JHCC

Don't wait too long -- I'm only a hobbyist, and I don't know when I'll be getting back in the forge.

My most recent attempt at talking to people resulting in my turning down a big punch and two big chisels for ten bucks. Each. (Blacksmithing-related talking, that is. The talking I get paid to do is going just fine.)

Which reminds me: my apologies for not getting a shirt when I was there. I must remedy that, the next time I see you.

Rebar bottle openers are an easy practice piece that (a) you can sell or trade for favors or material and (b) don't require tongs to make. Just take a two-foot (or longer) piece of rebar, slit and drift the hole, shape the ring, punch the tab, and cut off the parent stock. Make some more. Sell 'em to your friends at school for five bucks each. If you sell four, that's enough to get you a tong kit from Ken's Custom Iron (you'll need to do some shaping and riveting, but it's a lot easier than making them from scratch).

I wouldn't call that "hoarding", @Charcold. More like not letting go of something with sentimental value. Hoarding would be if Josh bought every single anvil in sight, piled them up in his barn in a big unmanageable pile, and never let anyone else in, instead of curating them intelligently and making the museum (land his not inconsiderable knowledge) available to anyone who stops by and asks nicely.

Neat idea. I've made a couple of scrolling wrenches, and I think I'll give this a try. One idea, though (that I'll let you know if it works), is to make the main part of the tool from rectangular stock with the right-angle bend done the hard way; that will require a longer tenon on the inner piece, which will give more resistance to bending.

What have I told you about talking to people! Nice haul!

Well done, in every sense.

He's a nephrologist by training, but has done all sorts of stuff. One of his last projects was helping set up a women's hospital in Kabul after the Taliban got kicked out. I think he may have done some work with the Indian Health Service too, so you might know him: his name is Vincent Berkley.

I see the uniform, there. Thank you for your service! (My wife's uncle is a retired USPHS Rear Admiral.) Lieutenant. The Commissioned Corps uses pretty much the same rank structure and insignia as the US Navy.

No, the only think I saw that looked rusty turned out to be a piece of brown wood.

Roadkill is roadkill!

I've met your wife, and she is a lovely woman. I'm sure you would miss her.

Cut a notch in the middle of the back notch as a pass-through for longer stock, and keep it blocked with a bit of something when you're not using it. You can also put a bucket underneath it to to catch any coal that dribbles out the back.

My uneducated guess is cast iron, and my uninformed supposition is that someone in the past was trying to make a quick buck off of inferior merchandise.

I have to disagree with you, @Glenn: a hung-up apron protects the wall under the nail.

Welcome, Chris! Thank you for adding your location -- we have a number of members in your area, and I hope you can connect with more local folks. If you haven't yet read the "Read this first" post, please do. You've already followed its first recommendation!

Turn it on its back, use the center of the short section (at the narrow end of the angle) right where it meets the central web as your main hammering spot (greatest combination of mass and rigidity), and grind a fuller and a hot cut into the edge of the other flange. Then, as @Charles R. Stevens suggests, keep looking for your next upgrade.

A "trammel" is also a kind of compass for drawing large circles, with movable points on a long beam rather than two legs joined at a pivot. Thus, "trammeled" has exactly the same literal and figurative meanings as "encompassed". I'm a big fan of ahistorical cooking, myself.

The Blacksmith's Journal website offers back issues and archive copies for sale, even if only in electronic form.

I'm working on a similar blade and am encountering a similar problem. The simple answer is, keep grinding. If there's enough metal left in the blade, just grind down to the finished size and shape that exists within your blank. For my own knife, after investing a considerable amount of time in trying to flatten it post-hardening, I am about to re-anneal it, file it flat, and harden again. I'm regretting the loss of time (and sandpaper) invested, but without a proper knifemaking grinder, it's really my own best option. Don't be afraid to fall back and retrench, if necessary.

My very first forge (an old gallon-size juice can lined with clay -- a JACOD? -- that never once got up to forging temperature) used a blow pipe. Let's just say I abandoned that method the first time I got out of sync with myself and sucked on the pipe rather than blew....

Well put, George.

It's going to take a lot more than 55 calories to get steel to forging temperatures.

The "Tuyere Two-Step"!