Leon Renaud

I was always interested in history and the "Old ways". A cheap muzzle loading rifle kit i recieved as a birthday gift back in about 76 got me introduced to some local Black powder shooters at a sportsman club,That got me introduced to "Living History" re enacting for that I needed period correct gear after getting a bunch of "Black powder" catalogs and figuring the price of things like fire irons and shipping and visiting a couple of Museum sites that had blacksmiths I decided it would be cheaper if I made my own iron ware! While watching a smith at work I told the wife " I can do that " The next day using an oxy/acet torch and a scrap of iron plate for an anvil I pounded out some items which i took to the next camp out expecting that I'd be told they wewre not acceptable but to my surprise not only where they acceptable but come Sunday afternoon and time to break camp I had sold everything I had made! I hadn't planned to sell it but I figured" I made these I can make more" a few years later while visiting Edaville Rail Road park and museum my then 8 year old son while watching one of their smiths blurts out "My dad is better than you" well the crafts director was right there and started talking to me( I think after I crawled up from the cracks in the brick floor!) it turned out that they needed a Smith for weekends the one my son was watching wasn't really a smith but was trying to cover the empty shop. before I left the shop that day I was hired on as a Smith and woodworker starting the next weekend . I wortked there for 3 years every weekend till the park closed . Nothing I have ever done gives me the satisfaction I get Smithing I'd love to return to a museum shop if I could.

Have you got a trade school near you? If you do contact the Machine shop teachers and see if they would give this to a student for a project. You could pre plan what shapes you wanted and where you wanted them ,Look at catalog immages of swage blocks and decide what you want having a custom made swage block would be great! Depending on the school you might get this done free. When I was in trade school a lot of these type jobs were given to the younger students for one thing you'd be supplying a bunch of free material for them thats how my instructors looked at some jobs. You have the material they would just be using student labor saving the school materials costs. Another way to do this is to find a Machine shop student and work directly with them we could bring in out own projects and earn grades on them. You could also look into Adult ed classes either take one yourself or approach the instructor for them about getting this done.

I got one heck of an arguement going on one of my car web sites when I said spring steel could be welded and work properly after! Now the first thing I stated was at the cost of a new leaf it was not practical to do but that a vehicle spring could indeed be welded.

I have 3 blowers off buffallo forges i have 2 champion 400s and 2 other unknown makes right now. The buffallo blowers are the type that mount directly to the bottom of the forge. i can always make replacement parts but was hoping they were available somewhere .

Your forge will work fine with blacksmiths coal, Soft coal, Bituminous ,Farriers coal. All 3 are the same but different areas use different names i live in north east Conn. and I can buy Farriers coal through Aubochon's Hardware stores my local one always has it in stock but even if they didn't any of the Aubchons hardware chain stores can order it for you. I have used a forge just like yours for many years with coal with no problems and until recently I did not know you were supposed to line them with clay I see a lot of blacksmiths around here that do not have lined forges.

I have several blowers that have broken fan assemblies does anyone sell repair parts for these? I have both Champion and Buffalo forge units.

I've seen one bench like this that was used by my Great grandfather's family for of all things straightening nails taken from salvaged lumber! Even in the 1950s when I was just a pup it was very common to "Salvage" buildings to build new structures, A building would be pulled apart board by board the nails would be pulled and tossed into buckets,boxes etc. and it was the job of the youngsters or in some cases the woman to sit at a bench like this and straighten and sort nails by sizes. I sat at Grangpa's bench almost identical to this one and straightened more than a few nails when I would visit his farm almost his entire farm was built from reclaimed buildings. From talking to other old timers this was a common item and common practice well into the 1950s around here. I know as late as the 1970s a bunch of farm buildings in my area were "reclaimed " from other structures this way. Part of the old farm house I live in now was built this way as well as the 2 outbuildings on the land 2 other buildings long torn down were reclaimed lumber as well. depression era people were very frugal and here hundreds of pounds of "good nails" were straightened and sorted at a bench just like this!

