rfb343

Your village called, and they're requesting I return thier idiot. This works well for me since I dont have any real customers other than "hey buddy" jobs from friends and inlaws

I'd bet for not too much $$$ you could rebuild that motor, or failing that I'd bet you could find another murray(or at least a similar product) for less than that. Check CRAIGSLIST. BTW HD customer service leaves a bit to be desired in my area, not that lowes isnt nipping thier heels on crappy service and no better prices than the local hardware store, but perhaps you could pass that on the leadership, but for the mean time support your independant hardware and building supply dealer :cool:

What map are ya referring to?

Whelp, I took the plunge and decided today was the day I was gonna make my first pair of tongs, now I've been dancing around with this for some time now and had even gone as far as cutting out all kinds of stock to make 'em, and I decided to start from scratch with a piece of 3/8ish sq 31" long and made them as described in Blacksmith Craft-Charles McRaven, except I drilled the rivet hole instead of punching. I also made a kettle hook for the fire irons.

What place?

Its up here in Hagerstown on Burhans Blvd(24 miles From Frederick) called Steffey and Findlay, the have a www. site I cant seem to find thier # at the moment. the last time I bought coal about 2-3 weeks ago (pocohantus nut is what you need to ask for) it was $10.50 for a 65 # bag or around 210 a ton, if your interested in splitting a ton le'me know.

You can also mash scale up and mix it with oil to make Nigui, japanese polishing/etching solution.

Tell us more....

Jerry I get poco "nut" from a place in Maryland that has all those same qualities, I sometime end up with one clinker like that after about 10-15(2 days of forging) hours, but usually its a little smaller

Sounds like more than I started with, although I've just started working on some tongs I most still use channel locks or vice grips, and my "vice" is old small champion bench vice mounted to a telephone pole scrap. My first forge was a propane torch. Dont be afraid to upgrade or change your tooling, and at the same time dont feel like you HAVE to change something that works for you just because it doesnt seem like a traditional blacksmithing technique, unless of course that is your goal(aka to smith in a style of a particulair time period) or maybe you'll find you would rather create mixed media works of art/sculpture, or whatever floats your boat thats the greatest thing about "blacksmithing" it can be whatever gets your juices flowing, dont pigeon hole yerself, If you're concerned about not having enough tooling check out tzonoqu 's website about 'smithing in India.

Thanks Frosty I'll keep my eye on 2010, less of course Dan Ryan homes keep popping around the ranch, I may just sell out, pack the truck(tools, guns, and a toothbrush) and take Johny Hortons advice. LOL

Thanks for the tip welder, They're in Ephrata Pa, which happens to where the only Sonic (my favorite fast food restuarant) north of southern VA is, and I jsut looked at theyre specials and found i can probably roof my shop for about $30, lots better than the 300 I was gonna have to shell out to the evil orange empire(home depot) lol. Thanks

Oh my, atleast I can say 1 good thing about living in Maryland, I've never seen hail like that... btw Frosty thats a nice lookin shop, might be worth a trip to AK to see.

Uh. . . That's right, you even posted pictures.

Have you considered building an Oliver that backs to your regular anvil? The arm either swings to the side or up and locks when you don't need it.

Frosty

Whats an Oliver?

well at least we've still got smiths in india will to work for penny's a day(and they can smelt thier own metal). Like Ten Hammers said, I'm glad that smithing isnt my daily bread maker, cos noone wants to hear that that Fort Megis axe is 75 buck cos its hand forged, when you could go to the next tent over and buy one thats cast, from who knows what metal with mold lines and poor casting drips hangin off of it, for $25 bucks. So my heart and prayer go out to the people that depend on smithing for their income. "steppin off the soapbox"

My mule's sick, I could use a healthy mother in law!
Don't have a nice anvil to trade though.

Mother in laws are over rated as beasts of burden, they keep spitting out the bit, wont pull a straight row to save thier lives, less of course you beat 'em half to death then they're still no good... although a new hammer is always nice. ;)

ya that is true learn from every one here

but first i need to get a anvil and a forge

Not that it hasnt been said before, but an anvil can be anything, it doesnt have to like a mousehole or london pattern, a big flat chunk o metal from the scrap yard has been many smiths first anvil, also many large bench vices have a large anvil like area on them and can be found at flea markets and such quite cheap, and a forge can be built for a few $$$ check this out to see how I build mine with hand tools and a hair dryer, and I still use it 3-4 days a week for the last several months. RED CREEK FORGE also check out the getting started pages on this site as well as glenn's 55 forge blueprint, cheap, simple and effective every thing a tool needs to be. Dont be afraid to think outside the box and for goodness sake boy DONT MAKE EXCUSES, use your brain and start bending some metal, trial and error is part of the learning curve just exercise a safety minded approach and keep a journal of what worked and what didnt.

