Wayne

Cute and functional, reminds me of some of the rennaissance tools you see that have been decorated.

I have the local paper shop getting me a copy of the Carriage drivers magazine, I figure that would be a good start. Did not think about welding washers on, I was more thinkingthinking of jumping up ends of stock to give me mass to forge a couple of lugs, would need to watch I did not turn them up too fast and get cold shuts.

Hi Frosty Stupid of me to ignore the obvious, just suprised how soft the metal is. Charles, I am looking around but pickings seem to be slim this side of the water so far. But for a hand barrow which will not carry people or any great load I am just daft enough to have a go myself.............. maybe. Wayne

Hi Charles The springs are just like that and come in at 27" long by 7" deep.the metal is 1 1/2" by 1/8, I say metal as I ran a file over them and it just bit straight in. I tried six or seven other places with the same result so it is not what we would probably class as spring steel hence my query. The barrow is just a two wheel job, the wheels or whats left of them being around 30" dia. All the metal fittings are there its just the woodwork that is pretty shot. The body is about 4' by 3' by 9" deep. When they stop messing with the phone cables in the village I can post some pics. Till then I am using my mobile at work. I just wanted an interesting project.... Wayne

Hi all, I have recently acquired an old market barrow and judging from age etc I am thinking its pre WW1 possibly turn of century. It's in a pretty ropey state. So is a question of try and salvage as much as possible or use it as a pattern for a new build? My main question is regarding the springs it is mounted on, they are elliptical and really rusted and pitted and as yet I have not had chance to run file over to test hardness. The bottom spring is curved with both ends forged with two lugs, these are drilled for a bolt. The opposing spring has the ends rolled for the bolts to pass through. Each spring has two smaller springs mounted on the back, each smaller than the other, the ends of these springs are forged to a thin taper to flow in. A hole is drilled through the center of each set of three and a fixing bolt holds each set together, two other holes one each side of the central bolt passes through each set to fix to the body and to the axle. I am wondering if with all the forging and drilling if these springs are really spring steel ie en34 or something softer like en13? Diderot shows springs on carriages in the 1700's but again is this spring steel as we know it? Does anyone have any knowledge on spring production prior to the 1900's? Thanks Wayne

Not a good link, try this one enclumesdereve.canalblog.com

Found this page on Pinterest uk.pinterest.com/source/enclumesdereve.canalblog.com/

This little load followed my back the other day, one vice is missing the spring and fixings and the beam drill is missing its handles but that can be fixed

I went to the museum about 15 years back, the complexity of the medieval window grills was amazing. Do you have a copy of Decorative Antique Ironwork a pictorial treasury by Henry Rene D'Allemagne? He was the chap who set up the collection and the book is a 400 odd page catalogue of the collection covering medieval ironwork and onwards it is published by Dover publishing ISBN 0-486-22082-6

Using a wire cup on a 4 1/2 inch angle grinder back in march, the cup snatched jumped and chewed up my shirt. I still have the red marks across my stomach, I will not be using a cup brush again.............

If I can find it i have a copy of an academic report on women blacksmiths in the middle ages

Here is some Spanish footage of making and brassing animal bells www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIcbTyTPnoE&index=172&list=PL2FF16F0A5EF5A17B

Sorry Tom should check before post

Hi Yom, The tool on the right is for bending sheet metal work, you slide the sheet between the jaws and clamp it in a vice. There is a proper name for it but it does not come to mind ate the moment.

Trouble is its not just anvils, I have noticed tools of all types are going up in price - woodworking/carpentry tools, wheelwright tools etc

This may be slightly off course but I have been reenacting since my late teens and forging for the last twenty odd years. In march I was at a big reenactment fair and I noticed that a lot of the old faces of the traders and crafts folk I looked to were missing - retirement, ill health, deceased etc. I always thought of myself as a newbie but at that market I suddenly realised that myself and the folks who started the same sort of time as me were now the ones with the grey in their hair and we were steadily becoming the 'old hands'. even the ones I refer to as newbies are now in their forties. Can anyone here tell me if there has ever been a break down of members ages on Iforge? I think what really saddened me besides the missing friends was that as I looked around there seemed to be more folks buying in to sell than actually making things themselves to sell. Wayne

Hi Matt and welcome. You will find the entire range of smiths here from enthusiastic amateurs to full time profesionals all bringing something different to the table. The anvil is a great start, keep an eye open for the small ads in local papers, the sale cards down places like the co-op and farm/clearance auctions. Also check for steam rallies in your area they often have auctions of tools and odds and sods. If you have not all ready, read the sections on new smiths and starting smithing they should give you a grounding on the site Wayne

So here I am on a family holiday a couple of hundred miles from home. Hot sand warm sandy beach and I am checking iforge on my phone...... But it is all right. It is only a hobby and I can quit when I want too.

I cannot see why splitting and taking down - square, octagonal etc should be a problem. The vikings certainly had the tools and the skills.

I love the sun, just right to cheer up the day

I spotted this little lady on E bay a couple of days ago, £60 starting price no bids and only twenty miles up the road. So today I handed over £60 and home it came................. 17 inches from tip of horn to heel, 6 inch by 12 face and 10 inches tall. No pritchel hole a small hardy hole and the horn is slighty off center. I have not weighed it yet but going by the size of the body I estimate in the ball park of 160 lbs there are no markings I can make out at the moment.

How about these 50 gallon drums? http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/cal-lane-turns-steel-into-lace.html

Hi Carl, And welcome Which part East Yorkshire, any where near Donny?

If I remember there was a discution about sledges with multiple handles a year or two back but cannot remember which section it was in.

Ooops. It was film in Liege - sorry Belgium