LastRonin

I needed ideas for small projects to do in my soup can forge while I work out of town. I was inspired by the posts about arrowheads. Here is my first.

If your wife has ever fussed at you for NOT changing before forging because you DID get holes in your good overalls.

Thanks Frosty. I don't think you can see it in the photos, but it already has two holes probably 1 1/4" diameter through the web. I think I'll take your advice though and drill a smaller one as a pritchel hole. I did grind a couple of swedge shapes into one edge of the base. I used them and the curves on the side of the rail last night when I made my first arrowhead, well, metal one. Have knapped a few.

I thought it was great. Just wish he had made her wear safety glasses.

That's cool looking. Would look great in many configurations. Welded into a post for a mailbox, or any number of scrap sculptures.

"Gasp!" Why Frosty... No safety glasses? But... but... you are a role model for so many young(in terms of smithing time) aspiring smiths... :P Back to the op... I use a bathroom exhaust fan and (-waiting for the redneck jokes-) duct tape to hold it onto the 2 " pipe. I baffle the intake to reduce flow to more appropriate levels. Oh yeah... I too am using anthracite in my Brake drum forge which has about a 3" depth and almost 13" diameter. It will WAY overpower my forge without the intake baffles.

jacobd: Thanks. I'm still really trying to learn the basics. So I really can't say the results would be more impressive with my brake-drum coal forge and mousehole anvil... larger maybe -grin- ausfire: Thank you too. Like I typed to jacobd, I'm learning, so I need as much heat and beat time as I can get. So I had to do something. LOL. You know, they say necessity is the mother of invention. (I believe laziness is the father.) Disclaimer: The use of the term laziness in this posting is meant solely as a jocular comment. It is not the intention of the poster to disrespect or defame any inventors living or dead or both.

Ooops... I misread. I do look forward to pics of the final product, whatever it ends up being.

I've been having to work out of town a good bit lately and when I've been home on the weekends, all the built up honey-do's have kept my coal forge being a cold forge. I've been carrying a 14" chunk of rail (it weighs right at 43#) in my work van for several months now. So I got fed up and took an angle grinder to one end of it. I got rid of the mushroomed edges, flattened out a rough cut that was made and added a couple of features. I started with a miniature horn on one side of the base and rounded the other side into a bottom fuller. Then I added a hot cut into the end of the web. I took an old cheap pair of small lineman's pliers someone had buggered the cutting part of, and ground them into a small pair of tongs with v-grooves to hold round or square stock as well as flat (Probably no more than 1/4" stuff). I cleaned up and freed up a small pair of rusted up snap-ring pliers and repurposed them as scrolling tongs. The tools aren't real big, that's a quarter between them. But they work for what I want them for. I bent a short piece of 1/4" round into a stand for my propane torch... I used a little scrap sheet metal, an old tin can from the side of the road and some kaowool (or something similar) scraps I talked the guys rewrapping the boilers and pipes and such at a NG Power plant out of to make a soup-can-forge. I fired it up yesterday afternoon in the back corner of the hotel parking lot. It got the 1/8" round stock up to bright orange easily. I made this little leaf keychain charm, brushed it with a brass wire brush while it was hot and will spray it with clear-coat soon. It was fun to get some smithing in.

Maybe use that plumber's torch for a soup can forge.

if you'd pay more for an anvil than you would a used car.

Thanks for the speedy response. Notes taken. :)

Maybe put sheet metal on the front side? Remove that temptation. Even as is, it looks great. I also wonder if it would be worth adding another fire brick set (removable and adjustable of course) on the front to be able to restrict the opening and hold more heat inside...? Although I don't know if that would be bad, ie. restricting airflow and effecting burner efficiency, I' m absolutely sure there are others on here who know way more than me, I'm still working on building my first gasser. I just have too much of a tinkering mind to not have thoughts and ideas for different possibilities when I see something new.

I like that! I wonder how difficult it would be to get the heat colors toend right at the transition to skull...

I have to agree with Treecatcher... both about Jim's anvil and about the internet friends. As an absolute novice in smithing and the other things this site covers/addresses, it IS an honor to be accepted by ya'll. And as an aside, smithing is helping me meet great people I wouldn't normally have encountered in my previously typical days. I recently met the vice president of ABANA, Mark Haddix, and was given an open invitation to come by one of his shops whenever our schedules will coincide enough to allow it.

With the 36 inch diameter, it should span two studs minimum (as long as your house is built using the standard 16 inch spacing). So you should be able to use the lag bolts into two studs. Even if they aren't perfectly centered, they should still provide the needed support. You could drill, tap and bolt a bar into the frame instead of welding it or using eyebolts and cable. Then you could use a z-bracket style hanger bolted to the studs.

Where are you? I'm sure some folks on here would be happy to volunteer to help preserve as much of the equipment as possible.

IF you bought both? I would consider you insane IF you didn't at that price. LOL, they are great looking anvils, I can't help with answers to your question about their age though. I just wanted to congratulate you on the find.

I'd love to get the bolt that washer was used with. What a post anvil it would make. -grin- Looks like it should work great for what you're purposing it as. How thick is it?

I like it. That same thing is why I am thinking of trying to make a utility type blade using micarta scales made from layering old stripped off printed circuit boards. I've worked in electronics about 25 years.

They look great. What did you use for the bolster?

How about a clock table? Put a large faced clock under the glass? Sounds pretty 'Steampunk" to me.

Maybe use rubber snubbers inserted into some of the bolt holes in the top ring for the glass to rest on. And if you put it together with bolts, when you move, you could easily disassemble it for easier transportation. I think it would just look absolutely awesome. What ever you decide to do, I look forward to the pictures.

Use the second as a base for a glass top coffee table using the first as the top rim for the glass to sit on or in. Just forge the support legs to attach the two. That second one already has built in feet. Though you probably want to add something under the "feet" to keep it from gouging the floor.

What did you use for the blade on the chameleon?