gaswizard

Will check it out now. Thank You Thomas

Is there a book that has listings of older style flat belt power hammers by manufacturers with illustrations? If so i am searching for one. Thank You Paul

Finished making a witches hat out of 304 stainless steel for the Marin Civic Center dome. This was made to protect the new rubberized roof coating from safety cable/ropes from rubbing through at the top of the dome. Install later this week.

Yes income is income. When I get finished I will post an update sharing everything that went into this project, from cost to profit.

Yes, and crossnuts to. Either I am crazy or a extremely stupid to take this on.

Getting set up to fill/tig weld 3200 1/4" holes in 400 aluminum panels that are 64" long and.050 thick for a Frank Lloyd Wright building I am working on. First I have to pop out and sand dents, machine plugs to fill holes, tig weld, sand welded areas and send off to anodizing. This project will take 10 months to complete.

Yes that is me AV Trucks. Took my metal/blacksmith skills and started a company. Send me you address and I will send you a pair.

Saw you area local NC guy. I live in GV. Drop me a note and maybe get together

No real investment other than machining a couple huge blocks of aluminum. Never heard of machining urethane rod?, that sounds like the way to go.

I restore gas chandeliers in the shop and many of them I convert back to burn gas, a fellow lighting shop gave me the name gaswizard. For the Howe I need to draw 3D drawings of the aluminum mold that needs to be machined so I can make the rubber cushions with my vulcanizer, coming soon. No other info on the Howe other than what IFI members have assisted with. For the foundation pour, not yet, also coming soon. Going to add 800 square feet onto the shop in April for the power hammers and blacksmith equipment. PS, If I am in the area, can I swing on by and take a look at your Howe?

Correct. Suspension trucks for skateboards. We also make suspension trucks for longboard and precision suspension trucks down hill speed racers

is another mans treasure...."

The town of Pike City (which is now known as Pike) was an old gold mining town that had a population of nearly 1200 people in the early 1900's. I asked the fella who owns the old apple orchard about old relics lying around the town ( current population 100) and he said about 20 years ago this area was pretty much picked clean down to the bone. The ranch he lives on was built in 1857 and still has one old standing barn that is solid as the day it was built. I will ask him the next time I get together if he had ever walked the land with a metal detector. And yes, the swage block was there on the land when I was a kid but cannot pinpoint the exact date it was found and when I was there. The patent is almost finished, waiting for a few details that need polishing over. So far we have made over 600 prototypes of this spring (yes it took that many springs to get the performance from we needed for this project). All heat treating was done in house along with all casting and machine parts. This project was made from scratch by hands in the shop. Take a guess what it is for?

Here is an old Columbia 4" vise that was owned by my late grandpa Roy Lindquist. This vise was the last and only thing left of his stuff bolted to a table in the garage that know one wanted after he passed away so I took it. Grandpa was a tinkerer of all tinkerer's. In 1939 on Addison Ave in Palo Alto CA, Roy became Hewlett-Packard's very first employee but since he was there for only 6 months he never received recognition as an employee for that company. In 1940 he moved onto Eimac in San Carlos, CA. Eimac offered Roy a $.60 an hour more than what HP was paying him so he went for it. He made high performance transmitting tubes and was known as a scientific glass blower. He made TV sets with the old cathode ray's. Later on he made the exterior light bulbs that went onto the first manned spacecraft for the Apollo Missions, my "grandpa Roy lit the moon". He assisted with the design of the Standford Linear Accelerator back in 1961 during the design and build stages, "grandpa Roy was splitting atoms". He built homemade telescopes and polished his own lenses so he could look at the universe at night. I can remember him bringing out his 6 foot long x 8" round telescope at night to show us the stars and planets. When I was a little guy he told me "you see that TV screen, there is a camera inside of it, they are watching you". He was married to Milga and had 3 kids, Roanne, Judy, and Bill and lived in Woodside, CA on a couple acres. I use this vice every single day of my life in my lighting restoration shop. Every time I use this vise I think of him and all he has done. "Thank You Grandpa Roy" Cheers and "happy metal working" Paul

In our local town of Nevada City, CA we have a radio station KVMR that has a once a week live radio flea market. I called in and asked the question "Hello, I am looking for blacksmith stuff along with old rusty machines for my shop". I received 6 calls from local people that have blacksmith stuff for sale. Went on a few trips and met up with 6 wonderful people. On one of the stops a guy who has lived on this farm for most of his entire life and told me a story of how he found a swage black. On a rainy day he was driving his tractor through the apple orchard and the "tractor hit a bump" He got off the tractor and behind him was this large block of mud that stood straight up. He loaded this into the bucket and washed it off. He had this block of steel for over 40 years and thought it was something for the barn that once stood on the land before it burned down. He did some research and found out what it was. He gave me a call and said come on over and pick it up for free, WHAT A FREE SWAGE BLOCK!?" As I was driving down his road I saw the foundation of the old Pike City Hotel where I once lived as a kid. The fella who had the swage block lived across the dirt road from me where I used to play and ride my bicycle when I was 9 years old. He did remember me as a kid that lived in the old hotel and asked how the rest of the clan was. After a few hours of chatting we rolled down the road in his tractor to the barn and said it is yours, just please stop on by every once in awhile for a cup of coffee. Cheers and "happy metal working" PS, this is a heavy one at 156 lbs, 16" x 16" x 4". Paul

Forged about 20 prototype 1074 springs today for a patent design in the works I have been working on. Cheers and "happy metal working" Paul

Today I finished up a restoration job of a 1870 glass gas chandelier for a customer. Ground down the gas valve stems and re-seated them up followed up by grease, red wax sealed then pressure tested. Shipping this to Pennsylvania very soon.

Over the last 3 weeks I spun 100 6" aluminum 6061 balls that are .055 thick with a pacman cut out. These attach to fascia on the Marin Civic Center building and get anodized 804 inorganic light gold. This was last building Frank Lloyd Wright designed before he died. Cheers and "happy metal working" Paul

My old girl Ruff. She shares every waking moment with me, every bite of food, every squeak toy throw down the hill, every ride in the truck, and so much more. She is a real blacksmith dog.

Over the last 3 weeks I spun 100 6" aluminum 6061 balls that are .055 thick with a pacman cut out. These attach to fascia on the Marin Civic Center building and get anodized 804 inorganic light gold. This was last building Frank Lloyd Wright designed before he died. Cheers and "happy metal working" Paul

Chewey, Love to see a few pictures of your Howe. Were the cushions made in Seattle? Sounds like you picked up a heck of a good hammer. Still working on mine. Cheers Paul

Grass Valley or about 2 hours north from Fairfield.

Hello IFI friends, I just recently acquired a 6 1/4" jaw Kinsley I&M Canton Mass vise with foot pedal for grabbing material in the jaws. I have searched for info about this vise and come up pretty short. If there is anyone who has or knows much about this vise please let me know. How old? What was its purpose designed for? Cheers and happy metal working Paul

Just checked with a prick punch, you are right cast iron. Sure seemed like cast steel when it dropped on my foot

Good question. I pulled it out of 1910 blacksmith shop and they were together, same hole size on the base as the stud on the leg. I have looked online to see if there was any info on Colombian vises and there was but no bases. I would think other companies offered accessory's and that is where this base comes into play. The hole in the base was cast into place and not drilled.