TWISTEDWILLOW

Stony point forge and fabrication, the vise mount is like the kind on Columbian post vises

Howdy from eastern Oklahoma and welcome to the forum! I thought it’s also worth mentioning that If you want a original looking post vise mount there’s a kit available online with the parts your missing

oh come on Jennifer! you mean all my rusty beat up junk ain’t worth a fortune? Well there goes my retirement plan… I don’t really have a dog in this fight one way or the other I as i said before I find/buy/sale and trade all kinds of antique rusty stuff, sometimes I get it back up an running an use it sometimes I just save it from a bad situation and pass it on to someone who needs it and will care for it and restore it themselves, I don’t do this for money as I already have a job, it’s more of a fun hobby and adventure finding stuff that hasn’t moved from a barn in a hundred years, As Jennifer said I too have stuff I’ve only ever seen once or twice across the great expanse of the internet and yes I’d agree with you and call it rare in that instance, but I also agree with her point that this old stuff is still just tools that were designed and built for a specific purpose, and as far as the forge is concerned there’s literally hundreds of thousands forges out in the wild to found some common finds some are not so common, but they all do the same exact thing heat metal, On a different note sometimes have to buy 2 or three of the same broken down thing just to find enough parts to put a single complete one back together as it was built, it’s fun but not always necessary, if you’re planning on hunting down pieces for your forge and bringing it back up to factory original then yes you will probably have something there worth a chunk to a collector who doesn’t actually plan to use it, this forum on the other hand is made up of a huge collection of folks with all kinds of backgrounds, some run museumsor are members of historical societies, some are professional blacksmiths, some are commercial factory owners like anvil and forge makers, and others like me…. have absolutely no clue what goin on and wander around aimlessly! Lol but this forum is predominantly made up of people who desire to use these tools, so they won’t put a high value on a tool that they can find elsewhere cheaper that does the same thing, by no means am i discounting or trying to discourage you from restoring your forge and selling it for whatever you feel is fair! I hope you are successful a make some good money after the restoration and I hope you have fun while doing it! im just saying that most folks on here won’t necessarily price it the same as people who are into that kinda thing, your idea of renting it out to a museum is I nice idea because you can retain ownership and you still get paid! It’s a win win in my opinion! okay sorry to everyone I’ll finish my book here! You may all return to your regularly scheduled programming or shenanigans whichever you prefer!

Mail call! I just received an unexpected package here a little bit ago from a forum member! Thank you very much!

Oooh smoked salmon is good! I had some when I worked up in Northern California and that’s some good eating! I wouldn’t mind taking a trip to do some salmon fishing sometime!

I was wondering if you had something to do with that magazine! Lol yes there’s a ton of info I’ve been finding, I thought it was cool that they where living fossils

Gar article

I’m trying to figure out how to add a link to an article I read about them but I can’t figure it out, my phones being stupid On another note I received a magazine in the mail called “tracking trout Alaska” it’s a great magazine! Only thing is i didn’t order it!?!? Lol

Scott theres tons of old machinery of all kinds throughout that place, I think they built sdc in the 1960s so they probably collected rusty old stuff from the area back then when nobody wanted this kinda stuff

Les that sounds super tasty! Do y’all use the rope method down there too?

Jerry A lot of people here love to eat Gar, they have a lot of good meat on them, a pretty good sized blackstrap, they are really good eating if cooked right, the big problem with them is you dang near need a pair of tinsnips and a saw to get through those armored scales! Lol as far as I’m educated on them they are a living fossil that pre dates the trex, and i guess they’re style has worked for them because they haven’t evolved much over the last few thousand years, they are big they are ugly and they have a lot of sharp teeth! But I’m personally not going after them for the meat I just want to catch an release them, they are an apex predator and they do their part to keep our streams balanced the best way to catch them isn’t with a hook or lure, it’s actually by cutting some nylon rope and burning the end and fraying out the strands, when they hit it their long snout gets all tangled up and you reel them in, another interesting fact about them is they can breath open air unlike alot of other fish Some people consider them a trash fish and try to cull them because they are worried about them eating the game fish but that’s mostly hand me down old wives tales without much research to back it up, from what I’ve read they don’t really harm their ecosystem and mostly eat smaller fish that most people would throw back anyway

Jerry its most definitely worth a trip for anyone to go to silver dollar city, apart from being a major tourist attraction/destination with all the modern stuff, it’s filled with craftsmen of all kinds, one of the first things you see when you enter the park is a guy hewing logs with a broad axe for use all over the park as well as their camp grounds, it’s very steeped in ozark tradition there, with everything from glass blowing, blacksmithing, wood working and carving, hone made foods and candies, knife smithing, candle making, and the list goes on, lots of good shows to watch any time of year, and more rides to ride then you can shake a stick at if that’s your thing, personally I’m not big on rides but a lot of people love them I highly recommend y’all make a stop there if y’all snowbird down here in the ozarks, it’s definitely expensive but I feel it’s worth the trip just to meet the artists, see the sights and eat some good food, branson has alot more to offer then just sdc, there’s a little bit of everything up there, make sure to do some recon/research before planning a trip because there’s so much more to do an see up there we’re talking about making a second run up there later this year in November or December before they shut down for the season, Randy, next time we go up I’ll give you a call, maybe you an Debi can meet us up there and catch up on on the latest stuff in sdc we still plan to go visit eureka springs one weekend, max has never been there and it’s a beautiful place with lots to explore, we will definitely give y’all a call when we get that way too!

