Sam Thompson

Sometimes I have difficulty making them square!

I've always been led to believe that the size of the fuel makes a difference to the oxidising/reducing qualities of the fire. The surface area:volume ratio and the size of the gaps between the grains allowing more or less O2 (from blast or atmosphere) into contact with the work As you say Dave the diagrams etc. are true only in an ideal world. Don't Japanese swordsmiths set great store by the size of their grains?

What happens when you drop tools/work into it?

Blacksmithing coke in the UK also goes under the names 'breeze' and 'Sunbrite Beans'. Any coal merchant worth his salt should know of it. It has recently become scarily expensive (

I've got an off switch to cut it off! I should mention that I use coke (Breeze) which goes out in about five minutes without a blast. What I need to do is keep the fire at a given size with the variable draught and use the gate to cut it down when I'm working without disturbing the power of the blast.

I prefer to have the main vice fixed to the left-hand end of a bench (my current bench has .25'' steel top over two 1'' layers of oak with the legs concreted 18'' into the ground) in line with and at right angles to the heel of the anvil. Moveable vices are useful if you need to move them but are a bit of a pain for heavy bending and twisting.

I've got an air gate but I've never been able to make one that gives accurate control... I use it to turn the blast off while I'm hammering (it allows a little air in to keep the fire going). At the moment I'm using rubber tube with a g-clamp but the noise of the fan at full speed is annoying me and the only other plan is to put the blower outside the shed. This will transfer the annoyance to my neighbours whom I like. I've had several 'boxes with a knob on' that have done the job in the past but can't find one at the moment.

I wish I could make biros.

Does anyone know where I can find something to vary the speed of my fan (UK single phase is 240v 50Hz)? I use an old washing machine motor and some bits of a leaf blower which I've had for years. What sort of broken machinery should I scavenge in? I may not have mentioned it before but I live next door to a scrap yard, so there's a good chance of finding something.

You can make little trivets and plant pot holders

Another good way of modifying your trousers is the sparks from an angle grinder. If you set fire to the hem, they can smoulder away until you look like a surfer.

I think you should shoulder the rivet at both ends and rivet the outer end first (hot) then put the other end through the crank. If you warm the rivet quickly the metal of the crank will protect the wood while you peen the end.

Some anvils have a step at the bottom of one side for upsetting medium length bars.

Why not turn/forge the end slightly narrower, leaving a shoulder for the washer to sit on and then peen it cold?

No, I don't think it's one of mine, although I do make ramsheads like that, I've always used a bigger punch for the nose and eyes and twisted the horns. That one's rather elegant... Perhaps I should change my style!

Sharp sand is sometimes sold as 'Plastering Sand'.

[ Sam, is it one of yours, can you be certain? 19'' long, top twist has chiseled lines, then there is an X in a box, another twist half way down then it tapers slightly then widens before it tapers to a point. Would be nice to know who made it.

Does anyone know what happened to the drawings that were kept at Salisbury?

Whether it's a gazonta or a gozroundit, it's no use without a gozinner.

Isn't propane a by-product of coking? or is coke a by-product of gas making?

I've seen similar (although smaller) lumps of metal set into large wooden beams to act as bearings in very old mills. There are sometimes signs that a softer metal has been cast inside around a shaft.

I call it the CFH (cor f***king hell) factor and add 10% to the price of the job if the customer wants to watch!

I like the leaf in pics 5-9, I've never thought of going beyond the basic model- the cut edges are very effective. I've often noticed that chiselled veins can detract from the 'spontaneity' of the piece, you have over come that nicely.

'This fact was not "scientifically" realized until our Liberty Ships began to crack up in the North Atlantic during WWII.' A few years ago I did some work for a (British) chap who was on the first Liberty Ship to return to the US. He mentioned that the cracking began around the square corners of the holds and that it was cured by radiusing the angles. By the way, the first ship back carried trilby hats and condoms...gratitude eh?