Joel OF

I made these keyring bottle openers today. I haven't finished them yet, do you think I need to "food safe" finish them? i Haven't put the keyrings on yet either, obviously. Made from 8mm bar, they're about 4inches long and 1.5inches wide. What do we think...£4? I promise I won't do this with every product, I just want initial reassurance that my pricing is OK.

Cheers for the tips. I got a load more oak "scrap" from a timber framer the other day including a piece of waney edge oak about 1inch thick and about 15inches wide - my Dad's going to sign write my name onto that and I'm going to forge a simple bracket to hang it off. I'll fix the bracket to a mini timber frame I'll make from the other pieces of oak. It'll just be simple stuff but it should have a nice eye-catching feel to it, industrial meets spit and sawdust wild west bar I'm envisioning.

Definitely not, haha. About half a mile walk away from the market is a hippy shop I used to work in, it's like a Mecca for incense addicts. Incense holders there = £1.

Cheers people. I love your optimism. ;)

Cheers guys. I'm going to work a few more bits and bobs today - food orientated stuff seeing as it's a food market. Re: the avatar Highsider - I love vintage horror, big Hammer Horror fan. Watch Witchfinder General after you've watched The Wicker Man :D

Hi folks, a few weeks from now I'll be doing my first stall, I'm a mix of nerves and excitement. I've attached a couple pics of a hook display I've made. (In real life the display looks a little less cluttered than it does in the pics). I'll make 2 or 3 more similar displays to show candle holders, bowls, meat serving forks etc. I know the factors behind how to price your work but as this will be my first stall and I'm an amateur/novice it'd be nice to get second opinions that my pricing is fair. Do you guys and gals think that £4.50 ($7.02) for the screw in hooks, £6 ($9.36) for the round bar hooks, £8 ($12.48) for the twisted square bar hooks and £8 for the 2 piece round bar hooks are sensible prices? My stall will be at a farmers food market but the footfall is high and the clientele are "the right sort", so even if I don't sell anything I think it'll be good to get known and maybe some people will take business cards. Cheers for any help and advice!

Newan, what sort of lacquer was that? I asked a similar question aged ago about preserving rust colours & someone said to use a spray from Halfords (UK car parts shop), wondering if your lacquer & his spray is the same thing...

I watched a programme about Tudor armourers a while back and I'm sure I remember the programme saying that for Queen Elizabeth's armour the armourers tempered it to an iridescent blue for effect, however over time the temper colours have faded. The blues and purples in tempering are lovely and seem like a nice way to finish some pieces. I bet I'm about to open Pandora's Box but what factors are involved in how long temper colours last and how can you preserve them?

Yep, I've started another bowl thread! *collective groan echoes* Seeing as I've asked for so much advice regarding bowl making tools and such I thought I should finally upload some pics of bowls I've made. I forged these 2 bowls in the last few days, one was for a mate, the other was for fun. They're made from 3mm mild steel, I sunk them cold into a variety of oxygen cylinder bottoms using my 6lbs raising hammer + a couple different size ball pein hammers. As you can tell I'm not a fan of planishing.

Hi Magill, I haven't read through all the previous replies so sorry if I'm repeating what's already been said, just shovveling down some lunch & I'm in a hurry... Judging by your picture I'm guessing you want it for armor raising? I've heard that some people use shot puts to raise over. They'll take a care to weld to a shank as they're cast iron I think.

In a book by Charles Mcraven he says he sometimes gets know it alls telling him his hammering action is wrong when he's doing demos. He replies by inviting them to put their finger on his anvil & he'll see if he can hit it.

