coalfired

Please pray for the survivors of the horrendous destruction of town of Joplin , Mo. I believe there are members down there also and hope they made it. I had debris fall out of the sky into my yard and I live 40 miles away.

Prayers sent from SW Missouri

here's mine, finally! Randy

Here is my forge I got at a swap meet. I think it is a ferriers forge. Any info given appreciated. Also there is is a fire pot built into the casting.Does this need 2 b lined?

Please pray for my better half. She has colitus and is not doing very well. She lost her dad last month and we had to re-locate to sw Missouri the 1st of the year after I lost my job in the fall. Stress is not good on her condition and it seems with our economy and tight budgets it doesn't help. Thanks

Here is my forge I got at a swap meet. I think it is a ferriers forge. Any info given appreciated. Also there is is a fire pot built into the casting.Does this need 2 b lined?

Picked this one up at an animal swap for under $100 blower works good had to do some work on one leg and the dump underneath. Was wondering if this was a farriers forge.

Picked this one up at an animal swap for under $100 blower works good had to do some work on one leg and the dump underneath. Was wondering if this was a farriers forge.

I made this small practise section from #10 aluminum wire. My son and I worked on a LARP helmet for him with some scrap around the shop, and old aluminum hard hat and some pop rivets. Kinda fun although it probably makes some one who really makes armour shudder to see it.

Hey, hey! Looks good!

What gauge wire are you using? What are you wrapping the coils on? I've been making maille for well over a third of my life, so I know what's going on.

If I might offer a bit of advice: try to work on your closures. A smooth closure will be more comfortable (won't catch on your hair), and you won't have to fix the maille as often. Uneven closures can catch as the sheet moves, and force the weave apart.

Again, looks good, and keep at it.

Hey, hey! Looks good!

What gauge wire are you using? What are you wrapping the coils on? I've been making maille for well over a third of my life, so I know what's going on.

If I might offer a bit of advice: try to work on your closures. A smooth closure will be more comfortable (won't catch on your hair), and you won't have to fix the maille as often. Uneven closures can catch as the sheet moves, and force the weave apart.

Again, looks good, and keep at it.

I appreciate all the knowledgable replies received. Hitting the public libraries for historical background.I love history. And attended a local renaissance festival and hooked up with a local SCA group at Jeff City , Mo. I told them I really didn't want to go to get pounded on but I would love to make armour for them.I'll hopefully update you on progress. It is nice to have online mentors.

Note that each re-enactment group will have their own requirements on thickness so you need to ask each group.

Note too that what is required and what is standard usage can be quite different! (I know in the SCA helmets are typically several gauges *thicker* than the minimum requirements!)

Note 3 that true medieval armour was worked a lot *hot* and so thickness is rather an odd measurement as every part may be different in thickness in different places---one plate may have a thicker area where it might be impacted in use and then thinner edges where it will overlap. The front of armour may be quite thick compared to the rear, etc.

Basic tools:
Something to cut sheetmetal with: jig saw, HF shears, B2 BEVERLY SHEARS
Something to make holes in sheetmetal: electric drill, HF punch, WHITNEY PUNCH jr or larger
Something to pound on sheet metal with: various hammers properly dressed, heavy duty rawhide hammers
Something to pound on sheetmetal on: STUMPS, METAL DISHING FORMS, STAKES
Something to smooth cut edges with: good FILES


Flea markets are your friends! Buy most of your hammers for a dollar or two, find good stake making materials, etc.

If you are anywhere near central NM give me a shout and I can load you up with some dishing hammers (I forge them from Ballpeens and RR bolts) and a metal dishing form and a ball for a ball stake.

Once again, thanks for the response. We will try to post pictures as the first project progresses.

Thanks for the info, I already have a lot of the tools you mentioned. The specialty tools I will have to start shopping for or making. And I will google metal gauge thickness I should be good to go. My son has already started on a set of spaulders.

I also was needing a good source for converting metal gauge thickness into standard decimal measurment.

I have procured an anvil and forge over the past year and have been interested in blacksmithing. But my son would like to start making re-enactment and SCA type armour. What kind of shop space and tool investment just for starting out as a hobby?

Nuff said , I will plan the conversion

Recently I acquired a couple a pair of horse trimmer/nippers. Definitely they're old but I can't find any i.d. marks on them. Since my funds are low to buy tongs, I was wondering the practicality of remaking the ferriers tools into tongs. Or would this be a bad and irreverent treatment of old tools.

Been awhile since I last posted.Last week-end went to my in-laws for family work day. They are too ill to stay on the old home place so they moved in with a daughter that is an RN so they can have round the clock care. I ended up with the the family anvil that can be traced back a couple of generations. It was on the farm for several years while the family used it for their own ferrier work and minor metal work around the farm. I feel very honoured to have the old anvil passed on to me and to my son. To keep it in the family is the desire and wishes expressed from my mother-in law which we will do.I guess I need to post some pictures of the anvil. I did weigh it on some shipping scales. It weighs 176 lbs. and the writing says Armitage Mousehloe as best as I can make out. Would like more info if anyone cares to contribute. Do not know where the anvil originally came from or how it came to my wife's ancestors.

Recently my son fired off our old forge we just obtained. Trouble started when he caught a good sized lungful of smoke coming off the green coal. Later that day he ended up in the E.R. with a bad asthma attack we couldn't get under control. Should we stay completely away from the old hand cranked forges and make or buy a gas forge? Is there any one out there that has asthma that blacksmiths or are the two noncompatable?:confused:

I appreciate you sharing your work with us newcomers in this wonderful and challenging trade. I am glad there are those who have taken their life's work to such a high level of skill and unselfishly share with others

there is local welding/metal fabrication shop about 3 miles from work swung by after work last night and got enough coal to fill a 22 gal trash bin for ten bucks. He doesn't use it to forge with, he restores old steam tractors as a hobby. Does any one out there know where he could pick up a large quantity at a reasonable price. Somewhere within a reasonble distance from mid-missouri.

thanx for info on fuel sources. I work at a custom wood mill shop and have access to loads of hard and soft kiln dried wood scraps. could there be a decent way to convert this to charcoal and still mantain good relations with my next door neighbors.