bajajoaquin

It's the Expedition Portal forum. A group for off-roaders focused on traveling by 4X4 rather than rock crawling or mudding or similar. There's a member there with the same user ID.

Off topic, but are you the same FordPrefect on Expo?

Good advice, thanks. And Old n' Rusty, I had forgotten about saving the bottoms. I'll make sure to do that.

The group you want to check out is the Vista Forge chapter of the CBA. They're at the Antique Gas and Steam Engine Museum in Vista, just a bit down the road from you. Their site has pretty good information on the classes available. It's a good group of people. Until buying a fixer house, I was a regular there every month. I'll be back again shortly, too.

My step-father just closed down his medical practice recently, and asked me to help dispose of some of the last equipment. Among the things he had were some smallish oxygen cylinders with the little rolling carts: the kind of things you see people with emphysema rolling around. Just since I have a weakness for free wheels, I grabbed them. But then I remembered that gas cylinders make good gongs if you cut the bottoms off and hang a clapper inside. I'm guessing that, since they held oxygen and not something flammable, I can make a fixture, and cut them with an abrasive wheel or band saw. Is this correct? Other than removing the regulator and valve, are there any other precautions I should be taking?

For a moment, I thought we were going to be hearing some stories about the night Grandpa got bombed!

My rivet forge has a similar bracing set-up to yours, although mine is in much worse shape. I'd guess that the pivot in the wood is worn, and allowing some additional movement. But I'd also guess that it isn't a precision-fit part, and will always wiggle. Remember that "better" is the enemy of "good." Get used to how it works, and start a fire!

I have a Hill of about 185 pounds. Nice anvil. I think that when you're talking about any of the "known" anvil makers, the quality will be sufficient. I would be more concerned with condition and size than with brand when talking about an anvil 150-180 years old.

That's a really good idea. Talk about coming at the problem from a different angle!

I disagree. It's a crappy anvil, don't get me wrong. But for $20, it beats hammering on your work bench. Can you get it for $15? If you buy it, and keep smithing, find a real anvil, and move forward, it will be the best $20 you ever spent. You will win every "my first anvil was worse than yours" contest. But seriously. For $20, buy it. Don't think for a moment it will be satisfying, but at that price, when you find another anvil, you will feel like you can cut up the remnants to use in other projects, and feel like its money well spent. And, you'll know why anvils are shaped the way they are.

Hmm. I understand the need to keep spammers from just trolling for free advertising, or from playing favorites, but I'd have liked a bit of perspective. You're a regular, productive member of this foum, and you made a relevant post in the right section about something that was on a lot of people's minds. You didn't post pricing, or go overboard. You simply made a "press release" to the target audience. I didn't find it inappropriate. Just my opinion.

Wasn't Larry's post about selling Grant's line of forges in a separate thread originally? If it was merged, could it be put back in its original thread? It might be easier to find in the search function in the future that way. If it wasn't, never mind. It's just my memory playing tricks on me.

I knew I should have been more patient before spending a chunk of the money I had saved. Well, I've only set myself back about 6-8 months, so look for me to be contacting you at the end of the year.

In San Diego's Old Town, there is a blacksmith shop which is supposed to look period correct. They are also barred from using coal (even though it wouldn't have been period correct to use it, as Thomas mentioned). I don't know why they didn't use charcoal, but I do know that they use coke. Unfortunately, that means they need a hidden electric blower to keep the fuel going.

Or at least a good scorching!

$450 sounds like a pretty good price. I just bought a forge, rather than making my own, because I have so many projects, it seemed like building the forge kept getting pushed back behind the others. I had also saved up the money to buy an induction forge from Grant Sarver, but with his passing that was no longer an option. So I had the cash, but not the time. Of course, I always feel envious when I see the forges other people make from scrap for cheap. I feel like I paid too much. But then, I've had the parts to build a forge for quite a while, but never got the time. So it was a question of spending or not doing. That's the decision you are in, right? You work full time, watch after a family, and have lots going on. If you have the money on hand, I'd say buy it, and get to forging. If money is really tight, then you should do what I didn't: set a plan in place to get started on building your forge bit by bit.

Thomas, don't put too much stock in my summary of the conversation. As soon as he said "International Harvester" I was thinking that he was full of it, so I didn't follw the next bits too closely. I may have misquoted him. Or he may just be that full of it. But I totally agree with your assessment of the style of anvil.

So this came up for sale in San Diego this morning: "This anvil has a long and colorful Kentucky (Bluegrass) history. It was used for blacksmithing (shoe-ing horses. I am 65 and used it in our barn back in Louisville; as did my father and grand father and his. It was weighed at 357lb. and takes three men to uncomfortably move it: downsizing and forced out of necessity to sell it. Make reasonable offer! Ed @ XXX-XXX-XXXX Anytime Its around 2 feet long and 10inches wide. Those are 8-10 lb. hand sledges at the base of it, and a large Porter Cable router in the cabinet- to give you an idea how-large it actually is." He got $1200 for it. Buyer got a pretty good price in this neighborhood. Just having remodeled a house, I was only able to go to about $2/pound, so I was hoping to get a real deal to jump. The guy said it was an International Harvester, produced for the Civil War. I don't know about that, and I don't recall IH in Anvils in America, but I could be mistaken. Looks like an old PW or Mousehole to me.

From the size stock he's using, it probably doesn't fit in a pocket. Probably fits just fine in a purse, though.... Thanks for the clarification on the flattening sequence. Even if you made a mistake in your wording, I'm glad you did. I think it will improve my own leaf-making. My wife will be very happy about that.

You know, you mention in the video (or write, I suppose) that you usually flatten out the leaf first before drawing. I do the same thing. But looking at how it works, I might start drawing first. I don't have a good set of bit tongs, and I'm always frustrated by the leaf turning in the jaws. Until I get good at making tongs, it might be just as effective to flatten after taper.

Herb, you're right. There are actually two air gates. One is on the inlet of the blower, and the other on the tuyere. The lever is set up to act on the tuyere-side, and that's the part that is unconnected. I understand, however, that it's better for the blower to choke the inlet side, to prevent overheating. But probably with the amount of forging I do, there's not much down side to choking the exhaust side. I might get finer control of the air flow that way.

As I posted in "It Followed Me Home," I picked up a coal forge over the weekend. Actually, it's a coke firepot, but I'm likely to burn coal, since I have an easier supply of that. I don't have much detail, other than a simple back story and the photos. Apparently, there was a blacksmith school up in Northern California that stopped teaching. Dave Vogel, who is one of the instructors at Vista Forge got his hands on 8 or 10 of them or so. One of them found its way into my truck. In case anyone wants to see pictures of how it's set up for future reference, I've included a few pictures. I fired it up last night for a quick heat. I had never used an electric blower before, but I managed to avoid burning my work. The current plan is to leave it as-is while I fab the parts my hand-crank blower is missing, and then convert it to that. It was also the first time I've used that Hill anvil, and forging some staples for it is also high on the list!

A blacksmith school went out of business recently, and Dave Vogel at Vista Forge salvaged a bunch of forges. One of them fell into the back of my truck over the weekend.

Looks like you made your fire poker out of a Harbor Freight pry bar. Since I got my set of three for like $9 using one with a handle to make a poker is a pretty good idea! Nice forge.

I have two comments for you: 1) Nice tongs. I made my first pair as part of a class, and one of the things they said to do was to forge down the edges on the material. On yours, you might want to heat the reins and forge out some of the rebar texture. It may be more comfortable using them over the long haul. 2) Did your level come as a part of a set? I have the same one, with the magnet, that came with a bigger one. Empire, right?