inazuma_x

oooer...octagonal...is it a yurt or something?

yeah i've always been fond of ballpeins too...though the exclusivity of cross/straight/diagonal pein hammers is kinda nice too not to mention their usefulness they're pretty much impossible to buy off the shelf down here in AU though...i did see a cheap chinese one (with a plastic haft) that was marked as a demolition hammer...$9...i bought it coz you cant really go wrong for $9...have yet to use it...am kinda afraid its going to explode the second i hit anything with it though have got a new hardwood haft for it and everything...just need to fit it...

do a disappearing act on it at 2am for the dude who has 1000+ anvils i kinda resent that...and i am sure the anvils do too...they're made for hammerin...and if they are rotting away in some guy's collection...its kinda sad...doesnt he know that everytime someone buys an anvil without being intent on using it for what it was made vulcan kills a kitten...

hmmm that sucks...perhaps if you offered them a substitute antique piece of farm equipment they'd let you have it? like an old plow or something...cant really imagine an anvil being absolutely necessary for a yard ornament...

tim's getting alot of play today Arrowhead Tutorial

could you just order some bits in from the states? getting crosspein hammers down here proved to be pretty difficult...so i ordered some from OS...

i was on the cusp of making a washtub forge before i moved into my new house...i've heard they work a treat Charcoal Forge its quite an attractive setup too IMO

another good design i've seen around is using drum brake housings as the firepot.

yeah sorry i was thinking of someone else my bad yeah i've noticed this setscrew design alot of late and do think it'll be the one i go with. seems neat and not too fiddly when it comes time to swap over the nozzles. i've gotta say i think i am in love with this forge: Dick's Workshop - The Forge

here's my 1840's badboy...posted these pics before...but thought while people are talkin wilkinson i may as well the pritchel wasnt added later so it def means pritchel holes were fairly standard in atleast the early 1840s...it weighs 122kg (270lb) as it is now...couldnt see any markings as to its intended weight...but the proof is in the pudding eh? $800 well spent? probably not...but anvils are pretty scarce down here in AU i have been looking for a good one for about 2yrs...and as soon as i saw this i had to have it...drove 400km to get it...

i paid $800AUD for a 260lb circa 1840 wilkinson

xxxx...braidwood's a long way from me you should have fun though :)

Software Engineer here though that is just what i fell into. i am an avid history buff...always have been...if it paid better i would be an archaeologist...in my younger days i did a fair bit of sculpting, for which i won the odd award. mostly in clay and wood...but some stone and plaster as well...

another variation i make on this method is instead of hot chiseling in the central vein (and just leaving it chiseled) i either leave a ridge in the middle (but this can be a bit fat and undefined if you arent really careful with your hammer blows) or when the whole thing is more or less flat and the shape i want i place the leaf 1/2 in the step down from the face of the anvil and the table and using the same hot chisel bend the leaf into the groove...then hammer it back onto itself to fold it in 1/2 effectively...then heat again and using the chisel carefully prize open the 2 halves and carefully hammer it more or less flat again (avoiding the central vein that is being made)...this will give the leaf a highly defined vein on the back and a groove running down the middle which i think looks fabulous! i'll post a pic of one i did when i can find it in my pile of scrap at home this works especially well for gum leaves (have to work in a bit of australiana whenever i can)...and in some cases i even let the very thin edges of the leaf burn slightly in the fire...this makes a very "natural" dry leaf look which can look quite nice if used sparingly...might not surprise you to hear that i found this out by accident lol

.*anvil envy* :(

looks pretty good! for the next one you make: if you make a very sharp point on the bar before you start to draw out the leaf bits then you'll get a sharper, more leaf-like appearance to the point on the end...

awesome vid...brings back leaf-making memories i dont do alot of it anymore...but that's pretty much the exact technique i was taught to use... have you made leaves by forging in the vein by folding the leaf in half and then folding it back flat? along the central vein line? i personally prefer that style...bit more shapely IMO :)

post vices of that size are rare as hen's teeth down here...i missed one at an auction a few weeks ago am kicking myself i didnt keep bidding...was up to $160 and i bailed...weird...ah well :P

i am new to gas forging as well...but it does seem that gas is the fuel of choice for bladesmiths the world over...not quite as traditional as coal but from what i've heard (when talking about forging blades) gas has a number of advantages that make it optimal... as far as "adding carbon to make the steel stronger" goes...thats not really true...adding carbon will make the steel *harder* not stronger...which will mean it can hold a better edge...but also mean it is more brittle...bladesmithing (as far as i've been informed) is about striking a balance between flexibility and edge-holding capacity...the more carbon you have in the steel the better an edge it will hold...but the less flexible it will be...as with most things in this world...its a compromise :)

like Aeneas said. IMO the challenge there is the bastard sword...not the hooks to hang it on :P

the interesting part is going to be that an epee is actually a 3 sided blade not a 2 sided blade like a traditional sword...i would think it would be incredibly difficult to forge...especially given how thin and long it is... the epee is actually a modern derivative of the rapier. the 3 sided blade (similar to the 4 sided blade of the foil) was made in response to dueling in the 19th century changing from a "fight to the death" to a "first blood" style of encounter, whereby the first combatant to draw the blood of the other (typically by nicking or imparting a small cut) would be declared the victor...hence the epee traditionally has no point (with the exception of the 3 barbed point which was designed for modern fencing to make it easier to tell when a point had been scored...before the introduction of electricity anyway)...

a man after my own heart i've sunk $1000s into my smithing hobby...even if i never get a single dollar back i won't regret it and tongs rock! i love making tongs...a thing of beauty...deceptively simple in form and function...yet fairly difficult to perfect...atleast i find its difficult anyway as the old saying goes "making one is easy...making two (that are the same) is hard"

i bet! would be nice to meet her someday...a local blacksmith runs annual events called the "Hot Iron Muster" where he gets in smiths from overseas to do demos and the like...wonder if she'd be interested in the 2009HIM :)

i 2nd that! is quite a good beginner's book...nice color pictures too...unlike all the black n white stuff in MOST blacksmithing manuals...i dunno...not a big thing but i did find it nice for a change... one thing i did notice too...she's got some huge biceps on her :P

yeah i was actually thinking of swapping from rivets to nails so i could nail my shed together with ye olde hand-forged nails...before this whole neighbor thing happened that is...