Bud in PA

Hey Sanderson have you ever thought of opening your shop on the weekends as a museum. You have the coolest shop I've ever seen. Thank you for posting pictures.

What is the purpose of fullering the head? Is it for looks, balance or both? I do like it, and if I had the money and experience to use it I would buy one. The handle looks like it is easy to hang on to when your hands get sweaty.

I graduated grammer school in 1958. I went to a Catholic Parochial school, and I was taught by Nuns. ( think Blues Brothers movie) I went to public high school and was almost immediately bored. It was many years before I realized that the education those Nuns pounded into me had me ready to enter college from the eighth grade. The dedication of those Nuns, I believe is what made the difference. To this day my wife who is younger than me doesn't use a dictionary, she asks me. When I reminisce like this I realize how old I am, so I'll stop now.

As far as the value of a hammer it depends upon your wants, needs, and pocket. Being new to this hobby, I don't have enough time or energy left at my age for this to be considered a hobby by me, I can relate this question to my flintlock experience. I have assembled a few in my time out of purchased parts. I used to spend about $400 for the main parts. I remember going to a reenactment rendezvous some years ago. Back then you could by a "factory made" flintlock for about $4 to $600 dollars. Semi customs went for around $1200. I came to the display of a well known gunsmith, he had a rifle on display for sale. The price was $20,000! I had to ask why so much? He graciously took the time to explain to me why. He had meticulously kept a record of the time he spent making this rifle over the course of a year. He had never done this before and was curious himself as to how much time it took him. When he added up his hours and multiplied by an average hourly wage for a craftsman of his caliber, he realized $20,000 was under valued. This man made the entire gun by hand. He hand forged everything barrel, lock, butt plate, trigger, trigger guard. He also bored and rifled the barrel by hand. The man even made his own tools. This rifle would only increase in value over time, while factory made, and semi custom rifles would depreciate. I bought my hammers from HF for about $9 each. Do they work, yes. Will they be as comfortable to use as a $140 hammer, I doubt it, but for my needs and pocket capabilities they are just fine. When my family disposes of them they will probably be worth about $3 each. So are $140 hammers worth it? Like everything else in life, depends on your wants, needs, and pocket. Years ago I would scoff at a hammer that cost so much, as I worked for a living and had a family to support. Many years later I have come to understand that there reasons for everything, some reasons are better then others.

Festus was Marshal Dillon's deputy. As far as Forged in Iron, it's Television, It's for entertainment. If they went to a real smithy to film a days work, without the contrived drama, how many viewers would they attract and hold? Unless you are really into it watching somebody else would become akin to watching grass grow after a while. How about Doc Adams, played by Milburn Stone? At my age, growing up in Jersey right across the river from NYC, I remember the early beginnings of TV. Discussions like this bring back distant memories. As I have been told I'm so old I fart dust.

Whenever I encountered zinc, in the course of my job as a welder, I tried to use common sense. When outside I always positioned the wind at my back, whenever possible. Inside I would use an exhaust fan. There were times when I had no choice but to weld on it. Has anybody ever heard of the theory about drinking milk when welding zinc?

Looks like a Wally World for blacksmiths.

I remember that one. She started out trying to straighten out a very thick coil. She heated it and put it in the vise and tried to " uncoil" it. She either didn't have enough strength or didn't get it hot enough. Couldn't tell how thick it was from the TV screen, but it looked pretty thick. She wasted a lot of time trying to uncoil it. i really have no experience but to me I would have cut it in half and put it in the forge and then used an available power hammer to straighten it out. Just my @ cents.

Festus was Marshal Dillon's deputy. As far as Forged in Iron, it's Television, It's for entertainment. If they went to a real smithy to film a days work, without the contrived drama, how many viewers would they attract and hold? Unless you are really into it watching somebody else would become akin to watching grass grow after a while.

At this point in my life, 72, I tend not to pay too much to the government. I treat them like I treat everyone else, don't bother me and I won't bother you.

Just googled Dempsey Twisted Tongs on youtube. As a beginner you have no idea how glad I am that I found this forum. I don't think that a day goes by that I don't learn something new fdrom the people on this forum. Thanks Bud

OK when are you going to do Elmer Fudd?

Thank You

When I die I am not going to be buried, my wife will scrap me.

I've never bought bituminous coal, the last load of anthracite I bought was $237 a ton. I burn coal to supplement my oil heat.

I've used antler as a handle on a couple of blades I used in reenacting. I ground the tangs to fit inside of the antler, then heated the tang with a propane torch and slowly burned it into the handle. When finished burning it in I used Epoxy and pins.

Now I know what to do with an odd piece of RR track.

I've heard that peanut oil has the highest flash point, so I bought some. this stuff smokes a lot more than the extra virgin olive oil I normally use. This is in the kitchen not the forge.

Every once and a while I like to go to flea bay, just to see how ridiculous prices have gotten. I'm never disappointed.

Frosty I am looking at surgery for the neck. I have an inversion table and a tens unit for the back. The inversion table does wonders for my back.

In a few more weeks I will be finally ready to mount my anvil. My luck I welded up a forge, bought an anvil, and a leg vise, and 3 discs in my neck give out. The neck doesn't hurt , but the arm is killing me. Hopefully it will be corrected by next month. Back to my anvil. I have maple and cherry logs big enough to mount my anvil. I also have enough pressure treated 2 x 6's to make a few stands. I also have plenty 2" diameter pipe . I have a 93 lb. anvil, which would make the best stand? Do to back problems it will be mounted so the face is no lower then 30 inches. Any suggestions?

Mike every once and a while I look on ebay at anvils. Seeing what they are asking for anvils today, I would buy it, as long as it has good rebound. I recently bought a 93# Hay-Budden for $350, which was the top of my budget. I am also just starting out,from reading this forum for the few months since I joined, it seems that everyone wants a 150# anvil for shop work. I am happy with my choice. I don't think that I need a bigger one to start out as I have no intentions of trying to make railings or other large pieces. As soon as I get the discs in my neck fixed I will start out with bottle openers, RR spike knives, and other small pieces. If I get proficient enough, and have enough time left I will look for a bigger one.

I am a little envious of the projects that I see here. I used to like to carve wood, and build flintlock guns. Lately my hobby seems to be going to the doctors. What happened to my golden years, I think that they rusted out.

Nice find Das. Every once and a while I check out EB auction. I can't believe how much prices have gone up in the past couple of months since I bought my anvil and leg vise. When I bought them I was a little nervous about the money I spent, when I peruse the auction sites now I smile when I see what they are charging now for comparable pieces.