Kozzy

Amazing work but... On a sword like that you can't speak of clockwise and anti-clockwise: No dial clocks at the time (or imaginary place usually) :-) By what I've seen you need to use the terms deasil and widdershins (or regional variations). Makes you sound cooler when speaking of the work...or super nerdy at the least. In any case, love the piece. Rounded tip is interesting there....implying that such a thing would never be thrust and used for slicing only.

That forge is pretty much a joke. Very inefficient and grossly underpowered. You'd be lucky to do small nails with it..and even then, they'd take much too long to heat. Calling it a forge for knife making is plain old bending the truth into a pretzel. Rather than go into details, I suggest you do some reading on this site under gas forges. It'll Start to show you the differences between good and bad ideas and what you really should be looking for. Cheap forges are generally cheap for a reason--often being that you'll pay 10 times more than a good one would have cost in wasted gas due to inefficiency over its life. And you can do a cheap small gas forge--usually you have to "roll your own" though because the commercial cheap one's I've seen are all poor designs. And..just to add to the problem, do not believe what you see on most youtube videos on the subject. There is a huge amount of bad advice on there, presented in ways that look legitimate. Remember, you pay for a forge every single time you use it...in fuel and your own wait times for heating, as well as more subtle ways. That initial price is small compared to the "use" costs so it's virtually always worth throwing a little more at the front end of the transaction to save bigger bucks at the back.

Could that have originally been a pick with the "points" cut off? The shape just screams to me that it was originally more like a 2 ended rock pick (they used to have welded steel tips) rather than hammer. But it's not in my hands to actually look closely at...

Just noticed in that photo that the guy's pants are a bit shiny. That shows he was wearing "tin pants", the common choice for loggers in those days. Tin pants are basically canvas that's been soaked in linseed oil (and other stuff) and cured to make them similar to linoleum. Tough as nails. Still available at about $ 250 USD a pair if you want super stiff pants to wear...forever. Scrappers used to love them also because they were basically fire proof against cutting torches and the sharp metal would rarely cut into them.

I don't get where those prices you tossed out are coming from. Around here, you can't give that stuff away in the kind of condition you are showing. Just about every farm has similar rotting away somewhere. Maybe in your area there are more restorations going on. Steel wheels as decoration go from about $ 25 to about $ 100 depending on a lot of factors but the rest of the parts are pretty much worthless in this region (inland PNW). Restorers can easily find better carcasses to start with. That being said, the wood hubs similar to those shown in the first photo are sometimes turned into hanging lamps. Spokes are pulled to leave open tenons, wood and bands stabilized, and a bulb socket inserted.

To add to the mix, you will find both bucking saws and felling saws. Typically a bucking saw is quite a bit thicker than the "misery whip" felling saw and only has one handle for one man use (but often holes for a second man handle). The extra thickness is because the one guy is pushing a bucking saw in addition to pulling where a 2 man is always being pulled through the kerf. The bucker in the PNW would cut those huge rounds into train car lengths by himself, often only cutting one or two a day. With only one handle, you could cut a log that was about 1-3/4 the length of the saw in diameter. The thicker bucking saws are more appropriate for things requiring a stiffer blade. But...it's a shame to see those saws cut up. Yea, I know there are a million of 'em out there and many are already ruined. US Forest service has an old instruction manual online somewhere (no time to find the link) regarding proper re-sharpening techniques for those. The FS guys here used to send their saws to a guy 4 hours away because proper sharpening was so important and he got it right. He retired and they are really bummed because finding someone with those skills these days is almost impossible. Bucking saw--notice that it seems to not be bowed under it's own weight...that's due to being thicker material. A 2 man felling saw would tend to show some flex in most photos. Often you'll also see a bottle hanging near the sawyer in an old photo. That bottle is filled with kerosene to clean and lube the saw of pitch/buildup.

On a side note, the better "name brand" welders might seem more expensive to begin with but they also have a MUCH better resale value. In many cases, you can buy one, use it for a few years, and sell it for essentially what you paid. They are almost "free" except for having the money tied up. The junkier welders tend to do nothing but go down in value. Plus, once you've used a really good wire feed welder, you'll never want to go back to a cantankerous lesser unit....ever.

Admit it....you like the rest of us with scars learned this lesson the hard way . Unfortunately, it's a lesson that seems to need re-learning again for most.

Back when Boeing Surplus was alive, you could buy those giant old 50 lb mechanical adding machines for $ 1 each. I'd pick up a couple at each visit as a kid and spend hours (days) disassembling them to see what the story was. Thousand piece 3-D reverse puzzles. Never re-assembled as I was more interested in small parts for other things but I do really miss those bygone days. I guess I need to make more room in my life for stuff like that which doesn't require "results"....just fiddling for fiddling sake.

I've always had an itch to do an old-school railway maintenance shed. Some of those can look really nice with all the gingerbread. Here's one from the 1915 book "Maintenance of Ways and Structures" A book for training railway maintenance managers, but you can find many even better designs with more frosting and more railway vibe. Double Doors so they could get the scooter cart in and out.

