Marc1

Hephaestus is the name of the greek god of fire. He was so popular that the romans adopted him and renamed him Volcanus. Despite modern day efforts to find a reason for Hephaestus disability and quoting arsenic poisoning from making an early version of Bronze to fashion blades out of copper, if the story is to be trusted, Hephaestus or if you prefer, Vulcanus was born a cripple and was so ugly that his own mother threw him off Mt Olympus and he fell for a full day and landed in the sea next to the island of Lemnos where he eventually established his forge under a volcano. (Another version has him falling 9 days after his father threw him out for siting with his mother ... but who do you believe?) ... and after all he had help at the forge from the Cyclops who did all the striking ... allegedly So it seems that the craft was not the cause of his disability. And ... if someone can fall for one full day and hit the water and survive I doubt a limp would bother him.

Don't you love Dr Google? Dillion, if you really are 17 and do not play computer games and use a computer, not a laptop or tablet or phone ... I am confused.

Dillion, I suggest to first get a proper diagnosis. At 17 pain that stops you from a few hammer blows is not normal. There are many things that can be done if in fact it is carpal tunnel syndrome something we don't know. The first suggestions are usually losing weight and stop the activity that causes the pain or change the way you do them. Best course of action see a doctor that is interested past suggestions of a wrist band. Just as an illustration, acupuncture was proven effective in some research.

I have a Kohlswa even smaller than that one and find a lot of use for it. Great for cutting small stuff, you can put it on top of the bench and sit next to it Did not pay much for it though ... some $150 from memory. When you say you found it do you mean you bought it already? How much did you pay for it?

True ... if you use a texturing hammer you do both faces in one go

That anvil is perfectly good for a lot of different jobs. if you make decorative stuff or architectural stuff with smaller stock, you don't need 80% rebound or 50% rebound, just a hard surface to hammer and bend and cut. i have seen excellent work done on a Chinese cast thing i wouldn't have for boat anchor. Furthermore ... miss a blow on that anvil and the danger is probably minimal. I wonder sometimes what happened to the chips that are missing from my anvils' edges. Did they drive with someone to hospital? I guess I'll never know.

Ouch ... probably a T nailer that cracked the picket and the head had no hold so kept on going. Most common accident is to left hand holding a noggin in place whilst firing the gun through the stud. Nail guns are great and a time saver. I have over 10 different nail guns and staplers but I treat then with the same respect I have for real guns. Still in the accident stakes, the humble grinder has a huge advantage.

A friend of mine lost an eye to a nail that hit a knot and turned into his face. The nail was bent and was only able to do that trick because it was a C nail for furniture with a very small head. ... and because he did not have safety glasses on. Framing nails can do that too and with much more power, but they usually do so because you don't aim them right and don't put pressure on the gun to make the sharp end bite in the timber. Can happen to anyone and is one reason I don't lend any of my nail guns. My son in law came out of an operation last Sunday to repair his forearm cut with a 9" grinder and a cutting disk whilst building a fence. He is a fireman and not a tradesman.

I agree that the wheels seem to be a bit too far out, but you are the one using it and moving it. If it is me using it I would have to have that plate at the front extending not only at the front but both sides, ... but that is me using the post vice all around it, and I would also stumble on the wheels ... I have a "mobile" bench vice mounted on a tripod similar to the one used for anvils. It's a Peter Wright bench vice mounted on a 1/2 inch plate on 3 legs out of 6x2" RHS 1/4" thick. The front legs are at 70 degree angle and the back leg is at 60 degrees. I borrowed a Dumbbell from my son in law, cut the handle and welded it to the leg and slide two weights on it to keep the vice from moving since the centre of gravity is at the front. It works and to move it I can take the weights off and drag it around a bit. If I need to put it away (I don't) I can use a trolley for that.

Rubbish. There is nothing dangerous about letting some gas vent in the open. Of course if you have a valve fitted to the bottle then it can not be done. Where is the danger? And decanting liquid gas from one bottle to another with or without a valve can be done if you have the proper equipment without any danger whatsoever. You are not "concerned with safety" you are interested in your own image. you are wrong and your personal attacks on the poster does not help make it true, so act like an adult if you wish to continue to post here

Considering that this valve is not universal not even within the US, a less aggressive reply would have been better. Mod Note: This post has been edited to meet the site guidelines.

