Jim Coke

Greetings, Research Renaissance Wax on ebay... It is a chystal base wax that I have found as a superior finish for fine work... It is a bit pricey but the work I have out there for many years it is in great shape .. I consider it as best for indoor detail work.... Forget bees wax ( it stays stickey ) Jim

Greetings, I won't be in my shop until late tomorrow. But if you have an old drill brace it works the same way... You use the large nut for pressure on the drill... They work slick.... This assembly was used with the Cole vise which had a place under the jaws to hold the drill... You also have the rare V block that is used for center drilling of pulleyes and such... You are indeed have a lucky find for the money... Jim

Greetings, I have 3 cole drills like yours .. Its just a toggle that engages the handle See the above from Google... You have a complete drill and you are lucky.. Clean it up and you will find its a very usefull tool.. Jim

Greetings JWB, Thank you for sharing this is o so true... On your treck to Michigan you are welcome at my shop in Lake City for some of the above... Our MABA President refers to my shops as Blacksmith Heaven... Look up on past uppsetters for a preview... Jim

Greetings Wesley, You hit the nail on the head .. so to speak.... You ever try a 5 clout head configuration... Hammer on and good luck selling your house.. Jim

Greetings, The difference between a bad blacksmith a OK blacksmith and a great blacksmith is education... When I started I could not even spell old fart now I am one.... Press on and stay safe

Welding 101 requires with the new helmet and gloves to stand on one foot and humm the theme song from Rockey..... Or vist your local weld shop both Miller and Lincoln have some great publications for newbies.... Keep a sparkin

Greetings, A quick search .. O'leary did make post vises and sold them through the Mongomery Ward retailer....

Greetings Vaughn, Many old ride on lawn mowers have the just right spring for your seat... You could build square plate with 4 guide tubes for the top and the same plate with 4 tubes on the bottom with casters .. It would look like a box .. Than put your sizzor car jack betweet the plates... This would give you stability for a cheap price... Just an idea.. Good luck Jim

Greetings Humphery, I don't know if you know it or not but those are some sweet swage blocks... Many dollars worth... Lucky

Greetings Knifedude, Many early manufacturing companies made thier products and would put thier distributors name on them... Lanterns : it was common to see a hardwares name on the font... I just purchased an anvil with the name of DERBY in box where in normally says Trenton.. It for sure was made for a farrier supply house by CFA. I would think your vise is a Columbian... Good Luck Jim

Greetings, It looks to me like the intended use was in a vertical position... The square mounting hole is in the end... It does not look like it has had much hammering or use.. Many factory tools are made for a single use and than discarded... It looks to be cast iron and if it was mine I would test it before much use... Have you ever seen a stove pipe anvil ? Jim

Greetings , I have bought a lot of tool steel in the Detroit area... I have moved to northern Michigan and find that ebay has some good suppliers for small quantity. Now that I have retired I don't have the need for large quantitys.. Just search tool steel 4140 Good Luck I just bought some H-13 Jim

Greetings Kyboy, Nice find... I have several Parkers and love them... Try mounting it on a post frame with a floor plate so that you can move it ... Works great for me.. Jim

Greetings Pughman, What a great week you must of had... It's a pleasure to see talanted smiths passing on our trade.. I don't know you fellows personally but you sure look like you had fun... Two bad you only got a half a days work done... ( thats a joke ) Now it's your turn... Hammer hard with your big hammer Jim

Greetings Neg, I guess 25.00 is out of the question,, A clear 25% profit... A great find lucky.... Jim

Greetings Cross Pien, Thanks for shareing the pictures... Sure puts my stuff to shame... Reminds me of some of the old carpenter tools with detail... An age when professional ment something... Jim

Greetings newbie, You ever hit a concrete block with a sledge? Yep thats what will happen... You can cure ti all you want butttt pop it will break....I think your time is better spent finding a old rail track or chunk of iron for you anvil needs... Wear safety glasses... Jim

Great lil early LG... great find It will do you well Keep a knockin

Hey guys. Life is good chocolate and iron... It was a long day and where do you think the rest of the candy went... Jim

Greetings, This looks like an early English anvil poss Moushole Judging by the horn and general overall looks... I think you will find this is a great collectors anvil and would easly sell for 250 I hope this helps Jim

Greetings all, I thought I would pass on a picture of the candy dish I made today... I formed it up from 16g with slight dish and a drop center 3in by 3/8 deep .. The anvil is repousse and dish slag textured... The hardest part is to roll the edges.. The handle is a seperate piece that the dish sets on for easy pickup and cleaning... This is going into iron in the hat at our MABA meeting tomorrow.. Hammer on Jim

Greetings , It looks like you got a good start.... I will pass on a few helpfull things... I use long pipe cleaners to lay out work and establish lenght... You can also use clay.. both help alot... Keep a bangin Jim

Greetings Earthquake, Ya going to build an anvil stand that will survive an earehquake... You can go to Home Depot and get some treated 4x6 lumber cross pile and nail together and you will have a stand.... Now you can add some small brackets to the side for anvil tools and some hold down brackets.. Good luck Jim

Greetings all, I think our budding blacksmiths soon get boared with repeditive practice on the same thing... Normally they make the same mistakes and end up with the same results.. I have found in my teachings with our young smiths that if you show a procedure and the procedure leads to another... Make it square , make it pointy make it flat...... I use as an example starting with a fish tail scroll... make it , streighten it out, than convert it to a ginko leaf... now make it into a leaf hook.... and on and on and on.. We need to increase vision in our new smiths. Teach estimateing the volume of material need to complete a project... As we all know learning is a life long journey and the possibilites are endless.. Jim Still scratching the surface after 40 years...