It's not the greatest knife type grinder as it was designed for woodworking use. Also, that price seems a bit high to me for what is there. You might be able to make it useful but I wouldn't put too much money or effort into it. It's one of those "better than nothing" but "worse than you would like to have" situations so costs and effort really come into play. And...before you do anything, check to see if proper belt grinding belts are even commonly available in that size. A metal grinding belt is a bit of a different animal than woodworking belt--you don't want to have your plans go awry simply because good quality belts are "custom"/rare as hen's teeth and not off the shelf.

Don't reinvent the wheel here. Get yourself a good casting book and a lot of your questions will be answered--it's not that you are terribly wrong, but many of the glitches with your plan have already been worked out over the years and reading up might help you spot those. Books on lost wax casting will overlap a lot and have some good advice about handling molds so may also be worth the read. "Pewter" means a lot of things...from the old lead based kill-ya stuff to the more modern replacements. On top of that, there are different melting points to alloys available--even down to melting in hot water so more info is needed there. As to "plaster"..yea, it's been used but the true casting plaster is not expensive and is worth the slight extra cost. It doesn't break down easily under heat, is very fine for reproducing details, is compatible with additives to get rid of surface bubbles when making the mold etc. Typically a mold won't fill well without some outside help like centrifugal force (for small stuff)...or being very well designed with proper venting. And..how much is "enough"? Are you casting tiny "tin" soldiers or a massive tankard? Multiples or one-off? Most molds these days for low temperature alloys are actually done in things like silicones so they remain flexible and can be re-used easily. It's fairly easy stuff to work with, especially of there are fine details to reproduce on multiple parts.. Sorry if it sounds snotty but I think you need to do a little more basic research on casting in general...and then many of your questions might resolve themselves.

It's highly dependent on location and building codes. For much of the country, an outbuilding that has 120 square feet under roof or less can be built without the full permit process as long as there is no wiring involved...but there are still issues like setbacks from the property line and of course an "unsafe" outbuilding may still be on the radar. In other places, that limit is 240 square feet but that larger number seems to be a bit amorphous...not just localized but also good one year and not the next (as local governments change). It's rare but there are still some areas that don't require building permits--for instance, if you are outside city limits in Montana, you can build without permits (still with some restrictions). I doubt that WV would work like that. So...to the real question. I'd personally do one of those metal buildings that are effectively carports with sides. Not the cheapest version but one which was good for snow loads and wind loads (including pinning it down against uplift forces in winds). They go up in half a day usually and aren't that expensive: By the time you do a wood building, the costs can add up pretty fast. Electrical is the issue and unless you are drawing a ton of current (welders and such), you can probably get away with a temporary extension cord set up only when you are working (that's cheap and the officials can't complain much). But that is all a minimalist kind of shop situation and you may have bigger dreams and ambitions. For me, the next step up from there would be doing it right...and that takes a lot of money. Basically, if you are going halfway to right, you are putting in so much time and money that you might as well go all the way...permits etc. Obviously, it's just one crackpot's opinion....YMMV.

Don't forget that the USPS has very strict requirements for mailbox height...and technically requires that a new mailbox be "inspected" before they use it. Usually that inspection thing is so loose that it's not an issue unless you've done something very crazy. Problem 2 is the county or city right of way issue. Because it's on the right of way in most cases, the county/city sometimes likes to have a say about mailbox mounts. Some paces require break-away mounts so that a careening car doesn't flip over a mailbox that's mounted like a tank trap. There can be snowplow requirements also. In my county (very rural and small), the county engineer just wants an idea of what you are doing so that he doesn't have to yell at you for something stupid later. It's a breeze to go into the offices and chew the fat with him. Other places, not so much. He wanted a wood break-away near the base on mine (large cast steel gears) and that had me put the project on a back burner. Finally, mailbox baseball. If you are subject to that kind of vandalism or people using the box for target practice, design appropriately. Don't assume that because someone else got away with it 10+ years ago, you will too. YMMV greatly depending on the region and whether their governance is oppressive or lax.

Saw that and cringed. Plus the fact that the "restoration" on the sword included aggressively grinding the bejeebers out of it and they claimed that made it worth about $ 5000. The producers pushed reality well into fantasy land on that one.

The common one I see is something to the effect of "the metal is brought to 3000 degrees (f) for forging" or similar ridiculous temperatures. Heard 5000 f once on some show. (and they were talking about carbon steels).

Both mine and the museum's have the handle on the side shown in the last photo above. I haven't yet pulled them apart but I would bet my shoelaces that the shaft can easily be flipped to suit your preference. At least I would have designed it that way were I the original maker.

$ 10 bucks Vulcan pricing was pretty consistent in the early 20th century at 10 cents a pound. They were "cheap" relative to the fancier brands plus were carried by some of the big catalog retailers so were quite common on the farm as well as schools and other places were frugal counted. Rebound tends to be meh but they are serviceable and not boat anchors like the current chinese offerings. The real price should be more like $ 2 a pound but recently they are commanding prices up there with quality anvils...$ 4 to $ 6 a pound usually. As others have said, location location location, though.

