Charles R. Stevens

I will stick with my 12” “Swiss army” vertical rail, lol

Cast iron stands were a thing, I like hybrid stands, 3 square legs (just easier for me to cut and weld) and a block of wood. Tho all steel tripods, wooden blocks, ply and board or welded plate all work well.

Failed analysis as it applies to battle damage is it’s own animal. As we usually get to see the damaged equipment and personnel that make it back to base, we forget that those are successes and not failers. that many times patched mail shirt is the one you want to study, some one survived to have it repaired, otherwise it would have been broken down into pot scrubbers because it was a cursed object.

Wouldn’t that be the crew chief, Cav?

The real world is a much kinder place than the one on the evening news

That there is a big hammer! They must bread ‘‘em big in the Netherlands!

Steve can forge weld some exotic stuff, if he can’t he has a couple of sadistic mentors that send him care packages that probably can!.

John had beat me to the punch, I just reiterated his thinking

The question in our minds is is it magnesium or aluminum. A few scrapings lit with a match or lighter will tell you the difference. The aluminum will just sit there and the mag will light up and dance. Zinc alloys are heavier than aluminum.

I have seen them 3 ways, pointed, 90 deg and strait chisel. Sometimes mixed in the same dog. I always assumed they were for different jobs.

Build a set of short walls and set one of those sheds on top so you have room to swing and then add some rigid insulation to the ceiling to keep the sun from baking your brain with radiant heat and a small tin shed becomes a nice little shop. lit you make the walls bench high, then bench becomes part of the wall. Girder furniture helps stiffen with light construction. the framing for the bottom of the wall will screw down to the top of the wall. It can be as simple as salvaged pallet wood at as elaborate as brick. 1” patio stones make a nice floor.

Plastix is an IR reflective coating. It improves forge effecency/temp

Hard fire brick is a heat sink. It will take a long time to heat the mass and then it will start to radiate heat back into the forge. When we talk about “fire brick” or “soft fire brick” for forge building we are talking about insulative refractory bricks. Different animal. Fix that and then let’s see what else we can refine to make your forge effecent

Not at all. Tho I get laughed at for forging from all 4 sides of the anvil, lol . all depending on the project.

Sadly once you have an anvil, most jobs require it. How did we ever get along with out one?!

Nice forge.

I have a philosophy largely I think most here share. I don’t care what uniphorm you wore (wear) or what flag you served. If you strapped on your boots, your a brother (sister). I new a German Veteran who lost his leg jumping into Italy who took some of us under his wing. All he saw were wet behind the ear kids, and offered sage advice over a beer about officers, NCO’s and duties. he didn’t see us for the heathens we were, just as the soldiers we should have been.

I grab junked no freeze covets for the brass rod to

Oh my innovatory runs smaller and larger.

I also use large gauge bronze brazing rod (rebuilt a couple of spinning wheels) and found it’s interesting material to work with.

“Smells like money” at-least that’s what we used to say when we framed open a burnt up Transmition (and thrush to day).

No rule says you need a 4# hammer, tho I can swing a 3# most of the day I actually use a 2# in my day job (farrier). Longer handles, better technique and properly dressed hammers will move a surprising amount of metal. I use 3# 1/2 round cross and strait peins over the horn. This allows me to move a lot of metal quick. Sharper peins and anvil edges really help to set down and isolate areas for efficient work. work smarter not harder is a thing, we used to laugh at the “old men” fallowing the shade around the job sight. Now we are the old men. south center Al Oklahoma ramblings…

Yep, of corse my side of the anvil simply call it forging a shoe.

It isn’t so much the cow dung and the silage that offends my nose.

As opposed to optimal tweaking? Or the the obsessive tweaking we find to be nessisary?