Pault17

781, you got it The idea is to block of the un-needed holes - Tim Lively's site shows him using clay to block the offending holes. That way I figure I can customize the length of the fire. I did not cut in the notches at either end; i will see if I regret this. Mark, where'd you get the coal from? pittsboro area? I too am anxious to light it up. I have a 55-gallon drum and a half of pallet charcoal I have had for several years, and a brother in law just gave me 2.5 bags of cowboy lump charcoal. messages from vulcan

After many years, I have finally made a "hopefully" workable idea. I made a mini-double bellows and tied it to a Lively-style washtub charcoal forge. I put it in a sorta-portable framework cobbled from scrapwood. haven't fired it up yet. bellows is "leathered" with mini-pond liner epdm/rubber sheet staplegunned to the plywood frames. LImited pictures for now, till I try and fire it up. I also put a piece of 3.25 round bar I had "laying around" into a buck of concrete for a post anvil I can leave outdoors with limited worry.

yeah. nothing like blowing black noogies out of your nostrils after a long day at the forge. woo hoo

Ronin, I do the clay thing alot. many times I use it to practice/plan hammer strokes on a particular element. it always works to help figure starting amounts, again, adding a little for loss and confusion. Ridgeway, the math is solid (funny how in school I used to wonder when I would use this stuff), if you're the figuring kind. After a while you will develop a level of ability to visually guesstimate the amounts and not be far off (for things like tongs and tooling).

Sweeet. a mini mokume maker. have you tried putting the dimes on there sideways :D

very nice lines and curves. inspirational

John, I Really like your style. Those cuties look really tight. very handy.

I like the stamina and all, but I wouldn't mind having access to the shop and the anvil. I love that style. nice video. danke

Very nice, both in minimalism and form.

My luck when making these is to start the screw in the "wrong" direction, and now I am the happy maker of the left-handed cork screws. sold a bunch of them at the state fair this year. Thank you Uri for providing this tutelege. I looked it up a while ago and was able to make use of it. I use mild for the most part, but happened on a about 20 feet of 3/16 medium carbon rod used for overhead power lines. I can make a thinner screw if needed.

Dan, it's kinda like saying the front bumper on a car is the car. As for magical hammers, I remember seeing a hammer made by one of the IFI members a few years ago; the thing had four faces/sides - kinda like a blacksmith's mace. one face was a straight pein, one a cross pein, one a left 45-degree diagonal pein and one a right 45-degree diagonal pein. The whole thing was a "hammer" and a work of beauty, but each face would be what part of the hammer? As far as Brian trying to use or market some kind of magical hammer, I have never seen him advertise any of his tools for sale. It is my sheltered understanding that you kinda have to work with him and make your own. In short, if you consider yourself the power hammer, then the tool you use to move the metal is the top die - the anvil the bottom die. Also, I pulled this from google: die 2 (d) n. pl. dies or dice (ds) 1. pl. dies A device used for cutting out, forming, or stamping material, especially: a. An engraved metal piece used for impressing a design onto a softer metal, as in coining money. b. One of several component pieces that are fitted into a diestock to cut threads on screws or bolts. c. A part on a machine that punches shaped holes in, cuts, or forms sheet metal, cardboard, or other stock. d. A metal block containing small conical holes through which plastic, metal, or other ductile material is extruded or drawn. (sorry if this seems rantish. definitely not meant to be. it's just the art of communication. If you grow up thinking that boots are things you put on your feet, when you go visit the "old country" people will thing you're a bit touched when they see you standing in the trunk of the car. see what I mean?)

Sweet deal Chase. keep it up.

My dad once found a nest in his back yard after running it over with a mower. He was stung over a dozen times. Now he has been known to be a little vengeful. He found their entry/exit hole and, at night, slowly poured 4-5 gallons into the hole. He waited about an hour for the gas to settle in and tossed a burning stick to the hole. That's when he found out there were two holes. Both had a foot-long finger of flame and burned for about an hour. never had a problem with them since.

Those are awesome! you must have to use high pound test line to reel them in. Nice

found a pic of my stwisting wrench and thought I would resurrect this old thread

I thought I would kill this thread by adding to it. Here are a few I made a little while ago. The one on the stool was from many years ago. I used a RR spike, drew it out to about 18 inches and made a long rattlesnake out of it. mounted it on a "cactus". The whole thing was about 16 inches tall.

Thomas, the mini pipe hawk idea sounds neat. also, could you show some pics of the penny hats?

I understand the resting and ruminating purpose of more or less dropping the hammer. I recently worked at the state fair and there were a few smiths who were working small stuff (not thinking stuff) and the pattern would be piece, piece, anvil, anvil... Drove me nuts. I asked oue or two about it and the response was along the line of "that's how you're supposed to do it". I then picked up my hammer and made proceeded to make the horseshoe oyster shuckers and intentionally did NOT "rest" my hammer. just kept on bangin'. If you're not whaling away, it takes a long while to get tired. rant off

Gerald, did you emigrate from the "north"? Virginia was considered the South. As for all them non southerners, suchs to be them :) 99ppo, what part of Germany are you in. I lived down in Augsburg for several years back in the early 80's. Great work on the punch.

any pictures of all these cool sounding arrowheads? I know I can google them, but what about the ones made by forum users? Thomas, thanks for all the other cool ideas. I have been collecting them for years also. lots of things you can do with 1/8 round

what a read. anybody who hasn't should read the WIP thread. Phillip, thank you very much. When you decide to toss it, post it here and see how many people show up to watch ( and possibly go for a swim)

I definitely concur. I still carry my very first leaf that I made 7 years ago. My wife usually claims my "first" of just about anything she likes. Our house is heavy.

Yeah. counterweights. Cranial (as in brain) effluviation (as in effluviation - look it up) time . the flume idea sounds neat if you are near a place with hils and running water.

Beautiful knife. picture reminds me of Andre the giant with a Rambo knife.

The hair blow-dryer or vaccuum ideas do work. The water bellows would work but would be a work-OUT. just think about lifting even a 5-gallon metal drum repeatedly, ALL DAY LONG! for all that, I would build a set of double bellows. They even take up less space and are easier to carry (think about moving two 55-gallon drums of water). but then again, you could have a circulating quench tank...