IFI immutable laws of smithing: 1) No matter what size shop you have, it will eventually be too small and start to look like Mr. Whoopee's closet. 2) Any horizontal surface will rapidly become a crowded storage space for the 10,000 items you can't find a better place for. 3) Tools have invisible legs and will masterfully hide when they get the notion you are going to need them. 4) Too much is never enough . 5) The most common time to find that you desperately need something is a few days after you take it to the scrapper or toss it in the garbage. The list is longer but those get the ball rolling

Do a search of this site for information about claying and mixtures to use. Refractory and other cementitious products are not the best options. It's one of those areas where simple is better.

One thing I noticed that might be missing: Usually there is a small riser/attachment where the middle of the handle attaches and pivots. Your photos imply that part isn't there (or my glasses need cleaning). You might try some image searching to see what similar risers/attachments look like so you can fab a version. Those were a stress part so tended to break and are often missing from this style of forge. The handle may be a bit shorter than I've seen elsewhere but photos sometimes distort things like that. And since it wasn't mentioned and bears mentioning in case someone happens to wander past this thread: With a cast iron pan like that it will definitely be necessary to clay that forge before use to prevent cracking.

In this general area, that price is not horrible but is still running a bit high. A 4" around this part of the NW tends to run more like $ 80 in that condition and about that $ 100 price when decently complete. I picked up a 4-1/2 at an auction in Grangeville ID (well attended commercial auction) about a year ago for $ 85 with a couple of other small goodies in the lot (pry bar, nail puller). More recently I picked up a 5-1/2 in good shape and complete for $ 175 at an antique store in Lewiston (so higher pricing than auction normally runs). But...if there is some specific "extra" like good branding or a superior screwbox, you aren't too far off. The spring and the other stuff to hold it are not that hard to scab together.

Those lower end old school stick welders are adequate for basic work. With a little practice, you can learn to lay down a good looking and sound weld...but it does take some practice. 150 amps is adequate for most maintenance type welding on what a "smith" might normally run into. Not a bad welder to have around. However, it isn't going to be your favorite "go to" welder if you want to do some really nice work over the long haul. A good wire feed (with gas, not flux core wire) is much more appropriate to the kind of fabrication a Smith might normally see. My MIG gets used 99% of the time and the stick only when I have lots of heavy profiles to do. But...it's a good starter welder if you don't have deeper pockets for now and really want to get started. $ 350 is possibly a little high depending on the unit...because old school stick machines come up for less and there is not much that can go wrong with them. That 60% Duty cycle is not an issue for most non-production welding. Just take breaks to gather your senses and examine your work while the machine rests. Oh..and those Horrible freight cheap auto darkening welding helmets do work pretty well. They aren't the greatest but they can sure make learning a LOT easier. Though I'd suggest paying more for a good helmet if you can afford it, those "cheapies" on sale are a reasonable alternative to get you rolling. I've never had a problem with arc flash on the old one I have around although I ALWAYS test any unit to make sure it's working before striking an arc.

Home brew hydraulics often costs just as much as a pre-packaged unit once you get all the "goodies" needed together..so don't dismiss the option of just buying a pre-made set up. It hurts your wallet but is often WELL worth the expense. Typically for a useful forging press, you are looking at a minimum of 3 hp to be serviceable and 5 to be nice to use. Low HP units only sort of work and tend to be so slow in stroke that you can have a beer while waiting for the ram to "get there" and retract. They'll drive you nuts and you'll wish you tossed the extra $ at the project in short order. As an alternative, check local industrial auctions...like the guys north of you in Kenmore. They have hydraulic units all the time that are in the general range you will need. Sometimes they run a little large but it's easier to make over-sized smaller than undersized larger. Their kenmore auction every 2 months typically has 2 to 5 for sale (but not always). It might give a starting platform that saves you a ton of money and hassle. Although mine is a single stage pump, I've heard tell on this site that 2 stage is awfully nice to have for the speed. I wish I had that speed basically every time I use it. It's also only a 3 hp 220v pre-packaged Parker unit and I wish I had gone for the extra HP for the volume and speed issue.

Um...commercially available rod for cast iron is not really hard to find. There are a LOT of variations available depending on what you want to do though. Some of those are a bit expensive because the constituents to get a good weld on cast iron often take the more expensive "herbs and spices" in the rod such as lots of nickel. True "cast iron" rod is also available and is typically used for gas welding of cast iron. Takes a LOT of heat so you can't really use a small torch head. For simple and less structural fixes, you can also use stainless steel rod if you follow some procedures: It doesn't tend to pick up a ton of carbon from the parent metal so is a bit forgiving on the cracking problem. So...I'm a bit confused about the problem you are chasing here. Maybe you just hadn't dug deep enough about sourcing rod for cast iron? Here's a link to one I posted long ago when I had some unidentified rod--and there's a good video included from Eastwood using true cast iron rod.