Doug C

Head Wind ..

pall - a cloth, often of velvet, for spreading over a coffin, bier, or tomb.

The ring dogs we used on my grandfathers farm were all flat. Don't know the dimensions but I bet they were at least 1/2 by 1 1/2 at the widest point. They looked exactly like the one in the pictured here

Both Thomas and Rob raise good points. Heat evenly. Read that as using a low air flow and contrary to many things I have read do not wait for sparks to appear. Bad things happen to steel went it burns. Thomas' description of melted butter is better than when I said oily. Just keep looking and experimenting. As Thomas has said in the past When it works for you it is what is right for you.

John, Here is how I was taught and it works pretty well. It assumes you are using coal. Make a beehive style fire. Use a deep and high fire, damp coal, forms a hard shelled dome. In the front of the dome facing you open the dome enough to put you pieces in and still see the part in the fire. A slow constant air flow works best. The inside of the fire should look yellow. Now look closer and you will see three shades of yellow, this is important later. Get the pieces to an orange, brush off the scale and put on the flux and get back in the fire. Watch the pieces. For larger stock I turn them a bit to get an even heat. When the steel's color matches the middle of the three shades of yellow and looks oily its welding time. When you pull the steel out of the fire it will smoke like mad. That's the boraxo(I use it too). I hit in the center of the length to be welded and work my way to the ends, trying to force the flux out of the weld. I hit light as I found hitting hard breaks the weld apart if it get cool. I repeat the whole operation, flux, heat and hammer until I am happy with the weld. I was told that for the first several heats after the weld is done heat to the same temperature to work the piece. Others here have way more experience and better technique. Hope it helps.

Great BP. I always wondered how this was done. Might be fun to try and make my own vise once I am retired and have lots of time.

Port..every port had a blacksmith to make ships riggings

In the north country I always heard it referred to as a Thunder Jug.

Good for you. Had to work today so could not come out to Gloucester. Are you displaying at any weekend events this fall?

Harp....What blacksmiths hear in the great beyond

I keep looking at the Reffinhaus South German Style (HC59 to a depth of 1 inch). Even I might have trouble denting that bad boy. Here is a page with an interesting discussion on anvils. It may help a bit. Previous forum threads include: Help Selecting an Anvil Decent Travelling Anvil Anvil?

1.5 is what I use. Others, more experience, may have a different answer.

I use mine on the left for a few reasons: That is how the forges I was taught on were setup, my forge was manufactured that way, I like to use my right hand when moving stuff around in the fire. Seeing as how tradition is malleable why not change the way the thing is mounted. If there is no room for the stand on the floor could you mount it on the wall? You could mount it at forge height or shoulder height.

Archie, I tried to do a search on 'waste oil forge' but because oil is only 3 letters and hence ignored I got back a result list of virtually every page in the forum. Do you have any plans, pictures etc for your waste oil forge? I am surprised that this thread did not get more attention.

I have been diabetic for 20 years (type 1). About 15 years ago the Red Cross realized that my blood was as good as anyone else's except a bit sweeter! Once the ban was lifted I have not had any trouble donating. A1c below 7 is pretty darn good. I went on a 6 month diabeties vacation and hit an 8.3. I am off the apathy wagon now and expect a 7 next visit.

Maddog, I wonder how many of us use swage blocks. The lack of response could be that many folks do not. I would not be using one if I had not gotten a deal on one. I do not use it for much but I keep learning and see more use for one. I like what you have done and like you I use the edge forms almost exclusively so your stand would work very well for my purposes. Nice work.

I would also be interested in seeing a blue print. I really like the portability of it. Great for demos..

I have taken a few first aid courses and if you are going to use a freezer pack or gel pack make sure it is wrapped in a few layers of cloth. According to the red cross instructor I had A cool damp cloth or a tub of clean coll water is better. Cool being the key word. Too cold will just cause more damage. Save the ice pack until you've been had the damp cloth or tub doing its thing for 20 minutes. Just like you avoid extreme heat you should avoid extreme cold especially on damaged tissue.

Pamela Anderson:o

Lake...What I jump into after a hot August day at the forge.