Do yourself a favor and add an adjustable leg under that blower arm>I have 2 forge pans that cracked and they both had the blower mount like this!.I think that arm puts a lot of stress on part of the pan. I found them to also be very tippy. I added a telescoping leg under the blower by making a "C" clamp from 1/4x1 flat stock then welding a section of 3/4 pipe to that with a section of 3/4 round bar that could slide inside.I drilled and taped the pipe for a thumb screw.I moved that forge around outdoors a lot so wanted the leg adjustable for uneven ground. The first forge I got with the crack. The second forge cracked when I was using it (Didn't know about claying them then) both of them cracked in the same place as yours!That's why I think that blower mount creates the stress that caused the cracks.

Buffallo also had an arm that bolted to the bottom of the forge pan and the blower mounts on that there is a split "C" clamp that fastens around the tube shape along the bottom of the blower I have one here. This arm goes on heavy forges it was very tippy on my small oval buffallo forge I found another blower that had the cast Tripod top your looking for I just mig welded 3 sections of pipe that fit the leg holes on the casting to a gear I found 2 foot in Dia. as a base its served me fine for 20 years it's very heavy and the blower is no longer top heavy.

with the 20-40-50 -60 listing you give and the ac/dc this sound like an early 1900s motor made to work with wind generators like jacobs etc.i have run across this same style motor on early sewing machines and they were for use before standard electrical power.I think this is the case with your blower motor.Your best bet might be to contact an electric motor rebuilder in your area for information on setting yours up.

yes check out Modernblacksmith he's in Nova Scotia and he sells forges and his prices are right if you want to buy one their made of modern materials. His videos will get you started. and like someone already said start out with small easy projects like hooks candle holders etc. It's very easy to get discouraged starting out trying to make things like knives or swords when you haven't done any smithing at all. Build your skills slowly and you will love being a smith.

this looks like a set Sears&Roebuck used to sell as a farmers shop you can see them in their old catalogs.true rivet forges had wheels on one set of legs a lot of times and handles on one side so it could be rolled along something like a wheel barrow as the riveting moved along. not all small forges like this were true rivet forges even though thats the name they most often get associated with a great many of these small forges were sold just for light farm work Sears and Montgomery Wards sold a start up blacksmith tool set of this forge an anvil around 100 pounds,leg vise,post drill and a couple sets of tongs. they advertised them as the Ideal farm shop for the farmer that needed the occasional forge work done "Save that annoying trip into town for the blacksmith to repair something along with the lost time "

So I'm not the only one that movie blackmithsing scenes drives nuts! The family hates watching movies wiuth me because I pick them apart! Like the hunter one how did he get that spring leaf off of the stack when the center bolt was still in it ? And why didn't he just hammer a blade out of the first piece of iron he picked up ? Yes the heat/quench/hammer thing always bugs me too! And the finished knife/sword coming up on the last quench all polished I'm surprised it doesn't come up in a new sheath while their at it !

Thanks for your post not worried about any tangent! I know what the tatoo meant my question on it was that there were no numbers I can remember just symbols and it was on the inside of his right wrist about where a watch band would sit. I remember friends of my family with numbers as a little boy thankfuly I didn't know what they meant! I have since learned that the Tatoo was just another way to degrade the jews since it was believed that marking the body this way would prevent their enterance into Heaven. So to recap my question on his mark does anyone know of a camp using other than numbers to mark prisoners?

