TwistedCustoms

I have a love hate relationship with plexi-glass. In a shop where grinding takes place its a matter of time until plex becomes so scratched it becomes cloudy and impossible to see through clearly. I can't envision a way a shield would offer protection without interfering with the ability to manipulate the work piece around the buffing wheel. Also your hands and forearms would always have to be on the dangerous side of the shield. My face and neck are protected by the face shield and my apron offers some chest protection. If anyone has used a shield like you describe I'm open to ideas! I have never sustained an injury from buffing but the startle factor of having a blade snatched from my hands keeps me alert while buffing!

Buffer wins it hands down. I've never had a scratch from on angle grinder but I always run them with the guard, don't get them into a bind etc. The buffer has some inherent risks that can't be completely mitigated. Polishing requires diligent attention and still results in steel being ripped out of your hands and slung into the wall, floor, ceiling. I've never had blade come towards me but I have had them bounce off the wall behind the buffer with enough force to make me flinch( and swear like a sailor!) Running the buffer is the only time I wear a leather apron in the shop. Also full face shield. My nicks and dings can usually be handled with bandaids but the buffer has the potential for a more serious injury.

Hi Tom. If you will add a general location to your user profile it will make it easier to connect with local smiths. Unless you're on the dark side of the moon there is likely a blacksmith or even a blacksmithing group close to you. Welcome aboard!

Wow! That looks great. You can test rebound by dropping a ball bearing and measuring the percentage it bounces but it looks good in the photos. Nobody can tell you exactly what the value is, that depends somewhat on how badly the buyer wants it. If the rebound is good, in my location, I would list it for around $3.50 USD per pound. Based on the last couple I have sold, within the past year, it would bring that with no problem. You need to shop for anvils in your area to get a feel for how your local market is running. Local farm papers and even CL will give you a much more realistic view than FleeBay! Good luck!

If the original weld was done in a neutral fire it may yet stick. You can flux it and try to reset the weld but if there is already scale in there it's probably not going to weld. The only thing I've ever welded 5160 to is mild for axe heads but I have been told 5160 doesn't like to stick to itself. If you do get the billet to weld up and you still want to fold it you could try inserting another layer of 1075 into the fold. When a billet opens up in the center it can mean it wasn't up to weld temp all the way through the billet. It can be tricky with solid fuel to bring a billet up to heat without burning the outer layers but five layers will be easier than a great big stack.

The single photo doesn't provide enough information about condition and the general location can have a greater effect on value than the other variables. Take pictures of all four sides, and the top and add a general location to your user profile. In central Ms. USA where I am a given anvil will vary greatly in value from the same anvil located in South Africa, or even South Carolina.

The really good ones are around 150%. Once you learn to windmill your arm while holding the hammer it just spins faster and strikes harder with each strike until you back away from the anvil. Yeah, you can get a lot of work done with 150%!

When you reduce the diameter of stock by half it grows at a 4 to 1 ratio in length. One inch of one inch square reduced to one half inch square will be four inches long. Take your dimensions and do the maths! Happy forging!

Hey ForgeNub. Blacksmiths can be easily broken into two groups. Those who think tongs are a good beginner project and those who don't. I believe tongs are the perfect beginner project. The forging of tongs involves isolating material, drawing out, piercing, forming rivet heads and file work. The end result, after the first second or third attempt will result in something useful and by the time you get to double didgits you should be making tongs that are useful and attractive. As it involves some of the most fundamental aspects of smithing it is a great way to learn hammer control while practicing fire management and other basic skills in a real forging environment. A lot of guys will tell you to stick to S hooks but let's be honest, you can take short sections of 1/4" mild and bend them into S shapes all day without lighting a fire. That's not going to help anyone advance but making tongs will move you along to more advanced projects. Kudos for taking on a challenge and for sharing the results. Read the posts found on IFI about making tongs, watch tutorials and keep forging. After you make pair number 10 or 12 post some side by side photos of that pair with pair #1. You will be amazed at how much more advanced your work will be. That's a good first go! Keep it up.

I've harvested metal from those kinds of widgets and it can be a hassle. 20' of 1/4" round at my local steel plant is around $3.00 USD. That all depends on how close you live to a steel plant and if the plant sells small quantities. I do agree that scrounging beats hardware store prices on 3 and 4 foot pieces though! The axle shaft is probably 4140 ish, I've water hardened a bunch of them and never had a problem using them for striking tools when tempered to straw. You can never have too much antler on hand!

Thanks Theo! My tablet is a big box store cheap-o with a camera as good as the old flip phones. I have an OK digital camera but this tablet doesn't even have an SD slot. I thought about emailing photos back to myself from a computer at the public library but I never think to take the camera to the shop. I had a rain day today, (storm actually) and I did a bit of online reading about the development of the highland dress and kit. There is a tartan for each branch of my family but wow is that stuff expensive! At least the real woven wool is. The kilt alone is around $600.00 USD. Now I know why I see so many canvas kilts at Celt Fest! To your point, it was surprising how much the current outfit and even the weapons "evolved" during the Victorian era. Even the humble sgian dubh of today doesn't much resemble the " black knife" of olde.

