ThorsHammer82

Shoveling it into a bucket seems like a lot more trouble then throwing a top on it and a cap over the air inlet. 10 seconds and I let her sit to cool down for about 30 minutes while I clean up what I've been working on, and the mess I've made then move it back into the shop.

get a brake rotor and cap the top with plate and add a handle to it. That's what I use to snuff my forge. I also cap the air inlet. takes no time at all to kill the fire, and lots of coke left over to start the next one.

Are you able to flip the location of your blower and the pulley/gear axle mount? it would appear from the first picture that the shaft for the blower would line up with the larger gear. If you can swap the locations it may line up right... but then again, that might just be an optical illusion. it almost looks like the larger gear may have been replaced with the wrong size?

are both photos your forge? is it possible that things are not mounted in the right place? What I mean by that is, where any of the parts difficult to mount where they are now (assuming pic 1 is yours in it's assembled form.)

"Never harvest more than you can grow." My great grandfather - Farmer I've always taken it as never use more than you can get out of it. Kind of a "waste not" statement that applies to just about everything.

My 5 yr old has already helped me with one small smithing project. But the 3 yr old isn't ready yet for the shop. Not yet at least. I'm sure they would love the swap meet. They love tools, and working. But it's still a matter of convincing the wife to make the stop. lol.

I've seen some of his stuff. very cool work.

Possibly. I'll be in the area, but Saturday Morning I'm helping set up/monitor a garage sale at my Grandmother's house, and then in the afternoon, we're taking the kids to the Pacific Science center. I'll see if I can convince the little lady to let me take a detour.

That is awesome! what are the scales? Very inspirational for another project these same friends want. But a bit out of scale for the current project.

all guard rails around here are now steel posts with cable rails. The concrete will be shaped to flow water away from the posts, and the ground in the area already does this. I've had plenty of time to think about the location, and I'm confident it will suffice as long as at this current property. If I don't move in the next 2-3 years, I'll be extending the roof of my shop over the area anyway so it only has to last me a couple years at most. After that I'll re-evaluate the mount and when I do eventually move, I'll move the vice to a mobile mount.

yes, steel would work good. but I'm using what I've got, and I don't have a steel pipe large enough/thick enough for this purpose.

by treating, I meant putting something on the outside (tar/asphalt) to seal the wood. Not actual pressure treatment. The posts were previously posts in a green house that was built in the 50's and not seen any TLC for at least 10 years and show no signs of rot or decay besides a splintered end from the skid steer knocking the building over. I couldn't say whether or not they have been treated, but based on the age I'm guessing not. I understand the concern about premature rot/decay but I honestly doubt I'll be at this property long enough for it to affect me. It's been an unusually dry summer so far so I'm hoping if I get everything sealed and in the ground I won't see any shrinkage, and if I seal it properly I shouldn't see much expansion in the winter to cause the concrete to crack on me.

yes, I do all my drawings on graph paper. 1/8" squares. The concern is more about my own skill level more than anything else. I still count myself as a very novice smith as I've only had one short lesson and very little practice time.

frost if/when we see it is only a few inches. I'm not worried so much about upheaval from frost so much as stability and strength. I've already belled out the bottom of the hole to prevent upheaval anyway. I'm thinking I might need to go to 24"-28" diameter on the core because If I leave it at 20 I've only got about 2" of concrete at the corners in some parts. Maybe I'll just square out those spots to give me more concrete there... (edit - Frost line requirements per city is only 12" deep. So little to no frost) So far for the vise rebuild and the mount I've spent out of my bank account $6.99 for the color paint I wanted for the vise. Everything else so far has been sourced for free. Even the concrete will be purchased with a gift card I got for my birthday. So I'm stuck with the wood I've got. I'll be treating the sides with tar/asphalt, and the top of the post as well, but leave the bottom open on top of crushed gravel. The distance from the Ring on the leg to the bottom of the mount is 34" which should give me a finished height at the top of the vise of about 42". So if I go with the 50% rule to the top of the vise I should go down another 6"-8" then fill with 6" of gravel which would make my posts for the vise ~58" and shorter for the post the post anvil will be on. one of the taller posts will be notched to accept the RRT anvil set vertically at a later date.

it sounded like he wanted the iron between two sections of gold. so wouldn't the gold encompass the ring during the pour, and then when you remove the gold from the sides to get the "sandwich" look, you might get some of your pattern back because you've removed the gold, and some of the iron that was in contact with the gold on the sides of the ring?

why is it to deep? I'm using what I have. I understand it's not idea, as it's big and heavy. But from my drawings I think it will turn out pretty nice. Now to find out if I can make reality look like my drawings.

