Bryce Masuk

haha I knew it do you use a powerhammer? Someone who makes a cart with mortise and tennon and his anvil hold down the same way is definately someone I more than respect because I know I would just weld it, Haberman is someone I respect alot as well often I find myself drawing abstract with a similar idealism as his own however, I wouldnt ever compare myself to someone as great as him.

Nice setup, Are all your hammers handmade?

Looks good, maybe you can post a picture from a side view?

I like them definately much better than the typical "ace of spades" leaves that most people continually make these actually look orginal and the ripples show the nature of metal very clearly

In canada as an apprentice you go to school for one month to 2 months a year depending upon the trade, and the government gives you EI money The reality in this world is that there is no place in the world for a blacksmith, everyone will doubt you can do it, You will have to simply prove them wrong Being a blacksmith is a nobel trade something that FEW people manage to make a living from in comparison to any other trade its among the rarest, its like being someone who takes a sheet of metal and forms it and fits it to something, it takes incredible skill to do a good job, nearly 100% of the price directly goes to labour, it takes very little to entirely ruin it, And no one can really truely teach you how to do it they can help but its all practice and determination Honestly you cant limit yourself to one thing though I hope one day I can become the complete metal sculptor, someone who takes metal and makes image's in the mind reality Regardless of the medium whether it is forming sheetmetal or forging, casting, engraving, whatever it takes to make your vision complete If your willing to sacrifice everything to achive it, I seriously doubt anyone could fail

sorry horseshoe I wanst asking you however it looks like you got the job done, the question was for iron falcon i dont understand why he couldnt get it to hold together unless he was using the a 110 machine or with a large rod or something like that

Yeah needle scalers are nice to have, I rember my buddy used to use it for pranks at work he would hook it up and when someone went to take a dump he would run in the bathroom and take it to the metal door and it would litterally scare the sh@t out of people lol

Yeah I usually buy my books from Jim at Artisan Idea's, however you really cant examine the content until they arrive, when I put in my next order I will probley buy both or all three of the francis whitaker books my dad likes them as much as i do we usually end up sharing them because of the cost

I agree, work hard produce good work and you will get to the point where hopefully you will earn admiration from your peers and they will teach you somethings but most of what they can offer you is minor improvements to things you already have hopefully done. No one can really teach you how to be a blacksmith or a welder or a sheetmetal worker, they can point in the right direction, offer you knowledge but the rest is on you make some good investments not to promote anyone specificly but ArtisanIdeas.com is specialized in hard-to-find books and DVDs for blacksmiths, bladesmiths,knifemakers, gunsmiths, coppersmiths, metalsmiths and jewelers. ArtisanIdeas.com also has an excellent selection of foreign language audiobooks and books for has given me amazing customer service in the past and that's who I will continue to buy from Knowledge has a untangible amount of value, and books can help you quite abit

you are correct the title is the "blacksmiths cookbook" they must have not printed many copies, because the price is pretty high the book is only as old as i am yet its value is this high?

being a person who is always searching for information, charlotte in a previous thread had mentioned this book has some useful information, however looking for this book used I have found copys only in the price range of 400-1000 us dollars Personally I dont need it as a collectable or anything like that nor can I afford that amount for a book, does anyone know if there is a reprint or a Ebook available of this book? or could provide me with a few excerpts?

I totally agree with 2 passes being better than one, the whole reason of this post was to hopefully get knowledge and opinion from those who have been there and done that, I like using the stick welder as well but its just not practical for some applications because you need to ensure all the flux is gone inside of small area's and the speed is much slower, but sometimes i use it just because the mig torch cant fit in there the speed of the weld when welding with stick in vertical position is really noticable as well not only in the time but the motion of your hands I have a really nice stick welder my great uncle gave it to me, its a miller 61cf he made his living in the 60's in St louis while getting his education as a chiropractor At first I honestly thought I might have a chance at being purely a artist blacksmith if I invested enough time, now I realise inorder to make enough money and still have somewhat of a free leash I will be doing alot of fabrication and some projects will have small forged pieces added, and others will have none at all because many people are simply looking for utillity and that for them is enough

What machine are you using? and what is the amperage with what size rod? if you have a machine that runs on 220 you will be able to weld them if you know what you are doing

you can weld cast iron with Nirod with a stick, or you can mig weld it for this applicaton you should be fine with a mig or stick weld typically a disk brake is more dense than most cast iron items, because of this it shouldnt be a problem to weld as long as you clean it as best as you can grinding it down abit would be best

when I have time i will cut them up, typically you can tell when you are welding whether you get good penetration or not or at least i would hope so,

mark Is the drill press table square to the bit? either that or there could have been something under it or your pushing to hard too quick with a small bit and its walking away from you, I screwed up one set of tongs I made (actually about the first 4 sets) eventually I heated them up with the torch and drifted the hole to center and used a larger rivet, it might work or maybe not at least you can try

Ha! what I think is even funnier is trying to buy a GOOD hammer at any tool store these days, its pratically all junk unless your looking for a framing hammer, your better off going to the flea market

Some fellow on craigslist was selling an "antique vice" it said for trade or whatever price and such I talked to him on the phone and it seemed like he would take 80 dollars for it because he had no use for it and it belonged to his grandpa however I figured if people want to spread goodwill in general the very least I can do is do the same So I took my fruit basket with me and I gave him 60 dollars and the fruit basket for the vice, so both of us got a good deal and a story, He even gave me a hot cut and said he probley has some odd hammers and tongs and such and to call him in a few months after he fully cleans his garage btw it weighs about 120 pounds it needs a spring adjustment but the threads are in great shape

Personally lot of my day is spent welding (aluminum lately too which i hate because of the white smoke and aluminum dust and such)however I am only 23 and i cant say i have done it for 20 years, when i welded both pieces I know they both achived good penetration however the one on the left was done afterwards and the heat from the other weld sunk into the center piece of metal I also welded slower on it which is why there is more metal upon it because I was trying to improve my technique I should have probley increased the wire speed and the speed of my hand when I was doing it, I spend at least half an hour a day drawing but its never enough for me, I have a pirates chest full of drawing's but I am still not on the level of being able to draw or create, what i can visualize but one can hope to step closer towards it though out life

thanks everyone I can only improve from here on out, and forever and ever I hope 'wink'