DSW

Many of the older store brands like Craftaman, Montgomery Wards and Dayton, were made by Century, now owned by Lincoln. They were good solid machines, though parts availability may be spotty. Most transformer stick machines have almost nothing that can fail that can't be easily replaced by generic parts. Usually you are looking at a bad on/off switch, or a bad fan, though occasionally you get burned out diodes in the DC rectifier of AC/DC machines. All those parts are easily sourced generically.

You couldn't give me a Longevity welder. I've heard a lot of bad stories about how poor their customer service is when there are problems. I've seen in person how they like to conduct business when there are problems, and I'm not a fan. There are two or three other importers I wouldn't touch with a 10' pole as well because they have the same poor business practices and customer service. Not surprisingly, all those companies are owned either by the same person, or a close family member and some even ship from the same building.... Most importers don't supply service parts for their machines. Under warranty they just exchange machines often at the buyers expense as far as shipping goes. Be sure and read the warranty carefully if you buy from one of these guys. Many find out the hard way if they have problems that to exchange the machine, they pay shipping to send back the bad one and shipping to get the replacement. Another "trick" is to offer an "upgrade" for an additional fee, if there is an issue. What they won't tell you is that they don't have the machine they sold you any more because they sold out and no longer carry it. They'll offer you the current machine as an "upgrade", so you actually pay them to give you the only machine they have that they could exchange it with. Often they'll give you a song and dance that they are "out of stock, and don't know when the replacement machines will arrive, knowing full well they'll never get the old machines back in. If you choose to go with an import, even one from a company like Eastwoods, Northern Tool etc with reasonable warranty service, treat it as "disposable" as chances are if it breaks out of warranty, you won't be able to get it repaired. If you do choose to buy an import, I'd strongly suggest you use your credit card. This gives you the most leverage if there is an issue early on. While DOA machines aren't as common as they used to be, they still happen shockingly regularly. Some of these companies often drag their feet, don't respond to emails/phone calls and give excuses to get past the length of time the CC company gives you as buyers protection. They know once past that time limit, there's little to nothing you can do since they have your money already and have very little incentive to make it right. If you do have an issue, let your credit card company know right away that you want to dispute the charges. This can pressure these companies to make things right as the CC company will simply pull the funds until the issue gets resolved one way or another.

That stand isn't too hard to adjust in height. A couple of 2x's under the legs will lift it a bit and you can play with different heights that way without too much trouble. When you find what works, just drill a few holes in the angle iron and run in some lags to lock the wood in place.

3/8" max gives you a lot of possibilities. You'd be looking at roughly a 200 amp class mig. New, Miller MM211, MM 212 or larger, Hobart HH210 ( very similar to the older MM211 but with tapped settings or Ironman 230.The MM211 and the HH210 are nice because you can run on both 110v power at reduced output or full output on 230v power. I'm not all that familiar with the Lincoln line up but I'm sure they have a few that fit the bill as well. Used there's a ton of possibilities. If you can find a Miller MM200, it's got one of the nicest arcs for mig, even though it's an older machine. My MM185 would also work. There's also a number of CV power sources and feeder combos that might work as well. I'm partial to XMT 304's with a feder, but that may be more than you want to pony up as rigs like this used usually go in the $1500-1900 range. Nice thing about the XMT's is that you can do mig, DC tig and DC stick all with the same machine if you get the right accessories. A quick look on Searchtempest shows a guy who has 2 MM251's and a MM200 listed in WETUMPKA, looks like he may also have an ESAB machine as well. I'd be taking a hard look at the MM200 myself. I don't see a price, but I saw one listed elsewhere for $1000 the other day. If it had been closer to me I'd have been tempted to buy it and sell my MM185, or pass the deal on to a student of mine who's looking for a nice 230v 200-250 amp class mig.

I see the disappearing post issue still hasn't been fixed yet. This video is about industrial forging, but it might give you a few ideas to think about. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRXBBZsseuM

I found the video. Now things make more sense. Thanks.

You definitely have a Fisher anvil circa 1892. Fisher changed logos and marking points at different times over the years. Josh is THE expert on Fishers. He can tell you what the differences are between logos over the years.

Bob those would mark the steel well, but once you started to push them thru you'd loose the pattern because of how "shallow" the shape is. If they were ground back farther they might work. The smaller one would make neat patterns on the surface though for a lot of things.

Should you find the need later, carbon rods/blocks work well for blocking out areas you want to exclude weld from. Carbon is soft enough to drill/punch out if need be if you can't get it freed up easily and cheaper than copper most times.

