Marc1

A bit on WF on an old discussion. As to what to do with it ... well, if you want to sell it you may find buyers here in the tailgate section, otherwise ... use it yourself.

Weather has but one constant ... it's variability. February has always been the month with bigger changes. We had fires after 6 month of drought and the lack of backburning (save the slugs) ... and then rain to catch up for the next 6 month. It is what it is. Sometimes I think that the mention of how variable weather is "this days" as compared to "the good old days" where everything was pretty and constant, is simply due to bad memory. We tend to remember what we consider good and forget what does not please us. Then we have the malicious alteration of data for ulterior motives and the picture is then complete. The end of the world is at the door.

When I was 10 my parents bought an orchard. The property was 17 acres on a riverfront, and the house was an adobe house built in 1860. It had a history of being a winery, a bar, a clandestine distillery and a guesthouse at different times. Some of the neighbours told me they were born in one of the rooms when it was a guesthouse, one of them was 90 at the time. Plenty of stories of fights at the bar and others of people disappearing in the river after a heavy night at the bar. The story goes that my 2 brothers and me, had one big bedroom that used to be part of the bar, after it was divided in two to adapt it to family life. We got accustomed to hear footsteps outside walking up and down under the veranda that involved the house all around. We were scared stiff at first, particularly when it was pitch dark. However when things kept on happening even with full moon, we sort of accepted it as part of the house. We could hear someone walking up and down in front of the house particularly in autun with a thick layer of leafs on the ground. We tried to see what made the noise with full moon and the help of torches, to no avail. We used to tell ourselves that if we couldn't see him/her ... it couldn't hurt us. The ghost stopped his nocturnal walks when I turned 16.

What are your delivery fees in the US? Something like a vice around here would be cheap to ship anywhere. I just bought a diesel generator 350 Kg and shipped it from Perth to sydney for $280. Just under 4000 km.

Very nice. Wouldn't it be easier to roll the end of the rod into a tight spiral and then hammer it into a cube / diamond?

Timber boats, usually have copper nails. Is that what you are after? You have to go where the old wooden boats are being restored. Antwerp is very close to the sea ... well everything is close, by my standards

What's your budget? Post vice are plentiful and go for relatively cheap. Sure a new 6" PV goes for $480 and the older ones are not far behind, but a quick check on your ebay ( not the best place to buy mind you) tells me you have post vice for $100 and $200, Craigslist has a long list of post (leg) vices. On our Gumtree I see them going for $50 ... keep on looking, not worth doing it yourself unless you need a really large one like 8" or 10" wide Jaws, then yes, you are better off making one then forking out a few thousands.

Many potential solutions, a generator possibly the best one of them. Unfortunately the condition they live in, or used to in those days, I am talking early seventies, I have only seen in movies from 200 years ago, where bolts and nails are precious items. No blacksmith and no other tools we would consider common. The chief was a visionary and he was the only one that had a job outside, and traveled over 150 Km every day to go to work in the nearest town as a council labourer. What I remember from the experiences, besides the comedy of this attempt at helping, was their gentle character and generosity. Come to think of it, a blacksmith workshop and some teachings would have gone a long way further than the sawmill.

Reminds me of the time we had a 'working bee' with the church at a remote indian town in a certain south american country. We did some repairs to their church building, and they told us a few of their stories. One was the visit by the local politician who asked what would they need to improve their condition. The village chief asked for a saw mill to make lumber. The sawmill eventually showed up. Brand new and industrial strength ... problem is that it was electric 3 phase. The village has no electricity of any kind. They took us to see the wanderful saw mill sitting in a shed, frozen stiff from lack of use.

Considering that this vices are designed to be bashed ad libitum with large hammers, a gap of that magnitude is equivalent to a couple of missing hairs from the back of a gorilla.

Mm ... my information tells me that it was in fact William Gilbert to discover electricity ( no one invented it) and the first to use the term, over hundred years earlier and in the good old UK. I have a soft spot for William Gilbert because besides discovering and naming electricity, he also challenged the "churchocracy " and their geocentrism, and supported Copernico, like my personal favorite, Galileo Galilei. Eppur si muove. By the way I am sure Galileo would have used 240V all the way ...

Ha ha, yes, there are others besides the USA that use dual voltage for domestic use. ... Aruba, Guam, Liberia, Haiti, Nicaragua ... yes, Japan too. Besides Japan, most small countries that have or had some affiliation with the USA. 3 phase is obviously not pertinent and the frequency is also not in discussion. Yes, electric trains use yet another system ... How much easier would it be if you all had 220V ... or 230 or 240V ... for domestic and even industrial use? answer, much better and in line with over 80 % of the world. It pays to look at the list below and see who else uses 120/240 or similar arrangements. My point is that dual is double trouble. After all if 120 is OK, why isn't it all 120V? Because it is inadequate as soon as you need more power, so it would be way easier to have all 220 ~ 240V for everything, and you would need smaller cable. But you know all that., you just like to banter with me. I wonder if there has been a study to compare injuries from DIY work that benefited from 120V allegedly safer, and injury due to confusion and mistakes due to the dual system? https://www.worldstandards.eu/electricity/plug-voltage-by-country/

The capacity to change from Stick to MIG to TIG, with the same machine is very handy and is easy to achieve with the new electronic panels. You will need different torch of course, but the quality of the machine depends of the manufacturer, not the configuration. Professional welders using large machine prefer to have dedicated machines not swapperoo ones, but for hobby and medium duty a multi is a good choice. Your best choices in the US of A is Lincoln, Miller and Everlast, and get yourself 210 amps or up. As for your wiring conundrum, I am flabbergasted to see how you put up with dual voltage when the rest of the world is on one. But you and me will not change that in the foreseeable future Get an electrician and put in the highest amps you can afford. It will always be too little at some stage in the future.