Cool, I'd like to see that if you get the time. Cheers

Eurgh, my head, I haven't drunk that much in ages. Sorry about all the pics, I started the thread when I got back from the pub. I thinned down and straightened out the tips enough to skewer a sausage/few bits of hog roast...the rest of the tines were just for effect really...I just wanted it to look cool. To be honest I pretty much made it up as I went along as the main purpose was to try hot cutting along the bar to split it as I'd never tried that before. From there on I just got a bit carried away! Quite pleased with the twists all in all as I only have my coke forge as a heat source - no spot heating devices. How would you guys split the bar? Hot cut it? Band saw? Angle grinder with a thin disc? Couldn't agree more Mr Wooldridge. I have to admit that I was fully aware that in rural communities where the pub is the heart of the area, (everyone knows the landlord - and the landlord knows everyone), letting the landlord know what you're up to isn't a bad idea when you're a novice trying to get you're name out there. He showed it off to a few people too.

Forged a "man sized" hog roast skewer as a present for the landlord of one of my local pubs this morning before going to his beer festival in the afternoon. Pretty pleased with it considering it was my first attempt at anything similar. Always keep your landlord sweet. The fork/skewer... A sense of scale... In action... In the hands of a proper sized man...

Cheers, interesting reading.

What's wrong with the coal we have? Do we mainly buy from abroad now then? So with a reduction of available coal and steel where there any practical implications? For example did 'smiths switch to gas forges? Did the type of commissions 'smiths were offered or 'smiths accepted change in any way?

For me it's not so much a case of choosing not to, it's just that I'm a beginner and the basic projects I'm doing are anvil orientated, hence my naivity regarding vise mounting reuqirements further down the forging line. Hopefully that makes sense.

Hi folks, when Maggie Thatcher died it prompted me to wonder if the strikes and closures during her time in government affected blacksmithing/blacksmiths in the UK? I was born in 1985 so obviously I don't remember. I thought I'd leave it a while before asking the question as I didn't want to stir up a political argument. That is still true and I am asking this without any bias and with a genuine historical interest and am simply asking for objective recollections.

Cheers Martin, I'll keep that in mind before I start doing heavier work. I hadn't run into that problem yet as I've only been doing very light work & using the vices for cutting/filing/jigs & not done any hammering in them.

Haha, how generous of you. What I'm saying isn't quite the rhetorical question you posed though. The reason I put the idea out there is because with this anvil horn it's flat on top and curved on the bottom, so if you had access to both sides you've got 2 for the price of 1. With regular anvils you've got the curved top and bottom so you're not gaining in the same way.

I've got a 60kg very good condition William Foster anvil for sale. Dated 1862 with the original stampings including the original hundredweight numbers clearly visible...and I'm not a million miles away...

Blimey, wanna come work at my local yard? One of the yards I use got busted a while back for stealing cars to order and bribing a policeman to look the other way. Every time I go to scrap yards I lock my phone and wallet in the glove box. I've always wanted a plumber friend, an electrician friend and a mechanic friend, I should probably add a scrap yard friend to that list but I don't really want to know the types of guys that work at my local yards haha.

I have 2 leg vices, one is mounted on a metal stand I fabricated and the other is one a wood stand I made. The easiest solution I discovered it to not worry about the putting the very bottom of the "leg" into a hole, just secure it somewhere near the bottom against the post somehow. You'll have to look beyond my lazy welding and nailing...but to be honest I don't really care how the vices are mounted, all I want is for them to stay still and sturdy, which they do. I should point out that with the metal one I haven't welded the leg to anything, that's just 2 bits of angle iron welded around the leg. Wood Metal

I'll probably be chased out of town like a leper spreading disease for saying this but I'd mull over the idea of welding another hardy shank on the top (or on the side, either way you'd end up with North and South facing shanks) for the reason that the underside looks as useful as the top - you've got a nice pre-formed curve in the heel and the underside of the horn could be good for fullering or little scrolls. Obviously that sacrifices the middle flat area on top of the "anvil"...but you've got your real anvil for that.

Yes definitely! I was thinking of taping the ends of the vice arm and around the hole in elastoplast. Strictly speaking my first hammering injury was when I was building my smithy - it was mid winter and I was trying to finish felting the roof before the snow started, I couldn't feel my fingers and I was tacking the felt down...I didn't need that fingernail anyway :P The Cannibal Corpse song "Hammer Smashed Face" springs to mind.