Michael Cochran

The one I work for does the same thing. We have a large (14’ blade) bandsaw as well and a portaband in my department and they usually buy the cheap stuff. When I first transferred to that department they used Lenox blades on the large saw and we could cut for a few days on the one blade before it got dull enough to affect performance (wandering cuts, binding blade, etc). Then they decided to get the cheaper ones now we have to replace the blades after every couple cuts. Sometimes that means two or three blades a day. We can make one cut on a piece of 6 5/8” od schedule 40 galvanized pipe and then we usually have to change the blade before we can make another cut. Of course I get the privilege of disposing of the old blades so I don’t complain as much as I could.

I tried a couple times to turn my scrap into solid steel again using something like an old bloomery stack. I didn’t know enough before I started and my results were less than impressive. I ended up with somethin like cast iron with a very small amount of high carbon steel and some pieces of nails that didn’t find their way down the stack before I ran out of fuel and fused intact to the semi melted mess in the bottom of the stack.

I usually save those small bits until it’s time to take a load to the scrap yard. I like to find old metal buckets that’s pretty much useless and fill them with off cuts, punching slugs, etc. When I get a couple filled up and have enough drink cans or scrap copper (read “stuff that’s worth the trip”) then I’ll take it. If it’s small bits of high carbon I’ll save them until I get tired of looking at them since I could always use that 1/2” long piece of coil spring to put a hardenable edge on something. Not that I ever do.

I have bought a couple things from Recycle USA (the further of the two places) and always see things I’d like to get if only I had the space. The other place is a new yard and I haven’t bought from them yet but I talked to the owner and he said he’d be willing to sell. He also mentioned having scrap bins at various machine and fab shops he picks up every couple weeks or so. I’ll have to find the card and get back with you on that one. It doesn’t even show up yet on google but I can tell you where it is if that helps.

I have two yards near me that are willing to sell but don’t know that you’re willing to travel this far. One is about 12 miles west of me and the other is about 20 miles southish.

Aggie, take the time to read about putting mass underneath your hammer. It’s not just about weight. A 20lb anvil with most of the mass under the hammer will do more than 20lbs spread out over a 12” area.

Some might disagree with me but the best hammer is the one that’s comfortable in the hand for hours in end. Go to the store and find yourself a small drilling hammer or crosspien hammer to start with. For the wire brush you can use the standard grill cleaning brush to get started but will eventually want to find a butchers block brush with the wide flat bristles. Also please make sure you mount the rail the correct way. Don’t waste time and money trying to make it look like a London pattern anvil. Stand it on end and keep the mass of the rail head under the hammer and you’ll be better off. Next bit of advice is do as steve suggested. Read the pinned posts in the various sections here on IFI and take notes. It’s unlikey you’ll ask a new question for a while so the answers are most likely already posted.

I thought the dangers of hexavalent chrome was mentioned in plenty of places here that we knew better than burning off the chrome.

The outer sleeve you mention will be extra mass but I’m not sure how useful that mass will be. I’m no expert but I am under the impression the fact it’s not solid means it’ll only add a little extra to you anvil. You could leave the 4.5” solid, instead of cutting it shorter just bury the extra in a brief frame like the large industrial hammers. I don’t recall the names of those hammers but I’m sure someone here could tell you. I just recall seeing pictures of some where the anvil stands almost as tall as the hammer and only a small portion is standing above grade.

Are you referring to the reflection of his phone?

I’m sure with a little inspiration you could find other uses for that. I could be wrong but I doubt you’ll need to be sharpening too many of those old drills.

The use of clay to seal the chimney was a bad call too. I can’t believe the top piece of ply didn’t burn through.

The wood was definitely not a brilliant idea. It wouldn’t have been that hard to build a round sheet metal skin around it with enough room to insulate.

That’s not entirely true. If you want to go into rivet production that would be great but for a few here and there are alternatives mentioned all over IFI.

