DSW

Last time I actually owned a "car" all cars still had leaf springs ( read 1970-80's Mopars). I think most today are all coils vs leaves, but I wouldn't own a car today so I'm guessing from what I know of with friends. You may need to look at yards that have older vehicles if my thoughts are right on leaf vs coils in newer cars. Even a lot of newer trucks are switching to coils. Small trailers often use leaf springs, so that might be a direction to go if you are looking for smaller leaf springs. Look at shops that do medium to heavy truck service as these also are often equipped to do inspections on trailers and small to medium sized excavation and concrete guys often repair vs buy new trailers and they can easily do a number on trailer springs the way they load them. I deal with a shop that just does springs and heavy suspension work of trucks. They can get me pretty much any new spring I need for a truck or trailer and they do enough replacements that I bet if I wanted one I could locate a dead one from them without too much difficulty.

You may want more polish so you can see the colors run easier when you go to temper it. Remember it's easier to grind before you harden it, then afterwards. You don't want a thin edge just yet, as that will burn off easily when heating, but you want the majority of finish work done so all that is left is the final edge.

Bandsaw or scroll saw comes to mind right away, but even a hand held jig saw can work with the right blade if you sandwich the brass between two sacrificial pieces of masonite or plywood. You can also rough cut your pieces then sand or file to final shape

Be advised ACQ treated lumber will eat and corrode standard nail/screws. Even though this stuff has been out for years and has this issue, many are unaware of it. I've been called in to fix a lot of basement walls where they simply nailed the studs to the ACQ treated floor plate with normal framing nails. In some cases the nails rusted out in as little as 6 months.

I don't even have a lot of space for a ton. I loaded up most of a pallet crate and that was only about 1000lbs. I think I paid about $250 for the 1/2 ton.Just tell then you want blacksmithing coal, they'll know what you want. PM sent.

I just replied to your Pm on the subject. Peoples coal up in Stroudsburg is the closest place I know of to Allentown that has blacksmithing coal. As I mentioned, since you list Northern NJ as your location, You might be able to head across I 80 into PA, hit Peoples Coal, then take Pa33 down to where it hits I78 between Allentown and Bethlehem. I'd guess it's maybe 1 hour to 45 minutes between I78/PA33 and when you'd get to Peoples Coal from when I went up Early last moth to the PABA meeting.

The ones Green -Mengle had offered at ABANA last year were about $200 from what I remember. Hamburg is out I 78 roughly near Harrisburg Pa. I think Green-Mengle are the ones casting the A and B blocks Pieh Tool offers. I think I can dig up their contact info if you end up needing it.

I've thought about ordering one from Salt Fork Craftsmen along with one of their floor cones, but cash flow hasn't allowed me that luxury yet. I'll keep you in mind if I do ever get around to ordering one. Do you head out towards Cabelas in Hamburg Pa much? Green-Mengle are out that way very near the store. They have a nice small swage block that they sell. I keep meaning to try and make it out to either of their houses when I'm out that way, but so far I've always gone out during the week during work hours. I am pretty sure they run their stuff as a side business and would need to set up a time to meet with them after work or something like that. I passed on picking one of their blocks up out at ABANA last year since I didn't want to drag it around all day with me, and I head out to hamburg semi frequently.

Did it run colors? If it didn't, chances are you didn't change the heat treatment. I'm also not talking about tiny areas either. I'm talking about areas changing color the size of a nickle or larger. Tiny color changes probably got ground out and wouldn't have any effect.

1st thing I'd do is pull the liner and look at it. It doesn't take much to kink a liner. I used to have that problem pretty frequently where I used to work. The day shift guys used to jam my machine into a corner to give themselves more room. Almost every time they did this, they either jammed the gun into the wall or wrapped the gun around the machine so tight that the messed up the liner. If you pull the liner out it should lay nice and straight. A kink is pretty easy to spot. If it looks kinked, replace the liner.

Talking to the guys who do the work in the shop is usually the key. Office types almost always say "no". A case of cold ones, stopping by with a pizza or gift card to the local pizza joint who delivers, or even a few forged nick knacks like bottle openers will usually get those kind of guys to keep you in mind. Leaving them a card with your name and number that is easy to remember will often get them to call YOU, when something you may want happens by. Even if you don't need it, thanking them and telling them you appreciate them thinking of you will go a long ways along with the little gifts.

Thomas, that's starting to sound more Mad Max than steam punk with the ejection seat. Not that that is a BAD thing... Wrong continent though.

Oh please Frosty. The mans from South Africa. The thing just begs to have antelope seat covers and maybe Kudu horns up front.

Around me I'd talk to quarries and a few of the big names that do heavy demo down in the city, companies that demo concrete high rises and so on. Those would be the people I'd expect to either break or wear out breaker bits like that. From what I remember when I lived out that way, most of the ground is glacial till, not hard bed rock like we have around me, so I doubt you have the same sort of hard rock quarries we do. That would also rule out companies that dig basements as I doubt that they need to hammer and blast like they some times do in my area. Heavy concrete demo would be you best bet.

Nice looking Fisher. I'd leave the edges alone myself. I don't see anything there that you can't work around.

Double horn there's also Nimba.

Join a local blacksmithing group. They often know where to find these things and often guys will have them to sell at meetings that they picked up in their travels.

A variety of hooks and small things I did as demos at the Grange Fair this past summer. Almost any of these would make good simple starter projects.

Keep in mind your reputation when you go to sell "practice" pieces. If on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 is a top quality commercial knife that brings thousands and 1 is so bad you can't recognize it as a letter opener, do you really want to be churning out stuff and selling it in the 3-4 range when you plan to be making stuff in the 6-8 range once you improve some? Giving practice pieces to friends and family is a bit different than selling them. Are the issues you are having cosmetic, or structural flaws? A knife that isn't cosmetically perfect might be appealing to those who are looking for a rougher more "hand made" look. On the other hand knives that won't hold an edge, brake or have other structural issues might be best just tossed on the scrap pile vs giving you a bad reputation. Good reputations are hard to create. Bad reputations only take one or two dissatisfied customers. They'll almost instantly forget that the paid a lot less money and only remember the problem issues.

Usually. Most pipe itself is steel even if people refer to it as "iron", Fittings are another matter. Most fittings are steel as well, though I have run across a few that were cast, often imports. I have often mig and arc welded 1/2" to 2" black pipe. You can braze cast iron as well as steel though. In fact brazing is often the go to method of doing cast repairs. It is possible to gas and arc weld iron, but results are spotty.

I'm sure Josh will chime in at some point on this. Fisher made what I believe was a 1400lb anvil for the Centennial Expo in Phila. I think he's commented that NJ State Museum may have that anvil.