P. Bedard

I had a guy from the local newspaper come by last week...and this is the result.
I have to say, I'm impressed. The fellow is a photographer but they made him bring a video camera two (something he's not very familiar with) and it turned out pretty good.
It's sort of a snapshot of what's going on nearby kind of story. They do these every once in a while.
Take a look, there is video and photos too.

http://www.winnipegs...ksmith-by-night

Wow.
Quite the story! Good thing it had a happy ending.
Who leaves a powder charge in a barrel anyway?
I'll bet next time you'll dump a cup of water down there first huh?

Here you go. A photo from the right hand side of the shop;


And one from the left hand side;

There isn't much in there yet, we just moved and I wasn't able to do much in there during the Winter.

It's not much, but it's home. (Or it may as well be, I spend more time in there than in the house some days!)

Thanks folks!
It's my first foray into the "art for art sakes" world. Still not sure if I like it.

Hey gang.
I don't do this sort of thing very often, (almost never actually) but the muse hit me and I thought I'd give it a try.
Here is the result;






Someone said it might look better on a "base" of some sort. Perhaps stone cut for the purpose.
I may look into it as long as it's not too expensive. This only took 4 feet of stock and 3 hours of work time so I can't see putting it on a hundred dollar base...
Let me know what you think.

Hey all.
I found a source for coal about an hour and a half drive away from me. Not the best stuff, it's just above heating coal in terms of BTU's. It is, however, pretty cheap. The guy is asking 100 a ton.
So, I'm heading out next weekend with some 5 gallon plastic buckets to fill up and check out what it's like.
I'm paying $75.00 for a 50lb bag of the good stuff these days and I go through it pretty quickly. I'm thinking that if I can use the cheap stuff to do the majority of the work, and keep the good stuff around for welding, it would be worth the trip.

Thoughts?

Well this is proof of the old saying; "money doesn't buy class".
You've done a good job with it I must say. The glass is interesting. I sure hope they never have kids (hotwheels, rollerskates etc...) because that could be just plain dangerous.
Hey, use the money to get yourself that Smithing tool you've always wanted.

That's a gorgeous hook Beth! Really lovely.

I'm not very good at flowers or organic shapes, it's always something I wanted to try getting good at though...

I have to agree with the above posters. This sort of jump weld is NOT easy. Even for an old hand. A good, VERY clean fire, good blast and good flux are critical.
Good luck!

Borax is definitely not bad! It was used for centuries successfully.
If you want a good commercial flux, I reccomend Anti-borax (I get it when it's on sale at Centaur forge, not that I buy much from them, they're fairly expensive)
but you can make it too. Very fine Silica sand, pure iron filings and anhydrous borax in combination make a very good, cheap flux.

I used to buy the stuff, now I make my own.
40% fine silica sand (you can get this from some construction supply companies)
40% slaked borax (20 mule team borax that's been baked at 250 for about an hour)
20% iron filings (not, I repeat NOT steel filings.)

It's as good as most of the commercial fluxes out there at 1/5th the cost.

Good luck to you Magic, if you find any evidence, other than anecdotal, let me know.
I smith and do research for a historical group here in Winnipeg and I've been doing it for 20 years now and I've never found any solid evidence showing any woman in the trade.
Now, admittedly, my focus is on the Fur Trade era almost exclusively, but it does span quite a few decades, and over a VERY large area. So far, no luck at all.
And that's after pouring over hundreds of contracts and journals of the North West Company, the Hudson's Bay Company and the XY company.
So yeah, if you find any, PLEASE let me know!

Mat,
Yep, as it turns out, it does indeed say I Nash & Son on the side.
Apparently a fairly good name in anvils was I Nash. I look forward to cleaning it up and setting it to work.

So I was talking to a friend from England who is immigrating here to Canada, that I had been looking for a double-bick anvil for some time now.
He replies saying "well, I know a guy down the road..." and a few emails later, and she's all mine!


