Mad Rabbit

If trying to find magnetic north to do such an operation, one must take into account the affect of ones anvil, stock pile and all other large metal sources when pulling out their compass. Large sources of ferrous metals will throw off the magnet in a compass. If using gps, then never you mind. The Mad Rabbit

Those are some seriojsly cool wall hooks. They show both skill and effort put in on your part to make something both recognisable and unique. Keep up the excellent work. The Mad Rabbit

She works just fine for the work i do, but i still want another. Something close to the 200 lb range. But thats still a while off as i have no shop to speak of yet, just the shade of an elm tree to work under. In southern Illinois the winters get a bit too cold for me to be outdoors working, not to mention snow and ice freezi.g my poor girl. The Mad Rabbit

Alright, my turn. Here is my baby. A 100 lb vulcan cast in 1943. Found in craigslist, paid 225 for it. In pretty good shape and i thought it was neat that it was manufactured less than an hours drive from where i live. The Mad Rabbit

I have to agree with thor on this one. When using my 3 pound cross pein im choked up about half way on the handle, maybe 6 or 7 inches from the hammer head. But when im using my pound and a half ball pein for finish work im gripping just above the end of the handle. Possibly once ive built my muscles a bit more and gained a bit of accuracy ill choke down a bit on my big hammer, but as my baseball coach always told me, "its more important to hit accuratly than hard." The Mad Rabbit

Thanks much to everyones input. Ive decided im going to make a heavy duty secondary anvil out of it. Will be some time before i have the time and the resources to put it together though. When life slows down a bit i'll cut it to the proper lengths and post a few pics. And when i start the project i'll open up a new thread in the anvils section for everyone to awe over. Im hoping to have it done before the wnd of summer, but only time will tell. The Made Rabbit

Im not angry at all... just the opposite im delightfull happy most of the time. Im just mad as a hatter. I treat her like the queen she is, no worries there frosty. Im working on a set of heart for her now as a sneaky side project to give her though its hard kuz she LOVES to watch me at the forge. The coal isnt the best. Dont think its clean enough to forge weld with, though i havnt tried. But it cokes up very well so i can always just ise that if the itch to weld strikes me. Would love to get my hands on some metallurgical grade coke. Compare the consumption rates and the speed of my heats. Im a little out of shapr though, had to go 2 full months without any forge time due to lack of funds for coal. The Mad Rabbit

Absolutely the best girlfriend ever. She pushed me to follow my dream to become a blacksmith. She bought me my forge (break drum forge off craigslist) for my birthday and paid for half my anvil, which she also found (another craigslist score). 100 pound vulcan. I love her to death. She has been my motivation and inspiration. The Mad Rabbit

Until yesterday i was buying coal by the 25 pound bag. It was dirty and expensive (26 cent a pound). My girlfriend borrowed her dads truck and took me on an hour and a half long adventure to the Gateway Mine in Coulterville, IL. It was awesome. I picked up half a ton for $25 (2.5 cent a pound). It is much better quality and im very excited. Now i have enough to burn for the whole summer, and her parents have a few projects they want me to work on now. Double score! The Mad Rabbit

Thanks again frosty. What manner of rods would u reccomend? I would be borrowing my fathers lincoln tombstone (shaped) welder. Im not sure if it runs ac or dc. I would have to check on that. The Mad Rabbit

Im not greatly schooled in anvils but that looks to me like it could be an old mousehole. Even if its not thats a good looking anvil and u should pick it up if the price is right. My girlfriends uncle has a similar looking anvil but in much poorer condition. The Mad Rabbit

What would be the proper tamperature for pre and post heats for the weld? I took a few welding classes in high school and im rather a natural at it so i never bothered taking any advanced classes to teach me what i though i already knew. But im unfamiliar with the "ping and relieve" method u speak of. Sorry to blow your ear off with questions, i just like hearing from someone who so obviously has more experience than i. Thanks alot to all who can help, and a special thanks to frosty. The Mad Rabbit

I love the idea for the anvil Frosty. But would it work effectively? I know that rail has a tendancy to flex when used as an anvil sitting in its natural position. Would using it as a post anvil work better? The Mad Rabbit

I had thought about using the top flange to make a hammer. Then beveling the left over and attaching it to a stump via the base as a hot cut. All excellent ideas. Im still fairly new to smithing and dont have any slitting chisels or drifts to punch the eye. Guess i have a few projets to do to get me to the point of starting this project. Thanks again guys. The Mad Rabbit

So i have a piece of rail road track thats fairly heavy guage that i got from my brother in law. Its just short of 6 feet and weighs about 250 pounds. Im thinking of taking half of it and making a post anvil out if it ,even though i already have a 100 poind vulcan, just to have something else to beat on. That leaves me with about 3 feet left. Looking for ideas on what any of you would use it for given the chance. Fielding any and all suggestions. Thanks in advance. The Mad Rabbit

the thread was mildly helpful, but the ivba does most of its activities near chicago which is a 5 hour drive from where im at. and it seems like bam is mostly located in central missouri, about a 4 hour drive. I have limited transportation but I was thinking if there were some local st. louis area smiths we could get together for a hammer in or the like. ~The Mad Rabbit

hi everyone, id like to give preliminary thanks to all who have posted over the years as I have gleaned much knowledge from your words. I made a few things in a high school shop class about a decade ago and my new girlfriend has pushed me to follow my dream of becoming a blacksmith (thanks babe). I live in st. jacob, illinois (about 20 miles from st. louis) and was wondering if there were any local blacksmiths who would be willing to spend some time at the forge/ help me with a hook up for coal as I've not had much luck with finding any. thanks in advance for any information. ~the Mad Rabbit