ironrosefarms

Another source of metal I find is a couple guys who run landscaping and mowing services. Each year I get a good sized box of high quality mower blades in a variety of sizes along with wore or broken tooth shanks from grader boxes along with rake tines and who knows what else. All just for asking and the occasional forged item. I never thought of donuts for the highway crew, know a lot of other state paid employees who can be bought by donuts though!!!;)

I'm envious of your find. As a kid I got to watch as my dad took all of my Great grandpa's stuff to the scrap yard. Anvil tongues you name it... you truly have a treasure... James

On mine the rope goes through the loop or eye not around the driven rod. Also something I failed to mention was the loop (or eye) is rounded out so the square stocks corners doesn't wear through the rope. The curved section keeps the stake from being driven too far into the ground as well.

Dad did some occasional OA welding and taught me how but I don't know if I could ever do it with anything other than coat hanger wire as my medium:D I don't remember him ever using anything other than coat hangers when OA welding... I'm still trying to teach myself arc, my dad always accused me of making bubble gum welds... they are a bit better now but not by much. About one out of 10 or 20 welds are good enough to make me stand and gawk at my own work... My biggest problem is blowing out the metal I'm trying to weld, just haven't got a good grasp on amperage settings...

Here is a rough drawing of the tent stakes I make, just got an order for 50 of them due before Christmas... 3/8" square stock, bottom gets a little twist near the point, top is bent over on itself but not welded and the loop is for tying ropes to with about 5/8" id and is not welded either. Stake stands about 14" though I have made another set for my dining fly that are a full 2 foot long but are made from 1/2" stock. I have been using my first set of 10 of these for about 15 years with no cracking or major distortion and the dining fly set have been used for 5 years. The only problem is there is one at a local campsite that will not come out of the ground as my son drove it into a tree root and has now been there for 4 years, very obvious a lot of people have tried to get it out but it is still there and we use it each time we revisit the site. Last time I left a business card hooked to the stake, maybe someone will place an order for more?

Great work John, I should be up in the neighborhood of the mill sometime next month as our scout troop heads for Shades State park for a outing. I don't think the boy's will mind if I stop and admire the new door so long as they get to run accross the bridge! James

Just look at that picture, you can tell he worked real hard and real long trying to get that thing started. I didn't know there was laws about cruelty to lawn mowers!!! James

key keeper, that may be a very good guess. I have a sister in law who owns a very old commercial sewing machine that used the large cone shaped spools. More than once I have tried to con her out of the spool holder which looks very simular to the item pictured here. James

The scrapper thieves are my biggest concern. Scrap iron prices keep going up... It has come to the point it matters not how big or how impossible it seems to be, if opportunity lends itself you might just end up with it missing... I have a sister in law who after her husband passed closed down a concrete plant about 7 years ago. She went over to brush hog the out lot a couple weeks ago and found someone in the period of 3 days completely dismantled the plant and hauled it off. Some of the mixing structure was taller than a 3 story building... They even took down some of the fencing and the gates and took it with them too.

If you dig the hole I will drop them down to ya, Indiana to China should be a pretty straight shot going straight through the earth... I have one set for attatching to a bucket and a set off a standard warehouse type fork truck. I plan to use the more standard set in the shop as something to hammer on = "long anvil", the set to go on a bucket are for sale...

I think I will make a new set of tongs. I don't have any that will grab something as flat as a leaf and hold well other than a rather large set that just isn't good for retrieval from the fire. The idea of clamping the tongs and leaving it clamped sounds like the best option for my situation with my hands the way they are... Been thinking about making some new tongs... now I have a reason... May still get me a set of those long needle nose pliers as well, couldn't hurt... Thanks guys

Ok, I decided to make a couple leaf key chains for a friend today. The technique is easy enough and such and in the past I've made several hundred of them... but now I keep loosing the darn things in the fire when I go to grab it with the tongs. Part of this is I still don't have full dexterity in my hands since my motorcycle wreck, the brain knows what it needs the hands to do but the hands just don't co-operate as well as they used to. So when doing work on small pieces of metal such as a key ring leaf how do you keep the thing easy to grab, do you have a secret tong choice for your tiny work? Got a dumb apprentice willing to fish the piece out with his fingers? It has to be simple but my frustration level is blocking the obvious I think... I did finally get two made however four others were sacrificed to the fire in the process... James

Here is mine, I also marked out a bit of info to keep from getting junked... The real card looks a lot better than this though...

I have 2 Farrier anvils that I believe to be hay buddens, though I have never worked to see if there is any lettering on the sides or not? Both are about 250 lbs and other than the wear on the face they are nearly twins other than one having two pritchel holes and the other only has one. Any ways the story they could tell, one hasn't much story as the guy I bought it from knew nothing about it... The nicer one though has a great story. Bought new by a local farrier and horse trader. The horse trader sold the anvil upon retirement to his neighbor who was opening a auto repair shop. This gentleman made many a part of model T's and such until parts became cheaper to buy than to make. The old anvil just kept getting handed down through the family as the repair shop became an used car dealership. Seldom used and often in the way it got pushed off into a corner. Years later the dealership got a new oil furnace to heat the building. The oil furnace not being quite as tall as the previous coal furnace they needed to block it up to match the duct work above. They tried a cinder block but it was a bit to short so they shoved the old anvil under it and there it sat for at least 40 years. Out of the weather well out of harms way from the heat of the furnace and allowed to be out of sight and out of mind. Early 1990's I wandered in to look at a truck on this car lot. While there they was removing the now old oil furnace making room for an addition to the building. Immediately after the furnace was rolled out the anvil came out and the guys carrying it called out where do you want this old junk anvil. I in jest said in the back of my car. The owner looked at me and said you want it? I said sure what do you want for it? I gave him $150 (A good part of the down payment I would have used on that truck I was looking at) They put it in my trunk and I lived with my car for another couple years so I could have that anvil. 10 years later I did buy a truck from that dealership, first question out of the owners mouth when I walked in, "still got that anvil". I said sure do and plenty glad to own it. He just laughed and then proceeded to sell me the truck I have today.