She weighs in at about 293 lbs if the English hundred weight is consistent. The numbers on the side read "2-2-13" and sadly, the makers name is obscured to the point that all you can read is "and son".
I have to wait until September to get it (he's just going to put it into his steel container with the rest of his tools) but I think the wait will be worth it.

Just had to show it off!

Nope, no return to any of my calls either.
It would have been nice to have the tool this friday, I start a 10 days Blacksmithing demo for a local historical festival.
Oh well, maybe I'll get it by summer, if at all...

I ordered their Blacksmith's Helper two months ago, called him and he said it was "almost done".
I had hoped that the unit would have been delivered by now but it's still not here. And now, I'm not getting any replies to my emails.
Have I thrown $130.00 out the window?

Anyone have info on this guy?
Spike

Using a cross pein hammer gives it a very rich look. I use two of them, one with a longer, broader face, and the second (lightly) with a thinner, sharper face.
You'll have people wondering just how you did it and it's very easy.
Good luck!

Nice work. I don't see anything wrong with the drawknife - who's to say they didn't look like that during the period.

The problem with making historical replicas, is that we are constrained by what IS available in the Archeological record. There are times when it's appropriate to extrapolate, but this sounds like the fellow is making direct copies of found items (IE items from the Mastermyr tool set) so in that case, it's not appropriate to guess.
Just one of the fun things about direct historical recreation.

It's been said before, but it bears repeating; Soak it in water and spread it like "mud" over your fire (I usually make a volcano kind of wall around my tuyere).
Works great and as it heats, it makes decent coke and heat.

You're very brave making it in steel.
The original Tannenberg gonne is bronze as are most of the replicas I've seen and fired. Bronze will flex a bit instead of exploding.
You DID proof your gonne first, right? I'd hate to see anyone on this board get hurt for no good reason...

I emailed this fellow this morning and I must say that he doesn't seem interested in selling off parts at all.
I asked him if he'd sell the anvil and he said "just buy the whole thing and sell off the rest" He could have just said "no"...
And really, one anvil, a few vices, I don't see any hammers or other tools there. He says there is a "milk crate of hardies" but no photos.
No wonder he says "I'm in no rush"...
It's not worth the $10,000 he's asking, not even close. And yet, he's not willing to entertain reasonable offers.
Meh, I say look elsewhere for your blacksmithing supplies.

I was thinking that might work. Have it face backwards to the anvil.
Just have to work out some sort of base for it now. Should work just fine.

I bought this at a flea market for $20.00.
I'm hoping to make it mountable on my hardy hole or some other method so I can bring it with my travelling demo kit.
Any suggestions as to how I could possibly accomplish that?

Great Job, I was trying to think of something to hang on my fireplace that doesnt have a hearth. I think something like that would be just right. Thanks for sharing that. I wont tell how long it takes me to do it. What ? or Did you put anything on the metal ,like a sealer or finish . I cant tell looking on my PC. I use Bees wax mostly for inside projects. But again great job and cool design. That thing would sell very well on Ebay.

Thanks very much everyone!
I didn't use a sealer on this one, I just wiped it with some motor oil on a rag and then dried it. Bees wax is one of my favorite sealers too. I especially like the smell of it when you get "scrap" wax from Apiculturists that still has a bit of honey stuck in it.
It started out as me showing someone different types of bar ends. The half-round bar that sits horizontally, has nub-ends that you can't see. I like them but they're almost invisible in projects.

Hello Joe!
Since no one else has suggested it, try and get a copy of "The Edge of the Anvil" I believe it's now called "the New Edge of the Anvil" by Jack Andrews.
Massively useful book, though difficult to find these days.
Be wary of old books though, they are good reading but most of the authors back then simply skipped over important stuff because of "everyone knew it so why bother saying it?" syndrome. Very frustrating.
However, reading about blacksmithing is NOT the same as doing it. Find someone who is willing to have you come to their shop some afternoon and run you through the basics.
Honestly, I wish I had had that opportunity when I started.
Good luck to you and enjoy this new path!