JHCC

Yes, that’s right. I straightened a couple of coil spring segments on Sunday and threw them in the hot box to anneal. Yesterday, I drilled out the centers on the drill press (at 1/8” and 1/4”) and ground down the outsides on the 2x90. Next time I fire up the forge, I’ll harden and temper them.

Drilled and ground a couple of eye punches, to be hardened and tempered later.

Nothing at the moment, but the sixty pounds of lead and steel that make up the head of my treadle hammer is made up at least in part of dental foils. I’m thinking of making up a lead block to test punches and chasing tools on.

Welcome to IFI, jhsmith! If you haven't yet, please READ THIS FIRST!!!

Welcome to IFI! If you haven't yet, please READ THIS FIRST!!! Please add your location to your profile settings; where you are in the world may have some bearing on what makes of anvils are typically available locally. That said, you have an interesting anvil there. Possibly made in or near Sheffield, England some time in the 19th century. The face looks like it's in good condition, although the hardy hole looks oddly rounded. The weight stamp would indicate 348 lbs new, which is pretty beefy. So long as the ring and the rebound are good, that's a pretty darn good anvil, and you can't beat the price.

I cut some big rubber bands from an innertube (just cut straight across to make a ring) and wrapped those around the handle next to the knobs.

Thanks, Das. I was talking with a donor some months back who was complaining about the lack of period-correct forks for American Revolution reenactors (her husband is a member of a fife-and-drum corps and sews all their reenacting clothes by hand!), and then I saw an old fork in an antique shop that inspired me to give this a try. Here’s a photo of that original. I love the decoration, which is all done with the corner of a chisel.

Dropped my son off at the dentist, and they gave me a box with a couple of pounds of lead foil from dental x-ray film capsules.

Can't remember if I noted a couple of weeks ago that I plugged a couple of the holes in my NARB with kaowool, and drastically reduced the backfiring-at-low-pressure problem. I may block one more (or change which ones are blocked), as that does seem to have created a slightly cooler spot in the middle of the forge and/or a slightly hotter spot at the back (although I freely admit that that might be a function of the internal pyrodynamics).

NICE!!

I'm on the road for work quite a bit as well, but I've been lucky in that my rambles have given me the opportunity to get together with a number of IFI members and even to spend some time together forging.

I have to disagree with Frosty on this one. I read that stamp as “J. Derrida”, which would make this anvil postmodern.

Rebar is for suckers. Voila. The hammer head still needs some more forging and grinding, but a major flaw has been largely eliminated.

Welcome to IFI! If you haven't yet, please READ THIS FIRST!!!

Good point.

Of course, if your scroll former is irregular, your scrolls will be too.

In addition to doing some corrective work on a hammer head and straightening some sections of coil spring for punches (currently annealing in the hot box and therefore not shown), I made a fork (which still needs some filing): Modified some old twist tongs that never really worked into a pair of punch-and-chisel tongs: And made a scroll former and a test scroll: (with a spiral based on the discussion HERE).

Searching "Sold" listings on eBay will give you a decent idea of what people have actually paid for such things in the past (as opposed to what people are trying to get for them in the present).

Welcome to IFI! If you haven't yet, please READ THIS FIRST!!! Without knowing where you are in the world, it's hard to know what resources are available to you, so please add that to your profile settings. Please note that most working smiths aren't likely to be interested in investing their valuable time with no return beyond unskilled labor. There are free resources available (this forum, for example), but most hands-on learning experiences are likely to cost you some cash. There are some good discussions here about apprenticeships and how best to get started as a beginner; there's a lot to learn there.

Or taper their stems.

Fun!

Here’s a pair I made to those instructions a little while back.

Planning to do collars. It’s about 35” wide, to keep the dogs in the family room.

Drafted an idea for a gate.