petere76

The most expensive and elusive commodity...free time.

kasper, Do you have the name and POC of the Canadian anyang Dealer? Thanks. Peter

I have a few vintage anvils, P Wright and H Budden. Both are well over 100 years old and they show some wear comensurate with service and a few misguided dings. The face surfaces tell their own tales, i.e. the smiths took good care of their equipment. We would be well advised to do the same. As an alternative to cutting on the anvil, try cutting on a piece of scrap plate or an old I beam section. You can pound away with abandon an not worrry about damaging the working surface of your anvil.

I have seem motor frame heaters used. They are low wattage and will keep a pretty good sized piece of solid iron hot. Most are set up for 110V and all you have to add is a drop cord and a houshold plug. Peter

We descale, hand sand, clean with thinner and then put on two coats of primer. The finsih coat is also a two coat process. This technique seems to hold up well outside through Maine winters. I admit that the oil finish looks handsome and we use it on inside products but it simply does not hold up outdoors in this part of the world. Peter

Gents, We are dancin around the issue of a few bucks. Why not re-forge a chinese product, a dump find or simply make a hammer. This way we get what we want. As to china and US love affair with cheap products... not likley that will change, been to wally world lately? Peter

Burning Zinc fumes are a big time hazmat and in sufficnet quanity are deadly. The milk theory sounds good and works well for occasional outside exposure such as welding or burning, outside. However, concentrated inhaliation of zinc fumes will kill you or at the least, contribute to serious debilating respiratory issues. See a doc and avoid zinc fumes, no kidding, get this one right. Metal working is no fun if it kills you. Be smart and be safe. Peter

Dave, The blocks are handy, weigh about 75 lbs and they are not that expensive, ($140). We have two blocks in the shop. You get used to using the different features. Like anything else if you have it you tend to use it. Bob Manard VP of NEBA runs Ball and Chain Forge in Portland, he is a good POC if you want to order one of the blocks the NEBA has cast. The castings are good and they feature a decent shovel form. The old big swage blocks with square through holes are quite heavy and they get fairly procey if you can find them. Peter

Your hanger looks good and it will make a fine present. I have been turning out a lot of heavy weight plant hangers this past year. We use .25 in x 1.5 in back plates and .5 in sq arms. One model is rivited and then other is tennoned. If you want to you can weld over the back plate rivets-tennons. One safety suggestion, make sure the end user knows enough to properly mount the hanger to something that will hold the intended weight. A big plant basket (12-14 in) fully loaded and watered will have some heft. Peter

aman, Clay Spencer sells hammer plans and hammers when they are available. Drop him a line at, Clay Spencer [clay@tirehammer.com] Good luck with that project. Peter

Derek, I show joint bars listed in 3 grades. 1- not specified, 2- C .30 max, 3-C .45 max. Hope this helps. Peter

Gents, In Maine it has humorously been said that when the rest of the country is in a recession no one here notices. They are noticing now. Housing starts are nonexistant, for sale signs everywhere and lots of mill closings, lay offs etc. The union iron workers have all had to boom out to other states. The marine industry, where I work, is way off and many ships have laid up. All the iron work I have done this year has gone to out of state buyers. It looks like its going to be a long winter. Peter

Ramsberg, On a small scale steel production started thousands of years ago. However the science of cooking iron ore, loosing the impurities and adding alloys was happening by the 1840's. the Bessemer process in Germany was the standard of the day and I think by 1850 or so the Germans were prodcuing steel product in the 55 to 100 KT range. Our own Andrew Carneige was instrumental in making the process happen in the US. The civil war and the rail roads expansion west provided the demand for the material and Andrew sought the funding (mostly from european investors) to make it happen. That was the birth of US Steel. All sorts of folks at that time were onto this as the profit incentive was really high. A good read is the Andrew Carnage bio. Peter

Gents, thanks for the info. I will assume that the case harding is actually the addition of materials during the smelting of the steel as opposed to something done specifically during the heat treating cycle of the finished prodcut. As an example 4140 comes normalized and you work it then heat treat the finshed product. I recall a powder that could be spray coated on mild steel that was supposed to incur a surface hardening. The product did not work that well.

Any idea what the difference is between case hardening and heat treating, or are they the same? Most of the lock shakles I have ground though thow off the visible high carbon sparks but I am still not sure of the metalurgy, maybe S-2 or S-7. I think they make the jaws for blt cutters out of S-7. Peter

Read up on gas accumulation and understand explosive limits, upper and lower. Your intention is or should be to purge the tank of any combustible fumes or gas. Remove the valve and vent the tank. If you are not comfortable with the fresh air purge rinse the tank with a soap and water solution and purge again. This procedure works on distilate fuel containers as well as gas containers. Be careful and good luck. Peter

Wannabe, Just a 5 gal pail of wood stove ashes will do the trick. I have used this method for a few years without any difficulty. Peter

Mulciber, Great question. You have brought up an interesting and perplexing aspect of our shared pursuit. When does a pursuit, hobby or interest become a viable employment alternative. As you can tell from the responders it is not a question easily answered and the results are divided between ones passion and the reality of making a living. From a personal perspective, I have always had a full time other profession (day job)to supply the needs of everyday living; insurance, retirement planning etc. . The day job also supplied me with the wherewithall and the valuable time off in order to pursue the finer aspects of metal work. Schooling is not that easy to come by in this profession. As an apprentice you learn the trade from the smith under which you serve but you do not make much in the process. The period between wanting to be a professional smith and actually getting there can be lengthy and expensive. Training and travel notwithstanding, the real cost of setting up even a small production shop is formidable. To a certain extent most shops are production facilities and the rules of manufacture are as applicable in Detroit as they are in ones own back yard. R&D costs are supported by the sale of product. The greater the cost of the former the more of the later you must produce in order to break even. As a business venture, it does funnel down to money going out and money coming in. Commisions are great but they can be few and far between. Word of mouth is your best advertisement and QC is or should be your guide. A sound market analysis is in order if you plan on investing your time and cash in this venture. Know and understnad your market, what to make and how to sell it. I know several professional full time smiths. One very skilled individual teaches to offset costs and another confided to me that it would not be possible if his wife did not have a conventional job with benifits. You can see that the competing forces are love of the pursuit balanced against survival. All the best and good luck my friend. Peter