Ian

I like them a lot. Very clean work. I'd not be unhappy if they were mine ;D

An alternative is to find an electric blower (a junk automotive unit for example) and plumb it into your chimney so that the air flow enters from the side at around a 45 degree angle pointing UP. Mount it at above head hieght to keep it out of the way and to avoid heat issues and it'll act as an extractor (by venturi) sucking up air without the need for draw.

Essentially a variation on forced extraction, but by doing it this way you dont have to worry about an inline blower on a Forge flue.

Combo dies (a fuller and flatter) are really usefull provided that they're of a decent size. You need each working face to be wider than the parent stock you intend to work through them though so with these dies :

Bam Bams ram and guide assembly - Blacksmith Photo Gallery

for example, anything wider than an inch and a half is too big for the dies (and the hammer as well of course)
This 'tyre' hammer had a tup weight of 25lb on the nose and ran at about 3 hits a second flat out. It was fairly accurate too (in spite of that sloppy looking ram guide) so setting tenons and such was easy with it. Biggest stock it worked was 50mm square. It was certainly ugly but did a suprisingly good job.
It also gave me a chance to figure out how to make the next even better.

Very nice looking pieces, the framed works in particular interest me. I'd experiment with lighting those or making them so they'll accept lighting. With coloured perspex and flourescent tubing you could back and side light. Imagine all those bubbles on the frame glowing an aqua green say with the turtles back lit in a really vibrant blue, whatever colours work really. Create something striking and up the price significantly.

Terry,
it's my opinion that one of the key values of a site like this is it's ability to allow folks who are interested in the craft the chance to 'meet' and 'talk' to time served gents like yourself.
One of my best mates in Oz went through a very similar education and it's a joy to sit and listen to him talk about what he did (and indeed still does). At the end of the day IMHO you will find NO greater source of USEFUL information on Smithing than a chance to sit and talk with a time served man. If he is willing to actually show you some things then you are looking at a 24 carat gold education. I still consider myself incredibly fortunate to have met and worked alongside such people.
Please post whatever stories or tales you see fit, the simple fact is most of us here will NEVER have the experience that you did and unless you share it then it gathers dust and may be lost. That would be tragic. Here at least you can leave a trail of breadcrumbs that those with the gumption can follow and benefit from.

Where I come from we called it the "Sunshine Bus". So whats your favourite flavour window Finn? ;)

The whole issue of doing any repair to a wonderful and original antique is a thorny one. Sympathetic and expert restoration shouldn't always be frowned upon, but when this is justified is the real issue that requires careful deliberation. That stands true regardless of the item being considered.
I'd personally advocate doing whatever you need to in order to make the anvil you have fulfil the function you wish to use it for.
That said I would never repair an anvil unless it wasn't fulfilling the above criteria. If you really look at every surface it's suprising how many 'ruined' anvils are actually capable of doing everything you need.
If you want to spend money on an anvil as an antique merely to look at and cherish for what it is then that is your privelidge, but I believe an anvil is a tool, and should be viewed as such. I certainly bought mine as tools and I use them as such.

Michael,
you can find several interesting video's on youtube if you type in ''Kinyon Air Hammer''. The one's with the bearded chap show a run through of the hammer and you can see the control system.

Amazing tool the internet, but that being said you will not beat actually getting up close and personal to one and crawling all over it.

Have you hardened and tempered these knives?

I just wondered with you saying the original wallhanger was made from stainless steel, I know some stainless is hardenable but I'm certainly not sure if ALL stainless is hardenable. If you want working knives then it'd be a shame to spend a lot of time getting them looking right if you can't harden them.

For a first and second effort they look very good, and will only look better the more you do, keep at it.

Theres a real sense of pride when you first succeed in making a working tool. After you've made a few that work it's then becomes a case of how much pride you want to put into making them.

When someone says ''where did you buy them''? and your reply is ''I didn't'' then you know your on the right track.

I've come across a couple of motors that need a shove to run, something wasn't right with them imo, but as far as that restock fee goes i'm afraid i'd be arguing the toss with Sears. I say if you paid their asking price for a fully working product then if theres any additional costs it's down to them, otherwise they should be on the tag when you buy.

I think the deer and bear brands are very good, I could see several ways to really use them to dramatic effect. Imagine a really nice rich wooden table top with the bear tracks running over it for instance.

Archie,
I was told that punches should have the edges of the face slightly radiused so as not to be square and sharp, because the metal actually flows around the head of the punch as you drive it in. A square edge on the face can leave a rough hole when you punch out the biscuit.
Driving the punch too far through on one side can also cause problems, when you come to turn the bar over and punch the thinner side it can stretch more before it shears, you've got to get the first side about 2/3 of the way through, then flip the bar. If you choose the right heat for the final tap the biscuit shears off, not stretches and gives like warm toffee if that makes sense.
Finally using a drift to size the hole will give you the clean smooth finish you want.

Arbalist,
do you have any railway line, or can you blag some maybe? If you can find some cut off the thick part (top) of the rail with a 9'' grinder of a size so you can forge it into a decent billet. You might want to grind the web flush to make forging easier. Cut your prefered size from this billet and forge your hammer. Heat treat wise I'd try an oil quench first, if it doesn't harden try water. Not sure on the steel numbers otherwise you could get a specific heat treat for it, but I do know several blokes who've used rail for hammers, hardy tools, and such with no problems.

