yesteryearforge

My vise 5 " columbian mounted on boxed in I beam 3 feet in the ground in concrete.
Several spares in case I wear this one out

Marc
I own a machine manufacturing company
Machining / welding / fabrication
As far as the wrist pins I get them from heavy machinery repair shops

My son Joshs workstation in my forge
400 lb peter wright

Primtechsmiths workstation in my forge
260 lb JHM competitor

It appears to be a wagon tounge vise / to be attached to the tounge of a covered wagon as they headed west

sitting on a stand fabricated from heavy plate

Chris
Ill try to round up some photos
It will in no way do something the size of a fireplace set / that would require an enormous tumbler althought you can remove the tumbler basket and just bead blast but that would require you to stand there and do it ,

I have a small [2 ft x 4 ft ] bead blaster with a tumbler inside
just fill the basket , swing the mounted nozzle to blast into the basket close the top and turn on. does a good job and is pretty quiet too

I am currently working on two anvils being cut out of the front plate on a 400 ton pressbrake the material is 7" thick
im incorperating the base into the anvil
the total anvil will be 60" long 34 " tall and 7" thick
dont know how good it will be / really dont intend on using it but its something to do.

It has always seemed rather odd to me that I have never had a blacksmith come by to scrounge any material from me.
I have been in business for 16 years and go thru tons of material per month
stainless,alum,hot roll in plate , tubing,sheet,bar,channel,I beams , round etc.
last year I sold more than 80,000 lbs of scrap metal and an awful lot of it was good material for blacksmithing and I would rather see it go to someone who really needs it rather than a scrap yard.
I sell it to the people looking for scrap somewhat cheaper than what they would pay if they went to the scrap yard
Lots of farmers , construction workers , harry homeowners etc but so far no blacksmiths.
Just seems a little odd
Of course I am a scrounger as well.
wrist pins from dozers or large cat. engines also make good hammers and are usually free for the asking

RATS now ya'll have done went and gave me a case of the spring fever and ill have have a hard time getting anything done now.
This comes right on the heals of the cabin fever that I just got over.
What could be next ( the dog days of summer )

Peyton
Im sure the man already knows

The new mother earth news pales in comparison to the old version back in my day when everyone was into self sufficiency , save the earth , make love not war etc. etc. etc. but alas we all grew up

My forge used to echo untill I got more stuff in my shop

the job to boot, there are other banks in town but Im the only blacksmith so I think he will forgive me if Im a few days late on my payment because ---

If I read your post right you are not interested in making a sword at all but rather wanting to know what are the basic exercises that would further your hammer control and expand your smithing abilities.
If thats the case do what insrgn suggest plus make some nails and rivetts
practice putting heads on rivetts / there are a multitude of uses for rivetts in blacksmithing that you cant allways use a factory made rivett on such as hinges and the like

plain old twenty mule team borax available at your local grocery store

way things are going around here I would be lucky to have them done by christmas because ---

What type of floor do you prefer in your shop and what do you feel the advantages are for your prefered type
concrete ?
brick ?
wood ?
dirt ?
also do you use the type that you prefer or do you use whatever was there to start with
How do you mount your vise and other equipment, / Permanent or movable
any tricks to maximize the use of available floor space ?

odd jobs around the shop like-

looking for tips on how you handle the portability of your set ups for demonstrations , festivals, hammer-ins etc
coal ?
gassers ?
what size anvil ?
set up for your vise ?
tool racks ?
material handling ?
truck , trailer , canopies , saftey issues , etc

since you are going to cut a hole in the floor anyway why not cut one a little larger and concrete the recipticle in place. / no nuts, no bolts and a much more secure mounting and also a much cleaner and neater apperance that would be easier to cover when not in use. before the concrete sets up just take a 1/4 plate the correct size and form a indention for the cover then you have a perfectly flat floor with nothing to trip over.
just a thought

pocohantas # 3 nut

I understand perfectly
Its nice to finally see someone write like I read :)

forge but im all cleaned up tonight and after the dance if the fish aint biting we may just hang around and watch the submarine races for awhile .
valentines day only comes once a year and I dont want to spend it doing--