KST1-Derek Fultz

Thanks for the follow up and the time/cost numbers. I appreciate you sharing those. The gate looks nice, but my kids would try to climb through those gaps for sure (and probably wouldn't fair to well from the looks of it!). -Derek

Thanks for all the comments guys. I really like the looks of the douple anvil that Grant's video shows. I'm still a bit off on this project as I gather parts so I'm going to look for a nice chunk of steel to put on top/below a doubled piece of the 5". This will give me a little more height and additional weight. Whether the hammer ends up square or round will depend on what I scrounge up. This will be a father son project. My Dad doesn't forge (yet), but he loves building machines. It will give us something to do together and will probably end up with some unique ideas incorporated. Whether it works or not will have to be seen... Curly, is your hammer guide system simply a pipe that the hammer slide inside? Any adjustments? Any needed? One other question: Any advantages to a certain size of I/H beam for the upright? We have a few to choose from. I'm assuming heavier/thicker is better. Thanks again, -Derek

While at my steel supplier yesterday I stumbled across a 5" x 5.5 foot piece of solid round. I ended up bringing it home for a good price thinking that I could use it for a treadle or power hammer anvil build. It calculates to ~367.5lbs for the whole piece. Obviously, at 5.5" tall it's a bit high for an anvil as is. I know about the 1:10 - 1:25 hammer to anvil ratio stuff, so I'd obviously like to keep as much of it as possible. Cut to 3 feet it will only be 200#. I can cut it in half and use both pieces, but 2.25' seems short (I'm 6'7"). Just curious what you guys/gals would do. Any thoughts? Can I use this, or should I keep looking for something a bit bigger around/heavier? -Derek

Hey don't despair! The elipse looks great. I'd definitley keep the jig as I could see that elipse in a lot of projects. Sides on a bench, back center of a bench, signs, etc. Nice job and thanks for the description. -Derek

I took my 9 year old and my Dad (68) as planned. We too had a great time and my son is all fired up about blacksmithing. Everyone at SOFA was so good to my son, treating him as a fellow blacksmith and bladesmith as though he had been doing it for 20 years. I never knew that making a few scaffold nail swords would put him on equal footing with bladesmiths of 20+ years experience, but that's the way you guys made him feel. I thank you for that. Jason, watching that forging competition was a neat thing. If you cant feel encouraged by the cheering and support coming from that crowd, you won't ever feel it. -Derek

Herchammer, Thanks for the comments. I'm not sure about the age. I picked it up at Quad State last year and don't really know that much about the rasps themselves. If I had to guess, I'd say it was only a couple years old if that. It had red paint on the tang like a lot of them I see around and very little rust. I just picked up 6 more rasps for $5 at Quad State over the weekend. Time to get in the forge. -Derek

Looks like a nice peice. Rugged and primative, yet handsome. Nice work. -Derek

Hi Sam, I have a heavy duty mower blade (brand new) that I have been sketching tomahawks on for one of these one piece jobs. I'd be interested in hearing more details on the upsetting and drawing out processes. -Derek Btw, I watched Ryan Johnson demo at Quad State a couple of years ago. I've had pics of those hawks in my mind ever since. Plus, the history of tomahawks he shares during his demo is highly informative.

I'm leaving Thurs. after work with my Father and son this year. Looking forward to a fun and educational weekend. We'll be camping again. I'll look for the hat. -Derek

Bring it to Quad State and let's discuss it over a cold one (or two). We'll get to see the Thomas Psychotic Psychobabblonian Powers at work in person! -Derek

Looks good, but they're supposed to be inside the concrete, not sitting on top of it! Sorry, I couldn't resist! -Derek

Thanks for all the great comments! I haven't been to the thread for awhile, so I appologize for not answering the questions more quickly. Iron Striker: I purchased the drift from Blacksmiths Depot after reading reccomendations here. I picked up the drift and a couple of handles at the same time. It's a standard size and is of good quality. I thought about making one, but having no desire to make my own handles right now, I thought keeping to the standard stuff was a good idea. It was around $25 bucks plus shipping and was money well spent. Freeman: I didn't have much trouble with the weld, which was surprising because I havn't done a lot of forge welding, and never a weld this large. I just made sure the surfaces were good and clean, used borax flux, and gave it a nice long (be patient) soak in my propane forge. Quick light taps on the edge working toward the fold and all was good. I did do a second weld working further back toward the fold, but it didn't need much. I used A LOT of flux because I was wary. Probably didn't need quite so much. I intend to do a few more of these, but forge time has been rather elusive as of late. I also want to try a slit and drift hawk sometime. I'll get back to it soon I hope. Thanks again for the comments! The rasp hawks are a whole bunch of fun to make and btw, any peice of strap of sufficient size will work for this fold over technique. It doesn't have to be a rasp. -Derek

Nice work Dave! Looks like you learned well. I'm fortunate enough to live fairly close to the Gardners and occasionally go by their shop on open forge nights (I'd go more if my schedule/kids allowed). Mindy is usually sitting at her treadle hammer tapping away while we are messing around the fire. Fun to watch! Something I'd like to learn someday as well. -Derek

Neat little forge. I like the graphics. Gives it some personality. Does it have a pass through? -Derek

Willis, the corn cob thing is interesting. I might have to give that a try. Lord knows, there's a bunch of corn around here! -Derek

Looks great! She was right, you could make one, and did! -Derek

Thanks for the comments. I can't tell you how it's holding up to throwing. He's keeping it on the fireplace mantle and showing it off to all of his friends. I need to make him an uglier one he won't be afraid to abuse a little... -Derek

Stewartthesmith, I fully understand why you would want to take every effort to eliminate hammer marks in your work. Does this effort also extend to dressing the face of your hammer? If so, in what manner do you dress the hammer face? -Derek

Beautiful fork! I'm curious, what were the dimensions of the starting stock? -Derek

Now that's a deal you have to like! Nice score. -Derek

Now that's a deal you have to like! Nice score. -Derek

I not sure what to say here that hasn't already been said, but I want you to know that you are in my thoughts during this struggle. I won't pretend to have even a basic understanding of "the plan" or fate, or whatever, but I do know that the power of many people coming together in support of one is a very powerful thing. Lots of strong people here pulling for you. My condolences. -Derek

I'll be going for the 3rd time this year with my father, and I think I'll bring my 9yr. old son as well. He's really starting to take an interest in blacksmithing and should be able to sit through a couple demos now. We'll be camping again. Probably on the far side like last year. Can't hear the dog pound over there. Besides what has already been said, Quad State is just plain neat. A whole bunch of like minded individuals doing what they like to do. Something about it just feels right. -Derek

Curly, a thought just occurred to me. A cannon port and a mock cannon pointing through right at your neighbors window (maybe with one of those little "bang" flags) might really get your point across. You'd be the talk of the town. -D

Looks good Curly! Good fence = better neighbor. Growing up way out in the boonies, I never learned how to deal with neighbors. Now I'm in a small rural subdivision. Luckily the neighbors here are very tolerant and easy going. I am trying to tactfully address a septic run off issue though. Touchy stuff. -Derek