JHCC

Follow up: Looks wrought to me!

They're repairing the roof on the chapel at the college where I work, and I snagged these bits of old bracket out of the dumpster. The building went up in 1908, so these might be wrought iron, but they could just as easily be steel from either the original construction or a later restoration. Time to nick and bend! (By the way, the chapel architect was Cass Gilbert, who collaborated with Samuel Yellin on a number of commissions, including our art museum.)

Kyre eleison.

Sine dubio.

My old advisor (of blessed memory) liked to respond to "But that's what's in the dictionary!" with (and you must imagine this in a thick Brooklyn accent): "Ya know, when I foist got outta school, I hadda job with Merriam Webster, da dictionary people. One ting I loined: Never trust da dictionary!"

Sure, but does your version allow power tools?

Or just on general principles.

Leaving aside forge construction questions, such an item might be good as a quench tank.

Or to put it another way, capillary action works in both directions.

Some beers are best drunk at room or cellar temperature anyway. However, you will have a lot more success getting the information you need if you ask the right questions. Please remember: as fantastically intelligent as we all are, we can't read your mind. ThomasPowers likes to play around with this a bit, but his essential point is solid: without knowing key information about what you want to do, we cannot answer your question. So please, ask detailed questions!

Only if you have the horn of the anvil pointed at sunrise on the equinox.

It looks to me like this is some kind of tuyere with built-in ash dump and bullet grate. If I'm correct, this would go in the bottom of the firebowl with the unhandled side up. Clinker would form in a ring around the "jet" and would get broken up by jiggling the attached lever up and down. The clinker would then fall down into the ash dump, to be released by tripping the weighted lever. Take a look at BP0138 Bullet Grate to get an idea of how a bullet grate works (although that example does not have the clinker breaker/ash dump yours does). That's my best guess. Anyone else?

Cool. Pictures?

Can you back up and give us a wider view, perhaps with a ruler or something for a sense of scale?

Spirit or oil?

@Tomahawksimmons, before you ask any more, I need to let you know that you're asking some pretty basic questions that have been posed here on IFI any number of times. If you haven't already done so, please go to the knifemaking section of the forum and read the pinned posts. In particular, New knife maker? and the posts linked in Knife Making Classes will give you more knowledge than you'll know what to do with. If you still have questions after digesting all that material, we'll be here for you.

Welcome aboard! If you haven't yet, check out the New England Blacksmiths Association, of which there are a number of members here on IFI. Good bunch of folks, and always eager to help those who want to learn!

The great thing about building your own forge is that you can tailor its dimensions and function to you, your workspace, and what you're forging. A JABOD forge is cheap, easy to build, and (perhaps most importantly) easy to modify. If you're building it with salvaged materials, your only investment is in time -- and it's time that you're learning, so it's never going to be a wasted investment. When I switched from my old rivet forge to a JABOD, not only did I get a much more functional setup, but I was also able to turn around and sell the rivet forge for about what I'd paid for it, plus a decent leg vise. If I were you, I'd give a JABOD a try. If you prefer the forge you have, great. If not, you can hang onto that forge for as long as you like, or you can sell it. With decent legs, I imagine it would bring decent money, which you could then spend on other fun stuff.

Make sure it's a good one, and not just one you want to get rid of. The power hammer gods will know!

Transliteration.

I'm not sufficiently pure.

Good to know both.

As I was just saying to my son last night while helping him with his math homework, it's not about the answer; it's about the method. Relying on shortcuts or alternatives may get you the answer to a particular problem now, but you'll be missing the skill that you don't yet know you'll need.

That would be "Δ'ὣ!" When I turn on goofy fonts, my dear sir, I assure you that it is no accident!

"And immortal laughter rose from the bliss-filled gods, As they watched Hephaestus bustling about the palace." Homer's "Iliad", Book One, lines 599-600