Omg!!! That’s the best fishing story I’ve heard all week!!! Lol well we don’t have gators in Adair county Oklahoma but we do have four different species of Gar and I’ve been trying to get one of them on the line so far no luck

Here’s a couple of pictures from out trip up to silver dollar city in Branson Mo this summer, there’s this giant fly press being used as decoration out there, actually there’s blacksmithing tools and machines used as decoration throughout the whole park! this thing caught my eye, not sure how much it weighs and the pictures don’t do it justice, the ball weights were around the size of standard soccer balls or basket balls maybe, I wasn’t able to get a whole bunch of pictures around the park cause I was chasing Max and riding rides, I missed the blacksmiths shop this go around but here’s a quick picture of the Knife smiths shop there too

Nah we use crank baits, Yeah and they are a blast to catch too! I use ultralight rods an reels on the creeks an sometimes on the river, with 4lb test and micro baits so even a little fish is a fight That’s about how it is where I go on the Barren fork, just a lonely train whistle once in awhile, but I fish early morning, I try to get out there just before sunrise Candidquality we’ve got a couple kayaks and an ol beat up aluminum flat bottom jon boat for bigger puddles, they come in handy Ive been taking Max fishing on some mornings an afternoons and I just set him up with a worm a bobber and he goes complete ballistic when he gets a bite and reels it in! Lol he has had a ball all summer and asks me pretty frequently to take him fishing now, he’s not afraid of anything, he wants to handle the fish and worms and get in the water lol last weekend I took him up on the Illinois river just north of me a little ways and that little turkey kept trying to get out in the current so I had to watch him like a hawk, at one point he grabbed hold of a rock and held on and let the water just pull him horizontal lol

No if anything things have been steadily getting more ridiculous around here but it is what it is, that’s why I’ve been taking time to walk away once in awhile and enjoy some quiet solitude on the river lol

Jerry, Been busy all summer dealing with a lot real estate stuff on a few different properties, busy in the repair shop with customers, and a vacation to Branson, been fishing on the weekends, ca I won a fishing competition/tournament thing here a couple months ago, an actually I just got back from the creek a few minutes ago! Caught a handful of baby bass an one little pumpkin seed sunfish Max has started school so that’s a new adventure, he will be playing soccer this fall in the little 3 year old league, so that’s gonna be hilarious watching a bunch of toddlers chase a ball around so yeah just been buzzing around doin a little bit of everything, John that’s sounds cool! do they have a website where I can check them out?

Wow this thread took off since I was away! Thanks for everyone who shared! I’ve been doing extensive fishing over the last few months, there’s a few people who can attest to that since I constantly blow their phones up with fish pictures! Lol MJ I haven’t tried trout fishing yet but plan to do so this fall on the lower Illinois below tenkiller dam I can’t wait! That fish looks beautiful!

I buy lots of forges and blowers and other odds and ends literally by the truck loads… some common some “rare” this stuff is only worth what someone is willing to pay, I’ve bought various complete working models of Buffalo forges in pristine museum quality shape and only given $500 bucks… if someone has actually offered you something in the thousands and they are an aggressive buyer with funds to match their mouth then I highly recommend you sell immediately, i donate and loan various antiques to a local museum here and am not compensated for it I just do it to help a non profit, if there is a museum nearby you that will pay to rent it and it’s a fair amount then I’d say that’s a good option too, take care to read the loan contract carefully to make sure you retain rights to anything that you want back eventually, here in eastern Oklahoma that rig would bring $200-$300 cash in a private sale, and up to $600 at public auction, but there’s a lot more money in NY so who knows you might cash in on it there

I’ve been away from the forum awhile but I just received a phone call to let me know the sad news… I’ll never forget all those hours long conversations with Glenn on the phone or all the random tidbits of knowledge that he shared with me… that guy knew everything from tying knots to salvaging everyday items to blacksmithing, he always thought outside the box, I always chuckled when he’d repeat his thoughts about “ I didn’t just buy the face of an anvil! I bought the whole anvil! And I use every side a the bottom too!” my sincerest thanks to him for all that he’s done for the community, and my sincerest condolences to the family and his closest friends its been over a hundred degrees here so I haven’t lit a forge in a hot minute but I’d like to participate in making a leaf or flower for the wreath too, I will ring my anvil in the smithy under the wisteria for him tonight, raise a drink and toast to the man who has done so much for us all

Lol can’t wait

That’s how it was at my house growin up! Dude! That’s a big fish!! Shaina thats terrible, a memory like that sticks with ya… That’s really cool!!! I’ve never heard of one of those! Lol, I imagine it gets colder where you live then it does here in eastern Oklahoma, i probably wouldn’t wanna go fishing year round there either! we can reach windchills in the -20s -30s here but the bad spells only last a week or so then it gets back up to the 40s or so, an we have relatively short winters, I don’t need to get out in nature I live in the countryside and can walk to forest and streams from my house, what I need is to eat some wild caught fish this year!!! lol

Are there any anglers on here? It’s Been over a decade since I got out to do any fishing and i decided this is the year imma get out an blow the cobwebs off the tackle and take the rods an reels out for a stretch, in January I made a New Year’s resolution that no matter what I was gonna go fishing at least once a month this year if not more often, I’ve been exploring new to me bodies of water around my area and visiting some old haunts, I also have been doin a lot of cleanup as I go behind my fellow man at one place I used to fish as a kid but that’s another story, on this thread I’d like y’all to share pictures of any an all catches big an small, and or share your fish stories! Tips an tricks that work in your part of the world and what kinda fishing is popular in your area! I’ll start, here’s a little large mouth Bass I caught a little while back and then here’s a little panfish I caught about an hour ago!

Howdy from Eastern Oklahoma an welcome to the forum!

Thanks Scott, I Ain’t found no scorpions on it yet hopefully it stays that way Sell that dude to the highest bidder!!! Lol imma have to find the best spot to put this mandrel here in the smithy, i really need to move a bunch of stuff outta here to make it more user friendly