Marc1

If rebound had any value, welding with a press should be very difficult.

As far as the make of your anvil, try to wire brush the sides and then rub a bit of chalk on the surface. That may reveal name. It is a southern german style complete with upsetting block. one of the best shapes of anvil in my opinion. Piti no side shelf. Drilling out or chiselling out the crud in the hardy is a good idea. Welding the surface not as good an idea. Use it as it is, the surface will start becoming smoother the more you use it. After all what is the use of a perfectly flat anvil? Or sharp edges? or needle sharp horn? Take some time to wire brush it clean, oil it and build a nice steel tripod for a stand. That is time well spent Take a picture of the sides once you clean and rub chalk in them. I am interested in the fact that the transition between horn and body is not smooth, they left a bit of a step on the edges.

I am building a pizza oven. Not very blacksmithy, but a lot of fun. Got myself a wet brick saw, and cutting bricks with it is a breeze. Noisy though. My dog runs away as soon as I start

The unfortunate reality of copyright and patents is that they are only as good, and go only as far as the amount of money one is prepared to spend to defend it. And sometimes ... as they say in Spain ... the collar ends up costing more than the dog.

As much as I love old welders, have a 200 amp buzz box and a 3 phase rocket welder ... the new inverter welders have come a long way from the initial poor reliability. An inverter be it using stick or mig or tig, will require a lot less power than a transformer. Consult an electrician as to how much power you can draw from your circuit and if it is feasible to be upgraded. Modern inverters can do more than just one task, so you can learn to weld using inexpensive rods, then try your hand at gasless MIG and if your machine does that, even TIG. Best of both worlds. An old buzz box is attractive because they can be had for very little money, typically $50 or so, but they can be unforgiving and learning from scratch on it can be a bit of a task. An inverter with all the electronics in it, is a breeze to use.

Ha ha, it is actually less than container load, but that does not matter. Sharing container space presents a legal issue because unless you are a shipping company you can not have a container with multiple owners and bills of lading and only one must be responsible for the lot, particularly when it comes to illegal imports discovered by customs.

The reason containers come partially loaded is because you can not share containers. The shipment must be in one person or company name and that person is responsible. If you only want to ship that small amount, you go LCL. Talk to a freight forwarder, they will tell you how to do it and how much it costs. There are hundreds of Freight forwarder in texas and everywhere else. I am sure you understand that buying and shipping are two different things. You will not pay germany consumer tax but there are other tax involved at your end. The hurdle to overcome when buying in another country is the reluctance from private sellers. Companies in Europe are familiar with shipping and will most likely do it for you. A freight forwarder can organise pick up at the sellers address, truck to a depot to be packed or palletised and placed in container, paperwork for export and import and ship to your place. Talk to the freight forwarder how to minimise the risk of picking up a dud or losing your payment by paying with a letter of credit.

Varroa Jacobsoni and V Destructor are two of many species of varroa. It seems that Varroa was introduced into the US more than once ergo the two species. I was reading recently that some colonies of apis mellifera are learning to groom each other and take the parasite off each other, something that they can do rather easily, yet have to learn. I remember when the african bees started to come down from Brazil, we learned to select queens from colonies who were better at defending the entrance. We tied a grasshopper to a string and dangled it in front of the box entrance. With a chronometer at hand we registered the response time for the guards to attack. The fastest response was the queen selected and soon we had very alert bees that could fend off the africans. Funny note ... most people asked if african bees were darker I believe that observing grooming habits should be noted and those queens selected.

Chimichurri 1/2 cup olive oil 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar 1/2 cup finely chopped parsley 3-4 cloves garlic , finely chopped or minced 2 small red chilies , or 1 red chili, deseeded and finely chopped (about 1 tablespoon finely chopped chili) 3/4 teaspoon dried oregano 1 level teaspoon coarse salt pepper , to taste (about 1/2 teaspoon)

Mowed the grass??? With all those goats? Your backyard should be as bare as a goose egg ... or is it ... bare like a Scotchman's knee? What's the punch for?

18v Angle grinder with thin 1mm cutting disk, face mask and hearing protection. Nothing could be easier.

I like your anvil. It has a rustic look to it and a very thick top plate. The forge is also a good one. Hope you both get going, and start forging soon. You have to build a stand for the anvil and find a few hammer and tongs. Do you have a welder? To build a stand that is. The back corner of you anvil, the heel, may need some attention. Try to scrape by hand between the base and the top plate to see how deep that separation is

Pure dingo are not big dogs, but they cross breed with dogs and get larger. Yes we had a famous case of missing baby, and the parent got jailed and trailed by media by a string of self appointed experts. They were later released but the damage was done. I think their biggest problem was to be preachers in a 7DA church. A decade later a couple of hunters confessed to finding the body mauled by dingoes and hiding it because they were afraid to be blamed. We do get packs of wild dogs mixed with dingoes from time to time but they seem to stick to the other side of the river fortunately. Now with the Pyrenean dogs they will stay away.

