gote

A real beauty again. I have been a problem solver all my professional life and I have learnt that inspiration comes when outside the ordinary humdrum like alone in a restaurant in an unfamiliar place. Please show us more of your designs Göte

My 2.5 ton excavator. It doubles as crane, road surfacer, tree stump remover you name it. Otherwise, anvil, forge etc. Göte

Hammers from the 19th century often were made that way. I have one but It is not very good since the pein deforms so I rarely use it Göte

Forbidden thus new thread Again! If you ask two blacksmiths... but it really depends on the anvil, your work habits your location your..... If you have a heavy anvil you do not need to tie it down. My 250 pound anonymous north Swedish type stands rock solid on its stump. My 80 pound Kohlsva London pattern is tied down. I have used four 6" square section nails and one result is a very obvious silencing of the ring. For both anvils, I have made sure that there is a thigh fit between all four corners of the anvil feet and the stump. Anvil undersides are not perfectly flat so this is important. Not only for stability but also for dampening of sound. Both stumps have been cut so they are slightly convex at the bottom so that they do not rock. The fact that I have a dirt floor helps the stability; with a concrete floor, Charlotte's three-point bottom might be better. I did not weigh the stumps but I estimate about 200 pounds and 150 respectively. With a total weight of over 400 pounds there is no need to tie to the floor unless you do very heavy bending. I use stumps because all smithies, I have been to, used stumps, I have the timber available, a carpenter's shop, and I think it looks nice. However, none of that is a valid argument for stumps so what about the arguments against? The stumps have never been in the way of my feet but then #1: I do not hold the hammer close to the (hammer) head #2: I have the (round) horn to the right. Insects are not a problem, in my area. I avoid rotting by isolating the stumps from my dirt floor by a plastic sheet. The potential problem is rather cracking from drying. My stumps work well in my climate, with my anvils and my work habits. If I had a RR-track anvil I would tie it very well to a post. If I were travelling with my forge I would might use a three-legged steel stand probably with a shelf to be loaded down with whatever local heavy objects I could find. I would also use some kind of plastic material under the anvil to ensure good contact. Another two pennies worth Göte

forbidden Again! If you ask two blacksmiths... but it really depends on the anvil, your work habits your location your..... If you have a heavy anvil you do not need to tie it down. My 250 pound anonymous north Swedish type stands rock solid on its stump. My 80 pound Kohlsva London pattern is tied down. I have used four 6" square section nails and one result is a very obvious silencing of the ring. For both anvils, I have made sure that there is a thigh fit between all four corners of the anvil feet and the stump. Anvil undersides are not perfectly flat so this is important.

Your anvil is at half your heigth. When I adjusted my anvil height to fit myself using the "hit the board" method I ended up at half my height also. Göte

Certainly one of the most beautiful i have ever seen Göte

It is all in the eye of the beholder Frosty. Göte

My standard solution is to get a piece of square tube that is slightly too large for the hardie hole. Heat it and drive it into he hole. When it cools off it can be removed again. I cut it flush with the anvil face and fix my tool to the piece of tube. The result is zero wobble, play, shake or whatever. My hardy hole is very slightly conical and there is a standard square tube the is a wee bit larger than the hole. Göte

Forbidden thus new threadI would guess that Michigan climate is not far from what I have in Sweden and your location (read climate) is important. Here, untreated pine log barns will sit in the fields without rotting for centuries - as long as the roof is OK. I would not worry about rotting in your case. My problem is rather that there is a risk of tree stumps severely cracking from dryness in the winter. (S.C. is different) If your concrete floor tends to be moist, however, you will need to seal the bottom of your stand. I have a dirt floor and I put a piece of plastic foil under my stumps. If you move the stand around and have a moist floor I would suggest a heavy duty paint/lacquer on the underside. The oil treatments will need time to harden unless it is OK that they stain the floor. Otherwise I would let it age naturally and beautifully. I have zero tree bug problem in my area. If you have bugs you might need to do something about it. Have a nice weekend Göte

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Also my first was a cube. It then was turned indo a dice with brass inserts for the eyes. I still have it. I see in the pic that I am wrongly dressed for the occasion but he has no bow tie . It reinforces one of my hobby horses "Whatever you do. Use a stable and natural stance and move naturally!" I have no time to look up the exact wording by Miyamoto Musachi who won over thirty duels. Some were won using a wooden sword against a katana. Anyway he said "do not think about using this step or that step or this way or that way. Cut down the enemy!" Change to "Hit the iron" and there you are. Göte

Yup it comes naturally and if it does not, forget about it. They also have anvils so low that they will damage their backs in the long run. And they will not use the handle of the hammer but hold it close to the head. the handle is the atlatl of the blacksmith so why not use it. Göte

This is common chemistry practice as opposed to metallurgist's practice. The chemical analysis methods give everything as oxides. So now the problem is: Did they really mean CO2? in which case one can recalculate or is it a typo for C. I agree it is stupid. Since we do not know what they meant, the info is useless.

