Gergely

Thanks again, Thomas! This is really valuable help. If the jaws don't fit "looking from the top" is it possible to grind them to fit? And I was thinking: have seen 30 or so post vises in Hungary, and only one had the leg. It was cut off from all the others. I can't imagine why. Gergely

Thank you, Thomas! To understand your words completely I needed this: (persimmonforge.blogspot.hu/2013/12/post-vise-diagram.html) I hope it can help others, too. Gergely

Dear All! I'm considering to buy a post vise which is pictured below. Its price is reasonable (even in Hungarian circumstances) and takes place not too far (again in Hungarian sense). I just don't know too much about recognizing flaws of vises. Unfortunately the pictures are not too good. But if you can tell anything about it I'd really appreciate it. Thank you for your effort. Greetings: Gergely

Ouch!! Aus, that hurts!! I'm in a quiet working environment so can't explain my pain as John did! My only help to release this pain is to think about how much more painful it would be not having time for forging all those nice materials. (Which is my constant trouble.) Let me quote Jim here: Forge on and make beautiful things! Greetings: Gergely

My vote goes to the angle grinder, too. You can cut, grind, sand, wirebrush with it on metal, stone and also wood (using it properly). Safety is an issue: goggles, long sleeves, some sort of mask when doing longer job, maybe tight gloves, clean environment and knowing what you're doing. Nice catch on the flat stuff! Greetings Gergely

That Rathole is magnificent!! So much elegance in an anvil!! Gergely

Nice find, congrats! BTW been there: I was looking for a suitable chimney for months, too. Only found a big hood-like thing cut from an old grain elevator (?). Then once I mentioned it to my father-in-law, who has already gained the good reputation as nr1 Maecenas of my smithing intentions. He called me to visit the local flour mill, where he works and we managed to find a complete set to build a chimney. Hood part: 44 cm dia pipe on solid stand which bears the whole chimney. Chimney part: 3 pieces of 33 cm dia pipe with attaching collars. Plus a "rain cap" on the top. He even had it installed, I just had to tell the instructions. Am I being spoiled or what? No pics yet because it got ready on Monday and I just tested it yesterday: got the camera with me but no time to take any pictures, there was too much fun. It's soooo good not have any smoke in the shop. Bests: Gergely

Hi Rob, Welcome and congratulation on the stuff you got. Those look really great - the wiser may tell more on the details but I think you got pretty nice gear. The anvil looks quite unused, some chips on the edges, which do not matter: it's useful in all ways. I especially envy the postvise, it's beautiful. Make a basic coal forge quick from scrap and fire it up to put these babies into use. (Here you find the how to-s about building a forge: ?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent>)'> ) Best wishes Gergely

That's just cool and inspiring, too. I really need something like this, my smoosh-o-matic can't fulfill all these functions in bigger stock matierial. Thank you for the info. Happy hammering! Gergely

I like it very much just the way it is. Both the shape of the blade and the rugged design on it with the grooves. Can you give the "technical data" on it. Blade length, thickness,OAL, etc. Thanks for sharing. Greetings Gergely

Hi Natkova, Try the local scrapyard for springs, bearings and axles, as Frosty mentioned. At the beginning these are the objects you can do all the tooling and axes and stuff from: Caterpillar track pins of old tanks are one of the best material you can find in Eastern-European scrapyards. Rare find though. Happy hunting Gergely

I like to have a horse's, a cow's and a deer's skull around in my shop. I got them as a child and haven't seen them for almost two decades. They have some comforting connection to the past in this new and very strange environment. Greetings Gergely

Well I might have seen some sort of great tree there... ;)

This was my first sold item. The cashier girl of the local scrapyard ordered it for her boyfriend's birthday. It's his name. Starting stock was 6 mm round, the letters are 11,5 cm high, the bottom is 32 cm long 4 x 30 mm flat. The price (about 15$) paid for a good 40 kg of coal. It maybe was a low price, but later when I took some scrap steel to the yard and she was in charge of scaling it a surprisingly big weight was measured. :)

Hey Man, I was gonna say something funny about us (as Mr. Frosty said) and some pain somehow connected together. Unfortunately can't put that into the right words. Anyways what I really ment to say is: get better soon, and I root for your health insurance - hoping you won't need to use it very often! Greetings Gergely

Well, yesterday was a pretty good day. Recently I have had some health problems and then there was a diagnosis of Crohn's disease. My physical condition has dropped in the last few weeks, and I was mentally down quite good, too. Anyways I decided that Sunday I gotta go to the shop and kick Crohn's xxx a bit. I needed a chair to sit down while the steel was in the fire, but I did it. 3 solid forging hours, even if I did only light work. My moral got pretty lifted up since that. Hopefully I can continue in long term. Bests to all: Gergely

Clutze here too. with some level of ambidextrous-ness: pen, knife, hammer, grinder, hacksaw only with left but throwing objects, heavy bags mainly, mouse, scissors only with right hand

Hi and welcome back! I'm wondering are we gonna see any heart shaped hatchets or hawks? :) Bests for both of you! Gergely

Hi All, and thank you for your help! There is a quite new vocabulary which I need to learn first to understand all of this but it's just more fun :) I will definitely check owwm.org, thanks VaughnT! Judson Yaggi: thank you for the pictures, those I understand almost completely :D I try to keep the lathe thing slow, I have had so many new fields in my life lately. Greetings Gergely

Hi Robert, That sounds like a very good idea. I just don't know how: The headstock material is in the way on both sides of the spindle cone (are these the right words?). I don't want to cut off pieces from the headstock trying to preserve the original state of the whole. Is there any way to make changes keeping the preserving in mind? Bests: Gergely

Black Frog: Nice feathers, thank you for the picture! I sent you a PM. Thanks Frosty for the idea. I try it while there's no torch in the shop. Greetings Gergely

Thanks Frosty and IronDwarf! I consider myself lucky on this. And thanks for the chuck tip - I don't know almost anything about lathes, but it's time to change that! Unfortunately it will take some time til I get it working. I have to build some sort of top axle holding structure. Then turn the whole thing 90' clockwise, and it weights 1,4 tons. Only after that I can learn the how to-s. Greetings Gergely

Yeah, that's the one I like to hear! :D Thank you very much for the helping answer. I am getting an oxyacetilane gear soon, so practicing will be on the list. Bests to you! Gergely

So my father-in-law told me once he wants to show me something, and I can decide then whether I want it or not. As you can see from the pictures it was really hard to resist. So I did not. He even got it delivered to my shop. I really can not complain. It's an antique top belt driven lathe from 1920's. In working condition, only have to install the top belt axle and the new main motor (5 kW) above the machine. And I need some big belts.

Hi Black Frog, Those are beautiful pieces! I love this feather shaped one! How did you do the texture? Fullering maybe? And the colouring: do you polish/wirebrush it ready and then use torch on it? Thanks and best wishes, keep on this awesome work! Gergely