I've heard about this father son team a couple times and it never fails to touch my heart. Here is a link to their website, it is well worth the time to read more about these folks... Team Hoyt

Normally in my parts poisonous snakes are kind of a mystical creature that they say exists but are seldom seen. This year has been very different. I think the heavy rains and flooding have sent all kinds of varmints to find new homes. So far this year on our 18 acres I have seen 3 copper heads at different times. I killed 2 with a shovel and the third escaped or maybe I escaped??? I am a bit concerned about not only my kids but my dogs and our livestock as well. The scout camp I was at earlier this summer has both copper heads and timber rattlers, per the US forest service personnel I spoke with they said their observations had been that snake populations seem to be on the rise. So this is a very timely and good heed to using common sense and keeping alert!

Bentiron your in my prayers, I can relate to the frustration of not being able to do the things you love. I was laid up for 2 years following a motorcycle wreck caused by a SUV who was in a hurry to get home to see her soap operas. Those 2 years was painful physicly but also mentally as I watched our farm go to pot as I could not do the things that needed done or the things I wanted to do. Keep you chin up and hopefully some of the ideas that have been offered might give you an outlet to vent your frustrations... Heck I learned to crochet while I was laid up to ease the creative juices...

Primarily contemporary Christian, but that is because of what is available on our local radio... however I love bluegrass and old country a good bit of 50's and early 60's rock and roll, I listen occasionally to classic orchestra's including Bach, Beethoven, Mozart and the like and modern orchestra's like that from movies such as Lord of the Rings. If you was to look into my CD collection or in my MP3 you would also find Christian Hip Hop, Christian Country, Christian heavy metal... So long as it isn't vulgar I very well might have it or enjoy it. My music taste used to be very narrow until I started running sound at our church about 10 years ago. I never knew what kind of music might come either from Southern Gospel for the older folks or the next day some Heavy metal scream band for the youth. I came to open wide up to learn what each style of music should sound like and found that there is not much I really can't stand to hear. I have found that forging to the sound track of any of the three Lord of the Rings movies is quite inspiring, especially for bigger projects. I have to be careful of what music might be on if I am doing delicate work though as it really does effect my mood and my results. James

You have my prayers.

MTForge named this company but here is the rest of their information City Coal Yard 116 North Depot Street Brazil, IN 47834-2112 Phone: 812-878-9859 Coal yard is just a couple blocks off of US40 in Brazil, Indiana. Also easy to find from I70 take State Road 59 North to US40 turn left (west), once at the traffic light with the Speedway gas station turn right and the coal yard is on the left. For best results call ahead to be sure someone will be there. As of about the end of June 2008 a 50 pound bag was $14 or $10 per 100 weight loaded into your truck or trailer.

I'll add another vote for the olive oil. I buy it for our kitchen in a gallon jug and just put some in a smaller jug for use at the forge. I usually apply it with a soft cloth after I remove the scale on the smaller pieces or on bigger items I have a spray jug (like you get to put window cleaner in) and just adjust the nozel for the best light coating spray. I just seen a couple indoor pieces that are not being used that are now 5 years old and other than a little dust the owner has allowed to gather they look as good today as they did when they was bought from me. James

Prior to my motorcycle wreck I never wore gloves, now that I am getting back to the forge I have found that the injuries to my hands have also made them a bit over sensitive. So I now keep a pair of gloves near by just in case. The only time I have ever worn a glove on my hammer hand was just a few weeks ago. After 7 hours of hammering (after not hammering for 2 years) I wore a very large blister... I put on the glove for the last 30 minutes to finish up... James

There are actually just three types of people in the world... Those who can count and Those who can't...

By far word of mouth and chance of discussion have been my best advertisers in the past. However, I am wondering what others have been doing that adds to the best method (word of mouth and chance of discussion). As I am really trying to get back to the forge on a regular basis I am considering what steps I can do to boost paying customers since many of my former customers have found new smiths... I am not really interested in trying to regain those who are happy with who ever they are buying from now. I think it best to build a new clientele... Somehow I don't think a TV commercial and full blown newspaper and billboard advertising campaign is in the budget... nor my style... so what has made sense for you in getting the word out? James

Thanks guys I truly appreciate the input. Now to get the time to work again. The time I had reserved for forging this week got taken by an uprooted tree at my inlaws... good news is no damage to their home, and a new anvil stump for yours truly. Next week is scout camp again so it may be a couple weeks but I'm gonna soak that bugger and see how much metal I can move. James