dablacksmith

I think it falls under antique (replica) firearm .. at least it did when i worked at the gun shop .. but that can change and can vary from state to state . In fact theyres a case in front of the supreme court right now that might change everything .They are challengeing washington d.c. ban on pistol ownership saying its unconstitunial... should be interesting...

sounds like you got a great deal! if you can afford it (sounds like the price was right )see if you can get the other one also! the anvil you got sounds like a good one can you post pics?the main thing i do when looking over a anvil is take a hammer and tap the face in verious places and see how the hammer bounces .. you want a good bounce from all over the face but especially the center where you do most of your work . that said i will then ck flatness of face and ck the edges .. edges dont need to be perfectly sharp in fact a little rounded is good for most work. if it has all that going for it i consider it a "good " anvil if it has problems I figure worth accordingly. have fun!

ya ive make a few hundred every year for the mountain men rendezvous sorry about lousy picture havnt updated the pics in my web sight yet..what steel you using? i use garage door springs theyre cheap and make a good spark! I harden in a crisco beeswax mixture (also use as a finish for my ironwork)

the local museum built me a shop that is 15x15 and opens up in front i like it a LOT! Ive got pavers down in the forgeing area (cause the floor would get wet when it rains) Its plenty big enuf for me ...

peter wright is a good anvil i would clean the face a little with belt sander and use it!! dont bother to completely clean it till your doing really fancy work ( a little pitting ads carecter) if the price is right and you decide to get another you can sell it .

next time get sumthin better for steel! rebar isnt verry good for makeing stuff (ya dont know what is in it)just pick up some decent steel!!

nice flypress ! I love mine ive been doing a lot of ladle bowls with it ...i also made a tool so i can use my spring dies with it ! makes acorns as fast as my 50 lb little giant used to with a lot less fuss. have fun!

ive made similar ones out of 5/16 sq for a neclace cross ...instead of using a chizel i just bandsaw um it works good if you forge um some after (to remove the saw marks)

some people put a firebrick in the bottom of forge for the flux to get on when it gets really gummed up throw it away and put a new one in there...

aha and to go with the wood stove a mulling iron (poker with a big chunk of steel instead of a pokey) you put it in the fire to heat it up then use it to heat your drink ! also long forks to cook with in stove ...

ive had mice setup house in my propane forge ... they like ko wool for theyre nests I remember a time when I was lighting the forge as the mouse was running out...i burned my clothes various times .. usually in demos..also did sumthin stupid .. thaught i could burn out a ant hill poured gas on it and lit it... and caught the telephone pole on fire ... and to add insult to injury the ants were still alive...

It would create a draw like a carburetor in a car by speeding up the airflow thru the tighter spot and opening up into a larger chamber . Also the taller your chimney is the better your draw will generally be.Hope this helps

Ive been useing coke for a long wile now and it has its quirks ... get a real good fire going with wood ( up to 2 in x2 in pieces) get it makeing charcoal then add coak a little at a time .. eventually it will burn but different cokeing temps can have different temps to get it to burn ( the temp it was coaked at ) so it might need to get real hot before it burns... you might try getting a lousy coal fire going then add the coke...At first its tough but it will burn eventually........Good Luck!

are you going to be selling the colonial pattern anvils ?? any idea of cost??looks nice btw!

how big are the holes ? can you forge back the copper till there almost not there ? if you can ude do that then use tin to soder the holes up... Good Luck!

ive seen a cylinder blower in use ..I used to do a heritage festival and there was a Koreian or vietnamese village setup that had a forge with one .. was interesting had great supply of air.. i dont know if it is the same as what your talking about but It was interesting... good luck!

I used one for a couple of years and went back to a bottom draft forge ... I found the side draft took too much playing with the fire ..It was my portable forge with bellows similar to what you have built .I used a 3/4 pipe but your 1 inch should work fine .The secret is use lots of coal and make a big mound ( I tend to run small fires) Good luck !

I find that usually a lineing is more of a pain than its worth... ive been useing a portable forge I made of 14 gague steel for years without a lineing and its been working fine . the problem with the clay lineings is that the clinkers stick to it and make a mess of it .. but if you want to line it then 1/2 inch should work . Have fun!

I think its more what you get used to.... you want the amount to be low enuf to see metal colors ( no direct sunlight) and fairly consistent throught the day ...the main consideration is being able to see the heat of your metal and judge its plasticity .you might make the layout and bench areas lighter and the forge area darker (if you have the room)other than that i would guess whatever you feel comfortable with

well.... easyest is use lumber and blocks to lift truck use oxy acyl brybar and socket to take off and put new tire on( weld socket to prybar ) and away ya go ! (btw ive used anvil stump and a small log to lift my trailer to change tire )

Ive been useing potato harvester conveyor belt rods for makeing dinner bells ... they ring really well so i have run out of them and was wondering what they are made of 1060 ? 1084? ime looking for sumthing to replace them any ideas?

full time broke ... I mean blacksmith been doin it for 25 years worked other jobs ta keep food on the table but this is my obsession...and ime getting to the point it might actually pay!

well ile put my 2 cents worth Ive got 3 of them one for my portable shop one for my shop at home and one for my shop at the museum .. They are all the newer type (100 lbs ore less) and have spoon and ladle depressions i use um fairly often because i make ladles and spoons ... also 2 of them have shovel depressions . As far as being worth it it kinda depends on what your makeing ... if you do one off one of a kind stuff they are handy if you are makeing a product that uses the depressions then theyre nice ! but you can make tools to do everything a swage block does .. If you can afford it and the deal is good buy it ! you can always sell it later to someone else if you find you dont use it much ! have fun

ide check your scrapyard i priced the double walled ss stuff for woodstoves ane it was out of my buget but scrownging at the local scrap/salvage yard i found a double wall pipe with all the stuff i needed . ( i think it was used for industrial furnace or similar) it was aluminum but shouldnt matter as there isnt as much heat as a wood stove produces and the hot part is the lower end anyway ... Good luck!