I like it. I'd love to see picts of where and how you cut the spike if you make another one.

Go back to basics.

Yes that's a gas furnace for real soldering irons. Note that the white "fluffy" stuff inside is probably asbestos, so take appropriate caution. The unit looks to need to be relined anyways.

Nice. It's one of the AC/Dc ones as well. Those machines probably have one of the nicest arcs outside the old electric generator welders.

Well said. You explained that better than I did above. I will make one comment about what you said at the end. Be careful of "future" sales. I see this all the time in my actual job doing home repairs. Plenty of people will beat you up over price with the carrot that they have plenty more work to send your way in the future. You'll find very few that actually do. Most just want a cheaper price and never intend to get anything else. I usually tell people that I'm willing to do a discount on future work if it shows up. Today I may be willing to go only so low, and that price really doesn't matter if they bring more work or not. I'll give discounts on multiples however. Buy one bottle opener, it's $20, buy 5 and we can talk about $85-90 for all of them. Need 100? Then we can start talking more significant discounts based on how complicated or simple they are, if they can all be the same or need to be different etc. He'll probably have to do a deposit however that at least covers materials up front. Keep in mind with big orders, you may not see them again for quite awhile. I had one guy who wanted to resell stuff I was making for SCUBA diving. He talked big, but the stainless hammers I sold him took almost 3 years to sell retail with his additional markup. After that he wasn't all that interested in tying up his money with large quantities any longer, but still wanted that discounted price so he didn't have to raise his retail price. If you are selling to someone who will resell them, know what they will sell them for. You don't want to be undercutting them at the same time if they are near by. So if the guy 4 booths down who sells beer steins and brewing gear wants to buy a bunch of bottle openers from you and sell them at $25 each, he won't like it if you are selling them for $15 at your table. He might want you not to have those out to sell so you aren't competing with him, or he might expect that you also sell them for $25 or even higher... He may not have an issue with you doing more decorative ones and offering them for $50 each. That would make the ones he's selling look like a good bargain, but you never know. I've seen a lot of hurt feelings and bad blood come over things like this where both parties expected something different. Good communications up front would have eliminated a lot of it. I will say that if you can find someone who will help market your items it can be a big help. You may know someone who has a nursery or flower shop who may be willing to let you show your plant stands, hanging basket hooks in their shop for a small commission. It may be someone who has a beer distributor or sells home brew stuff who will put out your bottle openers.... I know a few hobbyists who do real well doing stuff like this at the local feed store, farm market or art gallery etc where friends let them display their wares There are plenty of other things that have been discussed in other threads here in the past that can be helpful as well. Stuff like how to display your wares to draw people to your booth. How to price and be able to make change at a sale and so on.

Hand forged hula girl bobble heads? Hand forged model out rigger canoes?

Looks like it may be an early Miller AC only Dialarc. Those machines are tanks. I know a lot of guys who swear by old Airco's and their Miller cousins. I often see the Airco's go for next to nothing on CL compared to the Millers. I know a couple of guys who have the Airco versions of the Miller 320/330 AB/P's that they bought for less than $300. Not bad for a 400+ amp AC/Dc tig.

Sorry having spent a week in the burn ward with 3rd degree burns on 90% of my lower arm, I'm not interested in a gooey lunch.

Cheese is hot and sticky. I've burned my mouth more with hot cheese on pizza than anything else. I'd probably rate it up with wearing nylon around a hot forge.

That's who I use. Search on line a bit and you can usually find a coupon or sale for them.

