J W Bennett

Glad you had a good start, I enjoy the demo's and the teaching far more than I do the selling. The last show I did I hired a friend to sell and take care of customers while I did demo's and talked to the onlookers. hope you have many more happy times. John

Ted, I like your view on things. Glenn, used to heve a neighbor who jacked the rearend of his car up and blocked it up just a little off the ground and then put it in gear at an idle and chucked the walnuts under the turning wheel. It worked and the car never took off on it's own. If I did that the car would end up in the side of the neighbors garage:) John

CurlyGeorge, I gave them to the lady, they are for one of the tables at the Purdue University foundation dinner and 4H is the theme this year. she is the local extension service child education agent. She wanted to promote the blacksmithing program that we have here and asked me to make them since I am one of the instructors for the local program. She tried to pay me but I donated them. I'm a fair blacksmith but I suck as a business man, John

DAH, It helps to attach the pictures so you can see what it is. :rolleyes: John

Picked this up this morning it measures 15-1/2" x 15-1/2" x 4" and weighs 165# not including the stand. It has seen some use but then again so have I. I drove 4 hours each way to get it. I probably paid to much for it but you don't see them this size very often. The fella had quite a bit of blacksmithing equipment and he knows what it is worth. I'm glad I didn't take alot of extra cash with me or I'd be broke. John

Divermike, My first one broke in half and the third one burnt up in the fire,that is how we learn our best lessons. Yours is good for a first. Glad your wife liked it. eyrian, Bill Epps did a demo on a russian rose over at anvilfire, I will try to get a blueprint worked up on the rose/napkin ring with good pictures. John

Sidney Brink, Turns out to be 1" to 1-1/4" diameter Jimbob, It is a russian rose. Divermike, By all means and please share the results. Once again Thanks for the feedback, John

Thanks for the feed back everyone, eyrian, They are made from cold rolled 5/16 mild steel round stock, The finish is applied with a brass brush while at a black heat. once cool a coat of clear enamel was applied. John

I was working in the shop this morning an shot these out of the front door, You can't beat Indiana in the fall. John

Had an order for 6 napkin rings with possibly a rose or something. Being the caveman that I am I had to google napkin ring to get an idea of what size they are supposed to be since I've never seen one. Anyway this is what I came up with. Let me know what you think, John

I'm glad to read that there are many folks that feel the things I feel when I sit in my shop. Thank you for your kind words, John

Picked this anvil? up this afternoon as well as 5 pairs of tongs. The side has RAOLA stamped in it and the junk shop I found it at said it was made by Indianapolis Harware in 1898 (he has it scralled on the side in white paint). Not sure If it broke, If it did it was a pretty clean straight break. If it was saw cut I can't see the saw marks. It has two holes drilled all the way through the body side to side that look like they are for mounting and if you look real close you can see the wear marks where it was mounted that way at one time. The stand it is welded to woobles and the anvil is cocked and will have to be changed before it is usable. The anvil from heel edge to horn tip is 26" long and the table is 4-1/2" wide and 16" long. It has a1-1/4" Hardie hole and a 3/8" pritchle hole. Anyone ever seen one like this before or did it break and several hands have came up with different fixes over the years? John

Thomas, Yes it is a colombian vise. At 5-1/2" it is the largest I have. I will take the 5" I have on my shop work bench off and make another "portable" base for it and mount this one on my shop bench. John

I got this post vise the other day it is 5-1/2" across the jaws. It was froze up and would not turn at all. Soaked it in diesel fuel still would not budge. Finally lost my patience and took a rosebud to it. Freed it up wire brushed the screw and box greased it up and made a new spring for it. works like new. The jaws line up straight and don't have a nick on them. John

Here are some pictures of the blower mount and the blower. The mount on the forge had 2 depressions in the casting were the bolt holes needed to be. I drilled and tapped the mounts for 3/8" bolts. I will probably bend the pipe arm in two places to raise the blower up about 6". It is a little low for me. Other than that it seems to be a good stable setup. John

I made mine based on a Bill Epps I forge demo. They are made out of a pair of nippers and hold the spike by the head real well. One Jaw is split to wrap around the spike haed and the other Jaw is formed to fit the back of the spike head. I like them alot. John

Thats a good looking rig. I believe Trying it has one similar that he uses too. I have several small machinest vises laying around. Another item to add to the to do list.

Curly George, Stan's has the original blower and I'm sure he'll remind me of that.LOL Mike, This forge has the holes and bolts for the cast arm and blower but they are not there. However it also has a mount underneath for a piece of 1" pipe to slide into and I have a blower with the same style mount so that should be a quick set up. I am headed out to the shop now. I will take some pix of the mount and hopefully I will have pix of the blower mounted by lunch time. John

A member of this forum has had health issues lately and is no longer able to forge. I bought this forge and 2 post vises off of him. the forge is a nice forge and he modified it and put wheels on it so it was "portable". I wish to thank him and this will make a nice addition to my shop also. I will post pictures of the post vises later this week. One of them is froze and I am working on freeing it up.

I was at a 10 day demo last week and a fella came up and asked me if I needed another one of those (coal forge) as he pointed to my forge. I got his name and number and when the 10 day show was over I contacted him. He was shelling beans but agreed to meet me. When I pulled in the barn lot sitting out side the barn was a forge table and firepot. the firepot was beyond repair but the table and legs were in great shape. I bought the forge and ordered a vulcan firepot from centaur foerge that arrived yesterday. I also have a hand blower that I bought a year ago that I will fit to it tomorrow. Life is good

I have cut many 20#,40# and 100# tanks by removing the valve then filling the tanks to overflowiing with water,Dumping the water out, refilling the tank to full and then cutting the top out with a torch or a plasma cutter with the tank still full of water. But maybe god just looks out for fools and children and at times I qualify as both;) John

I make alot of my tongs but I also buy tongs from flea markets, yard sales and such. I am proud of the tongs I have made and they are my favorites:) But just like this site I find I have less time to spend here or making what I want/need in the smithy. Orders come first. I have over a hundred pair of tongs, some I know what they are used for some I do not yet. Do I use them all? No but it seems I am always pulling another off the rack because they fill the need. I also buy hoof nippers and convert them to scrolling tongs and spike tongs. I bought six pair of tongs this last weekend along with a 25 dollar horizontal band saw that after some minor repair has alraedy spent two 10hr days cutting stock. I wish I had bought one sooner. I can forge while it cuts bundles of stock. Anyway I do both and it works well for me> John

When I built my shop forge I put a smoke shelf in it and a 10' stack that goes 5' above the roof line. I do not have any problems with draw at all. I have another coal forge that I am installing the hood and flue for and will go with the same side draft hood and flue set up. I agree with Glenn, 6" will not be enough. John

Thanks Glenn, I added these and a couple more. :)