I'll discuss the spit idea with my friends to see if they like the idea. As it stands, the oars will support the grill over the fire, and the mast will be removable for cooking on. It's not going to be lite. the main grill will be made out of 2"x3/8" flat stock that this friend gave me. Thank you for the links. and yes, I had searched "forged dragons" but on google, not yahoo. Yahoo seems to have been far more productive.

Yes, wooden posts. They are salvaged rough cut timbers. The sides were already painted, but I can definitely treat them more if needed. Do I need to dig deeper for the clean stone? Or will 18" be deep enough for the concrete? the soil drains well enough, and the vice will be mostly covered by a tarp until I extend the roof, at least during the rainy months. or as we say on this side of WA, year round.

As I've posted earlier, I recently picked up a 5" post vice from a forum member that was in need of a little TLC. It's is just waiting on it's final paint, and a place to sit. I want to make a non-mobile mount for it outside my cramped (12'x16') shop. I've taken care to give it an industrial finish to be able to stand up to the rigors of the elements until I extend the roof of my shop. But I want to know if my plans for the mount will be adequate. I plan on mounting the vice along with a post anvil, and a vertically mounted RRT Anvil on 6"x6" (5.5"x5.5") posts set in concrete. The plan is to have 3 posts set flush together in an "L" or "T" formation. The hole I've dug so far is 20" across in the center and 24" deep from the ground surface. The top of the hole is 36" across x 6" deep. Will this be enough for my purposes if I use rebar to reinforce the connection between center core, and the top flange? I plan on setting a plate in the concrete at the base of the post vise to spread the impact/load of the leg across more of the concrete.

I'm about to start a project that will have a dragon head & neck. I haven't been able to find much as far as dragon heads. a few videos on youtube, and a couple posts here and there that include a dragon head. A little story on the project. The dragon will be on the prow of a Viking longship fire pit grill that I'm going to make for a friend. They, and I don't want a "nice" dragon on the prow, nor do we want it to look period to Vikings. but I'm afraid that may be the best I can do as this will be the first project of this type I'll be taking on. Anyway, if you don't mind posting your dragons to help give me some inspiration as to the type of dragon I can try for it would be greatly appreciated.

that is really awesome! just as an aside, how much does that beast weigh?

Chris, I have several craftsman power tools. Bench grinder, disc/belt sander, Bench top drill press, Table saw, and bench top band saw. The only one that has ever given me any trouble is the band saw. It was not purchased new, but given to me by my grandmother who used to be a wood carver (everything from small figurines to 50' totem poles) and was probably 15-20 yrs old when I got it. As it's been at least 10 yrs since she's been able to do any real wood working. I'm thinking there is some corrosion on the contacts/motor that is causing the problems that I'm seeing. It will stall out and not want to start back up. but like I've said, I haven't torn into it yet to find out. The table saw was a garage sale find for $35 and is probably at least 10 yrs old and has not given me any issues at all. The rest were all bought new about 5 yrs ago and are all working perfectly.

I'm in Olympia/Shelton. so it's about a 2-3 hr drive for me to get there. But welcome to the forum Wannabe from a fellow PNWer.

My first thought was make the meteorite ring then put it in a mold and pour the gold over it then remove the gold to get the desired "sandwich" look. would be hard to get the gold to flow evenly around the ring I would think. granted I've never tried this, so I'm just grasping at straws. The more experienced members will chime in and lambast me if I'm completely off base, but it would be deserved if I am. just seems like the easiest way to accomplish the desired affect.

the seller isn't willing to palletize it?