divermike

please consider praying for my aunt Patty, she took a bad spill and seems to have broken her hip. She is an 87 year old ball of fire, and she also is the reason I relocated to Michigan, she is a very strong and stubborn woman, which will be good in her recovery, but in some cases of the elderly, a broken hip can be a virtual death sentence. I sincerely adore this woman, as many do, and I am praying for her healing quickly. Thank all of you who take the time.

I recently picked up a civil war wagon forge, it, a wagon vice and a few tools fit in my 5X10 enclosed trailer. Good to go!!

Jim was a great guy. Always willing to pass on his knowledge, he came by every time I took a class at Touchstone. A large hole has been left in the community with his passing.

I do quite a bit of teaching, I explain everything ahead of time to manage expectations, I then break the project down to various techniques, explaining the step by step process. I then do a technique, then have them do it, then I do the next one, and they follow, and so on, untill all the various steps bring them to a project completion. Sometimes tools need to be made, but I always stress the techniques, and explain why if they get it correct, it can be transferred to endless other projects. I stress correct technique, not perfect projects. They will get it in their own shops after their own trial and error.

When I hosted the Gennessee chapter of the New York Blacksmiths I painted all of my tools colonial red so there would be no confusion of tools. So when I found a little Giant the same color, I figured it would fit in with all my stuff just fine, and it does!

Quad State provided me a nice little tongue vice for demo work, I also picked up the hardy stake (a beast) at a local event in Southhaven Mi. a couple months ago, where I was helping a local smith demo, and a couple students locally obtained a couple kegs, (empty sadly) for my shop, they will soon be quench tanks! Some of you who attended quad state probably saw me walking the little vice around showing it to all my pals there.

To address the original question about setup, the 3 step rule is a good one, nothing you need to work on during a hot piece forge, should be further than 3 steps away, 2 is better. and the quench bucket can be further if you keep a small jar or pitcher full handy. Everyone on this site seems to espouse the triangle theory, but I have not needed that to be so needed in my shops, just accessible. A clear working area is most valuable to me, I hate bumping into, and stumbling around stuff. So I surround my forge area with racks of tooling, so it is about waist high, easy to grab stuff, visible, and out of the way. Always keep your medical stuff close, I keep pine tar close for burns, extra safety glasses close, for some reason I knock mine off or turn quickly and they fly off cause I'm sweaty etc. Gotta have a stereo located at the entrance, on when in, off on the way out. Fire extinguisher near the exit as well, don't want to be running toward the fire when it hits the fan, get away, decide if you can put it out, then get the extinguisher.that's all I can think of for now, good luck.

And if you do want to do some smithing, or sell it, I'm in Kalamazoo!

For my business, rule #1 is 50% up front, that weeds out so many of the design change issues, questions and fakers, I charge for estimate extra time, and also for test pieces, I don't get a lot of commisions due to this, but I also don't have the stress and frustration. The information above is excellent, that info, along with a good contract, (and understanding contract law), is vital to any business. Understanding your client base, as well.

it's good to have pals in the cyber world!!

I'm coming down either thursday night or friday morning, my pal Bob Trout is coming down from Rochester NY, it is the one time of year I can get together with him. Looking forward to seeing Clay, and Jim and Wayne and all youse other guys!! Wonder if Black Frog is coming down? I will have my Iforgeiron shirts on!!

The problem with this whole endevour is I am not in charge of the timing, the owner has an insurance business that keeps him hopping, and getting him to go out after this thing is very difficult. He cancelled twice on the first trip. If it were up to me, we would have gone back already. But if it is meant to be, we will get it, if not, it has been a fun adventure. More to come.

With my compliments to Mr. Postman, and his book, Anvils in America, I believe the anvil looks something like the upper oil drillers bridge anvil so wonderfully described in his section on Bridge Anvils. Hopefully the attachment comes through for our viewers.Bridge anvils.pdf

Well we found it!! Had to drive and hike and metal detect and dig dig dig, but lo and behold it was pretty close to where he said it was. About 12 inches below the surface. Problem is, it is huge and the water kept filling in and collapsing the sides of the hole. We got a rope around it and moved it. I has to be all of 400 plus pounds, it looks like a bridge anvil of some sort. It is just an iceburg for now, we simply did not have enough muscle to haul it out. We are going back in a few weeks with a tractor and come along. For now the adventure continues.

More precious than rubies.....

Woke up at 4:15 am this morning thinking about it, got the detector out, cleaned it up, replaced the batteries and ran some videos on using it. May take it out to a park at lunch today and do some testing, but finding the beast will not likely be too hard. Better safe than sorry though, and if the anvil is there, maybe some other stuff is as well!

At long last we have a schedule to go find it, we may not get it out of the ground, but I should have a much better idea of what it is, we heading up midweek and taking my metal detector to locate it, I will bring a shovel to see what size it is and how much of a pain it will be to get it out. Oh yeah, and a camera, so it can be properly chronicled on the great iforgeiron forum!!

oooooooooooo.....aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa nice shop! As to the tool, I can't make 90 bends with mine, it has rounded edges.

really great, I have a bench inspiration photo of something very similiar, it and your photos make me want to get the saws and forge going, thanks for posting.

Steve, I am sorry to hear of the loss, I would be honored to help. I have an authentic bellows, out of Avon NY, a farriers shop, it is intact but for the leather and abit of repair to the nozzle. It is yours if you want it, I have been blessed by so many smiths giving me time and material, this is my chance to pay it forward. Email me at nelsonm@kalamazoocity.org if you think it is something you can use.

That's a good one. Jim is full of it..............good ideas I mean! Always willing to share, and a heck of a good guy when you have questions.I missed that hold down before, so thanks for posting it.

I spoke to the fellow again, the water is slowly subsiding, and he just told me this anvil was used for the oil rigs, and he believes it to be well over 500 lbs, he said I could have it for a smaller anvil and a couple of lessons, it looks like late this week or next we will go assess it. I will take pictures of the adventure "Raiders of the lost Anvil"!

I got it from a great guy named Stuart, really a great guy!

nelsonm@kalamazoocity.org

Frosty...nope, Erik...just message me and we will work it out! or email me..nelsonm@kalamazoocity.org