Doug C

Justin, I am going to miss the spring meet, one of my sons is graduating college that weekend another one the weekend before. If anyone is withing driving distance the New England Blacksmiths spring meet looks to be a good one Dan Nauman is the main event and from all I have heard he is a really good smith. NEB Spring Meet - 5/15/2009 through 5/17/2009

I spent the day at the New England Blacksmith's open forge and got lucky. Bob Menard of Ball and Chain Forge in Portland, ME stopped by and gave a lesson in forge welding and cage twists. The results are below: my first cage twist.

Jeff, Your hook does not suck. You tried something new and learned some stuff along the way. It may not be pretty but it taught you a few things along the way. That is beautiful. every one you make has that same beauty. Sometimes it is an inner beauty because it taught you something and other times it has outer beauty because you put the lessonms to use. Just keep doing it.

These look really nice. Made my first wrapped hinged last weekend. Looking at that pintle I know what I'll be doing this weekend. Did you wrap the pin and weld or punch a hole, insert the ping and weld?

I made a nice looking hold down from an old tire iron. Shaped real nice. Fit the pritchel just right. First use i put the stock on the anvil, hit the hold down and it broke in two send half the hold down and the hot steel off the anvil. Lessons learned... Don't quench unknown steel. It can get brittle. Test tools made from unknown steel on something cold first!!! Fortunately the only thing hurt was my pride.

Mark, Once again you offer great advice. I would never have thought of looking at the problem that way. Thanks.

I would take a slightly different approach from the one Frosty laid out. I would build the temporary stand a bit on the high side and then stand on varying thicknesses of boards until I found the right height. I tried shimming my anvil stand and ended up with an unstable anvil. Also it is easier to add a board under where you are standing than it is to get one under a 200# anvil!!

I present baubles, shiny baubles with little stones in them. Nothing fancy or expensive (need to save the money for smithin supplies), just unexpected. Apply flowers to the above but not because you did something wrong, just because;). Now when the holder of the purse strings is in a moment of romantic weakness mention that you need that (insert item name here) real bad. Usually this works though a second application of baubles or flowers may be required.:D

Or you could start with a thicker stock and not make the area where the reins cross so large or thin. Upsetting in the center of a piece of stock is harder than doing it in the ends at least when heating it in a forge. You want the localized heat to only be about an inch and a half to two inches to minimize distortion. Mark Aspery did a nice post on upsetting the end of a bar. Go here to read it. Ask real nice and I bet he'll post something about upsetting in the middle of the stock.

As Mark stated , once you put any tooling or steel on the anvil it is no longer at the right height any more. Some one told me to keep some 1 by and 2 by boards laying around that I can stand on to adjust for tooling. They also work nice when someone shorter than me wants to use my anvil.

My wife and I have a deal. Any money I make selling stuff I can spend on smithing tools.

Previous post have state the obvious: Hofi, Yellin, all the icons of the trade and the amazing folks of all skill levels on IFI willing to share and teach (Mark Aspery is the gold standard for detail and making us think). Look at the gallery, what a gold mine. I also get inspiration from the iron work I see every where I go (Saw some amazing stuff on the Tufts University campus today) and from natural forms all around us.

My wife has a habit of giving me a new experience for Christmas every year. Drawing lessons, painting lessons, a weekend with a cooper then she hit gold and gave me 5 lessons with a local smith. I was hooked and now, according to her, spend way to much time thinking about and doing it.

GNJC, Looks nice. I made one based on a pattern I saw at a local forge. It has a loop made in it just above the bend that goes into the hardy hole. Having the hoop is supposed to give it a bit more spring and you can adjust the orientation of the two parallel rods a bit more. Here is a picture I took of it. I wonder does anyone else have another way of making one of these?

Can anyone find a reference in the literature about how this was handled 200 years ago before shops had electricity, old flat irons and engine heaters? I wonder just how much a blacksmith of 1850 worried about this and whether it matters for anything other than an anvil that's base is cast iron. Is this an issue for a one piece cast steel anvil? I used a flat iron a couple of times but where I work outdoors the cool weather wins every time so I no longer preheat.

Chris, Here is a link that shows you how to make a leaf. use a chisel for making your veins. iForge

you have one lucky aunt and quite a bit of talent.

This is pretty nice. Thanks for sharing. For Safety section I would add: Assume all metal is hot. Before you pick something up hold the back of your hand over it,more sensitive to heat, and check for temperature. If something heavy, like a 3 pound hammer, drops near your feet and you can't get them out of the way then just raise your toes. They will not get squished quite so easily and a lot of the energy will be absorbed by the time they get to back to the floor. If you need to pass a piece of steel that is hot on one end and cold on the other the person accepting the piece of steel grabs it between the passers hand and the cold end. Having a protocol like this will help prevent accidents. Under hammering Keep your thumb off of the back of the handle, unless you want to visit your local orthopedic surgeon.

Check Craigslist or Ebay for your area for similar tools.. Prices vary greatly based on where you are. Ask Frosty about the availability and prices on this stuff in Alaska versus FieryFurnace in Kentucky. A blower around here can be had for 50-100 bucks when they come available. Vices go fo 150-250 when they come up. No idea on the post vise.

Chris, I think the story is that if it is over the forge it goes face down so that the luck runs into the forge. Either way you have one heck of a nice shop. I am jealous. Doug

Nice rose. How about a blueprint for it? please?

Is there really such a thing as "The last anvil i'll ever need". Not when I see pictures of the Hofi Anvil...

Dave, Welcome aboard. Could you update your profile to show us where you are in Maine. Might want to think about joining New England Blacksmiths. As for my anvil, I think it is an HB based on feedback from the folks on IFI but any identifying marks seem to have been removed. about 144# as well.