Jim Coke

Richard , I talked to him today . He is a busy boy . He said he was going to call you ASAP. Thanx for the follow up. Forge on and make beautiful things Jim

Greetings Setlab , Why weld that 1 1/2 at all.. I would just make an angle iron bed .. square .. For the plate to sit in and than complete your stand with your uprights .. A simple tack Weld on the bottom if you wish .. All the force is down . Just this old farm boys 2c Forge on and make beautiful things Jim

Greetings Lawnjockey, There is no prefect building for all the toys. The only answer for me was more than one .. I have 6 buildings all togather each have there own function . Welding , sheet metal, small BS shop for teaching and of course the big mother. Not gloating just thought I would show you the possibilitys. take into consideration that it took me 40 years.. The small white one "Studio FE 26 is my favorite where I do most of my demo and teaching.. Good luck on your build.. Forge on and make beautiful things Jim

Greetings Nick, i had one , only the vise anvil portion. I think yours is missing a shoe that was used to hold a pipe.. They were advertised in the old Sears Robuck catalog and I don't think they were very popular . Somewhere in my vast amount of stuff I have a copy of the info but finding it is another question. Great find very hard to find a complete one. Forge on and make beautiful things Jim

Frog man, Is the higher number on your meter your blood alcohol reading.. LOL We all know why you make sooo many bottle openers.. KYPD Frigid forge on and make beautiful things Jim

A consortium of collaborating meticulous metal manipulators .. Forge on and make beautiful things Jim

Greetings Aus , Sometimes the obvious is not clear .. Just put it your vise holding the boss and give it a try.. If you are satisfied with the performance use the open boss ...fit up a hardy blank that fits with the width of the boss and plug weld the window .. Than cut off the other boss . Should work .. I would keep the mass as cool as possible .. Just a old boys 2c.. Good luck Forge on and make beautiful things Jim

Greetings Brent, For sure .. I am always willing to give a jump start to a new smith., Just PM me with your info and I will contact you. Forge on and make beautiful things Jim

Greetings Josh, The only star I see in your collection is you . Thank you for your continued preservation of what is really important . Thank you for sharing your knowledge and expertise . May it go on for a long long time. You are a wonderful assert to our community .! Forge on and make beautiful things Jim

One more for your viewing pleasure .. LOL Jim

Greetings all, My favorite.

Greetings all . At 72 I am I the same boat but have found a soloution. The person that I have selected for Richard I employed and taught for a summer . I spent the evening hours in the blacksmith shop training and passing on what I could . He has been employed with a friend in a true blacksmith shop and will soon be teaching at JC Campbell . He is branching out on his own and I am watching his progress .. I spend 3 days a week at a local vocational school as a mentor and most of the summer teaching black smithing at my studio at no charge for prospective future artist.. That's my way at this time but I will soon pass on some of my equipment as I see fit., If we don't who will.. let's keep the forges going..! Just this ol boys2c Lets keep the forges going and make beautiful things Jim

Greetings Richard, I live close to you and know a worthy young man that you should give consideration to.. Just drop me a PM and I will give you his name and info.. He is a true blacksmith and is branching out on his own and is well known in the community.. Forge on and make beautiful things Jim

Greetings Yesteryear, As I would expect an over the top job . Starting with 3/8 you had a bit of forging to do.. That would look much better on my table.. What did you use for the final finish? Well designed and I am sure it was fun to make.. Forge on and make beautiful things Jim

Greetings Mr. Dark, Best clean up your forge area of leaves and combustible material . Most of the forge suggestions have been covered by others.. One more thing .. Clean your anvil face.. Just this ol boys 2c.. Have fun.. Forge on and make beautiful things Jim

Greetings Griffin , In my old shop I twisted up to 1 inch cold with an adaption to my Eagle rolling machine.. I also designed and built a twisting machine that I could do up to 10 foot cold of 5/8 .. Two inch is a whole other thing. The biggest problem will be holding it to something solid. In the past I have used my acorn table. What is the quantity that to plan on twisting? Forge on and make beautiful things Jim

Greetings Ernie, The material cost to construct one would far exceed that of one purchased. There are so many out there in flee markets and on the internet . You could just start with one that is a cast off for parts and make the repairs .. If you lived closer I would give you one for a starter.. Good luck Forge on and make beautiful things Jim

Greetings Neighbor, Just an ol boys 2c .. I would add a bearing block as close to the sanding belt drive as you can and move the motor drive pulley to the center of the other two.. Shaft flex and vibration will be a factor.. My friend Wayne has some great plans that may do some good.. He has a web sight and I hope he chimes in with some info. Have fun with your build.. Forge on and make beautiful things Jim

Greetings Johnnie, I lost a lot of pictures on and old computer ... I will try a few that I have on this one.. Forge on and make beautiful things Jim

Greetings Joel, Well done .. Great stand offs. If it was my commission first would be the ends. Next the split and drift and last the arch form . Easier to handle and hold down for the splitting.. Stand off riveting assembly to complete.. Just this old boys 2c .. Forge on and make beautiful things Jim

Greetings Pancho, l am spoiled through years I have aquired and built many many tools .. First choice would be my ring roller .. 10 minutes work.. Second choice would be the Hosfeld .. My personal favorite is my STS multi wonder tool ., I built this years ago to serve as a what many have said is my metal Shopsmith.. Eat your heart out TP made mostly from scrap yard parts.. Enclosed a few pictures to give you an idea of what can be done if you set your mind to it. Forge on and make beautiful things Jim

Greetings Brent, Lots of great smiths in your area.. Log on to our Michign group web sight where you will find the next demos and meetings are just a few miles from you.. I live in Cadillac and Lake City and if I can help you just let me know.. Michiganblacksmith.org Forge on and make beautiful things Jim

Greetings Richard, As many know I love old machinery. My take .. It belongs standing vertical to be viewed and appreciated by itself.. A small sign to make people think.. MADE IN AMERICA ., Forge on and make beautiful things Jim

Greetings again Firefarm, Just another thought.. You could use for your standoff parts a wall hanger in the door with a right handed thread that would mate with a tapped hole in your standoff . On the other end facing out drill and tap for a left handed thread in the standoff and in handle .. This would allow the standoff to be rotated to tightly fasten the handle to the door.. A little inventive but it would work. Good luck. Forge on and make beautiful things Jim

Greetings Aus, Looks to me like a counter - weight for a machine.. I have one like it with a big star cast in.. This type of weight weight was used in sheet metal breaks and others where a return to position was required. Nice find .. Forge on and make beautiful things Jim