gote

That is what I would do but

#1: A guy can be short of funds but have a lot of time and be able to scroung stuff. 

#2: You cannot buy a post vise or a whatnot everywhere. A new postvise of the type where both jaws go down to the ground has probably not been on the market for the last 400 years. 

#3: There is satisfaction in making your own tool.

Frosty. If you come to Sweden you are in for a disappointment. I checked the market just now and the asking prices fluktuated between 5 and 10 US$ per pound. I was very lucky to get mine for 2$/lsb some years ago. I got a good price since I also releived the seller of a forge, a stake anvil and a post vise.

Your original idea has a weak point in that the screw will not be perpendicular to the tine at all times. When you turn it it will try to "slide downhill" and bind in the nut. I would definitely pay for the holes if I were you. (and also my piano stool has a single screw)

To add carbon to flux makes a lot of sense. To add iron oxide does not. However, a chemical analysis is traditionally made on an oxidised sample and the result may be given as oxide. Maybe it really is iron powder of sorts. I recall seeing flux recipies containing iron filings.   

and fuchi and seppa if we want to get technical

Little blacksmith. Please I am not disagreeing with you but have you tried to have the anvil higher?

3 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

As someone whose first name is actually William; I object to Bill Openers!  May have to retailer my maille shirt...

!

On 2016-09-08 at 6:40 AM, Frosty said:

It's the phosphorous content that makes molasses so good at converting rust back into iron/steel. It doesn't dissolve the rust it deoxidizes it like electrolysis.

Thnk you Frosty! I have been trying to find out why molasses work. I could not imagine that the sugar would have done it

I assume that you know that the guard on a real tanto is held buy the hilt

Yupp! Empty your mind - - - of prejudices. Act on your feelings. Star wars: Luke trying to hit the ball in the air. Seven samurais: Leader testing applicants. On the Mat in the Dojo: You throw the opponent without thinking about it - it just happened.  

I ment in the zen meaning of acting on something real - in this case the original crack. Accepting it as it is, discovering the possibilities and going from there.   

I think that this would have been a very beautiful "mu shin" piece if you had succeeded. I admire the idea. At the stage when the copper pulled away from the steel I would have tried to connet it with some kind of solder that has a lower melting point than the copper. preferably with a contrasting colour like some kind of brass or even tin solder. In my view a thin "silver lining" between copper and steel would have been very nice looking

On 2015-06-11 at 3:52 AM, Frosty said:

I don't use bellows under normal circumstances but I've sure watched a lot of guys using them. The biggest mistake I've noted is folk make them too small. They mistakenly think half the size means half the output and end up with bellows that won't do the job. Bellows measurements are volumetric so 1/2 the size is 1/4 the volume.

Just saying.

Frosty The Lucky.

Do you not mean 1/8 or am I missing something?

Marc, Thank you very much!

Thomas, The Swedish Standards Institute sells the datasheets with copyright. I do not have one available  so I would have to send for one and mail it privately. It is easiest to rely on the manufacturers specs. I hope you are happy at the moment with Mark's link. I do recall the .22% C figure and recall that the toleraces on that was quite close but cannot find the site at the moment.

In my experience (including grinding balls, aluminium powder and rebar), higher quality is usually cost effective. When it comes to rebar it depends upon the building standards. If they allow you to calculate with the higher tensile strength of a better steel, the better steel is cost effective. (I once was involved in an operation where a concrete manufacturer found it cost effective to buy hot rolled and then cold draw it to a higher strength.) If, however, the standards require that you calculate with a lower tensile strentgh then it is cost effective to use lower quality rebar. My guess is that US building standards assume lower quality steel so that allows US rebar manufacturers to get away with crap.      

14 hours ago, Steve Sells said:

I didnt know it was so easy to see what country produced the rebar we are salvaging form the scrap pile.  Feel free to explain to me all how wrong am.  This Junk metal statement is based on the principal is that in repurposing materials the safe bet is to reuse it in a similar task.  Rebar is made for structural uses, and needed to meat structural spec's. so its not needing any chemical standard, so it can be many things and still meat structural specs.

Most of us here at IFI attempt to educate and assist people.  We try to get people to understand that rebar scrap is not the best choice for critical uses, How is your statement contradicting the status of rebar aiding in that endeavour ?   When you sell things made from rebar, do you tell your client where you sourced the metal for their project you are charging them for?

