lawman

Was looking on ebay last night there is a saltfork craftsman swage block on there for $375. I contacted the seller and told them that it was not an antique and that it could be purchased today.....directly from the manufacture for $130 brand new. It looked like it was in good condition so I offered the $150 for it which is a little cheaper than i could have gotten it from SFC after you pay shipping. I think i offended the lady...... She didnt want to talk to me.

​Any words of wisdom for me Frosty? I'd love to hear em.

​Yes sir.........I would like to see that. One of the main reasons that my coal forge don't get used as much as the gas forge is that getting coal shipped down here is expensive. If I can make it, that would be way much more better.

​By construction waste do you mean yellow pine drop offs, 2 x 4's and such? If you don't mind me asking, how do you go about reducing it to charcoal .....beyond the obvious "Burning it". That material seems to get consumed pretty quickly. How do you control the air to keep from burning it all up. This interests me because I don't have a good local source for coal and shipping sux pretty bad. Buying lump charcoal works but I can blow thru it Quick.

​Thanks.......I will have some pretty soon then.

Bright orange/yellow. The koawool on the walls pretty much glows white. I can crank up the gas and shoot about 12" of dragons breath out the front but normally run it where its about 1 1/2 ". Flame coming out of the burner is a pale blue. Dragon breath is mostly orange with some blue mixed in. My favorite hammer is a 1000g peddinghaus german pattern......but i've used every thing from a ball peen to a sledge. Been a while since I tried but last time I did it, I cleaned the metal to remove rust and scale, got it up to dull orange heat, fluxed it, put it back in the forge bought it up to what I would call an orange/yellow heat, pulled it out, went straight to the anvil and beat it. My first attempts I beat it like it owed me money.........but I learned after that that all it was suppose to take is gentle taps. That may well be true but it dang sure ain't all it takes.......what ever that something is I am missing presently.

Are you using lump charcoal.......or regular forging coal?

​Thanks......I'll check that out

I Have a 1500g swedish pattern and I just cant make my self like it. The balance seems strange to me. Its a nice hammer but just haven't got use to it I guess. I like the German pattern myself.....well I think its the German pattern anyway. Never Tried a French Pattern.

​Thats what I keep hearing. I'm self taught for the most part and I'm pretty sure what ever it is I'm doing wrong can be easily corrected......once i identify the issue that is. I need to try again. I think that I may not be recognizing the welding heat colors. I'm pretty sure that my gas forge gets hot enough.......though I dont like what the flux does to the fire brick. When I've tried it in the coal forge I know dang well its hot enough. Looks like a little sparkler. Maybe a atmosphere issue......duh no I know I use to think you had to beat the crap out of it but I know better now. Gentle taps are what is called for. The flux i'm using I got from Centaur forge.....couldn't find any 20 mule team borax.

ya.......I like the pine apple twist. But wanted to keep it easy and achievable for his first try. Nothing builds confidence like success. I plan on making a spring swage for rope twists when my power hammer shows up. Then we'll give that a try. If I ever figure out how to weld myself I'll be sure to teach him.

Well, We went to the HABA meeting yesterday in College Station and my Son was fascinated by the RR spike knives. He didn't believe me when I told him that he could probably make one in a couple of hours. So I pulled out the forge and anvil, gave him a few pointers and let him go to town. I intervened a couple of times to keep him out of the ditch but probably 90% his own work. I was proud of him and he is proud of what he created. Next time I think he could do it all on his own.

​Correct. It was a 25 kg / 55 lb hammer I probably should have clarified that a little better.

​....Dang it.........Not what I wanted to hear. Can you explain that a little better. maybe I am mis understanding. Are you suggesting that the IK 50 doesn't have a 50# tup or that the Anyang says 55# but real weighs 110#. I am pretty sure that the dies on the anyang 55 are bigger than the 2 x 4 dies that come on the IK50 Either way it was fun to drive it.

Well, I had the opportunity to to test drive my first power hammer today. I had the opportunity to try out an Anyang 55 at the HABA meeting in College Station. That was an Eye opening experience. I only got to do a couple of small pieces of Iron but it was more than enough to make an impression. If the Iron Kiss 50 is as powerful as the Anyang 55 then I think it will be more than big enough for what I want to do. Thanks to James Johnson for having it there an letting me try it out. If I ever get a dedicated blacksmith shop and decide that I need a bigger second hammer I could see myself getting an Anyang 88. The self contained hammer was very nice. The Iron Kiss will suit me better as the 24 x 24 inch base will just fit where I want to put it and the Self Contained are a little bit larger. I was surprised that the self contained was not louder. I was expecting it to be more annoying that it was. In truth it did not bother me at all, I kinda liked it. That being said my son though the constant Cuff Cuff was like nails on a chalk board. I guess its person specific on how annoying that really is.

:lol: ......I had the same thing happen except it was a shard of metal from grinding. Got jabbed in the eye at the ER with a plastic screwdriver but they couldn't get it out. They sent me to the optometrist. Walked in to see the Eye doctor and it was a little asia man. He asked me who my eye doctor was and I told him I had 20/20 vision and didn't have one. He shook my hand and said " Hi....Im Dr Wong....I your new eye doctor", Whipped out the dremel and went to town. That is a weird feelin having someone crawl up on top of a chair and start drilling on your eyeball with a power tool. At least the little guy was fast and had some steady hands. The irritating thing about the whole situation was, he only charged me $20 and fixed me right up but I had to pay $750 and get poked in the eye by some jack wagon with a craftsman screwdriver before the ER would refer me.

Very nice. I love the look of damascus blades. Beautiful work.

This is mine. I am wanting to build a damascus blade but my skill is not there yet. This is my best attempt to date. I built this for a friend of mine. It is made out of 01 tool steel. It turned out pretty good but I still need to work on my heat treating. The blade holds an edge very well but it is a little to hard. My buddy put a couple nicks in the blade that I had to hone back out with the water stones. I'm still very proud of it but I have a lot to learn.

This was my first hook and my first knife. I still have both of them. Well to be fair my first attempt at a knife was in my coal forge and I was paying a little closer attention to drinking the beer in my hand than tending the fire and ended up vaporizing the old file that I was trying to forge. Since it disappeared into a fire I don't count that one. I didn't try it again till I completed my gas forge. Its much more forgiving.

:rolleyes: ya ya.......I know.......I'm a whiner. :D

good to know. hopefully with the 25:1 ratio on the iron kiss it wont be as pronounced

I agree.

Thats awesome. I am looking forward to learning how to do similar work.........Maybe not 10 lbs but I want to make damascus. Thanks for sharing.

No...havent ordered yet, But planned to pretty quick. That is good to know........but I probably will still order them. That way I can go back and look at something if I forget. Thanks.

:huh: I don't recall making any excuses..............I was making an observation. $125 for a couple of dvds is pricy. I never said that they weren't worth the money or that I wasn't going to buy them. A 50# Iron Kiss is a little Pricy.............But I got one of those coming too! That being said, I expect the videos to beat the hammer to my door step by a pretty wide margin. :D Thanks for the info.