ichudov

I am in Lisle and would love to have you stop by. Igor

My 206 lbs anvil sits on top of a vertical cylindrical wooden log, perhaps 20 inch in diameter, that weighs approximately 200 lbs. I got it for free and it was new at that time. This log sits outside, as does the anvil. I spray the anvil with LPS-3 and so far it is staying free of rust. The question is do I need to do anything to preserve this log, or will it naturally weather and stabilize. thanks

$2 per pound is not particularly cheap. The defect that you are pointing out, possibly will not hurt your smithing experience, but it will hurt resale value. I would keep looking

I love your HEAT AND BEAT approach. I have couple of seized tongs and will do the same. Great result!

To be realistic, it would need to be thicker than a water pipe.

Need some practical ideas. I want to decorate my mailbox so that it looks like a steam locomotive. Mailbox is shown here Mailbox To that end, I need to make 8-10 round "wheels", which I would like to forge from a steel bar. I would say between 3 and 5 inch diameter. So they do not have to be strong, or even continuous (I cannot forge weld) but they have to be of uniform size and round. I could TIG weld afterwards. I would also make spokes by means of TIG, so it is not a problem. My main question is how to make circles from steel bar.

Here are the pictures of this vise installed. Blacksmithing ==> Tools ==> Trenton Blacksmith Leg Vise The galvanized brackets that you see are on top of the vise's mounting plate, due to use of carriage bolts that would damage the plate if I put the plate on top. I did not want to drill out the plate to preserve the vise's original condition. Just today, I used it to make a curved handle for a rotary table: http://igor.chudov.com/projects/misc/Rotary-Table-Crank-Handle/

I have a powermatic 1150 drill press for sale, variable speed, 3/4 HP, 115 volts. I no longer need it due to having acquired a Bridgeport mill. Powermatic 1150 Drill Press $500, Chicagoland.

You need 2 tools: a center punch and a center drill. Then the only frustration with a handheld drill is the amount of effort required.

Here is a picture of this vise painted. As I said, I used 93% cold galvanizing coating, plus John Deere Green oil based paint. All working surfaces have been generously lubed with Marine grease. More pictures are here: http://igor.chudov.com/projects/Blacksmithing/00-Tools/Trenton-Blacksmith-Leg-Vise/

I actually now believe that John Deere Green was a sh*&ty choice. It came out looking very bland.

I have painted it with cold galvanizing coating (2 coats) and then with oil based John Deere green paint. This is very durable stuff that I will supplement with marine grease, wherever there are moving parts coming in contact. I will also make a stand for this vise. I have a heavy cast steel object that I will use for base, a vertical piece of pipe as column, and a steel plate to bolt the vise's plate as well. I will post pix if anyone is interested.

Very beautiful work, by looking at it one would never guess that you did it NOT with your dominant hand.

I have acquired this blacksmithing vise today. It is 4" Trent vise, made in 1905. I fully disassembled it and cleaned up. The price was $40. The pictures below show how grimy it was and the cleaned up vise. http://igor.chudov.com/projects/Blacksmithing/00-Tools/Trent-Blacksmith-Leg-Vise/ My plan for using it, ideally, would involve placing it outdoors next to the anvil. I would like to finish it to minimize rusting. My present plan is to paint it with "cold galvanizing 93% zinc paint" and then with some outside paint. Then all moving surfaces I would coat with "marine grease". Would it be unrealistic to expect this vise to survive outdoors? Anyway, it is down to bare metal now, it is not too late to ask for good advice regarding my vise. I am in Northern Illinois, not Arizona or anything like that. I would think that if I realize that the vise is rusting, ergo if I hear it rust on a clear night, I could always take it inside.

I edited one picture somewhat, here's the result. Note that since then, I sandblasted this drift (wedge) and will try to properly blacken it with black rust.

You can find cheap anything if you wait and look. I bought a farrier propane forge for $40. Once I bought a TIG welder for $10. i

I found an abandoned railroad piece on a roadside. I want to mill it and make into a universal bending setup with various profiles.

I made a "drill drift" to knock out Morse taper 2 drills, out of Morse 2 holders. I made it out of a 3/8" Allen key. This is actually my first actual forging operation, all my previous "hot metal" experience was about simple bending and straightening of things. Here I had to actually draw metal to thin out the front part, widen the rear part etc. Blacksmithing ==> Morse Taper Drift Sorry, I guess black metal on off white background does not easily lend itself to photography.

Matt, this is a beautiful idea, and seems cheap and perfect for a pair of tongs. Thank you!!! I will give it a try as soon as practicable.

Back when I had a "2000F" electric furnace (more like 1500F), I did an experiment. I took some railroad spikes and placed in the furnace for an hour. After that, they acquired a thick black oxide layer, which seems to be fully protective of rust. They were outside for over a month, and do not seem to rust in the little bit. After this experiment, I Want to similarly finish a few blacksmith tongs. Some of them were very rusted, so I sandblasted them, and now they look like bare sandblasted steel and are begging to be finished. My question is, how to achieve a similar finish without a furnace, but with a forge. Would "oil hardening" achieve a similar result?

Actually, yesterday, my back DID hurt from lifting that anvil... :-(

The price is not crazy, but you can get a much better price if you wait and look. And the nice thing about buying tools at the cost below ebay, or whatever YOU can resell them for, is that you can change/upgrade/swap your tools without incurring an expense. Say, you buy an anvil for $100, use for 2 years, then you come across a better one and then you can sell your original for $150. No regrets and hard feelings, no money wasted.

Since I have a crane in my truck, loading this 208 lb anvil into my pickup is not a problem at all. Takes maybe 2 minutes.

My friends are invited anyway, and my main limitation is space.

Local pickup, comes with an artificial stump. Price is $225 cash. I would prefer not to ship. I am selling this one because I found a bigger Peter Wright anvil. Note that the anvil that I am selling, had a small part of the top plate break off, and was repaired with an arc welder. That was all before I bought it. It is hard to see but I think that it is the case. It works great, anyway, good ring and rebound. Come and see the anvi if you are in Illinois. I have more pictures. contact ichudov@algebra.com.