd venture forth and state the ones who have the best understanding of that is every one of us when we first started this exciting journey. in all of our innocence and naivety perhaps we all in one way or another, share that one vision. that of some nut standing between anvil and forge beating hot iron. and upon our faces was a look of excitement, passion and wonder. that look of wonder representing the great unknown,,, "I wonder where this path will take me if I just keep on heating and beating." a few after so much time are still as excited and full of that wonder as every new guy and gal just starting out today. I suspect that most of us here still "wonder" just what the next hammer blow will reveal. thus the essence of a traditional smith

What George said.

For what its worth, He is a great guy and most likely can give you some good advice and tips on succeeding as a traditional smith.

Spent a lot of the last 3 days remembering old Friends.

Nice tongs. And i especially like the movement in the top jaw. Nice touch.

You need some hands on time between an anvil and a hammer. Its the only way.

Heres a couple tips for brands. Especially working brands. Relieve or vee out places where two elements contact each other. Your "R" has 3. If not, these intersections can cause too much heat and the joint disappears. the working edge should be thinner than the back edge. you get a finer line and the heavier rear acts like a heat reservoir. I had the same thing happen to me with a set of initials. They never told me the sequence. So i did first, middle, last. Alas, He was named after his father who he didnt get along with and used a different sequence. Live, Learn,Fix

Lol, I just wanted to let you know that every one of your responses made my day. Id put you to work any day of the week straightening iron,,, on my dead flat anvils. every one of your responses hit the mark. Back to reality, are those pieces wrought, mild or high carbon? Ive seen it around but never got any. Im guessing wrought. .

Basically, your pics show how I would do it. Bending forks and scrolling wrench. If you arent using stands, then Id add them as needed. I use my vice instead of a press. Lol, hire an apprentice.

For me, basically what Thomas said. My primary use of these holes in the swage block is for doing the heavy hammer work forging the tenon and upsetting the body on hardy tools. Then doing the final fitting/ shaping of the hardy tool in the hardy hole of the anvil its made for. This solves the potential breaking of the heel problem on the anvil by doing the heavy hammering in the swage block.

Im a dirt floor kind of a guy.

Nice Job!

I think Das recipe makes a paste, but maybe not. The more beeswax added makes it a paste. I like mine a liquid so use 50/50 boiled linseed oil and turps. and beeswax to suit. I do not think the proportions are critical, but are a matter of taste. My standard is a quart each of BLO and turps. I put this on my fire in a gallon paint can. Make sure you have the lid. To this i add ~ a walnut/egg size of beeswax. Use a very low heat 'til the wax melts. Put back into the two quart cans with lids. It will store for a long time. Should it flash in the paint can, I take it off the fire with my rake and put the lid on, so make sure you have the lid to the paint can. I apply this at a black heat. If it smokes off, its too hot. If it is "wet", too cold. It takes a bit of practice to hit the correct temp. It should smoke off and give you a nice "dry" matte black finish. For a cold finish, meaning cold iron, substitute beeswax with japan dryer and do not heat. I store this in a mason jar with a gasket. When i apply it, I make sure to close the jar whilst wiping on the finish. Be very aware that the japan dryer evaporates quickly and you may have to add more over time. It is very quick drying. If i do say a 10' handrail, by the time i get to the end it is dry enough to apply a second coat. I usually do 4-5 coats cold. And, like Thomas, i have a working shop. My hand made tools get an oil finish when i make them, and thats it. And putting a hot oil finish on my work across my anvil is about it for "preserving" my tools.

Again, you need about 4" of coke under your iron and 2" above to consume the ox and get a neutral fire. With proper fire control, and maxing out your firepot, your firepot will only be neutral. with good fire control, you can get a smaller fire and then you will have more than one heat "zone" in your firepot. I have a flat bottomed portable riveting forge, and i can still get my 4" of coke between grate and my iron. and 2" of coke on the top. It has about 4" sides.

Yup, what Thomas said

There was an article in a long ago Anvils Ring about this. I suspect that " Ring" most likely needs Rob Gunther to reface it by now.

This is a basic process, and needed for many types of forgings. Id suggest using your hammer and the edge of the anvil 'til you are proficient at it.

No. You can make your own barrels from damascus that will work with blackpowder. Otherwise, wrap and forgeweld an existing modern barrel with damascus. The forgeweld is the weak link for modern high preasure barrels, as has been stated

50/50 Linseed oil and turps with a healthy pour of japan drier works good as a cold finish.

first ive heard of them making left and right handed blowers. As a lefty myself, thats interesting. Follow standard lefty procedure,turn it around and add a bit more ducting.

What a dilemma! Flue size is good, and i have zero experience with an adjustable flue. Good luck

I agree with that. I also saw his mentioning working in a lab. I assumed it was not a lab that could identify steels. Thus my mentioning a lab to I'd it. I have no clue as to the cost to have a lab identify a piece of steel. A sample board is relatively inexpensive and works best if you have a bit of experience.

Nice. A set of bending forks and a scrolling wrench is the quickest way to unwind a coil spring.

The best way to identify it is to match the spark pattern to a known piece of steel. This assumes you dont want to have a lab id it. Without a known piece to test spark against, a spark test is a guess.