ausfire

Wow, Das, I wish I had Wile E Coyote to go with my roadrunner. Well, I guess I will have to make a scrap coyote and you can make a scrap roadrunner. I have done a cattle dog and a sausage dog (wiener dog) so Wile E shouldn't be too hard. Have to find some old cartoons for a model. And yes, he needs a trip to the demo with you. He'll get some comments for sure.

Correct, Das. Snake mouths are not the cleanest. I have been bitten by carpet pythons on occasions (my fault - too slow) and it's important to wash the wound. It's an old wives tale that the wound will erupt every year … another of those anachronisms that gullible people tend to perpetuate. And yes, NO sucking of the bite from a venomous snake. Compression bandage (should always be handy) and get to help - FAST.

A picture please!!

Billy, that's a great treasure chest you have there. What is a gang box? I'm assuming it was used by a gang of workers - railway gang perhaps? Obviously your Dad has done some concreting/tiling. All handy stuff. Loved the pic of the unfortunate mouse. That J.H. Williams wrench is a scrap lizard just waiting to happen.

Tying knots in stainless is not easy. Hard stuff! Well done. Now challenge yourself and make a knot pendant from copper rod! The opposite to SS - soft and melty. And Frosty … not pedantic about the snake, just accurate. If you bite a snake and you die, it's poisonous. If a snake bites you and you die, it's venomous!

You never know, Das; Glenn may have eaten one.

I use it to fool the school kids all the time. They are amazed at my immense strength when I pick it up by the horn with one hand.

Slag, her fears were allayed when I told her that I just about doubled the anvil's weight when I painted it!

Funny thing was we had one visitor who commented that the anvil did not look very secure and she was very concerned for our safety working under it.

Not really what I did in the shop today, but what happened in my shop in my absence. I arrived at work to find that my joker workmate had rearranged a couple of things. A scrap art bird (that looks a bit like a Roadrunner) was placed so that he was looking at some 'free birdseed" and an anvil swung above his head in the manner of a Wylie Coyote ruse from the well-known cartoons. It's a bit hard to see from the jumbled background of my forge, but you get the idea. Gotta have a sense of humour.

It looks like my Kohlswa has a hardened plate but perhaps the line I can see is just the transition from the hardened section to the rest of the body. I accept that the Kohslwas were cast steel. The dimensions of mine are not exactly as in the table above. A = 4" B= 14 1/2 inches, C = 24", Hardy = 1'', Pritchell = 1/2". Closest to 125 lb I guess.

Very nice work Ted. Now you need to make some metal plant baskets to take away the plastic! I like your exacting work with those inlays.

Not me, Billy B. I think you'll have to credit pnut with that warning. I have heard of raining fish, but a sharknado would really be interesting.

Thanks for the info, Dan. I'll get the dimensions on mine and see how it compares. Mine has a faceplate though, unlike the aforementioned one solid block of Swedish Charcoal Steel. (What is charcoal steel anyway?) So the faceplate anvils were made before the North Star anvils?

I'm not much of a forge welder either, Ben, but you just have to keep at it. I get by, but never do it as a demo … too many sparks and not enough confidence. Read up on the threads here about fire welding and you'll get lots of good tips. The best way of course, is to get someone to show you, using your forge. You are probably somewhere that you can find an experienced smith to demonstrate the technique. I don't have that luxury and I have never seen anyone forge weld.

Tourists are the endangered species up here! Some, usually from Europe, just don't understand the dangers. Marc1 is right; we need a cull. (Of crocs not tourists). No, you can't get a nuisance animal cull permit for crocs, Pnut. The pollies and greenies won't be in it. When the crocs start eating people on the Gold Coast they might listen. There would be plenty of well-off trophy hunters over your way that would pay ferocious amounts of money to knock off a giant salty. The money could then go to sensible conservation programs to look after bilbies and quolls. I guess this conversation is getting a bit off-track and political, and I suspect the moderators are ready to pounce.

I guess that's why they were advertised as having 'automatic jaws'!

Yes, I guess it's hard to date with no numbers to go by. I thought the link that Irondragon gave to the 'Swedish Star' thread above was interesting. I would like to have seen more of the Kohlswa catalogue page referred to there.

Yes, indeed. Sent you a PM about this, but I see for some reason you cannot receive PMs. I wish that notice had come up before I spent time on the writing!

A.R. I believe your mystery tool is indeed a nail puller. We have something similar on display in our Farmer's Store at the museum. We haven't tried it on a nail so I'm not quite sure how efficient they are. Info came from an old mail order catalogue from the early 1900s. Here's a photo:

All this talk about Kohlswa … here's a picture of mine. Looks very similar to the one Dan posted above. Can't see any more markings other than KOHLSWA, SWEDEN. No dates or weights or anything. It has a wonderful rebound; close to 90% I would say. I have done nothing to it except work it everyday. People often ask how old is the anvil, but I can only guess - maybe early 1900s??

Marc, you can keep those funnel webs down in Sydney … we have enough to deal with up here. Red backs are everywhere but don't seem as aggressive as your FWs. At least you don't have salties in your harbour. You don't want to wriggle your toes in a creek up here. Someone mentioned big centipedes. Good idea for a scrap sculpture, Das. Mate of mine had one of those big blue and yellow centipedes attach itself to his behind while he was sleeping. His wife removed it using a pair of barbecue tongs. My eyes water just thinking about that.

Neat set-up. Hope you've got some help to carry it up those dodgy-looking steps!

Not sure what 250 quid would be in Australian, but I'm sure you got a better deal than what you would find here. No weight marks on the side?

Hi Andrew, I rang Southern Steel Supplies in Lonsdale to check if they still had some 6mm square, and talked to the Sales Manager Brad Fox. He said they did have some old stock left, and I got the impression they weren't going to get any more. So, if your kind offer to get some and mail it 3500 km to me up here still stands, I'll take you up on it. If you could send up 12 metres (2X6) cut into 1m lengths that would be fine. Perhaps you could PM me with your mailing address (or a BSB etc) and I can send or bank transfer you the cost. I think your Southern Steel Supplies must be the only place in Australia that has any 6mm.