civilwarblacksmith

When using any type of coke, you need to have an electric blower or it will go out.

If you use an oil in the blower, you only need a small amount of 30 weight oil. The blower is not sealed tight and will leak.

WOW!!! That's a great haul.

I just got back from Oregon Ridge Honey harvest Festival and could not make the hats fast enough. I always enjoy coming back heavier in the pockets and lighter in the storage boxes. Something else that sold well was flint striker kits.

Hey, That looks GREAT Curly. The ones you punched through, were they the same gauge as the one in the picture? Judging by the picture I would say that was 12 gauge? I made a bunch today and pretty much them right away out of 16 gauge stainless. You have to be easier on 14 and 16 gauge, take more heats to swage. Great Job!

Cool, Very creative.

Actually it says $80.00. Still wanna Horse trade? ;)

Brought home a new forge from the guild meeting last week. Got it for $40.00. It needed a new bottom plate. I put a 1/4" plate in it had it punched on a CNC machine at work. Got it in and welded and going to try it out this weekend.

I was already a civilwar re-enactor when I became a type 2 diabetic. It scared me to be on the field after that. If for some reason my sugar were to drop would anyone know that something was wrong or would they just think I was pretending to be shot. So in order to stay in re-enacting I became a living historian, portraying a medical officer, then I portrayed General Fitzhugh Lee, R. E. Lee's nephew. I then took a class at the guild that I'm a member of and brought that into the re-enactment scene.

Here's the cowboy hat jig set up. The swage is 2 3/8'' in Diameter. The heigth shouldn't matter, as long as it is over 1". This one is 2" tall. The ears are built out to fit a 3" disc. 1 3/8" hole drilled through it. Note on hole. According to DJHAMMER who is on this site and also who I learned this from at one of our guild meetings. The distance between the hole and punch should be twice the thickness of the metal being used. example 12 ga.= 3/32 x 3 = 3/16. he also recommends using punch lube. The punch I use is 1". It has enough slop in the hole, that the punch doesn't get stuck. The hat turns out pretty nice. As far as the disc I use, it is 3" dia. and I use 16 ga - 12 ga. I mostly use stainless steel only because we don't use black mild steel in that size.

The cowboy hat is easy to make and I get the 3" discs as drop off and punched out of scrap at work. I charge between 5 - 8 dollars depending where I am demonstrating. Will get the dimension in a bit. I have to dig it out. Here is the jig for the corting candle. The entire jig is 21" across The coiling area is about 13 1/4" long of 1 " round with end necked down to 1/2". 8" until first large washer with a 4" long pipe sleeve in between the next large washer. Then bend up a handle and weld to shaft. Weld on a base to go into the vise. catch pin is 6 1/4" from end of coiling shaft. The candle base is a 4" ring welded on top with a 3 1/2" circle scroll welded to the 4" ring. That is about it.

It updated it just doesn't put it on the map.

I have posted a pictoral of the making of the cowboy hat in an album in my Gallery. They neat to make and people are amazed at the fact that you can. The picture should take you there and look in the cowboy hat album

I tried adding my info to the blacksmith Location that Glenn posted and it would not let me.

If you notice the blower end is about the size of a garden hose. Not much use for a blacksmith.

I will try to get some pictures of it tommorow with description and dimensions. It uses 1/4 round at about 54" long.

I do alot of re-enactment as well as demonstrating in non-re-enactment event and also events with the blacksmith guild. The wife gets upset cause most of my weekends are book from May - October. But he is a list of items that work for me. From Horseshoes: Hearts Hoof picks Fish knife From Railroad spikes: Coat Hooks Knife Steak Turner From Horseshoe nails: ladels spoons the above as keychains also rings, made cold or hot bend the point into a loop and put on a key chain Misc: handmade nails hand made nail key chains leaf key chains steak turners dinner bells s-hooks letter openers small forks flint strikers stick in the ground beverage holders I have a jig for making corting candles in less that 15 mins cowboy hats they are fun to watch being made

I used it some to eat the crabs. Personally, Dungeness are easier for my arthritic carpel tunneled fingers to pick. The blue crab turns red when steamed and are steamed with Chesapeake Old Bay seasoning.

Actually CG, I used spray Pam and lightly wiped it off. I put it in the Oven a 425 degrees for about an hour and a half. It ended up being in there for over 2 hours because I went to the shop and got busy. We did the trade item at our meeting today (Sunday Sept 28) and the funny thing was the crab eating tool that I got was Longhunter's who I'm training at my forge in Union Mills. We made it Yesterday (Saturday Sept. 27) at Union Mills. He did a good job on it. But as his (Tor)mentor, I graciously told him it was ugly. He knew I was kidding. He's been doing really great.

This is a crab knife/mallet that I made for the trade item for Blacksmith Guild of Central Maryland. Our trade item this month is something to eat steamed blue crabs with, a crab cracker, crab knife or mallet. Railroad spikes can be a most versitile shape when making rather unique items. The seafood knife on one end and then bend the top of the spike over in order to make the mallet made for a very comfortable shape. Since seafood knive are not sharpened, that area isn't dangerous as part of the handle. It was then coated in vegetable oil and set in the oven at 425 for 2 hours. We had a trade Item on a bbq tool and someone had made a spatula that he had place in the oven and cooked with no type of oil, just the heat from the oven. He said it has been used many time and washed in the dishwasher and has never rusted. The metal was file finished mild steel. Anybody ever heard of cooking it in the oven and metal not eventually rusting?

I bought 900lb in May and still have a good bit.

I have heard that soaking the handle in linseed oil will hydrate the handles and make them swell. This isn't a permanent fix as with age they will shrink again and need to re-hydrated. Should last a good while though.

I have a wooden bin that will hold 700lbs of coal plus a box close to the forge that holds 200 lbs.