dablacksmith

would not use culvert pipe for a chimney.... you should be able to get stovepipe much cheaper and it will work better ....

hit harder... fish lips are the metal on the outside moving faster than the metal on the inside ... it happens grind um off and get it made..

looks like a heavy duty pipe flare tool that is missing parts ... that is if the smaller holes have threads in them ide expect a plate with the cone shaped tool to bolt on ... at least from the pictures that what i would figure...

not sure a stump anvil will work for 1800 on .. by then anvils were readily available and stump anvils were not common anymore at least from the research i have done... look at what was going on as far as metalworking ... steam engines were being made early in the 1800s ... I saw a patent model (full size) in the smithsonian from 1836 for a steam powered hammer 300 lbs head weight! the industrial revolution was started! the forge is a different tho .. probably a side draft forge with bellows will work for many time lines...tho portable forges were not common... i would use the same setup for 1770-1880 and a different anvil for earlier ... but having said this if its a demo most people will not know the difference...in fact most people will be more interested in the glowing metal than what you are hammering on ... and for early time lines the tools do not seem to change much from fairly early till 1600 or so. at that time you finally start to get anvils made in factorys... they were still using stake anvils tho...the opinions are mine from what i have researched but if you find different i am willing to learn!

looks like wooden chest locks to me .....or maybee cabinets.

the sledge is probably a better anvil.

i have made box joint pliers multiple pairs in fact part of the secret is to forge a close fit and leave a little extra on the female part so that after you punch and drift you can forge back and fill any gaps ... it takes a certan amount of fiddling to get it right . i took a class with Pieter Ross years ago to learn how ... i suggest checking to see if anyone in your area can teach you as hands on is always a better teacher for blacksmithing .

36 grit and fast speed is what ya need ... ide get a 2x72 belt sander instead for knife work ... the longer belts dont heat up as bad when you run um fast...

you could make a holder that held the die and punch in alignment where you hit the punch ... kinda a poor mans whitney punch .. s7 is forgeable by hand but it isnt easy...its working temp range is fairly narrow but the good thing is its air hardening...

wow 35hrs tho... how would you sell um? that would be harder to sell than swords !

ok my question is this ... do you do anything else using those mussles? if you are not normally using those mussles then you need to build up to a long forge day .

what alloy is that? is it hardenable? if its mild it will not work well for a anvil..

i think some of that is because the carpenters use nail guns nowadays the tap and bang it drives the nail ... i usually tell them to hit it like your mad at it!!!! its a common problem today tho cause people arnt used to usin a hammer....

10 tons sounds like several years worth of steel.... unless your going into mass production i think it would be hard to use enuf steel to warrant going direct....

ya i do the same most of the time. rivets are not hard and look good if the holes are in line. if you go for the one piece method it can work also ... depends on how well you can draw out without burning the piece when it starts to get thin...good luck

i would be more worried about all the sawdust ....i dont know where you live but i would move the forge outside to work ...a cluttered garage is not a good place to forge .and wood working shops and metalworking shops dont mix well...

it a really large booth and its a challenge to fill it with quality ironwork... it is owned by the ren fare now ... it is 8 weekends in a row and can be a long fare..the booth is owned by the fare but the tools are mine incl the new (to me ) 5th foot anvil (could be over 300 years old) the size of the booth practically requires multiple people to run it ... finding others willing to demo is the challenge..

well ive got a blacksmith booth in a ren fare (permanent booth) and i try to make a nice demo and treat people well but let me tell ya sometimes its hard.... there are a lot of people that are just plain rude an or stupid ...you get tired of the questions like "is that a real fire" and "your a blacksmith where are the horses?" but the super killer sword guys are sometimes worse cause they want a fancy sword for 50 bucks ..."cause i can get one on ebay for that" having no clue what they are talking about... also the latest buzz word is "battle ready" tho most of the modern made swords are way too heavy and poorly constructed to withstand real battle! also many are not of hardened steel ! from what ive seen tho most ren fare smiths fall into one of two catagories ... sword / knife makers or beginner /hobby smiths... Its not a good way to make money otherwise...

i wouldnt bother ... it looks like scrap metal to me ... get a decent anvil rather than that welded up one ...

yes it removes soot and ash ... i have been doing demos for over 30 years and at first i used a open shelter without hood . after a friend setup a forge with a hood and i saw how nice it was i decided to do the same . the tables were nicer and i was breathing less smoke ...

great find!!!! i would not worry about exact comp forge some tools with it!!!

the stuff made to go thru the roof is fairly spendy ... what i ended up using is items for ducting (air conditioning or venting) a local scrounge shop (dont know what else to call it) had a bunch of it and i managed to come up with a piece that did what was needed ... it was made from aluminum and had a built in flange that fit well ...

usually when i find a triangle that dosnt ring its because its not hanging from something that lets it ring... i use leather lace (like shoestrings) keep in mind it must vibrate so if the ends are too close together (touching) it will kill the ring... as far as hardening i dont think you want to .. if it cracks it will also kill the ring(it affects the vibrations).

good lookin stuff ! are you going to drill the holes ?

first one ive seen that way... i dont believe it is a nessary but ... cant hurt...I will not be adding one to my bellows tho....