True, I had 4.5" DeWalt with such guard. I still find the Milwaukee solution better, all it takes is to grab the guard and rotate even with thick gloves. It slides on a series of small lugs that give you a feeling of "clicks" as you turn. Anything is better than having to find the right spanner. My DeWalt burned a long time ago. Question: Why is it that you guys use 4.5" grinders instead of 5" ? It is not about the size of the wheel but the size of the motor. Day and night from the one I owned and killed. i still own a small Hitachi 4" with full aluminium body for very light work. The only downside to that one is that it has no handle nor provision for one. It must be 40 years old.

It is true that the guard gets in the way, and most small angle grinders need you to use a spanner to loosen move and re tighten the guard clamp. The only grinder that offers a solution for that is Milwaukee and that is why I only use 5" milwaukee grinders. I can turn the guard around in different positions by hand. My 9" grinder guard has a quick latch that allows it to be released and turned and fixed again just by hand. Another important feature for a professional or serious hobbyist, is the dead man switch. Most small grinders switch stays on, once you put it in the on position. That equates to running a chainsaw with electrical tape around the throttle trigger. Would you run a chainsaw like that? I only use Milwaukee grinders with rat tail handle and dead man switch on them. When keeping the guard on the grinder is as elemental as avoiding touching live wires with your hands, there is another precaution that is dutifully ignored when using an angle grinder, and that is a face shield. I use goggles and face shield every time I use a grinder for any purpose and glad that I do. Not long ago I was cleaning rust off a steel I beam structure and the wire wheel got caught on an edge, caught me off guard and slammed the whole grinder in my face. I still have a face because of the face shield.

The wheels are a good way to maximise your floor space. Rubber will eventually wear out, get damaged or burned, but that does not mean it is a bad idea. You will be the judge of that. As for affecting hammering, the principle of the anvil effect is that the anvil mass will absorb the hammer blows even if suspended by rubber straps in mid air. The base is there only to make sure your anvil stays put and does not rock or wander. If you don't have brakes on your wheels, get a pair of hardwood wedges to block the base from rolling. 200 lb is a decent size and will take a lot of banging before moving anywhere. What is it that you forge?

20 kilos is hardly a practical tool for forging. More a decoration object. Keep on looking, there are scores of cheap anvils in england. Look for anything above 50 kilos. 80 kilos better.

Nice anvil. People used to test the hardness of chisels and punches on the body of the anvil, however those marks are in rather odd places to be test marks. My suggestion is to do nothing besides forging on the anvil, that seems to be in pristine condition. The need for radius will come according to what you forge, meaning, you may not need it at all. Remember that whatever you do to it, you can not undo. It is refreshing to see a post about an anvil that does not want to grind, cut, machine, abrase, rectify, weld or sharpen any part of it and call it "restoring" . A small anecdote from my younger years. My father had an antique shop and acquired a lot of old stuff including paintings when they become available. He had a business partner who did the woodwork and restoration of antique furniture. One day I remember to seeing him rather upset so I asked what was the matter. He told me Antonio ( the partner) has taken to one very valuable painting with a rag soaked in turpentine in an attempt to "restore" it ... it was an oil painting ... You can imagine the rest.

I wish Pferd would list all the dimensions of their files, not just grade and leanght. Nicholson states their round files 14" are 5/8" in diameter. Pferd says they make 350mm long round files ... good luck knowing the diameter.

Interesting solution. That is surely one that has never been proposed before. Bolt a new face to the anvil. I suggest to use U bolts at each end of the new face so not to harm your grandfather's anvil. This way you can replace the face at will every few month or so to keep the face pristine and without blemish and the edges and corners sharp, a feature that is essential for good forging results. (Sarcasm off) When you start your blacksmithing course, tell the proposed solution to the class for them to have a good belly laugh at that company expense. Treasure your gran anvil and don't "do" anything to ti but work on it. It does not need to be brought back to life because it is not dead, unless the whole face is missing. A bit of a dip or even a lot is usually not an issue. I hope you understand that sharp edges and corners are not required for forging since the anvil is not a die but a surface to hammer on, and just like your hammer face, does not need to be flat nor be pristine or sharp. It is a common misconception particularly from machine shops. All the best with your forging course.

Mm ... this thread should be called how not to clean an anvil. Anyway ... could be worse, could have taken it to a machine shop to mill flat.

Glad to hear you could negotiate to do some of he work and the electrician to connect. That is the way to go for larger jobs. I did that when we installed 3 phase.

That vice really hits the spot ... and with the right spelling too As for weight ... it should be 170 lb according to the PW catalogue, but will depend from manufacturer and age. The older the heavier. (Not necessarily the better) ... can I say betterer?

You will have no problem selling your tools, the price factor is the only unknown. I noticed a small drop in prices in general comparing to a few years ago. i think the heat has come off the market as people start selling. I hope you get good money for them anyway.

I looked up your regulators using google US and indeed they seem to have the overflow valve inbuilt in the regulator. However I don't know if you can use a regulator to run the burner, it may reduce the pressure too much.