There was a WWII video of a captured Japanese officer cutting the barrel off of a tripod mounted machinegun on the run! Many many years back I saw a movie made for training American GIs about Japanese soldiers abilities. In the movie an officer did a voluntary demo of Samauri Swordsmansip. In the video he ran past a mounted machine gun like you would see one in a fox hole or gun emplacement. He drew and swung his sword in one motion and cut the barrel off just forward of the action he did this as he ran by the gun in one fluid motion! The film I saw was part of a series called "Yesterdays News Reels " the local pay TV station called "Preview" used to run these in the very early morning hours like 2-3 AM. This pay station was here in the early 70s. I have tried many times to find another copy of that show but can't find it. it was made because at the beginning of the war we had little respect "Tojo and his pig sticker" ( no disrepect intended just quoting WWII era jargon) We learned real quick to respect their fighting abilities and spirit! I think if this guy was at either of the 2 major ren faires here and the owners were made aware he treated the public like this he would be directed to leave and not be allowed back! I have seen some people warned about language etc. in the past

My name is Leon Renaud and for 3 years I was blacksmith at EDAville Rail Road in South Carver Mass. on weekends.EDAville had a real good program for their crafts people back then they paid minimum wage but if you supplied your own materials and a park visitor wanted one of your pieces the sale was between you and the visitor that money was yours. I say this because with that arrangment as a crafts person you were interested in what you were doing and the public got a much better display of craftsman at work , You didn't get people that spent more time talking about a craft but got to see more actual work being done.I tell you this because you could easily get involved in a proiject and almost forget you did indeed need to let visitors know what you were doing and why! there were always 1 or 2 people in any given crowd that would ask lots of questions and that was a good thing and there would almost daily be the one that wanted to show off just how much he didn't know of your craft! I had one very special person come into my shop in the 3 years I was there I will never forget. One Saturday morning shortly after the park opened an old man and 2 teen age girls came into the shop and they quietly stood there watching me set up a job, I started talking to them explaining what I was getting ready to do and they seemed only slightly interested but the old man said he wanted to stay a while longer and watch me work . This is when I learned the 2 young ladies were his Grand Daughters. As I started into the job this old man started talking to the young ladies about what I was doing and even though I was supposed to be telling them what was happenning the old man was always one step ahead of me and I started to feel like someone in a narated movie "How to"! The old guy would anticipate my every move and very accurately tell the girls what I would do next! I finally asked him how he knew so quickly and correctly what I would do and this is when he told me his story. " I was a blacksmith in the old country before the war "(WW II) to which one of the girls said"But Pappa you were a machineist when you came to America" to which he replied "Yes but to be a machineist then you had to be trained as a blacksmith too you made your own forgings and cast your own iron for many jobs so first you are a blacksmith" Then he went on "When I was in my late teens the Germans came and closed my grandfathers shops and took us to the camp there most of my family got put in a line I was at the back of the line and when a guard couldn't close a gate because there were too many behind it I and a few others were pulled away and put in another line. I never saw my family or the others in that line again! I had to give all my information to a guard sitting at a table which he wrote in a big book and I was marked and that too went in his book then I was sent to a hut to live, Several days later a guard came calling my name and I was scared but he looked for me because outside the camp a train had broken down and I was to see if I could fix it.I went to look and told them yes I could fix it IF I had my tools they asked what I would need and again notes were taken and I was returned to my hut, Two days later the guards again came for me but this time I was brought to a different part of the camp with many work areas and all the tools I needed where there for me to begin repairs to the train along with several other men to help. I spent 5 long years in that camp always that train would have problems " With this one of the now bored teens piped up with "Well Pappa if it kept breaking you weren't very good at fixing it!" I could not believe that this girl did not see the irony in what he had just told us! I could see that her words had cut the old man but he did not want her to see it, With that I reached out my hand look the old guy straight in the eye and said " From one craftsman to another it wasn't IF it would break but when!" I told the girls then how very skilled he was to be able to fix something in such a way that when it failed later his guards could not see that he let it happen! He said he got lucky and his camp was liberated and later he got a visa to come to America where he prospered in the machinerist trade eventually opening his own shop and prospering to the point of have around 50 people working for him. He being the first real old world craftsman I ever got to talk to I asked him how the training was done in his homeland back then and he told me how he apprenticed at a very early age in a blacksmiths shop and of some of how the training was done including journeyman training before he could work in his family's shops "We were all blacksmiths as far back as we could remember I was apprenticed to a blacksmith in the next town first not trained in my family shop, That smiths children apprenticed in my famillies shop as friends our families thought it was better to teach us this way rather than start us in our own familys shops.We also had a school we went to as part of the apprentice training it was here we would be tested to see what we were learning in our shop work. Like your schools here several times a year we would go there and they would give us differrent exercises to complete this is how we progressed through our training. For our Final exam we were given the task of making a lock and key while watched by several instructors. We had 3 days to complete this task and our grade was based on how long it took us to complete both the lock itself and the key to work it. This lock and Key was our MASTER PIECE. This day I was glad that no one had crowded into the shop yet to "Watch the man make a horseshoe"! Why did they always think I was making a horse shoe even when I pulled a serving spoon or door knocker or any of the differrent forgings I did from the fire? I had long forgotten I was the "teacher" in the shop listening to this old man talk! I did something then that could have easily gotten me in trouble I opened the small gate to the forge area and invited the old man in to spend some time at the anvil. With that offer He brightened and went to the forge he already knew what I had started to make and pulling the iron from the forge he reached for my hammer laying across my anvil and that is when I saw the tatoo across his right wrist ! He fumbled a little with his first few blows but soon fell into a clear rythm that you could tell could only come from years at the anvil he worked the forge and anvil for several minutes before laying my hammer back inplace before saying " Ive taken too much of your time already and I did promise my girls a day of fun at the park" I feel ashamed that I can't remember his name now this was some time in the late 80s but I will never forget him and his story, Another thing I can't forget was his "Mark" it was not numbers like we read about but a chain of symbols diamonds squares triangles etc. on the inside of his right wrist. He never named the "camp" he was held in and I was affraid to ask too many questions about it so never did find out where he was held. If anyone knows anything about the "Camp markings" please let me know I really would like to know more about where the old man was but didn't want to be rude or have him tell more than he wanted to.They left my shop with the old man promising he would stop back before they left for the day if he could but I never saw him again! I regret we couldn't have spent more time together think what he could have taught me! Both of Smithing and of his life in general. I swear this story is true! This is the first time I have shared it with anyone but my family When I couldn't be sure of his name as often as I think of him I needed to share it before it's forgotten I think his name was Peter but I'm not positive and I wanted to tell it before I foget any more details.

