LastRonin

My first attempt at the horn lamp. '> '>

Just drilling it can make it more likely to be able to be punched out. It weakens the bolt, heats it and gives it somewhere to flex.

Hmmm... now I need an excuse to give the wife for why we need to vacation in Ohio...

I think it looks great. What would you think of having the string it hangs from tied on at the loop of the leaf stem? It just looks to me like that's where it wants to be... the leaf would look natural hanging down that way... Not at all saying that the way you did it was wrong btw.

That is very cool looking.

Looks very useable. Good job.

Ditto.

My anvil is a "Family Anvil". It was in the storage connex of my wife's grandfather when we inherited the house. It's a 150# Mousehole with a pretty beat up face and edges, but flat enough for a beginner like me. She has no memories of Papa ever using it, but it's still special since it came from him. I agree with the others about grinding on yours, I wouldn't. The only thing I did on mine is use a flap disc to clean up some mushrooming on the edges to prevent spalling. Here is a link to a thread I posted with a pic of it from before I even used it the first time. '?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent>>

Hey, $150.00 for a 60# anvil that can stick to the ceiling like spiderman. Cool!

And once you get a few of the basics and some practice, you can learn how to make the rest. That's the stage I'm in... learning to make the tools.

Video please?

Congratulations. Look forward to the pics.

Looks a heck of a lot better than my anvil.

Wow... I have $0.97 total in my break drum forge build. That was for the dimmer switch I got at the Liquidation Outlet store to slow down the small wet/dry vac I use as a blower (it was a discard from the place I work cause someone backed over it, the bucket part was busted and the top cracked, but it didn't affect the air it put out the exhaust port). I also got the 2" black iron pipe and fittings from the scrap piles there (old fire sprinkler pipe). The drum was in the scrap pile out back of our house from when the Missus' Grandparents lived here. The metal topped table I dropped the drum into was in the 'shop'. Didn't bother lining the drum or the table surface with any refractory or anything. It gets hot enough to burn steel VERY easily and has never gotten the drum or tabletop hot enough to glow or warp or anything.

Nice. I recently dug up (literally) a Sledge hammer head in my back yard. Not sure how old it was, but it was pretty pitted up and weighed a little over 6#. I cleaned it up, polished out the pits, shaped it to my liking, heat treated it and put a 2' handle in it. haven't had a chance to strike with it yet, but I like the way it feels in my hands. After the repairs, it is almost exactly 6#, not counting the handle.

Hmm... interesting idea.

Love the look of it, and the diagonal pein on the back end. You right or left handed?

Weight? It looks nice. How long is the handle?

I made myself a dual diagonal-pein from a 3# Estwing hammer. one end functions as a crosspein, spin it in my palm and its a straight-pein function, but being 45 degrees offset, it allows an unobstructed view of the workpiece when striking it. I love the way it works for me. My other main hammer is a 4# 'Engineers Hammer' (I believe) that I rounded one of the faces to about a dime sized section on one head and the other side is just dressed to eliminate the sharp edges.

Kind of like the whole "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder". If you have no use for something as it is, why not modify it into something useful to you? It looks like it is already almost the right shape, and would take much less effort to transform into the hardy and chisels or whatever than leaf spring. But I am not saying your opinion is wrong... just wrong for me. :) (Not much ice-fishing on the Gulf of Mexico.)

If the whole thing is good tool steel... great = several punches/drifts/chisels... etc. I'd offer them $8-10, I'd be surprised if they didn't take it. Imho, it's worth getting even if you don't use it for your hot-cut.

My first anvil was what got me started blacksmithing. I've always been interested in creating things... stories, paintings, drawings and small sculptures. My wife inherited her grandparents' house. It had a small cargo container on it that her mom and stepdad had thrown some stuff into. They kept saying they were gonna come and sort through it and clear it out, but never did. Finally they said for us to just do whatever with it and everything in it. Well, two of the things in it were a 1930's era Mousehole 150# and an old Champion Spiral Gear blower without stand. So I started googling blacksmithing and learned I could build my own forge cheaply. I'm just starting and learning, but I enjoy it. My mousehole is not in great condition, so I'm trying to employ the TPAAAT. Keep your fingers crossed for me.