arkie

You can still buy leather laces. All my lace-up boots have them. Some 10-15 years old. I never use the synthetic laces.

Congratulations. Nice anvil and clean-up. It's refreshing to hear someone just wire wheeled it and didn't try to use a grinder. Hats off to you!

It might have a steel face, but if it was in a fire the temper may have been removed and it is just soft steel.

JM, my table is made from 1/4" plate, and holds a brake drum fine. I have heard some use 1/8" sheet but you might need a brace across the bottom to prevent sag when it gets warm. I saw a brake drum forge this weekend that a guy made in about an hour from a stainless steel, two level food table/cart on wheels. It was about 18" x 30". It had a fairly thin top and the guy unscrewed it, flipped it over and the lip around the edges held his coal in. Even the thin stainless held the drum arrangement fine. They may have to brace it underneath later.

Nice sturdy stand; it should serve you well. If I may, here's a suggestion for hanging any hammers around on the stand. Use round rod for the loops rather than flat bar stock. On my stand, made of 4x4's, I made a strip from 1/8" bar stock with loops in it and screwed it to the base. The first time I used it I noticed that when dropping or placing hammers in the loops, the edges of the bar stock started chewing into the hammer handle. I took that off and replaced it with loops made from 3/8" round rod and in 4 years have had not one hammer handle damaged.

It looks like the face has lots of rust and "crud" (that's a scientific, technical term, BTW ). That, along with some pitting, will attenuate any bounce test. You might give it a good, stiff wire brushing, NO GRINDING!!, then test with a ball bearing to see if the rebound improves.

The bathroom exhaust fans (aka "fart fans") aren't nearly powerful enough to do what you are wanting. They range from around 40 to 100 CFM and the 3" or 4" orfice just won't have the capacity for dust extraction. Search for dust extraction for better results, just my 2c worth....

Look for "metal recycling", "scrap metal" or anything similar in your yellow pages. Call any metal fab or welding shop. Check with some auto repair shops and aftermarket lift shops. Also, check with any blacksmithing group near you. If you live in a large city, the scrap metal yards will seldom let you in for contractural and insurance liability issues. Scrap yards out in the small rural towns are a better bet. Prices vary, call them for info.

Mark, you are an inspiration to smiths, young and old. You do beautiful work. Sorry for the loss of your dog....BTW, tears have no age limit You'd be surprised how many old dads sneak off in a dark room and shed a few when no one is looking.

Sorry you can't make either of the BOA meetings. We have some excellent bladesmiths in the organization. Maybe when things turn in your favor you can attend one. As for brake drum forges, you really don't need to clay one. The cast iron is tough and the ashes, small coke and your tuyere, whatever it is, tend to "insulate" it a bit. Mine is four years old and shows no signs of deterioration. Besides, if it does become problematic, just pull it and put in a new one from the scrap pile. Free drums are not as expensive as store-bought ones. One more reason for not welding everything in place.

Great video! Really enjoyed it and learned a lot about forge welding chain links from it.

Jay.bro, The River Valley Chapter of Blacksmith Organization of Arkansas, BOA, will be holding a meeting in Dyer, AR on April 1. About 2 hours from you I believe. The Central Chapter of BOA will be meeting in Hot Springs, AR on April 15, a little closer maybe? At either of those meetings, you can meet some fine and experienced smiths who may be able to help you with your smithing questions and provide some hand's on training. PM me for information if you are interested.

UPDATES AND CHANGES FOR BOA April meetings: BOA Meetings scheduled for April, 2017: NW Chapter: April 15, Gentry, AR (Tired Iron Tractor Show) NE Chapter: April 1, West Plains, MO Central Chapter: April 15, Hot Springs, AR River Valley Chapter: April 1, Dyer, AR

Alan, those 3M bifocals look interesting, I'll have to check into them. Thanks for posting the link.

Some kind of hold down for the anvil is more for keeping it stable, and some for sound. If you do much sideways hammering on the horn, you will quickly learn why it's a good idea to hold that sucker in place (unless it's 300-400 pound behemoth, which ain't goin' nowhere!!). Your flat bar and lag bolts should work just fine.

Great looking forge, Camerican. Looks like it draws perfectly. Well done! Yeah, the thumb-on-the-hammer-handle is hard to break sometimes. You might consider configuring some sort of hold-down(s) for your anvil to stabilize it...bars, straps, spikes, hooks, etc.,etc. Look through IFI and you will find a myriad of ways to do it. If your anvil rings badly, try wrapping some heavy chain, like 3/8", around it a few times.

Irondragon, our BOA website is WAY out of date, but we are trying to get it back in shape. At least Jay.bro can use it for a starter. Some of the older newsletters are archived.

I second Fatfudd's recommendation on Postman's book about the Mousehole Forge. Fascinating reading! I'm not a history buff by any stretch of the imagination, but my son got me a copy for Christmas a couple of years ago (along with Postman's Anvils in America). I couldn't put the Mousehole book down! You can really get absorbed in the way the old anvils were forged and the equipment they worked with. Every blacksmith should read it, regardless of what kind of anvil they use.

Thanks to you guys for posting the info on IR safety glasses, including the list from Cooper safety (Couchsachraga). I have been meaning to get some and this jogged my memory! I ordered some that should fit over my Rx glasses.

I searched for beeswax toilet rings only to find that they are now made of a petroleum base, not beeswax. I even wrote to one of the major manufacturers of the rings and they confirmed that theirs were petroleum based and that they knew of no current manufacturer who used beeswax any more.

He must have meant a different size! 12" would weigh in the neighborhood of 490# per foot!

12" square stock is pretty large and heavy!! You might be better off going to an industrial metal fabrication shop for something that big. How in the world would you plan on handling something that large, anyway?

Robert, welcome to IFI. Beautiful roses!

Nice chain, jlp. Very smooth welds. I need to practice chain welds a lot more.

I use 2" black pipe also, works for me.