TwistedCustoms

Hey CC, nothing to do with this thread, just curious about your handle. Is that Cannon Cocker as in "Red Leg" or something else? I was a 13 Bravo in a past life and I haven't heard the term in a few decades. Either way welcome to IFI.

As far as new goes, Makita are hard to beat. The 4.5" average around $70 to $80 depending on where you shop. I have four in the shop and I've burned one up after nine years of steady use. They (Makita) are not all created equal. If it's priced around say $40-$50 USD that's a good indication it's a 6 or 7.5 amp motor. These are intended for sale at big box stores to homeowners/weekend warriors who will purchase them to cut a few pieces of rebar for a small landscape project and then never use it again. The ones that are priced higher have 10 amp or better motors and are intended for heavier duty. It's the same with Milwaukee, Dewalt, any of the major brands. They all offer lower and higher grades of tools that look very similar but internally are actually quite different. Pay more attention to the amp rating of the motor than the brand.

Thomas, you're casting pearls before swine. Time to pull the plug! DNR

List it on Ms., Ok. and Tx. Craigs List but be sure to add your general location so folks know how far away they are shopping. I sold an anvil three years ago to a man in Ok. He drove over to Ms to pick it up and it wasn't as nice as yours!

Dionne, I'm in central Ms so not too far away. I've seen smaller Sweeds selling around 1k in the last couple of years. I would say its still a sellers market. Don't touch a grinder to it at all!!!, any potential buyer will know how to handle the clean up. I would start at 1k Firm if you want to move it fast, or list it for 12-1500 if you want to give it time to grow on potential buyers. TP was right on in his previous post. In the mid to late nineties I picked those up for 50 to 100 at swap meets! Not today!

Thank You for posting the link! I look forward to reading more of your posts here on IFI.

Very nice. I like the low layer count on axes and hammers. I think it's much more visually striking than the fine lines of the higher layer count. Show us another photo when you get it handled. Any thoughts on handle material?

Cliff Carroll hammers have a Texas logo stamp but its different than that and the newer ones I've seen are weighed in lbs, not grams. They have been around since the 1930s so maybe an older Cliff Carroll?

I really like the way it moves hot. I'm learning when to go from hot forging to cold forging so I can harden it during the last forging phase. A spiral bracelet for example, it forges quick and easy hot but it's too soft. Cold forging the last series of hammer blows stiffens it up enough to hold it's shape, even gives it a little spring tension. I haven't tried welding it yet but that's on my to do list! I admit I'm a little out of my depth on copper alloys. The main reason we used metal cutting fluid in the last machine shop I worked in cutting brass was to keep the lead in the brass from going airborne. I never grind anything without a mask! I haven't run into a scenario where I needed to cut this copper except for parting it up into workable size pieces. If I end up doing any shaping it will likely done hand filing. I absolutely cant confirm your suspicion but I also doubt the live rails would be made from anything approaching $23.00 per lb!

I have a friend down on the coast who forges a lot of copper and silver. He's a great blacksmith too but his copper jewelry is pretty awesome. Part of that is having an eye for aesthetics but forging non ferrous metals is a whole other skill set. If you have time to play and take some notes it's fun for sure. It's familiar yet totally new.

Thanks Das! When I fitted that guard up it was just a little too large for the blade. It overpowered it but I think I can still make it work on something in the 12"-14" blade range. It's sitting on the cool off table with about a hundred other "works in progress". I was anxious to do something with the copper. I got a couple hundred feet of 1/4" x 2" copper in aprox 10' sections. It was live rails from a buss bar system in a local machine shop remodel so this is going to be the summer of learning to forge copper! It hot forges like chewed bubble gum and is really a lot of fun. Heat it and quench it and it cold forges ok but I discovered that hitting it hot will cause it to MOVE!

Thank You. No, it's turning almost black but I can always buff and seal it. I like the way it's ageing but I have the wax on standby if I change my mind!

Post some pics if you get around to it. Unless the burner design was drastically different in years past you should have a good foundation to build on. I have the whisper mamma two burner version but I have a friend with the whisper baby one burner. Both are recent purchases so the newer burners may be better? I have the factory lining, fiber board walls and roof, fiber cloth door and hard fire brick floor. I coated that with a thin layer of cast-o-lite 3000 and then coated that with Metrikote IR reflective. Since coating it reaches welding heat at 5psi. My friends single burner is coated the same way and he welds in no problem but I don't know what pressure he's running it.

