BT

Hey Preston!

Are you still taking good care of my tire shrinker? :D

Riverman

I saw your other post asking for gig patterns also, so I will address both posts.

I make two different styles of gigs.

One style is a forged and fabricated style made from old pitchforks. The tines are cut down and reshaped to whatever distance you want between the tines. I weld on the barbs. The shaft is made from a 12 inch piece of

try this link for some pictures
Drought reveals giant hammer : Local News : Commercial Appeal

Clay

You can always hook up an old vacuum cleaner to a light dimmer switch and use the exhaust from the vacuum. Might be a little noisy, but plenty of air and easily controlled speed with the dimmer switch.

Hillbillysmith

One of the members of this forum (Tinkertut) is a beekeeper and sells wax. I buy mine from him. Look up his profile which has a link to his beekeeping site.

A Little Giant combination punch and shear that I picked up recently.

Welcome Tbarm, from another BAM member.

For those of you planing on attending the BAM conference, there is a huge discount if you send in your registration before the end of the year. See Blacksmiths Association of Missouri : ABANA affiliate. for the form.

By the way, I hope my wife is getting the point here. ;)

The original words definitley help. 3 swage blocks fits real well right there, where x punches punching fits better as a later line.

Yeah, that would be perfect for 6 or 7.

On the 4th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

4 scrolling jigs
3 swage blocks
2 pairs of tongs
An anvil that weighed more than me.

On the 3rd day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

3 swage blocks
2 pairs of tongs
An anvil that weighed more than me.

For the record here are the original lyrics:
Twelve drummers drumming,
Eleven pipers piping,
Ten lords a-leaping,
Nine ladies dancing,
Eight maids a-milking,
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree

Missouri coal sources from the BAM newsletter.

What name brand is the german one ?

Mike Tanner

Mike were you asking about my German anvil or the one Mende posted?

If you are asking about mine, the only legible markings on it is the date 1803 stamped in the front foot. Postman told me that these are very hard to identify as to a manufacturer, as this style made over a very long period of time.

That is a very nice looking anvil. Where are those made? The only ne I have ever seen with feet like that was a photograph of a medieval piece.
Finnr

Finnr

Go to Ebay France and search for enclume. Pretty common style for a French anvil. Try Ebay item 180180721232 for one example.

I believe that one may have been part of a Blacker power hammer at one time.

Frosty
Looks like a Vulcan 3 1/2.
See Illinois Iron and Bolt Co. Vulcan Brand Swage Blocks Catalog Swage Block Listing : SwageBlocks.com

I second Steve's advice here, join BAM. There are many BAM members living in the St. Louis area. There are also several other BAM members on this forum from time to time. The next BAM meeting is in Iowa, and the 2008 meeting shedule hasn't been posted yet, but there are ususally several meetings a year in the St. Louis area.

*What about the shop dog, cat, and should they be removed from the area when arc welding?

This is something I have wondered about too, Glenn. When my daughter moved to OKC this year, she left behind a 2 yr old Labrador that likes to hang out in the shop (and drink out of the slack tub). I always get him out of the shop when I am welding, but was wondering if animals are naturally smart enough to not stare at the welding arc, or if they need to be removed from the area.

I've read in some articles here that you really want sharp edges on the sides of the anvil for bending hot steel/iron.

Actually the opposite is true. You want to bend metal over rounded edges to prevent cold shuts in your work.

Bruce
If you are just looking for a replacement try this place:
Welcome to Gits Mfg - Gits Catalog - Oil Hole Covers

I do a lot of this weld using the wire frames of election signs for stock---a crop every year after elections and a bumper crop every 4 years after elections.

Thomas you must have richer politicians in your neck of the woods. The ones around here just use wooden survey stakes with the signs stapled to them. Only the real estate agents can afford the wire framed signs here and they get a bit testy when I help myself to them.

If your anvil is a London pattern with a step at the base of the horn, you should be able to weld all four rods very easily in the step. Wrap them with a wire, or hold them with a pair of bolt tongs that will keep them all contained.

Some people can get by with grates but I have never liked them. A better way IMHO is one slot in the bottom of the pot about 1/2"x3". This can be poked out with one stroke of a poker - multiple holes cannot be cleaned effectively while you have a fire going. Once you do get going, you'll probably want to work longer than the few heats you get until a clinker forms.

Very true HW. I always cringe when I see someone making a firepot with a bunch of drilled holes in the bottom for the air blast. I like two 1/2"x2" slots about an inch apart in a fabbed pot. The old Champion pots had three similar slots in the bottom.

BTW, I use an old Buffalo forge also. I just picked up a like new replacement Vulcan firepot for it as mine is just starting to crack. I don't have the original rheostat for mine though, I'm running a dimmer switch on it. I can't remember if mine is the 2E or the 3E blower.

Jayco
Several old smiths around here that I knew did the same. They always referred to it as ground temper. Never tried it myself though, as it seems to me that the water content of the soil would vary so much as to give inconsistent results.

Don't know about 3 sins. The way I always heard this was that there were only 2 blacksmiths in hell. One was there for not charging enough for his work and the other for striking cold metal.

One other thing to consider is the size of the opening. I was always told that the area of the opening should not be larger than the area of the flue. A ten inch stack would have an area of roughly 78.5 square inches. The ten by twelve inch opening you have is 120 square inches. So your opening is one and a half times the size of the flue.

When I built my side draft, I made the opening eight by nine inches since my existing stack was a ten inch round. It draws very well even when starting a fresh fire with a cold flue.