Too bad about the cracks. I really like the low contrast look. High contrast like you get with 15n20 is pretty in some patterns but its been done to death for a long time. That low contrast is tasteful and understated. I hope you try again!

Very cool arkie. I wonder how many feet a chain maker could make in a day.

Not after the fifth Guinness but having grown up in the Deep South it does give me pause. My ancestry is Scottish and Welsh but I have never "embraced" it. I was half joking but the more I think of it now I'm beginning to think I would like to put the full kit together. I love the music, the dance and the history. I didn't know anything about the Sgain Dubh or its history until a week ago when I decided to make one. Tonight I've been shopping the web for some "bog oak" so I can make the next one with traditional materials!

I now have the excuse I need to buy a kilt at the next gun show! I've been going to an event each Fall for several years called "Celt Fest" and I haven't yet donned the stockings and kilt! My Sgain Dubh may be a gateway accessory!

Blade is forged 5160 quenched in canola oil and tempered at 425f for two two hour cycles. Flat ground with a false edge running the full length of the spine. Oil finish. Handle is 3/4 hidden tang in black G10 with two ton epoxy and pinned with a 1/4" brass tube. Sheath is .090" black Kydex with 3/16" eyelets. I think the brass bolster is 3/16" thick. It was cut from an old door knocker plaque I picked up at a junk shop. I would like to make a more traditional sheath. The leather work won't be an issue but I don't know where to begin on the fittings. I need a new hobby so I guess its time to start reading about tinsmith/silversmithing. I don't have any illusions about doing museum quality work but I would like to learn to make tip protectors from brass or copper.

Look up images of "karambit", pruning knives, linolium knives, carpet knives. It isn't quite any of those but looking at images may give you design ideas. I made a matching pair of karambit knives about a year ago and grinding a clean bevel on the inside of a tight arc was tedious! Go ahead and handle your knife and post more photos! It may not conform to an established design closely enough to name it a this or that but it doesn't have to. Make yourself a nice drop point for skinning and use that one for utility work. Also look at images of cable splicers knife

littleblacksmth, I like it too! I've been on the lookout for a demo vise and this one is perfect for a portable stand.

Blacksmith Magic! We had storms in central Ms all night last night and I stayed up watching the weather. As a result of my late night I slept all morning and didn't go garage sale hunting with my dad this morning. When I stepped out on the porch this afternoon to survey the storm damage this stuff was laying in my front yard. Pop had gone out searching this morning without me and dropped this stuff at my place while I was sleeping. I called to ask what I owed him and he said $20.00 for both. The homemade wooden post vise is charming. It is crude but functional and probably served its purpose well. I'm going to clean it up and display it with some of my other obscure shop tools. The 3" post vise is in great shape. Everything is there except the original mounting foot. The mounting bracket has the key and wedge. The spring is good. The screw and screw box are flawless. This little vise has a film of rust all over, like all metal stored outside in Mississippi, but it looks like it hasnt seen much use. It's small but in really good condition.

Great work jmc, that's one of the best cable guards I've seen. The rope edge looks great. The fine pattern is cool too but that guard would look good on any cable knife even if the blade pattern was done with the larger wire size.

CTBlades, I thought we were tracking pretty much on course for this thread, but then I do spend a lot of time with Blacksmiths ;-) I have been involved in lots of conversations about gear reduction that started out about whitetail hunting. Seems perfectly logical to me. Using that logic here I'm hoping that by the time I wake up tomorrow someone has picked up Thomas' suggestion about improvised spurs and worked out a scenario for exterminating Zombies with them.

My plan for surviving the Z Apocalypse is to head north. Anyone who has ever harvested a deer in a cold climate knows what happens to a mammal once it expires in below freezing temps. Presumably zombies have no circulatory activity or body heat so.....Z-cycles ;-) Anyone in Alaska should be able to walk around smashing them with a hammer a few hours after they turn. Fun. Nice blade though CT, I liky the look of the post apocalyptic stuff.

I have a Wilkinson a little smaller than yours and it has been a great little anvil. If yours has good rebound and you're just getting started $500.00 will go a long way on tooling. Four pair of tongs and two hammers for around $200.00 leaves a tidy amount to spend on coal ;-) If money is not an issue and the Brooks is in fact as it's represented then $500.00 shipped isn't terrible. Not great but not terrible. The only drawback is that there remains a lot you can't know from a photo. One phenomenon I have experienced and witnessed over and over is this; when you don't have an anvil they are illusive, once you acquire a good one they will suddenly start turning up all over the place. That Brooks looks good in the photo but it won't be the last one you will encounter and the price is likely to better on the next or third or fifth one that pops up. The short version, I wouldn't pay that without a hands on inspection. Good Luck and happy hunting!

Lovely, great lines and the tallon guard is a nice touch. Great work.

WD "Bo" Randall and Bob Loveless