Marc1

Interesting Hans ... I have a similar key for the screen door at the front of my holiday house. Has a few extra slots across but basically the same. We can still buy blanks like that here.

Nice find, happy for you. I am particularly satisfied that you don't need to age your anvil as I was afraid you wanted to do when I read the title of your post. I had images of rapid succession of hammer blows scratching and grinding to make the anvil look old. Fortunately that is not the case.

It's called an illustration, and I tend to use illustrations from my own life experience. The reasons and motivations to start a business are the maker or breaker of the enterprise. Another illustration from my life experience: Most restaurants fail within the first year. Why? Because they begin with someone who is a good cook and is encouraged by others ... "You are so good, you should open a restaurant!" Only problem is that the job of the owner, is not cooking but bringing bums on seats. My friend's motivation with the boat was the fun of being on the boat, not the gruelling exercise of finding customers for fishing charter. The good cook's motivation is the alleged prestige of having a restaurant, and the failure comes from not knowing how to bring in the patrons and beat the competition. The fact that both my examples are of a more expensive nature, is irrelevant. It is not about the amount of the loss but about the wrong approach to what a business entails. And by all means I am not saying that the OP has the wrong approach nor that it is not possible to make money blacksmithing. It just seems to me ... and correct me if I am wrong ... that the OP would like to turn an interest in a hobby that he has yet to start, into a business. A bit of a long shot that is lacking all the intermediat steps. I wish Ryan all the best in whatever he wants to do. I only say this because I like him to keep in mind that a business is first and foremost a vehicle to make profits. No profit no business. The vocation and the idea that you must do what you like, pursuing your interests, was once at the forefront of the advice from the assorted education advisers, but proven wrong in the long run. It is feasibility and vision and a good eye for what others can not see, that makes for a good business and always did. A hobby on the other hand is defined by ... spending money in doing what you like. Frosty ... thank you very much for that link.Iit is this politically incorrect reality check that our education departments lack. Thanks again Here it is again in case someone missed it

Don't worry about those, file them off by hand to minimise removal of steel. It could be someone's idea of keeping the anvil steady, may be a bracket welded to the horn and chained to a roof rafter. On thing you will need to do now is a strong steel stand and an even better anchorage particularly on the side of the missing heel. i was thinking in bolting a lead counterbalance on the heel side but it would need to be a substantial one because it would be offset towards the center of gravity and perhaps is not worth the trouble. 2 big bolts on each leg, linked by a bent flat bar and a heavy stand should be the go.

I don't think that tumble drying leather would make those raised dimples shown in his photo, but I must qualify my comments as not an expert. As far as i know reconstituted leather is not a bad product and many work boots are made with it. Of course good quality leather could be textured between two rollers to give that appearance of snake or crocodile skin. Anyway, the main thing is that you are happy with it.

Yea ... it's very British, and old australians use it. My daughter's (very) expensive private school also used it. Not sure if Queensland is different from the big smoke. Surely the ankle biters just say principal.

Mm ... not sure that is accurate. I am no Kiwi but been across the tasman many times and never heard that. They do however pronounce the vowels in a peculiar way. Better becomes bitter and the number six becomes sex. if you go into a lift that announces the levels you can tell the locals from the visitors in a flash. i went to the post office at Auckland's airport and they asked me if I had a "litter" to post. I answered i had no dog and would never to such thing ... but had to post a letter. They ignored me and turned around to tell each other pointing out the window, that the "Sivven Sucks Sivven" had just landed ...

Drug store, Druggist or Chemist, sure. The funniest is how we call the School Principal if she is female ... she is the "Headmistress" i was rolling under the table laughing when I heard a group of Aussies that came back from texas in a visit to a church there, and told us how talking about the local school and her "head mistress" they got into real trouble with the locals who felt very insulted.

Hi Vaughn, I hope I am not intruding in your affairs, but for the little I know about leather, those dimples printed on leather are a sign that it is bonded leather and not real leather. I knew a guy who used to produce tons of the stuff, made from leather offcuts, blended into a paste, mixed with glue and rolled out in big industrial size sheets. The printing of pattern on the surface is to hide all imperfections. Then again I hope I am wrong. Check out how to tell the difference between bonded or reconstituted leather and real leather.

i think you are putting the cart in front of the horses. Anyone that wants to start a business needs first to establish what is the purpose of setting up a business. if the person gives a string of airy fairy answers that wonder in the philosophical and the esoteric, I say find yourself a job. If you want to start a business you must understand that the purpose of a business, any business is to make a profit, make money. If you agree with that, and you would be surprised how many do not ... think now where is the business opportunity, the novelty, the approach that makes your idea feasible and profitable and the right choice above all the others out there. Why is making hooks and selling them on CL or ebay, a better business than buying chinese dolls from Alibaba and selling them online. If your answer is that you like blacksmithing and want to turn your like into a business to fund your hobby, I say you are going about this the wrong way. A friend of mine that is a very smart fitter and turner and hydraulic technician, liked boats. He really wanted a nice big motorboat but had no money to buy it nor for the upkeep. So he thought ... I get a nice big boat and charge people to take them out at sea to fish. I can so pay for the boat and make a business out of my hobby. Not very smart idea. he had no idea about the business of fishing charter, nor about keeping a boat and ended up making no money and the boat is now stranded and in need of lots of repairs. if you want to start a business do so with the idea that you need to find a way to make money that is different from what others do. If you like blacksmithing by all means take it up, or if you like oil painting by all means start painting landscapes or portraits. Once you see that you are exceptionally good and can do it with your eyes closed, you may check into the market and see if you can find your niche. If you have not even started and you tell yourself ... "I would like to start a blacksmithing business" what you are really saying is that you like the idea of being a professional blacksmith. Become a professional blacksmith first and then, may be you can make money at it ... or you realise that there are easier ways to make money. Most people that like boats, really only like the idea of having a boat. And so with many other things, blacksmithing included. Besides ... everybody knows that blacksmithing is making swords and very large combat knives ...