Sam,
Sounds great I cant wait for the updates!!! MORE POWERS!!! WOOT!!

I'll have to check into that stuff... HD has some stuff that sounds to be similar to what yer talking about but it is quite spendy at almost 50$ for a 12' by 2 1/2 foot piece. I think the high cost cos its painted(the only way it comes) and Im stuck using the hardware store type places as none of the roofing center want to deal with a guy that only needs a few sheets...

Thomas,
where did you get the propanel? the only place i found it is bar c roofing supply in santa fe, and frankly thats jsut too far a drive from Maryland for roofing

Over the back fence... I dont use any chemicals othen than occasionally small amounts of naval jelly if I come across something extra rusty that I want to clean up, quench waster steams off and just refill the bucket the goes back to the land thanks to the developers having to put in buffers btween the stupid yup mcmansions and the trash that lives up on the hill(me)

Sam,
So heres my question, what exactly is the difference between this and a tredle? I've dont want a power hammer as I try and have all my tooling availible if I aint got no power so I like human powered stuff... Most tredle designs I've seen wont do anything I cant do with a big hammer(yeah I know I'll regret it as I get older, but I've got lotsa those issues already) by myself as I dont have any access to a striker but once in a blue moon... so yer plan seems to be the answer as I'd like to starting making some sledges, broad axes and the like.

Looks pretty cool to me, if it works well, post some scale drawings I'd love to try one but I'm pretty machinery stupid.

And that counts as a bad forge day exactly how?

Go with tin on the roof, the other stuff is also kind of fragile if you ever have to walk on it or a limb falls on it. Unless I'm thinking of something else. The local Home Depot has the same (looking) stuff and a display piece has a corner broken where someone just snapped it off.

On the other hand if you use Ondura you can put a clear Lexan panel in for a skylight over your layout and assembly area.

More support and angle bracing is definitely in order as well. A couple windows will be nice but it's easy to put too many in. Light is only part of it, cross ventilation is important, very important.

Good for you all round.

Frosty

LOL yeah, when I went to HD to check the stuff out I saw all the Ondura was all busted and cracked... I just hate messing around with the ole standing seam(I always cut myself bad atleast once a job). I definately have plans for bracing before roofing(It staked out with guylines at the moment) but with having to put some new fence around the garden to keep the critters out and parts for the dishwasher so the wife doesnt put me out in the new shop to live I just couldnt swing the extra bucks for the additional material this week...but C"MON PAYDAY!!! My other thought was just gonna use corrugated as the I could put in some fiberglass skylights, but it ended up being just as expensive so I think standing seam it is. As far as the sides got its only gonna have 1 side for the present(for storage purposes) and tarps/canvas will make the remainder of the walls if needed. We're usually pretty lucky the climate is mild here and we dont get that much snow and very rarely any hail and I dont mind working in the cold and out here all locks do is cause you to have a busted door/window.

But cheer up young apprentice, although uncle frosty is no where near you do live in the machine shop capital of the world so finding all kinds of exotic metal should be no problem and with yer proximity to philly you should be easily able to hook up with some smiths

Ondura is asphalt based and needs LOTS of support... I have Ondura for a firewood drying rack and it needs the extra support boards.... also its heavier and not any cheaper (at least where I am...)

Thanks Moose, thats jsut the kinda input I needed, I figured it'd be heavier and as I'm trying to keep things as light as possible up there I'll pro'ly end up with metal and I think I can get it long enough to not have to have a horizontal seam.

I'd have to say that I managed to wrangle some good out of the day, I'm either planning on tin or Ondura depending on which one works out to be cheaper and lighter weight. I post the progress pics as soon as I get some more $$$

Well yesterday after church I came home and put the family down fer a nap and thought I'd sneek out back and bend a little metal(as I have a mothers day gift to finish before mothers day) well apparently smithing counts as not resting on the Sabbath so after burning through the fancy spiral/heart/courting candle I was 90% finished I swore off this stupid craft and decided to goto home depot to see what I could get with the $100 dollar gift card that was burning a hole in my pocket... so below are pictures of what $105.00{less fasteners, which I had} will get you with about 5 hours of labor. My new shop should have a reall roof by next week to keep out the rain. I hoping this will let me get more forge time as I'll be able to work in inclement weather and I should have less set up/shut down work since I wont have to drag everything back and forth to the shed.
The dimensions are 12x16 8 ft high in the back and 10 in the front