I appreciate that IFI curmudgeons are very helpful and trying to assist people. I agree entirely with you that it is better to use known material that is suitable to the purpouse. I also agree that it is better for a beginner to use "virgin" mild steel. BUT

It has been said a number of times that IFI has an international readers. The US situation is not universal and some of the advice given is not necessarily relevant in all corners of the world. I do not doubt your statement that US rebar is crap. This does not mean that all rebar in the world is crap.

Someone looking for material in Sweden (or Norway or...) will not be likely to find salvaged rebar from the US. Nearly all rebar available to the public here is standard new material sold to amateur builders for small projects. In most places this is the only steel easily available. The manufacturing process often involves continuous heat treatment; something that is impossible if the analysis varies the way you describe for US manufactured rebar. There is also requirement on weldability. The last time I saw the specs for rebar the tolerances on carbon content manganese etc were quite narrow.

The material used for any manufacture should of course be suited to the use of the final product. However, most of the things people show on IFI is stuff where the spec of the material is inconsequensical. I do not see any critical uses and newbies should not attempt to do critical stuff anyway since there are a number of things that can go wrong like cold shuts, bad welds, burnt steel, wrong temper and and yes wrong material. No newbie should make critical stuff in any kind of manufacture or trade. Period!

The question here were two 1: does rebar heat up differently than other steel. I think you will agree that it does not. 2: is rebar a suitable material to the beginning blacksmith. I believe you when you say that this is not the case in the US.

I am using the traditional tree stump. I had to fell a butternut anyway so I cut a piece of it with oversize length. I started by turning the future downside upwards and wedged it until the stump was true upright. I then used a spirit level to mark for horizontal cutting (still oversize). Cut it with a chainsaw and made it very slightly convex. Turned it right on a flat surface (checked that it was a true upright - it was) measured correct height all around plus about 2 cm. Cut after the mark with the chainsaw. Smoothed the surface with a rotary plane. After planing it was about 1 cm too high. Put the anvil on it in a proper position and marked the footprint. Removed the anvil and cut down after the mark with a router to right height - again very slightly dished so the anvil cannot rock. I am very happy with the result. My 250 pound anvil stands perfectly and needs no hold down. A two horn North Swedish anvil is fairly silent in spite of being cast steel.

The reason for the somewhat elaborte way of doing it is that the stump was far from a perfect cylinder. A carpenter's square was useless. There is a pic somewhere in the show your anvil thread.   

An alternative is something on the lines of my setup. Look in the thread "flashing around the chimney"

On 2016-12-17 at 8:19 PM, John McPherson said:

And here is an example of a shop-built alternative for those of us not lucky enough to have already acquired such a beast.

 

Great Idea John Thanks

7 hours ago, Steve Sells said:

you missed the point that rebar is crap metal. only good for reinforcing concrete

American rebar perhaps. Other countries other specs. Swedish rebar is made to close tolerances.

I do not find the clank objectionable but my main vises sit on a wooden 1" bench top that does not act as a lodspeaker. I assume it might be noisier if attached to a steel plate of sorts. I might steal the idea of using a turk's head anyway - just for looks.

In my part of the world you can find old cast steel vises at a reasonable price if you are lucky.. They can take a lot of pounding but of course not more than an anvil of the same weight. And the pounding should be on the fixed jaw if possible. 

I have the post vise mounted on the edge of the workbench (which is quite heavy) close to the forge and the main anvilso I only have to turn between the three. My machinist's vise sits at the end of the workbench. I have never felt any need to move the vise around.

I agree. WELL DONE

AH,

I think the Iron Dwarf is delicately suggesting that you should amend your profile with your location. By the way, Welcome!

Most of the time, the one that sits on my left arm

Second: An 8" channellock - not in the fire. For simple things like picking up something hot, bending off a nicked piece or bending thin sections or holding the other end when bending around something.

Third: A 16" wolf jaw ( if that is the right word) from I think Peddinghaus 

When that is too big, I use a flat jaw hollow bit I bought as an "antique" at a "medieval fair".

The other tongs I have acquired I hardly use at all but I try always to use long stock and nick off at the last moment.