5 foot Duo Craft all cast iron wood lathe on a steel base cabinet needs cleaning/oiling and a motor (has 3 phase now) Craftsman industrial 6 1/8 jointer on steel stand needs cleaning and oiling, Craftsman industrial table saw on steel stand with micro adjust fence, 3x3 foot cast iron shaper table (will become welding table), Duo Craft all cast iron industrail combination sander 10 inch disc and 6x48 inch belt on steel base cabinet ( I added 3/4 hp motor) 4x5 foot solid maple assembly bench with draws and doors below, Craftsman industrial cast iron hand mitre box takes full size hand saw looks almost new but no saw. All these tool are maybe early 60s at the newest and all need cleaning and oiling from being in an old storage building but all work and all were given to me in 1 load as scrap! They all are out of High School shop programs. Unfortunately I could not save the duplicates of each times 3 that did get scrapped ! a terrible waste of good old cast iron power tools! learning I intend to fix and use these machines in my shop I was also given but need to go get a complete Shop Smith system that has a burned motor again a late 50s early 60s machine " rather give it to you than the scrap man" Only thing I can't seem to get to haul away or "for scrap" is a decent anvil! I've collected usable blowers, forges,leg and bench vises and hand crank drill presses to set up a couple work stations for smithing but need to find anvils I can afford, A lot of it needs TLC but all is repairable and usable. I will try to get pictures of this stuff as I clean and repair it.