Wayne

If I remember the article correctly Jim sold his travelling shop to a heritage site who restored it - new roof, electrics and wheels.

Saw this set up at the Great Dorset Steam Fair the other week Wayne

Are there hygene regs for cooking utensils other than being clean? Stainless steel and aluminium are easy to clean and maintain which I suppose is why they are popular, you could try contacting your local council and talk to the enviromental heath department to see if there are any regs? I do not know how things stand re food caterers and businesses but I have been making spits, cauldrons and pans out of mild steel and iron for some time now for re-enactors and the only treatment I have ever used is vegetable oil. At home I have old steel knives that have to be washed,dried and oiled before putting away to prevent rust.

I had an old riveters forge to start of with.This was a side draught with no water tank, the tuyere was cast iron. For a small fire with small items it started out ok but as I progressed with bigger jobs needing a larger fire it soon started to burn away. You could try chopping some straw and mix it with clay then build around the tuyere - think sausage roll but the clay needs to be a couple of inches thick.This would buy you some protection and the straw in the mix should help hold the clay together when it cracks.When the clay fails just add more.

If your wife can spot a Peter Wright from a photo then she may have a good idea of what your stuff is worth, be careful :ph34r:

Hi wiseiron, Sorry to hear that, do you have any photos to show round especially the local scrap yards? Wayne

I caught the news at lunch time, one of the articles was about a local antiques center on the old RAF base at Hemswell just north of Lincoln. A lot of the old buildings have been turned into selling antiques and not so antiques as well as a large car boot on the Sunday. Anyhow the folks being interviewed were saying how the foot fall has increased as people realise that the older stuff - tools, furniture etc being sold was of a better quality and price than modern equivalents. Its nice to see that we have been leading the trend :D Wayne

I agree with Dan P, Proof marks tell you the gun was safe when it was made, not how safe it is now. As it stands you do not know how old the gun is and how it has been treated - used/abused. It would be a shame to ruin a nice old gun like that, get some advice on cleaning ( that will not destroy the patination and ageing) and keep it as a family heirloom. Or get it valued and use it to fund a new shotgun. Wayne

Sounds like you had a great time. Just one point I would avoid doing any fire welds at a public demo - molten metal and flux flying around is a big risk, just think, your anvil is roughly the same height as a lot of kids faces. Some parents can be stroppy if you burn holes in clothing burning holes in their kids tends to hack them off big time :ph34r: Wayne

First aid kit, extra water buckets/fire extinguishes, copy of your insurance policy, If any of your guy ropes or such fall outside your safety area then you need coloured tape/ribbons to mark them, it may not stop people tripping but at least they are marked for insurance. Extra things - eyes in the back of your head, ideally an extra person to watch the forge for you, while the forge is lit people expect you to be working, if you are having a drink and just pump the bellows to keep the fire in a crowd will gather. On your own it can be a long hard day. Do not be surprised to spend more time talking than working. Good luck and have fun

Thats a nice pair of scissors, I would be interested in the reference source for those if it is available? Wayne

Ausfire, It may be worth looking round to see if anyone near you restores buggies or such, iron work like that is often sought for. Wayne

That is true about Lawyers ( and other professions) but they do not do themselves any favours. Wayne

Hi Rik and Jim, I have not looked at the cameras but a new alarm system is certainly on the list By the way, a friend told me this the other day - my appologies if you have heard it before What is the difference between a lawyer and a cod? One is a mud sucking bottom feeder, the other is a fish. Wayne Let me get this straight, a member identifies himself as a lawyer, and offers help , and your reply is to insult him?

I have just spent the last three days fitting steel plate over the gaps between door and door jamb, steel boxes around bolts and padlocks so that you can only get your hand in and not croppers and I have been fitting new motion flood lights. Just the windows to sort out but they have bars across allready. If they want to get in they will, it just depends how much noise they want to make..........

Thomas, Here in England they are not considered criminals, they are poor misunderstood little darlings with lawyers who would defend pontious pilot <_< Wayne

The night before last I had been over to visit the in-laws, when I returned home later in the night I wandered down the yard to check things were ok only to find that my shop and the wife's carpentry shop had both been broken into. :( Not a pleasant thing to find, the upside if you can call it that was that there was more damage and mess than things taken, possibly scrappies or similar low life looking for things to flog. Spent that night and the following day making things good, fixing the doors replacing locks etc. Thieves - can't shoot them, can't bury them in the back yard..... Wayne

I have seen a demo on dvd where the guy doing the tinning on new brass/copper just used a squirt of liquid flux in the pan before rubbing over with the tin then with a bit of wall insulation. Wayne

Hello and welcome,' You will surely find a load of info here, I would also take a look at tin tinkers ( cannot remember if it is .com or .org) site as they cover a lot of stuff as well Wayne

Looking at the storms hitting the south and west of the country, I hope all you guys down there are ok. Wayne

Hi Basher The book if I remember was 'chain and anchor making in the black country' by Ron Moss Wayne

I saw a bok a while ago about nail and chain making in the black country, in the book they described hammers for chain making with two and three shafts depending on the work Wayne

I have seen similar shears used by beesom broom makers so not all are ''blacksmiths shears'' Wayne

I would only sharpen the end of the gimlet and leave the rest of the head blunt, if the full length of the head is sharpened then any runout as you turn the gimlet is going to cause it to cut the hole over size. If the sides are left blunt then they should guide and steady the head. A little trial end error should guide you as to how much to sharpen. Wayne

Worked all over Xmas, this is first day off so spent it with the family and took daughter to the sea side :D Wayne