Ha ha, so true but not important. Take it with a pinch of salt. Very good job indeed. Those wheels must have been a lot of work

Nothing happens to a tank if you put it upside down, in fact that is how you decant from a larger tank to a smaller one, done it many times. Upside down you open the valve and you get liquid propane. Upright you get gas. The safety valve is just a pin wiht a spring that opens up if the pressure exceeds the safe limit just like an expresso coffee machine. Of course the regulator can not take liquid propane so if you put the tank upside down and open the valve you put liquid gas in the regulator. Depending on who refills the tanks it is possible to find some muck at the bottom of the tank including water, so if you turn it down some of that muck can block the opening. Easy to test, just keep it upright take the hose and regulator off and open the valve. Do this outside of course and you should get a lot of gas blowing out. If you don't, your tank is blocked. You could try to unblock it but for what purpose? Just swap it. If you get lots of gas from the tank but none through the burner, your blockage is elsewhere.

Nice work on that wagon. Do you have a pic of the forge? Paint the anvil stand and the wagon prop the same colour as the wagon to avoid questions about them.

Besides the fact already stated that forge stack is way cooler, if you wanted to have an extra skin of pipe all you need is one section of ordinary pipe a bit larger than the main flue in the place it goes through the wall.

Yep, I know you have it good there. Do you need to pay yearly rental for your larger propane tank? Here we are living the re-enactment of the Animal Farm, the farmer left town and the animals are in charge.

Yep ... LPG is expensive ... unless you buy autogas. Australias prices are as follows. 9Kg barbaque bottle $18 up to $25 depending where you buy. Autogas is 50c to 60c a litre. You can not fill a BBQ bottle at the servo but you can fill a forklift tank at the servo. Just saying

Militant ... to put it bluntly, coal forges stink... and not only because of the smoke. Their only virtue is that they can be made to take large objects, as opposed to average gas forges that take only puny little stuff. The downside is that coal forge demand time to start to stop, to tender the fire, they are dirty and all in all ... they are inconvenient. If you make large decorative or architectural stuff, you may be forced to have a coal forge unless you are game to build a larger than average gas forge. Possible but a challenge. If you don't know what you will be doing, start with a gas forge and see how you go. A match, a piece of paper and you turn the tap and you are forging ... well almost. The cost of making either can vary a lot. A coal forge can be made with no money if you appreciate working like a cave man. If you want a proper forge you need to spend money on blower, stack, steel and time. A gas forge can also be made with little money, not that I have ever made one, but there is a lot of info here to make one with scrap, and burners with plumbing parts, not free but very cheap. Or you can invest in a commercial gas forge. That would be my choice if I had to start again. Sure gas cost more than coal, if you can find coal. The anti-coal brigade is out there hard at work. Eventually they may win and coal will be a sin to use punishable with public flogging.

To be honest after reading your post Glenn I did a search and got two hits. Pancho post and yours. Sure, then I realised I had to do a proper search of the whole forum using the hidden pull down menu ... Silly me. You have to admit though it is a rather easy mistake to make.

Rub it with stove polish. Don't paint it.

East europe ... may have some historical value then. Sarcasm? Nee ... I never write nothing that is sarcastic ... wait a minute ... I do not write nothing sarcastic ... no ... I mean I never attempt not to be sarcastic ... wrong again ... my attempts at sarcasm are non existent, there ... I got it

When I bought my 480 lb PW, it was loaded on my trailer with a forklift. I reversed as close as I could to the shop door, and dropped it onto a tire covered by a piece of particleboard. Wedged a hand trolley under it and put the chain around it and wheeled into the shop. Next step is to make a stand for it, then a cheap e-bay engine hoist will do to lift it on the stand. Herr Baum ... you did not write something wrong. 400 Kg is a big anvil. Is it a Refflinghaus ?

I think you will be hard pressed to find a "consensus" on anvils! To me 150 is minimum, and best pattern and best steel is german or swedish. However ... if you want to resell anvils, you sell what you can find ... unless you sell new. Whatever you find will have a customer be it 20 lb or 1000 lb, rightly or wrongly does not matter, the customer is always right

Looks like the hammer I had to peen the scythe when I was a kid.

Tim ... if you can get the bigger one, do. Of course there is a substantial difference between 110 and 165, get the bigger one, you will not regret the choice. If you can't decide, buy them both