Sam Thompson

Quoits used to be very popular in pubs around here (Welsh Borders), in fact it's the only pub game I'm good at! Unfortunately it has died out. The indoor version was played with rubber rings about 4'' od, 2.5''id thrown at a horizontal board with two dishes and a peg in the middle. The outdoor game was similar to Horseshoes and was played in a sand pit with quoits about 6'' od, 4.5''id. Both types of ring were made from relatively flat material and were usually dished, The dome had to land upwards to score.

The Natural England website is embarrassing to anyone who remembers CoSiRA (or RDC). Our whole country now seems to be run by semi-literate teenage girls.

I make a round point, neck it over the far edge and flatten the leaf with a full faced hammer from one side only; it's easy to see when to stop. The hammer marks can be made to give a vein effect.

https://www.alibris.co.uk/search/books/isbn/1869964144 Presumably these are the special editions printed on pure gold with diamond studded covers!

Mansfeld of Leipzig manufacture printing machinery Yes, I googled them!

Old wrought iron came in several grades according to how refined the grain structure was. Something like these hoops would have been made down to a price and as no significant work was to be done on them (forging, heavy bending etc.) they would have been the cheapest available. Wrought iron, like most other metals hardens with age (precipitation) and the broken edges will appear crystalline, in this state it is not really usable and needs to be reforged at a very high temp into stock. Scrap metal is scrap metal... Who else is going to buy it? Offer him a bottle of scotch (or the US equivalent) and let him stew for a few weeks.

In Britain fence post drivers are often lifted by wire rope, the bracket on the top of yours looks as though that could have been the method. I tried to adapt one of these (but smaller) for forging years ago but gave up. It was frustratingly slow and attempts to speed it up just made the cable tangle.

I've heard of something called 'Laffite Plate' (I think) which used to be available for this. I gathered that it became popular when wrought iron was going out of production and smiths had trouble welding ms. Or am I dreaming?

How do you use borax in a washing machine?

Thanks for posting that. The idea of leading some air up the chimney has given me a new idea!

There may be no visible smoke but charcoal still gives off CO and Co2 when it burns. Both are undetectable to us and both are dangerous.

P.S. You should always store regulators in the fully closed position (with no pressure on the spring) to preserve the elasticity in the components.

I've never come across a regulator that opens anti-clockwise, it works by compressing a spring to balance the pressure on the other side of a diaphragm. I agree with Ian; if you don't know what you're doing, leave it alone!

YouTube - Forged Titanium Knife

Yes, thanks for the help. I usually use a very fine linishing disc for this kind of thing. It's possible to get a hollow effect by using a 9'' cutting disc at an acute angle. It's the waviness that's throwing me.

The cutting 'corner' has rounded, I am assuming that, if there is enough hollow left on the inside of the blade I can dress the top edge in the same way as a straight pair.

Hi, An old customer has just given me a pair of those shears wit 'wavy' edges to sharpen. They appear to be hollow-ground. Does anyone know how to do this? Sam

The trick of making a bang by hitting hot steel on a wet anvil only seems to work once. Does anyone know why?

Very tidy job but not a 'side draught' forge as we Brits would understand it! By the way, I've found that keeping hammers too close to the fire can make the heads come off.

Another odd anvil on e-bay. Small Rusty Blacksmith Anvil 7" H 30Kg - eBay (end time 07-Jan-09 19:28:27 GMT)

I'll second that.

I agree with Dave Budd, the best by far is a stump set firmly into the ground... When did you last need to move your main anvil? A spike driven into the centre will hold it reasonably firm. Iron and steel stands, especially on a concrete floor give an unpleasant 'harsh' feel to the anvil and are almost impossible to get firm and level.

I use a bit of 1/2 '' bar and push the cork into the bottle... It wasn't going back in anyway.

My first proper job was putting points onto 18'' lengths of 3/4 round bar for pinning down concrete formers. Then I started making funny little hook things for steeplejacks; I haven't a clue how they used them because they couldn't get me drunk enough to go up the ladders!

It's always helpful if the handle lines up with the flat part of the rake (and the hook end of the poker so that you can more easily tell what you are doing