Price is costs plus profit. To determine what to charge you 1st have to track what things cost, steel, coal/propane, tools, other costs like overhead/insurance, labor... To that you add your profit that you'd like to make. Some treat their labor as "profit" others prefer to use labor as a set cost, and profit is above that. You can also look at what items that are similar and design and quality are going for and use that as a guide. If smith X is making plain bottle openers and selling them at $20 each, selling yours for $5 is probably under pricing your work. On the other hand, if you want $50 each, is the design or quality worth the extra money over what he has? I know a lot of new smiths that sell their "practice" pieces to regenerate funds and put the money back into stock that they can learn more with, or to buy new tooling as they grow. In this case they make what they want and then if someone is interested they sell it. Option 2 is that someone sees your work and wants you to make something special for them. It might be taking a horse shoe from a favorite animal that passed away and making a heart from it to help remember it vs just a plain heart you made from a new shoe. Many small smiths I know do a bit of both. They make items that they know will appeal to many and will sell, say bottle openers and keep the option open to make something special if the item falls in their skill set. Getting some business cards made up is a cheap way to get your name out there. Best way is word of mouth. I tell everyone I know that if they like my work, to pass my name on to friends and family members. I've had people come and ask to buy bottle openers after seeing ones I've made and sold to their friends. I also do a few small demos or flea markets where I show my work. I've had people who saw my stuff and took a card call me later looking for Christmas gifts for family and friends. Plenty of info on good books here posted up already. Mark Aspery's books and videos are always worth looking at, but there are plenty of other ones. Joining a local blacksmithing group and watching other smiths work is a great way to network and make friends in the community and learn. These are people you can possibly call on later if you have specific questions. Classes are also a great way to improve your knowledge. You might ask if your family will give you a class as a gift for your birthday or Christmas. This is especially good if there's a specific thing you want to learn, say knife making or building woodworking tools, but generic classes will also teach you a lot. Personal preference, though catchy names can help. My logo is the monogram of my best friend in High school who passed away my senior year. I always liked the look of it and thought he did a classy job of designing it in his art class. When he passed away I choose to adopt it as a way to remember him and keep his memory alive. Others use the initials of their forge as their logo. Keep in mind if you want to do a stamp, simple can be better due to the size it may be restricted to. I've seen some pretty ugly work made and sold. In part some of this depends on your personal feelings if your work is worth selling or not. Looking back at some of the 1st jobs I ever did I'm amazed at how crude they seem today, and how much I've improved over the years. You can find what other people find sells well and duplicate it. In some ways it can be tough. On some days I'll sell a ton of split crosses, on others I won't sell one, but plant hangers or bottle openers will be the hot item. Keep ing good records of what sells and what doesn't will help you in the long run as well as to be able to track what you sold them for and what it cost to make them. I see more real businesses fail, not because the person can't do the work, it's because they can't run a business. If you are serious about owning your own business, whether it's in blacksmithing, construction, landscaping or whatever, take as many business classes as you can. The business side of my business is the toughest part for me I'll admit. I'd much rather swing the hammer than do paperwork, track costs, do record keeping and so on. "Side" work is almost always done at a loss for most people. It's easy to remember to track the cost of steel. It's harder to put prices on things like grinding wheels, hardware you bought 6 months ago, paint, the cost of your business cards or flea market table etc. If the idea is just to reinject money back into the hobby to help it support itself, and you understand you are doing this at a loss, that's no big deal. At least you are loosing money "slower". LOL If you truely want to make money, learn to track every little detail and expense. Programs like quickbooks can help if set up right.

PM me a link to the CL add and I'll take a look at it for you. The only Ac Lincoln I found on CL in that area came up as $350, almost what you'd pay new. WAY too much money for a simple used machine like that.

Good point. I should have mentioned that last night as well. The end of the rope was attached to a loop at the "hook" end. The chain rand down the shank and then was zip tied or tied with some thin cord to the loop at the shaft end. That way when you pulled, you'd break the zip tie and then the chain would pull the tines free.

Yes Thanks for the process picts. I'd never really given any thought to how that was done before.

I made one years ago in metals shop. It was out of mild steel, probably 1/2" or 5/8" round bar. But then again we were probably 12 or 13, so we really didn't weigh anything much. We used it to climb some small banks/ cliffs, probably all under 15 feet. I've made a bunch since then, but not for climbing. They were for use wreck diving or fishing off shore, to grapple the wreck. There's two schools of thought on those. School #1 is to make them dirt cheap so if you loose it it's no big deal. Many times guys like 3/8" rebar for them. It's enough to hold a mid size boat, but in the event you can't get the hook to slip, you can power back on the hook and chances are the thin tine will bend and release the hook. 2nd group likes stout hooks often made from stainless. I've made them out of 5/8" stainless round bar. They were mostly used on bigger dive boats. They'd drop the hook in the sand up current of the wreck and drift into the wreck to catch an edge. The mate would go down, then chain in, and later free the hook and float it up on a lift bag.

The hydro shop we used to use regularly, disliked selling failed cylinders. However if you explained why you needed them and were willing to take only half or drill holes in them so they were sure that they wouldn't get reused as pressure vessels, they were much more agreeable. I've been on the hunt for one with a good concave base for dishing. Problem is that the shop is about an hour west of me and I don't go that way very frequently. Last time I was in they had just gotten rid of all their "dead" cylinders. I did have to do a bit of explaining as to why I wanted one, but once they knew I'd be happy with only the bottom, or one cut in half, they were willing to see if any they had would suit my needs. Having a couple of bottle openers to give the shop guys doesn't hurt and they will be a lot more willing to keep their eyes open and call if they get something you can use.