Ranchmanben

When I got there, my first instinct was to buy all of it and sell what I don’t want. These were priced at a point that I could make money without screwing people. The one vice I want isn’t for sale, the cleaner 5.5” jaw. Then I remembered I’ve got friends that want/need a post vise. Gave a few guys a call and told them to save me the one with the womper jawed leg. There’s a high school kid that my wife teaches who’s getting into smithing and wants to make more than knives. I plan on having him help me fix it up and long term loaning it to him. The tongs are, for the most part, large tong for use under a power hammer. We’ve been having a little bit of a debate on the value of these. Most of them are in terrible shape and have been poorly welded back together. There are certainly a few pair that will be in my shop but we’ve got to figure out the price. The thing thay really caught my eye was the large stake anvil. I’ve had my eye out for one for quite a while. I told him I’d take the other stake anvils too but the big one is coming home on Tuesday. This whole thing caught me off guard, short notice, unprepared and without cash. We set the price on the vices and the stake anvils for my friends and I bit the guy is bizarrely stubborn about the tong price.

You and I are on the same page with the wagon rims! Thanks Frosty. Sounds like an ideal material. Suppose it comes in a dark grey?

Unfortunately not all of it is getting to follow me home

I’m liking the idea the idea of wider rockers, with or without some sort of padding. Part of me think that if someone puts it on a wood floor with out a rug then they deserve what they get. The danger of toes, tails or other things getting mashed isn’t my concern. Those are the dangers of any rocking chair. We’ll see how it goes and how much motivation to do extra work I’ve got when I get to the rockers.

I’ll be mighty pleased if mine turns out a quarter as pretty as a Maloof chair. I’m pretty sure any metal, even highly polished would eventually start tearing up a wood floor from dust getting ground into it. I don’t want to use it but I think some sort of hard rubber belting riveted on would be best

This is certainly the most ambitious forging project I’ve taken on but I’m entered in a contest so I want to win. I’m hoping it’ll be around 100lbs but it’s probably going to be heavier. I’ll have to look that one up. It’s inspired by a chair forged by Tim Cicineros. Thank you Sir The contact area of the rockers is one place I’m hung up. Part of me wants to just make them all metal and use it only on carpet. The other part wants to make it more versatile and and usable on multiple surfaces. I was thinking about attaching a strip of harness leather.

I didn’t but I think I will on the top of the chair back.

Thank you Das. That was first for me. The ugly sides will get covered up by the motises in the other parts. Hopefully I can do a cleaner job on the next ones since they will be visible.

Got a little more work done on the rocking chair parts.

I’ve noticed that most farrier style rounding hammers, my go to, have smallish hammer eyes. Not sure why that is. This two pound is my primary hammer. I got 4ish years out of this handle and accidently backed over it with a tracked skid steer once about 6 months ago. It might be unacceble for some but I’m pleased with the time I got out of that handle.

That ought to put a spring in your step.

Ha! Good times. I went full rabbit this time. I was in the middle of drifting a hole and, uncharacteristicly, completely froze up not knowing where it was going to come down. Landed a few feet behind me. So when do we show off our new handles?

Always scary when your hammer head comes off on your back swing.

Rocking chair back? That’s it exactly. Got a long ways to go on the rest of the chair.

Worked on a place to sit and rock out.

Are the walls of that trailer rigid enough enough for a fold down bench/bed?

Cleaned up the little rescue vise. Works beautifully. Here it is with is big brother, both picked up locally about 2 miles apart. Not sure who made these, the only markings on both are the weight above the screw.

Depending on the jackhammer bit they can make awesome drifts. Not sure of the manufacturer but I was given a couple by the home depot rental counter. I can water quench them at red heat and got right back to pounding on it. Be sure to test yours before doing any heavy hammering right after a water quench.

I could see the handle sticking out. The screw and box are virtually perfect, somehow still has wet grease. The pivot is seized but that’s easy enough to fix. A little wire wheel love, a little welding splatter removal, a little oil and she’ll be good as new. One thing that amazes me is that the original handle is still straight. Usually when I come across a post vise the handle looks like a snake on vacation.

Went to a garage sale. Pulled the little post vise out from under some t-post behind the house.

Brilliant idea!

Yep! I’m going to make a pair of those! How universal are they and still comfortable to use? What’s the COMFORTABLE size range for that set?

Might be that! I was thinking about a base for a grinder but I don’t really need another one. I’m not a gamer enough for that.

Anybody got any ideas for this? I suspect it’s a cast iron tractor weight. It’s got some heft to it, 250-300lbs.

Man, What a haul!