Daswulf

Shop vacs will work better. Household vacuums could work but they aren't so much made for the heavy debris in a shop.  As stated empty often and a filter sock if available is a good idea. As for brands or makers I would search reviews and see what is recommended most. I have a large craftsman shop vac and a smaller milwaukee battery vac that i use foe many applications. I have also used household vacuums that were headed to the trash, they just dont handle the larger debris as well but have served a bit of purpose before I scrapped them out for lack of real need. My shop mostly gets a broom and dustpan treatment. 

Vacuums found in the trash generally just need a good cleaning up. People can really lack on maintainence then pitch them out for lack of performance. 

Praying for you Paul. 

Where in the world are you located? Might save a small fortune in shipping and find someone local. 

Anything Iron is the easy part. Did you have something more specific in mind?

Either way the crosses are simple to make. The horse shoe thingy could definately use some context as to the use of it before a ton of guess work. 

Crosses look to me to be pipe joined by an x union. 

Nice work. Life happens. We get through it or we don't. Always good to hear back from members even if it has been a while. 

Glad to see you back NS. 

Lots of nice work from everyone. 

Alexandr, meant to comment on the last railing that the upper floor corner part looks like a butterfly. Really pleasant to look at. 

Nice work on the wings Chad. I haven't seen much of harry potter so I don't know the reference. I get seeing things I don't really know about in some of my art too. Then I end up having to look it up. 

One time someone referenced some creepy pasta stuff so that led down a rabbit hole. Think one day I might make a large sirenhead. I have two big old loudspeaker horns that would work with it. 

As far as the odd angles it certainly could have been bent in use or rebent after being broken just to keep it working like an old tool hard used and barely functional but still needed as cost of a new one would be too much for the poor worker.  

I've found rr spikes, way more modern, crustier than that in a river. By the time I clean off the crust the iron or steel left is much thinner than the original shape.  

The off set of the center prong seems odd to me and the base almost looks like there could have been a fourth prong. Maybe it was just offset in forging. 

Always cool to see new old relics unearthed and some of the mystery behind them explained.  Thanks for sharing George. 

Just noticed they have the venom hp out now. Was curious about the difference. Apparently mine is 1000w, while the hp is 1800w. Might need to talk to my tool dealer and see what kind of deal I can get to upgrade. 

The price is a little pricey, but it doesn't produce flame, doesn't consume fuel other than electric and is portable and small.  It would easily fit in your carry on.

Might produce smoke from contaminants on metal being heated but seems very clean on clean metal. Just to say. 

Mini-ductor venom.  I bought one for doing some bending of smaller pieces to save money on torch gas. It isn't the most powerful induction heater but it works great for its size, intended use and plugs in to 110v

Any way of attaching a photo of it?

TW, somewhere in an old trunk I have some early 1900's newspapers. From what I remember they have a bunch of adds. Might remember some from the fourties in my paps war trunk or maybe they were in my grandmas old hope chest. 

Really interesting to read something that old and see what was news or adds of the time. 

Irondragon, that is a real survivor cavalier. 

Got that thumb on top of the hammer handle. Also anvil height is either too low or too high depending but it seems he is standing to forge so likely too low. I have seen that far away stance in beginners. 

"I am just kidding around."

It is a neat early depiction. 

Steve, that is a great idea. I like a lot of ideas in this thread including Frosties sketch. 

Trentons are excellent anvils. How is the ring and more importantly rebound? 

I have a trenton as well about the same weight ,mine being later and welded at the waist with a solid steel upper, but it is my go to and a great anvil. 

What you paid is no biggie if you are happy. What you can use it for is priceless if you use it well and sell goods. Used right, it is a tool that will last many more generations. Congrats. 

Nice fix Jono. Seems like they always put dinky little clips on socket set boxes but put better clips on the tools you buy that end up getting the box set aside or discarded. 

Is it a post/leg vise or a machinist vise? Usually a vise is harder to ID than an anvil since many vise were not marked. Some were. 

As a user of the tools I typically dont worry about the maker name but more about the quality and usability. 

Looks like it is a Brooks Stourbridge anvil. Weight stamp is hundredweight and would come out to 120lbs. Or 54kg.

I've never seen these till now.  The few short videos I found make it look like it would be good for the odd small job but I havnt seen more testing and even one of them stated they had no idea about how long it would hold up. Stating that it felt  cheaply made. 

Looking around I saw a small 110v box machine that has many purchases and good reviews for $70. on amazon. I would trust something like that a lot more than a compact hand held. It is still small enough to tuck away and be convenient and the leads would be replaceable rather than being integrated into the hand held unit.  

There are some good tutorials on YT. 

That's what I was thinking Scott. "Jack"hammer.

8 hours ago, Jim86 said:

did you have to upset the bit with the skull much?

Didn't have to upset it. I took around an inch and bent it 90° then hammered it back into the bar and rounded it out. That gives the bulk for the back of the skull. 

My initial contribution. The plan was way better.