Work With Nature

Thanks Glen and everyone for all the tips. Actually after reading your post last night I had a good look around. I thought at first it would be impossible to go for your idea with the ring as I do not have a welder. Went this morning and had a look in several likely places. It is amazing what does get chucked out as just rubbish. Went to the NGO centers recycling place that I help out with and they had some pipe and even two pieces of box section they let me have. This is what I came up with (see pictures) thanks for asking about the progress. Spend the rest of the day angle grinding my new stand and am very happy with how it turned out. It still needs adjusting. But the way it works is, the ring you came up now acts like a kind of clamp whilst the legs hinge clamp the stump anvil dead center. Managed to get it after 5 min. of playing around to not budge. But I think the bit were the legs go into the ring will need to be just a little bit steeper. as the ring 'clamp' needs to be allowed to give more tension on the inside of the legs by more hammer blows. Hope that makes sense. Thanks again for your ideas, appreciate it. David. Pictures are - first the way the legs clamp the anvil, second is the hole thing ( this was a picture before I got it really solid, notice the ring is all the way down) and third is a close up of the ring being made. Thanks JHCC, OH it is times like these I really do wish I owned a welder Nice stand looks very strong. Just posted some pictures on what I finally ended up making. Cheers David. Thanks Buzzkill, It is good to hear that. The big end is very rounded though, for some reason that can not be seen so well in the picture. It might be good to work small sheets, especially as I do plan to make a shovel when I get better at this. So might stick with the 3 inch top bit for a wile, as you said it is good not to rush and try things out for a wile.. Excessive quotes removed

Cheers JHCC for getting back to me, That sounds like a good way to build a stand. I could pop the anvil in and out, and that would be very handy. Funny having the grain of the wood run vertically underneath the 'axle' would never have occurred to me and I went to carpenter collage back in Germany Getting in close is the awkward bit, but availability is really the problem. Can get coconut wood planks or even bigger trunks, but coconut wood is not very strong cut up and if I am to get close enough to the anvil then I will have a week point in the wood facing me right. But some steel braces might fix that and possibly I would have to do the same with a coconut stump. But then coconut has a very hard outer ring and a softer center. That makes it perhaps suitable in this case. Well it is more of a challenge than meets the eye as the axle weighs 40kg and could fall over if I don't get the proportions right. Here is my old well recently made, bodge job anvil stand that I used to hold two sledge hammers. See pic. Am very happy with the axle find as it will work way better. But the sledge hammers did work and even the stand Will have to give it all some thought. Thanks for the help. Cheers David. PS any ideas anyone what it may be. Spark tested it and it gave of same sparks as a leaf spring but slightly more small flares.

Wow that is a great idea, Like the shovel I spose it is a great way to get out the dust before throwing on the charcoal.

I went to the local lumber mill and got 1 inch wide about 12 foot long band-saw blades. All I know about them they rust really fast, well it is monsoon here at the moment, but way faster than leaf spring and other stuff. Any ideas as to what they may be. They spark high carbon everywhere. I am wondering if there might be nickel in there as I am playing around with layered steel. Not much to go by I know. Also got given some planner blades from an electric table planner also any ideas. Cheers David.

Thanks for letting me know. Will do exactly that. just got to figure a way to clamp it now! Wow can't wait to try it out. I think a tree stump with a hole in it might be good. Could wedge a longish piece of steel as a wedge as a way to clamp it down for now. Cheers David.

Thank you for the welcome Ha, have actually come across quite a few post of yours. Your explanations are always very detailed and that helps a lot. Did the location. Just posted a few pictures of the what ever it may be and wow did a test again with the hammer and upright it just bounces off, sideways it just gives half the bounce. The piece being a more like 'spring' when on it's side makes a lot of sense, apart from the mass being a factor. So after you guys mentioned that the cutting would not overly damage the heat treat if done in moderation I went out and tried a bit of light grinding. Was surprised that it was barely warm to the touch. Gona skip on the cutting, or do you think I could gain much by cutting of that stub. Would have an extra inch, from 3 to 4. but is could help me bend stuff too. Cheers David.

Thanks, Just went out and tried as you suggested, it is amazing how little heat gets created by the friction of just grinding. You were right. Had me worried for a bit but no need. Planning for the time being to clean the face a bit but not so sure if I even need to cut the top bit off, I read about the limiting factor being the hammer head one uses. But if I do cut then I will take my time. OK so here are some pictures and anyone might know what it is off please let me know. Guy said excavator (JCB) axle? Don't really need to know, would just be great to know. Side is 4 inches, upright picture with the small stub is 3 inches and upside down picture is rounded off. Got a spar of high carbon, well nearly sure. Cheers David.

Ah, Sure will add a location am living at the moment in India Kerala. I moved there to do a seed saving project for an NGO. I needed a hobby other than well the farming I do. So have been always interested in blacksmithing and finally got into it here. Never imagined it would be possible. Will try and figure out how to add my location to my profile. German is my first language. The picture is my attempt at forge welding damascus (pattern welded steel). Third go got me there. It worked really well in the end (I think) by using the WD40 and having the surfaces very clean and very close together. There was no gunk as you probably would get with old steel rope. All the steel I can get here is from the local scrap yard. Further away I could get mild steel new if I tried hard enough. But as for high carbon am finding older stuff. I have tried to get borax, you are correct there is no way I could get it were I live, asked in a lot of places. For sure am gona keep using WD40 and am happy to say that I learned the trick here. But as for the gunk? Ok thanks again for getting back to me, Cheers David.

Dont know, But these are my first pair hope you don't mind me showing them to you but to be honest am using them for two month and they are helping me do the task and am very happy with them. Sure will make some from stronger stuff but can't imagine them breaking any time soon.

Hi all, Thanks for all the great posts am learning a lot. I have a question if you don't mind. Just went to the local junk yard (am in India) and the guys sold me a what they say to be a JCB axle but it looks a bit different. Definitely hard stuff, but it is rounded on one end (4 inch diameter) and 2 inches on the other end. Diameter is 4 inches if I cut the either end off. It is about just under two feet long with an indentation (section cut out 7inch by4inch) that could be used as an anvil but on edge it really does have an amazing rebound and ring. On flat well it is flat. But my question is should I cut into it. What about the heat treat if any? At what point can it be damaged. Would be great to know. All the best, David.

Hi, New to this forum and new to blacksmithing, Nice site appreciate the work you did and do. If I may ask a question - Is there something like borax that can wash out the gunk from say cable rope in the same way like borax. Did use sand, clay and also WD40 but my understanding so far is that they exclude air only not clean out the impurities. On my third forge weld attempt had great success with WD40 as a flux. Here is a pic. BTW are those decarb lines or delamination cracks. Would help me a lot to know. Thanks again, David.