I think the answer to your question can be found by looking at CVA and other repro manufactures. I have several Thompson Center which I regard as at lest one step above CVA and the other imports and even TC doesn't really case harden anything. They, like all the others put a "case hardened patina" on some parts for aesthetics but all the trigger/hammer parts are good ole hc.

I like it! It would make an interesting bellows pump, if a tad overkill! Might be able to rig it up as a light weight punch press.

Hickory is by far the strongest, longest grain hardwood but there are other suitable options. Osage, aka Bois de Arc is good, Ash and Mulberry are nice too. As stated above, bow woods. Pallet lumber is iffy but there are less expensive ways to find good handle wood without paying a premium for pre shaped handles. I have purchased replacement handles for wheel barrows at my local building supply for about the price of one pre made hammer replacement handle. I can rip one of the barrow handles lengthwise and get six hammer handles for the price of one. The barrow handles are marked as Ash or Hickory depending on where you buy them.

I've often wished the history we were taught was a more honest picture of the world but history is written by the victors. I was about twelve when I read Winston Churchill, "History of the English Speaking Peoples" In that work he treats, briefly, the story of Boudicca, the English Woman and tribal leader who gave the ninth legion a hard go during the Roman occupation of Britain. For some reason that story sparked my enthusiasm for adventure more than Malory and his Knights. I suspect the reason her story and probably countless others have been glossed over or omitted all together is because they challenge the notions of gender rolls in patriarchal society.

Balance may be more an individual preference than absolute necessity. I buy Swedish pattern cross peens which have a long slender and thin cross peen. I nub them down until the hammer head is so off center it almost looks like a dogs head hammer with a slight protrusion for the cross peen. I purchased the hammer based on "I really like the way that looks". After using it I realized the cross peen was way too narrow for my purpose so I cut/ground until I had the radius I was looking for on the peen end. I wondered if the hammer was a total loss because I had so drastically altered it from what it was. After forging with it for a while I discovered it is a delight to use. The weight distribution is "different" when using the peen but it has become my favorite two pounder. Since the happy accident of discovering I like the shape I have purchased and modified several more. That's not to say you will absolutely love it if it's balanced off center but you wont know till you try. That's what cheap hammer heads are for. My most expensive hammers are in the $300.00 USD price range and I do love them dearly. I knew what they were before I purchased them and I never regret bringing a tool home! Some of my favorites are chop jobs/re profiles I've done with junk sale finds at a couple of dollars each. The old rusty hammer heads are a lot more bang for your buck because you wont be afraid to experiment with them and it's a thrill when you come up with one that just feels right and moves metal the way you want it to!

That little drilling hammer you did the lay out lines on, does that stamp say 2, or 2 1/2? looks like two and a half to me but it may be my old eyes. You can radius one face without removing nearly as much material as indicated by your lay out lines. As for the cross peen, it would be a lot less work to look for a cross peen hammer and re shape from there. You could cut away that much material with a chop saw and then grind and polish but with that much cutting I would count on having to re harden and temper.

Was that a nod to sinister strikers?

Burning a smithy would most certainly ruin an anvil, much more so than breaking the horn. I know you can use a rock for an anvil but removing the rebound from a forged and hardened anvil counts as "destroying" in my book.

Looks good. If your burner is built for that volume! I built my third gasser with only KOL30, no fiber cloth or board. Coated the cured Kast-O-lite with Metrikote and I like it. The shell gets a little hotter than my fiber board/KOL lined version but with the Metrikote it warms up quick and I'm happy with it. I've been averaging four hours of run time five to six days a week for a couple of months and so far no cracks. I'm glad I didn't get interested in switching to LP till those two products came along! I still keep coal/coke around but I really prefer the LP forges now.

You can spritz the surface with a spray bottle and smooth the surface but I would let it dry for a day before you roll it. I mix KOL30 a little thinner, like brick layers mud. it wont fall off a trowel when you hold the trowel sideways but it's wet enough to get a slick surface. I haven't had any issues with shrinkage but I always let it cure 24 hours before moving or turning it.

I REALLY like that grindstone in pic#3!

They make metal cutting blades for your saw but it wont hold up long cutting heavy stock or harder steels. It would work ok for sheet copper, small brass/bronze or mild steel. The big difference between woodworkers shop tools and machine shop tools is the motors. Woodworkers tools don't have sealed motors and the motors they do have don't like metal shavings getting inside!. I have an old Craftsman circa 1970s and I use it to cut light weight, non ferrous metal from time to time but for cutting steel stick with a chop saw or angle grinder/cut-off wheel. (or of course a proper metal cutting band saw but the other two options are generally less expensive)