I rarely forge weld much so I should keep my mouth shut but I cannot help myself. I was stupid enough not to ask for the formula we used in Rothenburg. It was quite blackish and sparks were flying in all directions and welding was easy. I think that it is a good idea to use carbon in the mix. I assume it would take care of some of the oxygen. Göte

As far as I understand, Japanese smiths use charcoal and a lot of it. There probably is hardly any oxygen left in the area where they put the billet. Rice straw contains much silica so it may form a slag if hot enough but looking at the clips I get the impression that there is a lot of carbon left that can act as oxygen scavenger. Göte

It all depends upon what is meant by food safe. Does it mean that it is dangerous in contact with food or that it has not been extensively tested or that the company does not like nuisance suits or that if you eat more than a pound of it you will get sick? If the surface is hard it will not give off much. A coat on steel cannot not give off much since there is so little substance. There are hardly any poisons around potent enough to cause any damage in a situation like this. I think that it boils down to that the supplier has not tested and thus cannot issue an affidavit saying that it is safe. I am probably only making you frustrated. Welcome aboard. I am frustrated. Many things that we have done since medieval times are now considered unsafe. Maybe they really are unsafe. Very few people have survived since medieval times.. Göte

Yes it is a rythm thing. It comes very naturally when trying to hit as fast as possible. The faster you hit, the better you use the heat but the "frequency" depends upon the weight of the hammer used. I am amazed how slow some of the youtube demonstrators are. Göte

I tap my anvil in order to feel it is still there and not stolen I hit as hard and fast as I can in order to make use of the heat. However after a few blows I need to look at the result and perhaps turn it. To do that takes about the same time as one blow. Since it is very awkward to stop the hammer in mid air I let it bounce off the anvil without putting any force behind it. It is also supposed to relieve the muscles and joints in the shoulder. Göte

He should get rid of the wife not the box Göte I have had it for real. We were erecting a factory in the old DDR and there was a gang of Bulgar thugs in the neighborhood who would steal anything. The security guys were afraid of them. We had all tools in a container and welded it shut in the evening and cut it up again in the morning. Welder and angle grinder were kept in one of the cars. Göte

I second that planning is important. Even a simple piece needs a plan. A simple plan. I mean you should decide which tools you are going to use and put them where you can easily grab them. You should figure out in which sequence you do things. Which method you use for each step. There are usually several methods to choose from. Take the simple act of bending. You can bend over the anvil edge using the hammer, You can bend in the vise using hand power or using a pipe to get more purchase or using the hammer. You can use a fork in the hardy hole, a fork in the vise, a hand held fork. You can use a combination. If there are more than one bend, planning gets really important. If you bend in the wrong sequence, your first bend may get in the way for your second. If you plan well, you can work fast and still be safe. Use the time when the stock is in the fire to rehearse in you head what you are going to do in the next heat, get the scale off the anvil and the tool handles in the right places for quick grabbing. When the piece is on the anvil hammer fast and hard. You are not tickling it. You are shaping it. Suppose you are making tongs. You want to offset the jaw from the square stock. In advance you have drawn the length and angle you want on the anvil. You put the stock precisely in the right place and give it the first whack. This can not be done very quickly. However, when you are thus far you have created an edge and now you can hit fast because you hold this edge against the anvil. You feel in your left hand where you are. If something is not going as planned, STOP! The danger is when you no longer follow the plan but improvise. Get it back in the fire and think over what went wrong and how to change the plan. An extra heat is not the end of the world. An experienced smith knows when an error can be fixed on the fly but you do not so do not try to change plans on the fly. Stop and rethink. I have said it before: Your best safety device sits between your ears. Use it! Göte

The video is probably https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxwWf-MfZVk that one is unusually instructive even if the speaker got some words wrong. Göte

Well you have received good advice and some admonition. I would put it otherwise. You have tried the next to impossible and failed. There might be two outcomes. #1: you give up – then you have learnt next to nothing. #2: you do not give up – then you have learnt a lot. You have tested and found your PRESENT limitations. A year from now you will be able to make an SSO (Sword shaped object) that would be useless in battles but OK for opening bottles. I fully understand the ambition to make a sabre for the bottle. Per aspera ad astra is an old saying. Another: aim for the stars and hit the tree lines. You are probably a lousy blacksmith today but you have started on a long and fascinating journey. I hope you found another way to open bottles and that the content is tasty. Göte PS The aspiring sword-makers remind me of the time when I held a judo trainer’s license. Youngsters would join in order to learn to win street brawls but after some time, their aim shifted and the found that they never fought in the street again. As one of them told me: “This guy wanted to fight and I just laughed at him.”

Hear hear Göte

Some day I will Frosty but under ”Solid fuel forges”. I have difficulties in finding good coal too. I have some dying trees that must go down and cannot be sold as fuel. A bonfire of mixed branches and logs yields a surprising amount of charcoal. I think the spoon is nice but I can buy stainless spoons of that type in the nearest shop for cutlery etc. They are not free but so cheap that for me forging one would not be a rational decision but something done for the love of forging. Göte