Nice pictures. On the farm across the river, they had lots of goats and they loved to eat the seaweed at low tide. Unfortunately a pack of cross dingo, killed all the female. No, no gender bias, most likely a matter of size. Now they have something like 5 massive Pyrenean mountain dogs that can shred any dingo to pieces.

Yes, music background on videos is a risk. Can only please those who like that sort of noise and aggravate the rest. I would have piano blues as background, may be boogie woogie? Actually, the best background music to blacksmithing videos would be the aria from Verdi's Traviata ... "La gitanella" Can someone identify the anvil used here? The triangle is off beat ...

I liked it. He makes nails at great speed, something I couldn't possibly do. As for the lose hammer, lack of goggles and distance to the forge He is wearing on his head what seems to be sunglasses, obviously to look into the fire and not for forging. The hammer ... ? Does he adjust the head at some stage? He may have plonked it in water for a minute. We will never know. I looked hard to see the distance between forge and anvil, but no luck. It is after all a personal choice. I pull the anvil away from the forge or close according to what I do. We are all different. All in all, a good job and someone who is clearly not a farrier is showing publicly what he does. Nice anvil on a nice sturdy stand, and not the wobbly tree trunk you see often on you tube. I have yet to publish a video of myself forging, playing the piano or water skiing. Takes a form of civil courage to get started, and I am sure that many in this forum could produce quality and useful videos yet do not for various reasons, not the least, fear of criticism or ridicule. The world is a strange place. I did note that Frosty liked the video too. One for you Frosty.

To me it appears to be a forged hammer and the chip and crack are superficial and not past the hardened area. Depending how you feel about doing this, you can grind the crack out, fill the crack in with stick rod and heat treat. My guess is that the heat treatment made it that little bit too hard to tolerate a cold blow to the anvil. Classic proof that hammers shouldn't be that hard. Have a scar on my left forearm as reminder. It will become your favourite repaired hammer.

No second hand anvils in Oklahoma? Go for a new anvil. Farrier anvils make for good small project anvils and folks are paying more for an old beaten up anvil. Centaur forge is selling Cliff Carol wide face anvil 70 lb for $349 NC anvil 70 lb for $280 Now 70 lb is not a big anvil but 280 and even 350 are not a big price and this is a brand new good quality anvil. I have seen plenty people paying way more for wrecks i would use for door stopper or garden decoration ... perhaps due to the lure of them being "old"

Have you looked into a charcoal forge? Charcoal is relatively cleaner and easier to get. The forge will need some modifications but is as good as any other fuel. Looked up your "mercado libre" and there is heaps of stuff for sale.

Hi Morke, welcome. When choosing a type of fuel, there are other considerations besides cost. Coal (carbon de piedra) smokes ... and from what I remember the times I worked in Bs As that was a real issue. Much more for a hobby. Coke is a pain to use on and off for small projects. Gas will cost more, yet will be quicker and cleaner to get started. Quicker is relative to how the forges are built, a good commercial coal forge will be ready in 5 to 10 minutes. An amateur build gas forge may need more time to get up to temperature and be a pain to operate. You say you want to make a knife. When I never ever made a blade and never will, it is a small piece of steel that can get hot relatively quickly. If you want to forge a gate with scrolls and twists, you will need a large gas forge or stay with coal. Not to mention that if knifes is your thing, you will need a lot of grinding equipment besides the forge. If you intend to build your coal forge, avoid the brake drum forge. You will outgrow it far too quickly. Do you have neighbours that may complain about the smoke and noise? Where about in BsAs are you located? Regards Marc

Groan? Do the bees groan or am I missing something?

Amazing. Just a very small swarm but strong enough to start to build honeycombs. I hope your friend can relocate them safely. They are such intriguing insect.

Hi Larry, nice anvil. I wouldn't worry about the resurfacing. It is not ideal but it will serve you well. Concentrate in building your workshop and start forging. Yes, you will encounter lots of insensitive comments. It's the internet after all. Stay away from anvil threads, as you would from religious debates, and try to pick the little knowledge that is here to learn, if such is even possible online, how to make whatever it is that you would like to make. You will soon learn who to ask questions and who to avoid. All the best, Marc

Message to Mr Dog_guy ... Josh or Fenris: In life there are fights you need to win, fights you need to lose, and fights you don't need to have. In this case it is blatantly obvious that you don't need this fight. Your age, the nature of your business, the location of your business, the time you have been in business all will scream to the magistrate that you have little to nothing to defend but a bit of hurt pride of being caught out. Change the name and be done with it.

Oh my ... On the topic of apostrophe use ... There is no one right answer to show possession on a proper noun ending in s. As long as you are consistent in your writing you can say Jones' car (my prefered way) or Jones's car also correct even when odd. From www.grammarbook.com Rule 1b. Many common nouns end in the letter s (lens, cactus, bus, etc.). So do a lot of proper nouns (Mr. Jones, Texas, Christmas). There are conflicting policies and theories about how to show possession when writing such nouns. There is no right answer; the best advice is to choose a formula and stay consistent.