Just for the badness of it I'll chuck a pebble in the water.......

I'm afraid your man was WRONG. There IS a way to make a pair of tongs without using any tongs, or tool that does the same job as tongs. I know more that one way in fact but for fun lets see how many ideas folks who haven't made many tongs come up with. Use some modeling clay to try out ideas.

Richard.........naw forget it. :D

Welcome aboard bloke,
there's a lot more Brits around than you'd think, and I'm sure a few within striking distance of where you are. Have a good look through the Blue Prints section, lots of projects to try.

1) Entirely depends on what kind of tongs you want to make
2) Entirely depends on the kind of work your going to use them on
3) In my opinion No. Tubing would increase the rate at which heat from the bits travels down the length of the reign. Reigns made of tubing would get hotter faster, counterproductive. This is all moot if you quench the bits often enough to keep them cool.
4) Ones that work well for the job you made them for. Otherwise make a pair of wolf jaw tongs (Or universal tongs). They'll do the most for the work you put into them.

I've got three hammers (so far) of which two are handmade and one is a factory made. The factory made is a smallish straight pein and the two hand mades are a largish diagonal pein and one based on an old Smithing/Farrier hammer. It has round faces, one flat and one with a decent crown.
I use the big diagonal pein for 90% of my work, the Small straight pein for about 5% and the Smithing hammer for the other 5%.
I only use the hammer I think thats best suited to the job I'm doing, but that been said I can use the big hammer to do very delicate work if I want to.
I saw a few Smiths that used one hammer for everything, but it's a personal preference. As long as the results are right it's not life or death

lovely looking piece

Extremely nice Adrian. Simple but extremely effective visually. It's quality work.

Stick my name down please John (with a reminder closer to the time), I might be able to rustle up a few folks as well, between 2 and 10 maybe.

When I first thought Smithing might be somthing I'd enjoy I didn't take any of this 'addiction' nonsense seriously at all, I mean I wasn't in any sort of position to really try it first hand initially, but then I got a little taster in Leeds at the Armouries. Nothing I didn't think I could walk away from. Lots of other things I was already 'into', could I really afford to take on another habit? I mean hobby? I'd heard and seen a few funny jokes about it, you know 'incurable' etc etc etc but apart from being black brite, stinking of fire, and slightly singed I was none the worse for my first time.
It's cost me a LOT since, and more than just money too.

But rather than end on a sombre note I shall relate a true story.

A very good friend of mine is on brass tacks, her landlord sold her flat out from under her and she wasn't given any notice. She's on disability so has ended up at a hostel, they won't let her have her cats there. Guess who volunteered to house them (all 3 of the little .....)? Well, friends are friends.
It meant she see's me everyday as they won't have a bar of me and she has to feed them and sort out their tray. We sit and talk and just generally pass the time while she enjoys her cats or does her laundry.

I was out in the backyard of the house share forging somthing one day when she came over. We exchanged pleasentries and she went of to make us a drink of tea while I carried on working.
After i'd finished I picked up my cup of tea and took a long thirsty and COLD drink. I was fully expecting a hot drink, I'd only been at it ten minutes. I looked over at my friend who was reading in a chair a few feet away with a pair of ear defenders on

Apparently she'd been sat watching me for the first hour, then had grabbed a book and settled in for the long haul.
I apologised for my rudeness and tried to explain but was cut short:

"Don't be silly, thats the first time in over a month that you've looked REALLY happy"

Guess that's when I knew it had got into my blood, it had been just over a month since I'd last lit the fire.

The cheerful note?

My friend has finally been told the Council have a legal responsibility to rehouse her, she'd bidding on places now :D

Glad to hear you survived bloke, Glenn's tried ringing me loads of times but the new shed is *****ul as far as interfering with the signal. Terrible line so I don't know much other than about 25 or 35 folks made it and it was a 'tearer'. Hope to catch you on chat mate, want to know all about it. I've had some more news too, but it can wait.

Had a look at the pictures and a few thoughts.

Yes that bell housing has a LOT of ridges on the inside, and compared to a commercial venturi (look at a car for instance) is VERY rough. Air likes smooth surfaces to 'flow' over. Get some chemical metal and smooth out the ridges.
After you've done that and before you junk it best to know if you have the jet aligned correctly into the centre of the pipe as well?

If it's not blasting gas straight at the burner pipe it won't be helping ANY and you need to sort it. Best way to do this is with water, use a hose and hook it up, turn it on high so you have a dead straight jet of water, then align that up dead centre on the burner pipe and lock it down tight.
You now know the jet of gas is dead centre, try your experiments again and see if there's any improvement. BTW, if it moves you have to do it all again so make sure it WON'T, an accidental knock might have caused your issue in more ways than one.

Also for this type of burner you need a burner pipe that's in proportion to the Venturi bell. Most folks use 3/4'' pipe or above. 1'' is a good size. The LENGTH of the burner pipe is important too, too short in relation to the bell and pipe diameter and it wont have time to mix well before its out the end and into your forge.

Long story short a LOT of time and money can be spent creating the ideal burner unless your names John N (sorry John, couldn't resist, thats a LOVELY burner)

READ through Ron Reils site, I did and my burner works well enough.

Nuff said?