Irondragon Forge ClayWorks

You're welcome, use it in good health, we love our Hay Budden even though it's not in as good condition as yours.

That's about as nifty a setup I've ever seen.

A very nice William Foster for sure. I hope you have read about not doing any grinding, milling or welding to the hardened face. How much does it weigh?

1893 according to AIA. Hope you have read about not doing any grinding, milling or welding on the hardened face. If you edit your profile to show your location, you may be surprised how many members are near you and a lot of answers depend upon knowing where in the world you are located. That's an outstanding Hay Budden for sure.

As an alternative to sash weights, use bar bell weights which should be plentiful.

You're not the only one. His son kept that anvil out of all his equipment. After Don passed away, Wanda his daughter in law still has it and will not part with it for love nor money.

I never oil my files. For my best files I wrap them in VCI Rust-proofing paper.

It's funny in all my years using coal forges, I've never had so much as a whump from any of them.

Loved the video and story it told, thanks for sharing it. Also couldn't help but notice the Oliver at work.

My wife doesn't mind if I look at other women, however if they look back I get slugged.

Yes it is. In my 29 years with the police department, hitting red hot steel saved me from hitting people or a bottle after an exceptionally frustrating day..

I was able to use the front loader on a large portion, unfortunately the back is too narrow to do any leveling with it. Also my supervisor threatened me with bodily harm if I punched a hole in the wall with it.

Welcome aboard... we won't remember your location once leaving this post, hence the suggestion to edit your profile to show it. There is a good thread "Read This First" at the top of the page to help navigating the forum.

Ya, a cable would work just fine or even a round bar with eyes depending on the offset of the stand.

Take the thickest piece of stock you will be working on. Lay it on the anvil and drape the chain over it from where you will anchor it to the stump and see if it is long enough to have a foot pedal to stand on to hold it tight.

No picture but the dirt work was started today. Got one side leveled (where the tractor is in the picture). Got too hot to do much more. Someone remind me tomorrow why I can't move due to sore muscles. Amazing how a whole different set are used doing shovel & rake work.

My intro to blacksmithing as a child was listening to my grandfather’s exploits about his Army deployment with Gen. Blackjack Pershing in the Mexican campaign, chasing Poncho Villa around the southwest. He was a blacksmith that was reassigned as a mechanic when the Army was transitioning to mechanization from mules & horses. Jump forward several decades, when we would come to the Ozark’s and visit Silver Dollar City in Branson MO. There was a working blacksmith there name who’s was Tiny Robinson (if I recall) and any time my wife would look for me she knew where to look. I remember one time he was demonstrating how to make a Russian wrapped rose and it fascinated me how he could make the metal move into a beautiful rose. Now jump to 1984 when I was a rookie police officer working the midnight shift. There was a working blacksmith shop in the town. One morning I saw a red glow coming from one of the windows and thought someone had broken into the shop or there was a fire starting. Well while checking it out it was a fire and the blacksmith was just starting his day firing up the forge. Hence my introduction to my mentor Isaac (Ike) Doss. We seemed to hit it off right away and I learned he was a master smith with some of his work in the Smithsonian Institute and he had given many demonstrations there in his younger days. He was 84 at that time and still working six days a week. He would walk carrying his lunch box, the six blocks from home to the shop. He taught me how to build and maintain a coal fire and a lot of basics of blacksmithing. He also told me how to make my own bottom blast coal forge, which I still use to this day. Now comes the hard part. One morning I was detailed to a traffic accident involving a pedestrian on the City Square. I immediately saw it was Ike who had been hit and EMS arrived at the same time. Ike never recovered from his injuries and passed away in 1991. For a lot of years, I didn’t have the heart to fire up my forge. Then one day I needed a part for my old tractor and forged it with some of the knowledge he hammered into my head. That along with my wife becoming interested in blacksmithing, there is again coal smoke on the mountain.

Vulcan's usually have the weight cast in. Mine has a 10 and weighs 110 pounds. It looks like it's under a hundred to me.

That is a French pattern anvil. To my knowledge H. Boker made English pattern anvils like a Boker Trenton. Never heard of a Boker French Pig anvil. It would help to know where in the world you are located, hence the suggestion to edit your profile to show your location. Upon further thinking Henry Boker was a hardware store and very well could have had the "pig" made for them.

A couple of the most uttered comments while my wife & I are watching the show are "Don't do that and He's going to break it".

That was my thought as well.

I usually find the center of the horizontal run of round stock by clamping it in my drill press vise with a v-block, bring the chuck down with a small drill bit and mark it.

I'm with Frosty about the 200 amp service panel and Glenn's shutoff kill switch. I don't have any but Gozinta's come in very handy and if I ever pour a complete concrete floor I'll definitely have a bunch of them, one of our club members shop has some and what a joy to anchor equipment temporally to them.

I know the bentonite will work, don't have any experience with zeolite. Try mixing a little in with the bentonite and let us know how it does. We love guinea pigs don't ya know.

Fitting the feet into mortises is an excellent idea, could be done on a steel stand too, would take a lot of pressure off of the repair.