JHCC

8 karat gold is not uncommon in European jewelry and is typically 1/3 gold and 2/3 copper (sometimes with some silver as well).

I agree with everything Latticino says, with the addition that I suspect that grill might burn out pretty quickly if you're making larger fires for heavy forgings. Something heavier (perhaps welded up from 1/2" or larger round bar) might work better.

That is a very cool setup. For those who want a preview, here's a couple of screen grabs:

I would argue that leaving it as it is actually DIShonors its history and legacy. If a tool isn't used, it isn't a tool; it's a "collectible". Clean it up, put it to use, and wear it out again. Let it live.

Any possibilities for using vegetable oil, whether purchased new or filtered deep-fryer oil?

Update: Oh, look. What a surprise.

I came, I saw, I hammered.

That wouldn’t have worked either: The individual pieces were all bigger than 7”. Also, the rule applies whether or not the pieces are assembled.

The one that I actually got? Not all the way, but most of it; it’s moving quite freely. I didn’t unscrew the big Athol, but the screw and mobile jaw were not stuck.

Veni, vidi, percussi.

If by “ingenious”, you mean “cobbled together from what I had on hand, reasonably suited to the task, and utterly inappropriate for a permanent installation”, then sure! This was the original configuration, supported by a sawhorse. I later mounted it on a rolling cart, for greater ease of setup and takedown. Together with a super-sucker made from a party balloon helium tank, it worked great.

Update: had a nice hypothetical chat with a TSA agent about what would happen if I showed up with a 40lb. vise in my carry-on backpack. He said that the agent at security would probably refer the question to a supervisor, and that the supervisor would probably disallow the vise as violating the "no tools with an assembled length of more than seven inches" rule. So, now we know.

Very nice. I particularly like the candleholder.

Cool; thanks for the clarification.

The sniffer dogs, scanners, and NIK tests the TSA uses at airports are very good at detecting traces of drugs and explosives, and a container of dry refractory mix probably isn't going to set off any alarm bells. At least, not in my own experience....

Very pretty. Being in Rhode Island for a business trip, I stopped by Exeter Scrap Metal to see what interesting goodies they might have put aside in their interesting goodies section. I got a nice RR spike maul head (which I plan to turn into a stake anvil) and a nice little Columbian No. 143 vise for $10 each. There were also a nice big (~6”) Athol vise for $45 and a Champion No. 400 blower, but both were too heavy for my checked luggage and too big for a carry-on. Ah, well.

A 2009 film showing production of high-quality files. The narration is in German, but auto-translated subtitles are available in Settings.

Document protectors are great. You can take the pages out to make notes, and the protectors keep those sheets clean the rest of the time. You can also make temporary notes on them with a grease pencil and wipe them off later (check first to make sure the specific pencil is compatible with the specific protector, though). I have photocopies of my Hossfeld bender’s manual and the Hossfeld catalog in sheet protectors and a binder for shop use, keeping the originals on the shelf of my smithing library.

"Give me a place to stand, and I will move the earth." -- Archimedes

Δῶς μοι πᾶ στῶ καὶ τὰν γᾶν κινάσω.

Very nice. Maybe add a sail of woven wire mesh, perhaps in brass or copper?

I'd put my money on the "72" actually being a "12" with a rather strong upstroke on the "1". In the hundredweight system, that would make your anvil (1 x 112 lbs.) + (3 x 28 lbs.) + (12 x 1 lb.) = 112 + 84 + 12 = 208 lbs. In Columbus, I strongly recommend connecting with Adlai Stein at the Central Ohio School of Metalwork, as well as Southern Ohio Forge and Anvil (SOFA), the local branch of the Artist Blacksmith Association of North America. In addition to their regular meetings and classes, SOFA also hosts the annual Quad-State Blacksmiths Roundup in Troy, which draws folks from all over the world.

If you're willing to create a sufficiently beefy support mechanism, size is no limit.

Kim's videos are generally worth watching. He's got a series running right now showing the process of him restoring and 18th century spitjack, a clockwork mechanism for slowly turning a roasting spit by the fire.

Fun fact: it has been argued that Cerberus, the three-headed dog that guards the entrance to the underworld in Greek mythology, gets his name from a proto-Indo-European *k̑érberos, meaning "spotted". While there are competing theories about the derivation, if this one is true, it means that Hades, the god of the dead, named his dog "Spot".