madwing

lawn jockey, i will try to get an answer to that question about arriving wednesday night. there will still be a lot of setup going on, and i don't know whether that's being accounted for or not. bill

​Yuriy, I am helping the conference coordinators with the conference program, and can answer some of these (if you haven't gotten what you need from the websites): * kirk mcneill told me to bring hammer(s), tongs, hot chisel, and hot punch. beyond that basic set, it's up to you. i'm bringing a 2 lb flat/rounding hammer, plus a ball pein, the one pair of tongs i've made (wolf's jaw) and a hot chisel and hot punch. * the theme of the forging contest is "plasticity". individuals or teams have 3 hours to make a piece, which will be judged and announced before the auction (all pieces will be up for auction). * there are a bunch of trees, scattered around the perimeter of the main grassy area and up at the north end of the park near gate 1. there *should* be enough trees, but i am planning on bringing a 10' square sun shade just in case. * as far as i know, you'd have to bring a firepit, i can't find any information about fires or whether they're allowed in the park. i'd err on the side of caution. best, bill

Gary Roberts posted this query on the oldtools list: "does anyone recognize this anvil and who made it?" '> Any info is helpful. Pretty cool anvil...

I am not quite there, sjs, I had Christmas presents to make, and am finishing my vise refurb (just have to get the spring tension right and build a temporary mount). I made my wife a little heart-hook to tie her over.

i went to a local steel supplier/recycler and tried to find some 20 ga. stainless drops (probably more than i'd use for four or five). didn't have any, and 18 gauge and thicker is too thick. good idea to use sawblades, but the woodorker in me says to use more modern saws, because the older ones have better steel for sharp teeth. please. :)

having one, i might just leave it flat and slightly edgebroken. thanks, vaughn.

I have a set hammer that needs a bit of face work. file it flat with a tiny radius on the edge?

frank, it's just shy of 60deg. but definitely greater than 45.

is that one of kirk's handles? i'm handling mine tonight with one of his. that's a near identical match to my cold cut, talk about rust! the wagon rim is 7/16" thick, and i'm taking 1/2" cuts (to make "square" stock). i've got it marked, and will put it in the vise so the marks are at level, then use the top of the vise as a registering surface and have at it. 4 lb sledge. i am hoping the propensity of wrought to split will work to my advantage, and that it actually cuts like wood would in the same position, long-grain.

Michael, I was going to text you, :). Thanks. Frosty, definitely not a maul. I am going to try to cols shear some strips off the wagon wheel stock, hopefully it will work. I might have to harden it, though...

i found this at a garage sale, and considered it because i could see the atha mark on it. i was *going* to forge it into a straight-pein hammer, but now i think it's a cold cut, and i should just leave it (now that i've reground the striking face and the 60 deg cutting bevel. is it a cold cut? what's the thickest metal i'm wanting to cut with it, or is it just for marking cold metal? thanks. bill

a roof.

as i predicted above, after the strip sander and the grinder came my way, the belt/disc sander has made its appearance. i was just gifted this by someone who purchased a powermatic 6x48 belt/12" disc sander: http://www.amazon.com/RIKON-50-120-48-Inch-10-Inch-Sander/dp/B002FB74XS still shaking my head...

that's what earplugs are for!

yeah, very lucky! it doesn't say anything but soderfors and Sweden on it...

125 lb. soderfors. from an old horse ranch outside salinas, about $1.75/lb. michael, your anvil is a treat to work on.

i agree with matei, it's s&cie. take a look at this website: http://researcharchive.calacademy.org/research/anthropology/collections/index.asp?xAction=Search&RecStyle=Full&Page=20&OrderBy=CatNums&Category=[any]&CollectionName=[any]&GlobalRegion=Europe&PageStyle=Multiple&PageSize=20 and go to catalog no. CAS 0389-1205. they have a measuring mug marked S & CIE. it's a measuring mug. there are three french silversmiths that used that mark: Séraphin & Cie, Schall & Cie, and Sauvezon & Cie. they also used these marks (dated) respectively: a scarab (1910), a cross ring (1907), and a basket (1878). french for anvil is "enclume". i couldn't find anything more. beautiful anvil, though.

3duck, beyond mcraven is randy mcdaniel's "a blacksmith's primer", and thomas mentions, weyger. both fun reads, and inspirational. not as much as taking a class, though!

cheers, ausfire. this is a brand-new thing. she's been pretty good with me bringing in tons of other stuff (for woodworking, valve stereo rebuilding, etc.), but neither of those have the bulk factor. i'm going to be making her stuff, that has worked in the past, too :)

that's interesting, bryan. i've been talking with a member of e clampus vitus about some of the things they use that are blacksmith made, and they don't have a blacksmith in their (larger) group at the moment. not that i want to join, per se, but i'm thinking of making some camp stuff out of rod and seeing if they like it. i'll never get to the point you're at, though, well done. bespoke chafing dish holders... :) bill

frosty, most things have to fit in the garage, or pass muster of MLW. so i know it won't overtake. i just know it. really. i do. gazz, you might be right. i've got to pull them out and play; i didn't have a look last night due to other time needs.

well, we live on a half acre :)

in my cba level 1 class we've been making tools. started out with some forms, to start learning technique, in mild steel. we then progressed to actual tool steel, using 5/8" round offcuts of drawn-out jackhammer bit to make a 1/4" round punch and a 1/8" x 5/8" slit punch. attached is a picture of them after annealing and filing/grinding to finish. i'll take them to class this week and i think we're going to harden and temper them. it was fun, and i've now got two more tools for my little arsenal of blacksmithery.

thanks, frosty. i am going to try them on a tin can tonight. and it keeps coming. so, saturday I picked up that sander/grinder. I was joking with my friend (and blacksmith mentor) Michael that I bet the next thing to come would be a grinder to replace the one I'd traded to him for a bottle of rye whiskey (a bit before I started setting up my forge). sure enough, sunday I was kibitzing while my neighbor across the street was trying to get his car started, talking with his dad. in their little shed where we were standing there was something that looked like an old belt-driven grinder half-buried on a shelf caught my eye. turns out to be just that, left behind when a friend of mine who is a bass luthier moved from their house to the house next door (he was renting it when they bought the house). and he told me it was mine if I wanted it. of course!!

i'm taking kirk mcneill's class, and burned up a piece of tool steel when i was xxxx near to annealing a slitting chisel (xxxxxx). he sent me home with the burned piece, as a reminder to watch my heat. i don't know for anything, really, so am going to cut the burned inch out of the steel, and make a little sandwich out of the wrought iron and the steel, and see if i can learn to weld. i'll play with little pieces and keep the stock to make my gate handles and whatnot. i'll give some to friends. i'll keep it whole until it's time to use it... thomas, thanks for the mini-essay about wrought. very interesting. you're dead right about the woodworker...he'd go crazy if that's what he had to work with and keep historical authenticity. hell, my mother-in-law bought old, ruined furniture in italy made of walnut and chestnut in the 1500s and 1600s so when she refinished a piece if she needed wood from the period, she had it...