Our chickens like roses. They picked the rose bush clean as high up as they could reach.

Rockstar, thank you for the input. I will read your linked discussion when I get home and if I have any questionable I will let you know. By the way, I read most of your business type posts when I see them even though I may not need that information at the time.

Thank you, JLP, for the suggestions. I have heard the journal suggestion before and guess it’s time to find myself a good notebook to start one.

Thomas, I have an app I downloaded on my phone called “hours” and you can set up multiple clocks on it. When you start working on a project you simply touch the clock next to the name and it starts counting. I have mine set to 15 minute increments where I use it to help me keep up with my hours at my day job but you can also set it to keep up with the time by the minute. It’s not perfect but it’s functional enough for me.

Thank you for your insight, Jim. It is much appreciated.

Correct me if I’m wrong but I think I understand what you are saying. Do the job with the planned hourly and figure up the consumables at the end. I would imagine that after doing several different projects you can then have an educated basis for other projects in the future. Or do you do all or most projects using the bucket method you described?

JLP, please forgive me if this question side tracks the topic at hand but I feel like this is a good place to pose it with so many accomplished and hopefulls reading along here. Could someone explain to us how you figure out the cost for your consumables? I’m doing some more reading on here and other places regarding setting a good shop rate but since I don’t currently have a business I don’t know the proper way to figure consumables into the rate. I could guess how much mig wire, grinding discs, bandsaw blades, etc. I might use in a month knowing what I’m planning on producing and hope I’m close enough. However I feel that’s not the ideal approach to this given problem. Another option would be to run a couple months of production (without sales) and see what the costs actually are and then proceed to sell the wares made with the prope price with the consumables figured in. Can someone please enlighten me as to their methods? I’m sure I’m overthinking things again but need some input from someone here. I have a couple of people in the real world I plan to ask about business locally and how they come up with their rates and see if that helps any. (I personally know a man who has his own business remodeling homes for people and through him I know electricians painters plumbers etc. I know they all are going to be different but I believe they can help some seeing as they know the local market on a level I’m unfamiliar with.)

Just in case you were not aware, Fisher anvils are not made entirely of steel but instead have a cast iron body with a tool steel plate. That will throw the weight off using your method.

You’re right Charles. I was only referring to what I’d like to have extra which translated to $15/hr. In all reality it would be higher if I factored in other things like consumables and various fees and taxes associated with a business and income. It was a bad number and will be addressed before i have it set in stone. I imagine my number should be similar to PVF after I do all the proper planning. Even though my immediate area isn’t all that high class there are multiple markets within a couple hours that would buy high end products. Those are the markets that would allow for a higher income potential and would skew my sales results if I could tap into them. I do have contacts in custom home building I could call on and work out a few pieces to be installed which would be good at gettin my name out there. Once I have my remaining ducks in a row I’ll be calling on those people and see where that leads.

I’m going to guess it’s getting close to 400lbs. I’m also going to say I’m quite jealous of such a good looking anvil such as that.

As I said, I’m thinkin go about a side business. My day job pays the bills and gives a little wiggle room but not much more. That said when I do get vacation time I get to stay home simply because there isn’t enough money to go anywhere. I know that I’d like to make an extra $300 each week so that I had money for various things (vacation, retirement, new tools home and vehicles over time). Most weeks I can realistically spend 20 hours in the shop without too much trouble which would make the hourly about $15. That sounds like good money for most of the immediate area. Where I live you can work fast food, gas station, grocery store, or a few smaller manufacturing places. Where I work the starting pay is $10/hr for unskilled people so I don’t feel $15 is too far out of the realm of reality. You've definitely got my gears turning. I’m going to need to do some thinking and planning before I start but I’m still working that way. Just a quick disclaimer, I’m not by any means a professional or ever a great smith my any means. I would have to do some more research before I could come up with a good number. I also need to up my game before I could make it profitable to be running a business.