mitch4ging

Wow....O dont think I like you, ;) i cant even make a nail look good! You must have more than one artistic bone on your body! Nice job!

The first one I built was one from an old freon bottle, which there are examples on the web. It is about 14" long with about 3" of fire blanket plus a fire brick for the floor. I have one burner, but with hindsight, I should have used 2 burners. You do have a large area to get up to temp. I now bought a NC forge, bladesmith model, gets hot fast. Like Frosty said, they are coming down in price and work great. But there is something in completing onr yourself and getting her fired up for the first time! Hope you get it figured out!

I think my wife's new flowers have died now.... another trip to get some more...oh goody! But at least the rain has been a good thing this year! Hope you guys get set up and start beating some iron. I have been practicing on nails, still need lots of practice!

Sorry, should have used Devon.

Hello, Bois. My name is Dennis and I amfairly new as well. Great info here on the ifi site. I am just down the pike in south Okc/Moore. Another group you may want to look up if you have not yet is the Saltfork artist/blacksmith group. They cover Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri area, and have events from time to time. Dennis

Thank you for sharing, Caotropheus!

It certainly is s good mindset to be able to improvise what you have to make it work, or make it work better! That is the good thing about this forum, full of folks like that.

Alan, thanks. Makes since now, realizing these open with an arc pattern, I am use to a bench vise i guess. Caotropheus, i do like u'r mount, may steal your pattern!? Dan, i hope your repair goes good, great help here at ifi! Glad i came.

Very cool!

looks nice, Sling! What steel did u use?

I know this topic is well covered in the archives, but I do have a question on one. My name is Dennis, and I am 50 years old, and hope i'm not too old to learn a new craft. I bought a 4.25" similar to the above vise, but mine is off vertical, the top of the jaws touch, but the bottom is about 1/4" gap. (photo attached, I hope). My thought is heat just above the screw box, put the face of the jaw on the anvil, then hit from the back side above the screw box? Or would cold be better, or not at all, as was advised with Dan's above? The vise is in good shape, threads and all, just don't want to damage it. Thanks in advance for any input! Dennis

Nice job keeping it organized! I appreciate my garage more now!