Tommy Traylor

jacobd - I am in Bellville, TX

My shop is a metal building with board and batten over the metal sides. Makes quite a difference in hot Texas.

One of the ancient books on blacksmithing suggests 18" as the ideal height for the hood above the fire.

Think about moving the tail stock forward and put a tabletop on the unneeded part of the ways.

I too have one of Grants machines that has croaked. If you find them fixable please contact me. Would be happy to sell it as is too.

I have a 100 lb Murray and love it. Murray is the next step in evolution from the LG. The best improvement is bronze bushings with grease zerks instead of Babbitt. I think it would be a fair buy in the mid to upper 2000's. Good luck.

I ran across an antique safe once that had alternating plates of tool steel and cast iron to discourage drilling and torching and vials of tear gas to further discourage misbehavior.

Procedure from an old blacksmithing book: Use wood wedge, then metal wedge at 45 degrees to the wood wedge. Soak in a bucket of linseed oil for a week. Works for me.

Cedar rots and feeds termites. I second the suggestion that you treat it, coat it, or set it in concrete.

A 2 stroke powered abrasive disc works wonders. You will get 4 or 5 cuts out of a 7.00 disc for a cost of less than 2.00 per cut and it goes through a rail like a knife through butter.

OK you asked for it. I am building a faithful copy of this gate. Been working on it for YEARS! A few more years to go.

The Houston Area Blacksmiths Assoc. website has a For Sale column that turns up lots of stuff. Phenix Knives in Bellville, TX may have a spare anvil. Good luck.

Here's a photo of the Jenkins & Lingle. I have removed the ugly old paint since this photo was taken and she looks pretty good now.

helvehammer.bmp

Just joking about needing help with the hammers, but I bought Clifton Ralphs video a few years back and certainly recommend it to anyone with a power hammer. I will try to get a photo of the helve but give me a day or two.

I forgot the 25 lb. Moloch in the barn. I guess I don't really need it. Anybody want it? 110 volt motor, plug and play, might need a new belt. 979-830-3578

100 lb Murray, 50 lb. Little Giant, 25 lb. Little Giant, Striker 88, and a Jacobs & Lingle guided ram helve. Now will somebody teach me how to use them?

My air tool engineer friend warned me that a grindstone that may have been wet and frozen will very likely explode from centrifugal force.

Thank you, ianinsa.

Ianinsa,

Why do you mention corten? Is there a problem with welding corten? Please tell me about it as I am about to place my first order for some corten. Thank you.

Tommy

That is the best one of those I have seen in a long time.

Good excuse to visit my son in Tucson. I'll be coming from Texas. Do they have tailgating?

Think about this...Should you be charging less per hour than the auto mechanic at the dealership charges you to change your spark plugs?

If someday you decide to resell it you might find it hard to get 1/2 of the value of a good one. For my money condition is everything. Good luck.

And howdy from just a little West of you in Bellville. By all means join HABA (Houston Area Blacksmiths Assoc.) with monthly meetings featuring demos.

304 is difficult to forge at anything below yellow and just to make it more fun at anything just above where it begins to turn yellow it will crumble as Frosty says.  Drewed is correct. It loses heat quite rapidly. As it cools you can watch it move. Anneal by quenching.