JHCC

Lord, have mercy.

Lord, have mercy. Healing for him, strength and patience for you.

...if you spend election season mentally cataloguing candidate signs on public land, where you can pick them up (after polls close, of course) without having to ask permission.

6” no-name (Taiwanese) bench grinder, 1/2 horsepower motor with a pull-on/push-off power button (good for emergency shut-off). Ten bucks from someone in the next town over, off Facebook Marketplace.

For most work, I'm guessing that that's too much.

To quote Samuel Yellin, on the whole, I'd rather be in Philadelphia.

I deduce that you have spent time with curious children.

One of my coworkers was given this (really ugly) cologne bottle from the Seventies. I think some of the folks here might find the book useful as well.

No problem. Speaking of quoting previous posts, one useful trick is to highlight the section you're responding to and then click the "Quote this" button that will pop up. It makes it very clear what you're responding to/asking about, and it's a lot easier than clicking the "Quote" button at the bottom of the comment and then editing out the rest.

Cool; thanks. I'll keep both reservations for now, just to be on the safe side, but this is good to know.

No idea, but it looks to my eye like it's made from at least four pieces glued up. One other thing: unless there is a specific detail in a photo that you have to show in order to ask about it, please don't include photos when quoting previous comments. They really eat up bandwidth, and we have many members who use dial-up or otherwise don't have broadband. Please go back and delete that photo out of your comment (you can edit comments for up to about an hour after you first hit "Submit Reply").

Here's an old-school trick: make a model of your finished piece in plasticine or other modelling clay, mush it into a cube, and measure the volume. Factor in scale loss per Jeremy K, and Bob's your uncle. Works for projects of all sizes. Of course, the other option is to simply work off the end of a longer bar, so that you can forge the size you want and cut off the rest. The advantage of this method is that you have something long to hold onto, and won't have to rely on tongs.

Not much; just enough to make the legs look more octopus and less sea star.

A little more webbing between the limbs, perhaps?

There are actually three different threads: "Show me your Anvil Stands" (linked in my last comment above), "Show me your anvil stands", and "Show me your anvil stand!" Confusing, I know.

With the caveat that I am NOT a bladesmith and my experience with grinders is limited, the short answer is that the limiting factor is FRICTION. In other words, the more friction the belt generates, the slower it should go. Fine grits and dull belts generate more friction, so they should be run at lower speeds to avoid ruining the blade’s temper. Coarse grits and sharp belts generate less friction, so they can be run at higher speeds. This is why variable speeds are good: you can adjust the speed to match the belt. @Steve Sells, is that about right?

Aluminum has a tendency to melt if it's near the fire, so no, not recommended. Take a look at some of the threads about flues, especially the "Super Sucker" design.

Generally speaking, quote when you need to make clear what you're replying to. Delete photos from quotes unless there is a specific detail that you need to refer to and that's hard to describe. This is my opinion, not official IFI policy. Seems to work pretty well, though.

Take a look at this stand with wheels and loops for a handle: This is from the "Show me your Anvil Stands" thread.

Very pretty, but much too clean!

There are some good threads about where to find steel, including both junkyards and other sources. Keep in mind that removing spikes from a railroad right-of-way is illegal, and spikes have limited value as stock anyway, mostly because of their length. Two things I've found to be particularly useful are (1) a local steel supplier (a couple of blocks from my son's school) that sells their offcuts ("drops") for cheap and (2) my mechanic, who in exchange for a couple of small items (bottle opener made from a steering column, for example) has kept me in more axles, torsion bars, and springs than I know what to do with.

A couple of decades ago, one of the big hurricanes to hit Florida took out a large number of Cuban mahogany trees that had been planted a hundred or so years earlier, and an enterprising woodworker went out with a flatbed and a chainsaw to salvage what logs he could before everything got shredded by the recovery crews. Did very well selling the resulting lumber to fine cabinetmakers, since Cuban mahogany has been largely unavailable for a long time.

Good morning, and welcome to IFI! Please READ THIS FIRST, add your location to your profile settings, and put some photos of your anvil in the Anvils section of the forum. Lots of folks here who can give good advice on just about anything smithing-related; just make sure to do your reading first so that you can ask informed questions.

I'm reminded of the story of the fellow visiting a metal shop who saw an old workman polishing and polishing a set of bronze church doors. After a while, he asked, "Those doors look amazing. How do you know when they're done?" The old man replied, "They're never done. People just come and take them away."

Glad you're still with us.