Galvanized square stock has it's uses. You may want to make a gate or a window grill one day. Keep it to build something and use it as it is, no grinding nor stripping or forging. Buy black steel either new or from the scrapyard to forge. There is no point in adding work to undue what is a valuable resource.

Sure, and that takes the debate into hobby versus business. Why would someone want to start blacksmithing? Most folks answer will sadly be to make knifes. Can you make money making knifes? Probably, but you need to be real good at it. And from what I see and hear, most blacksmith shops don't make any money, they cost money. A relative of mine has the hobby of building hot rods. Spends tens of thousands of dollars to butcher a perfectly good vintage car and turn it into a monstrosity. His hobby his money, but he does not complain about the cost of compressors, or welders, or injection kits or alloy wheels or metallic paint ...

In a country like Australia where health is expected to be free, my wife is many times confronted with patients who complain about having to pay the specialist a few hundred dollars, because they don't automatically see someone for free but you need to pay and then claim it back on Medicare and you don't get it all back. She occasionally asks the patient ... do you have a car? How much was it the last time you took it for a service? And if you need to replace it how much is it going to be? The analogy of a person's own health and the car, and the comparison of the expenses in both fields is a debate killer. With some exceptions of course, The analogy of a car versus an anvil is even more astounding. One of my grandkids asked me last week if I can lend him $5000 to buy a car so he can start his carpenter's apprenticeship. With the prices we are saddled here for cars, he will be able to buy a 20 yo Toyota Ute with 100,000 km or more. A massive 460 lb Refflinghaus is $4000 US ( and a tad cheaper if you buy direct from Germany freight included) Considering that such would be the top anvil you can ever dream of buying in an over the top size, and that you can buy a 220 lb Reffi for $2000, the rest of the anvil would be south of that price and be in the fraction of the price of a bomb to drive around. Everything in perspective, you can safely say that the proverbial anvil is cheap after all. Think in your car, then think anvil ...

Two little machines that are almost indispensable if you like to make architectural and decorative stuff, are a cold saw or a band saw, and a tube bending machine. A mandrel hydraulic one is my choice, I do have a cold saw because the bandsaw takes up too much room.

Oily rags catch fire because the process of oxidation is exothermic. Hang the rag flat in a ventilated area and it will be impossible for the rag to reach ignition temperature. If it is bunched up in a container and in the sun, guaranteed ignition

Wire wheel yes, flap disk no. Oil of any description works. Automatic transmission fluid for some, lanolin for me, linseed oil, wd40 whatever keeps the moisture at bay. The face if you are going to use it needs nothing, just some elbow grease. And to keep the rust off it, cover it with a piece of heavy canvas, not plastic, and tie a rope around the stump to keep the canvas put. The residual heat from the day, will stay in the anvil and will be enough to keep the night moisture off ... unless you live in Canada or Alaska that is.

To the original question ... All you need to do is choose a country that has a free trade agreement with the US ... if you did not scrap the lot that is. I buy lots of stuff from the US and pay no tarifs at all if I can prove it was manufactured in the US. Free trade and low wages ... you have to do your research.

I don't know if folks are still interested in the original question. The merits of a LATHE in the Blacksmith's workshop. To that I say you bet. If I had the room for it I would have an older lathe in a heartbeat. To all the other post, the question should be "The merit of some blacksmithing tools in a machinery shop." I can't answer that because I don't have a machinery shop nor the skills to operate it. I love watching them on youtube though.

It's a Peter Wright in average condition. Still lots of life in it, but if it is going to sit on a shelf it will be eternal. Where is the other anvil?

Talking about voices ... no I don't hear voices, but I work alone most of the time and I talk to myself (and my dog) a lot. Who does that?

You want a rant? Easy! find a video of an anvil "restoration" possibly one where a surface grinder is used all the way down to the cast base

THe same with Bald Cypress. We used to make beehives with baldcypress and some workers had real bad allergic reactions to it. Great timber though and very resistant to rot.

I was planning a gate with a lot of bends 'the hard way' and asked an old timer blacksmith I respect and he told me matter of fact those dog leg bend (some at 120 degree) can not be done but for cutting and forge welding it together again. I wasn't too convinced and went ahead anyway. The first bend was a bit of a disaster, but I soon took to heating up the area, sitting it flat on the open vice and hitting the inside edge to fold the flat bar out. a bit of pushing and pulling at I had it in position to flatten it. Your way to bend at 90 first makes it easier still. Good stuff

Ha ha, check the factory history Thomas, it is an eye opener and has little to do with what you understand as Hispano in the US. It is the unknown RollsRoyce and still operating in France. A K6 goes for 400,000 to 600,000 when the collectors are distracted. Spain France and Italy would be the places to check out. Coincidentally many great anvils come from the same countries. May be I can go an buy my K6 and smuggle a pair of anvils in the boot.