J W Bennett

My Favorite is the one fastened to the bench because it does not move. The table top is 1" thick and the table is very heavy. The ones on stands are "portable" and are good for demo's and such. The short one is a cut down vise I have wanted to make and mount for awhile now. Don't forget no matter how you mount it you need to make at least one hammer loop right there with it so you always have a Ball peen handy so your less likely to forget and use a smithing hammer to hit struck tools and cold iron. Once again hope this helps John

March, I have post vises mounted to stands, mounted on heavy tables and a short one mounted to my swage block stand. I have a concrete floor in my shop and have 2"x2" steel blocks with a 1" hole drilled in them an then welded to the table/swage block stand leg for the foot of the vise to rest in. The one on the table has a very simple mounting plate made from 1/4" plate and I have beat the dickens out of that vise. I went out an took pictures I hope this helps. The ones on stands are based on the ones in Mark Aspery's first book if you want a how to on them. John

The concave butcher is used to cut a square shoulder on round stock prior to forging a tenon. Much like a regular butcher is used to cut a straight edge on one side. A regular chisel with bevels on both sides leaves a taper on both pieces of stock. John

I have a drawer half full of various size nippers. I've made several pairs of special tongs from them. I will have to try these. Did you form the Jaws in a swage?

JimBob, My nephew works at a spring shop so I have a good supply of new coil spring steel. 3/4" diameter. John

I decided the other day that I needed to make me some good functional chisels designed for blacksmithing. I've been using a hodgepodge mixture of flea market and quickie forged punches and chisels to varying degrees of success. I looked thru some of the books I have and decided to try the ones in Mark Aspery's first book. I followed the book and have made 9 so far. The hardest for me so far has been the Cape Chisel. I got them heat treated and tempered tonight. I still have the slot punch, round drift and the wizard eye socket punch to go. Tomorrow evening I will try out the slitting chisel and see how it does. John

i don't know anything about spurs but I like the look alot

Nice work, would like to see the finished head board

I have a carving block and did part of the work on it and part in the vice alone. The jaws are not straight and the step between the snout and the eyes is crooked also. Things I will have to watch on the next one. I tend to rush trying to make good use of a heat and I need to work more on making the best of a heat not the most. Any pointers are appreciated. Thanks again for the feed back, John

As someone said earlier in this thread. As my abilities progress and improve so does "Good enough". I try not to work a piece to ruination. There is a point when you have to accept it or scrap it. But if you scrap it you need to figure out what was wrong with your methods and techniques. If you do that then it wasn't scrap it was part of the learning process. I have had a lot of pieces go into the scrap bin but I have learned from them also. Everyone's concept of "Good Enough" is different, But the quality of the finished product shows where you have set bar and if the bar is high enough or not. Just my 2 cents worth. John

James, Welcome back, We have yet to meet and live within several miles of each other. I have not worked much stainless but your approach sounds good. Would you rivet the two hearts to the blade? You could do a pineapple twist or other fancy twist for the handle for the Blade. Have you thought of a copper blade and a stainless or black iron handle. Nice contrast that way. Just some thoughts, John

I really like the snake candle holder. Nice work John

First of all Thanks for the feed back. Junksmith, I have a long list of things I want to try and that list gets longer the more I do. Diving in is the best way to for me to learn new things. Dragons Lair, I read you post yesterday and have looked at wings since. I will give it a go and post when they're done. Thomas, That's a great idea I really don't know what I will use this for when I'm done I just started out trying to make a dragon head. I will keep the cubicle hook idea in mind in the future. Francis, I'd like to see those pictures John

A great job and a memory you both will carry with you from this day on. Enjoy, John

As I mentioned before I had taken some time away from the forge. I told myself when I returned I would do more of what I wanted to and less production work. I have made Horse,Rams and Longhorn steer heads but hadn't tried any dragons yet. This one is from "A Blacksmiths Craft - The Legacy of Francis Whitaker". This is the first try, not great but a start. I'm going to have to make some better slitting chisels. I couldn't get the fangs to cut and the ears are to dull. But as I said it's a start and I enjoying time at the forge again.

Hollis, I like the idea of the laminated directions. I hadn't thought of that Ratel10mm It's not my idea If you look around there's not a whole lot in blacksmithing that hasn't been done somewhere in the past. But I am glad you like them.

Had a busy summer and took an unplanned break from smithing for awhile. I made it back into the shop two weekends ago and decided to make some story boards for the 4H classes this coming year. Thought I'd share them with you. They are basic hooks except for the Fredricks cross. I plan on doing some more as time goes on. They make nice wall displays. I have a set on the walls of my office at work. John

I just finished setting up two more forge stations in my shop this past weekend. Thought I'd share a few pictures. The forges are old factory forges. One has a new vulcan firepot and the other still has the original firepot. The hoods are a "supersucker" style made from 14 gauge mild steel with 10" stacks. The large side draft forge is one I made a couple of years ago and is my main forging station. The other pictures are of my swage block stand with a short vise I also mounted this weekend and a couple of pictures of the whole shop. John

I have fabricated one and I have also bought a Vulcan firepot from centaur forge. Both work well. The firepot I made was from this link MILD-STEEL-COAL-FIREPOT-Fabricated I hope that helps. John

Stan, Sorry to read of Clara's accident. Tell her my thoughts are with her and I wish her a speedy and full recovery. John

Archie, Poor people have poor ways....I have alot of extra 3/8 and 5/16 hex nuts so thats what I threw in there tonight. I forged 2 - 2 1/2" drive hooks for a local pub and a heart hook just a little bit ago and threw them in with the nuts and let it roll for about 15 minutes. It's a noisy bugger and it was right at 10pm so 15 minites was all I dared spin it. I can see it's taken the scale of on the edges and started across the flats. The picture really doesn't show to well. I will try more time when I get home from work tomorrow. I have read of others using fence steeples, ball bearings, old nails and small pieces of scrap steel. If anyone out there has one let me know what works in yours. I have a lot of welding rod stubs I may throw in there also. I'll let you know how tomorrow goes, John

Hi All, Been awhile since I posted anything so I thought I'd share this. Had a weekend to myself this weekend so I scrounged up enough parts, pieces and stuff to make me a tumbler. The body shell is half a 100# propane tank, The end caps are the bottom plate off an old hobart portable welder. The 1 1/4" shaft and the 5:1 gear reduction motor are industrial recycles. The frame is left over tubing from other jobs and the wheels, axles and mounts are from an old set of rolling shelves a guy gave me awhile back. I did buy 2 new pillowblock bearings and some more blue paint though. Included the shoot of the inside to show the angle iron welded in to make stuff tumble. I put a long cord and the wheels on it so I can roll it outside so I don't have to listen to it in the shop. I'm still trying to scrounge some pipe insulation to cover the outside to deaden the noise. With the 5:1 gearbox and the 12" pulley It turns about 40 rpm. Plan to try it out this evening. John

Nice shop, I like the tumbler... consider the design stolen. John

Good thinking on the tool. I have a lot of one of a kind tools that end up being multi purpose. Good job on the tongs. What stock did you start with? John

George, We have 10 weeks scheduled. Beginners are usually done in 5-6 weeks. After that we spread the other students out evenly between morning and afternoon. Second year students make a project which involves the skills they learned in the first year. Scrolls,tapers,punching etc. Third year is more concentrated on tool making and this is our first year with 3 year students. All the 3 years will make a pair of tongs and do a story board (step by step layout of a part of their project) and then a project also. It is very much a learning adventure for both students and instructors. John