Michael Cochran

Sjs, those interesting features are some of what caught my attention. Especially the built in scroll tongs. Some of the features I've never seen or heard of before. Thomas, new anvils online have not been on my shopping list since shipping is going to be expensive and I would have to be home when it showed up since local parcel deliveries are delivered by little scrawny people and my wife should not have to help unload. I will check out some more online shops just to be more educated. I just read up and will be trying the TPAAAT next time I go looking. Seeing as how most of what i do is smaller projects I have been looking at the 4x4 anvil on old world anvils. I want a bigger one for the sake of extra mass and bigger work space.

No, no ferrier work for this guy. I don't like horses enough to get under them, I have a fear of getting crushed and being under a horse would probably trigger it. I have seen some anvils for less in my area but they are severely beat up. I know where I can get a London pattern for $200 but it has grinder marks on the face which scares me away. Thanks for your input I really appreciate it, I'll just keep looking.

I can tell you from experience, it's not easy to forge and takes a lot of time to heat. I luck up on a 6ft rod about 1 5/8" a couple years ago and spent a while trying to cut it. I barely made a difference on it while trying to forge a hammer. Of course you might have better luck than I did.

I found this Hensley anvil and cannot find any info other than what the guy says in his post. http://atlanta.craig...4861238446.html can anyone help me out. Is it worth it? $600 for 95 pounds sounds high but he says (and it looks) brand new. Any insight appreciated.

Looks real good makes me jealous. What kind of screw is that? I thought about throwing one of these together using a screw from a screw jack.

Can't speak from experience with a shop cat but had a house cat for a while. It kept the creepy things away that the wife can't stand big pro. First and biggest negative to a cat is litter box and it accessories and contents. . . Need I say more?

I can't help much since I'm not ready to mess with o1. I would be willing to share what I keep seeing elsewhere. Use parks oil, it's supposed to be pretty good but I've never personally used it. I just use canola oil with my simple steels.

Charles, why make the far wall permanent and the one with the air moveable? No offense intended, it just seems like that would be backward. I would've thought that if any one section would be permanent it would be the one with the air since I don't want to be moving my box bellows or changing the length of pipe for my tuyere. Frosty I was really planning on leaving it mostly free so I can continue to tweak it until I can find what is optimum for me and what I do. I do need to get it done so I can move on with other projects since its holding me up pretty bad right now.

I was thinking about the brick being nice because I could move them around some into different setups. That way one day I can forge out my new door pull or gate hardware in a bigger fire without having to start over like I'm doin now. thanks for your help Charles.

Both, side draft and side blast. Previously my charcoal was bottom blast but I keep hearing and seeing side blast more and more. I would imagine that they are going to use much less fuel since the fire is a little more localized. I guess the trench forge you mention is what I'm going for I just didn't know the name. My 'hood' is made from old sheet metal from the body of an old washing machine and is 12"x13 3/4" roughly. I put a piece on the front closing it up a little, more for holding it square than anything, leaving an opening of about 8"x10". i still haven't figured out how to shrink my picture down when I put them on here but I also posted the same question here. i hope that answered your questions.

I'm rebuilding my old charcoal forge and run into a little bump. I'm going to use a Hofi style side draft hood and some old reclaimed firebrick. At the moment im unsure just how big to go since I'm not used to using firebrick, and I've never built a side blast forge. I mostly fool around at trying to forge knives and other small tools so I know I don't have to go too big but I messed up and built the hood before i finalized my forge design. I would upload pics but can't figure out how to resize them right now. The brick are 4 1/2" wide and 9" long, they were recovered from a fireplace and yes I know they probably won't hold up long but I have about 40 of them so I'm not too worried. I just hope someone can help enlighten me as to how big a place to build my fire. If it makes a difference, I plan on using a box bellows I'm currently working on as well as have the option for an electric blower for those days when I have too much going on to constantly pump the bellows. Feel free to ask any questions that I might have neglected to answer and I'll see if I can't figure out how to resize images so they don't fill the screen. Thanks in advance.

I'll keep all that in mind, thanks, Frosty. I'll post pictures when I get done, hopefully it'll go together for me nicely.

I was trying to figure out an improvise swage after you mentioned using one. However, I never thought about tryin that but will definitely try it. I'm hoping the weather will be a little more cooperative this weekend than last. But you don't wanna hear me complain about the 'cold' here do you? Lol I do have some square tubing in my junk heap, I think I'll try that and see what happens.

Thanks for the suggestions. It looks like I'm gonna have to try the can weld, heard of it never tried it. Frosty, I am actually without a proper anvil right now. I have been looking for one within budget for the last 2 years every since I started smithing just haven't found one yet. That being said, I am usin a small section of old rail (3 really, different sizes for different tasks.) If I use the soup can wrap will the tin inside the can affect the weld? Also, will the can eventually disappear as scale like I think it will? I kinda wanna be able to see the old nails in the finished project.

since my small gas forge will not reach welding temps I am rebuilding my charcoal forge. In the mean time im trying to figure out the better way to wrap steel bits to weld them. I have a project for a chisel of sorts for my father-in-law and wanted to use old materials we used at work. The main body will be old nails with a cutting edge made from a couple old sawzall blades (I do not recommend anyone use these as they are a pita but the work for me for some things). I tried a wire wrap to hold the nails together while all in line but cannot get the wire tight enough to hold properly. I have though about stacking them in a square where the layers alternate orientation and wrapping them almost like Japanese smiths did. My biggest issue here is I don't have rice paper nor do I plan on purchasing any if I don't need to. That being said should I use tracing paper or maybe just use some masking tape? As we all know after the paper come the ash which I can handle then comes the clay, any ideas about using plaster of Paris? I know that's a long ramble and I know that what I want to do can be made much easier with ready made bar stock that I have but I want to make it all from junk. I think I'm looking to prove my abilities and validate my some of my eccentricities. Any help would be appreciated. Btw I have forge welded flat stock before so I know the basics there, and my gas forge is an old lined paint can with a mapp torch.