wolfshieldrx

Inside pictures as promised: Hasp and staple locking the door: ...holding the door open: ...looking into my mess: Clockwise starting at the left as you enter: 125 pound columbian anvil: Post drills, small Millers Falls for up to 1/4 inch, buffalo for larger holes: Thanks for looking. Questions and/or comments encouraged. Site administrator: feel free to edit and or delete any of this if pix are too large, etc. bart

Nice! Mine is wired inside but still receives power via a long heavy duty extention cord. Only thing I use electricity for is lights and a small grinder. Everything else is me-powered...blower, a couple of hand-cranked drills, etc. bart

Ridgewayforge: Thanks guy! A couple years ago my son graduated from college and we paid off our house. That's when the finest woman who ever lived said "Build that blacksmith shop you've been yacking about...". Nothing fancy. 4x4 posts sided with T-111. Dirt floor. Tin roof. I built a brick forge around a centaur forge cast iron pot. Champion 400 blower. 12 X 12 feet of solitude nestled in a wooded corner of our little half-acre. Glad you liked it. I'll see if i can find some pix of the not-so-neat interior. Bart

Almost, sorta, kind of like this? Bart

Trip... 1/4 square for the sconce. Candle cups are copper water pipe split and opened up and are about 2 inches in diameter. The trivet is 1/4 inch round stock. Thanks for looking.

Forged a pair of box jaw (hope thats what they're called) tongs and a little punch. Tongs are forged from 1/2 inch square stock. Punch from a tire tool. Used the punch to make holes for rivet in tongs. Thanks for looking...comments encouraged...bart

Dont try to clamp anything "too" thick. If you do, you run the risk of cracking it since cast iron does'nt have much "give". (Dont ask me how I know this... :unsure: bart)

I remember reading somewhere (here?) that the crank handle should be at shoulder height at its highest point. Thats how I installed mine and it seems to work well that way. However, as one of the other posters pointed out, it may be a very personal subjective thing, so that height may need to be tweaked a bit. bart

Thanks on both accounts! Forging the head of the spike into the head of the hammer would seem the logical approach, right? But I had difficulties when I tried that...folding, quilting, cold shuts, etc. In the end, I just cut the head off, upset the end. Then forged a ball on the end. The spike was held in the vise while I shaped the head. Hope that made sense. bart

I decided to make a dedicated hammer for sinking lamps, candle cups, etc into my swage block: Made from HC railroad spike...comments encouraged. Bart

Made another today :-) Thanks for all the comments! Bart

What he said :-) bart

I absolutely love this kind of knife. Looks great! bart

Looks great! Head and sholders above my first tongs. Keep making them...each set gets a little better. bart

The "legs" are just rivet heads. I backed them up when peening the top side so they are pretty smooth, but dont know if they will scratch wood?? The bowls are riveted using 3/32 copper rod. By the way, the sconce is larger than it looks in the picture...weird camera angle made my thumb look huge! Thanks for looking guys...bart

Thanks for looking. Comments encouraged. Bart

Thanx for the comments! I've not tried it with grease. Wife using a candle in it. Glen: I'm no expert but from what I've read a betty (english corruption for german word for "better") lamp has a cover. Thus it is a "better" lamp than the open crusie lamp. Have also seen open top lamp called a "slut" lamp. Slut is an old word for mud. Makes sense when you think of what the mixture of various animal fats, waxes and oils being burned probably looked like!

I made a little grease lamp yesterday. Dont think i got the proportions just right but i'm pleased with my first try. Plus my wife likes it! Thanks for looking. Comments encouraged. Bart

Thanx guys. Gonna b there mon-wed next week. Been there before. Thought there might b something i missed. Bart

Takin a lil trip with my wife to Pigeon Forge/Gatlinberg next week. Any must-see blacksmith sites in area? Thanks. Bart

Hay rake tooth/tine. Thanks for looking! Bart

I thought this one turned out particularly well: Thanks for looking...bart

Just finished restoring this drill. Completely disassembled, replaced bearings, painted and mounted on a nice board. I think it is the smallest one Buffalo made so is portable. It can be held in a vise ir clamped to a bench usung the angle-iron bracket i mounted on the back of the board. All in all a really sweet little drill. I plan on using it at demos.

Thanks for the encouraging words! Just my second friction folder and was kind of a seat-of-the-pants project. Brass liners were cut to rough shape with fret saw then riveted to bolsters. Next the liners/bolsters were rivet to the scale material. Finally the whole shebang was riveted together and filed/sanded to shape. Hope this helps. bart