Frank Turley

I googled 'Norfolk thumb latch' and found lots of good photos of your style latch at 'Robinson's Antiques.' This style is given the name 'Norfolk' if it is constructed with a backplate and separate handle tenoned on. Nowadays, lots of us plug weld. The so-called Suffolk thumb latch differed in that the two cusps, thumb piece boss, and handle were forged of one piece.

I got a 7" Peter Wright from ebay about 10 years ago, had about $175 in it plus shipping, making it about $225 as I recall. I knew that it was missing its mounting bracket, flat U shackle, gib key, wedge, and spring. It took me a little over a day to make the parts. All was worthwhile.

Charles, The new posted photo of you is too much! LOL I've used round-sectioned W1 drill rod to forge such chisels. I use edge-to-edge blows, the radius of your hammer face matches the radius on the near anvil edge. The drill rod has around 1% carbon for good edge holding. It comes in 3 foot lengths from Travers Tool, MSC, or McMaster Carr. A short-run, square ended monkey tool can be pieces of mild steel arc welded together. If you have a striker, use fullers and/or set tools. A guillotine can be fabbed for fullering and set tooling, if working by yourself. If you cross-peen the blade to obtain width, do as Charles suggests; use a semi flat peen, not a full half round one, or you'll have more cleanup to make the surface smooth.

I may not be able to answer your question, but I can offer some information. Proprietary brazing rods of brass are alloyed to melt at about 1600F. On steel, this would appear as bright red incandescence. For lower temperature soldering, you might check out silver solder and some of the lead free alloyed solders.

Most of the old latch handles had a minimum of two holes per 'cusp,' most often three. This was to prevent sideways movement and subsequent loosening over time.

A lot of it is technique, knowing what you're doing. George Ernest was a toolsmith on the west coast in the last century, and he is reputed to have said, "Some people hit it and watch where it goes; I know where it's going to go before I hit it!"

Six double sheets of newspaper, not the shiny tabloid paper, laid randomly on top of each other. Start making a TIGHT mushroom shape by crumpling and folding under at the center finally leaving a short mushroom stem on the bottom. Light the stem, place in the firepot and smother it with lots of coke/coal. Hide the paper. Use a whisper of a blast at the start increasing it little by little and tamping the pile lightly from the top and sides with the shovel. Keep feeding fuel when necessary. It'll smoke a lot till the flame breaks through. In this manner, I avoid fluids and wood chips. Hey, I just noticed this is my 2,000th post. What fun.

The Paragon is apparently a brand name applied to more recently made Soderfors anvils. It's the same company. Some of their anvils are trademarked "Soderfors." Some of their anvils have both Soderfors and Paragon markings. It is unclear to me the reasoning behind all of this. It is also unclear to Postman* whether the anvils are cast or forged. In the case of my pictured one, I assume it is forged because of the handling hole in the waist. If I were to guess, the name "Paragon" may have been chosen to better market the anvils in the 20th century, to the Brits and North Americans. It is an English word and the anvils are English styled. *"Anvils in America"

For those who may be interested, I received this Paragon today. It is a beautifully shaped "London pattern anvil, forged with one handling hole in the waist. On the side, it is stamped, "PARAGON SWEDEN" and "103 POUNDS." You'll note that it has the two flat steps on the base that we often associate with only Peter Wrights.

I use the same style sleldge as 01tundra pictured. I have two, one 8 pound and one 12 pound. We used the 8 pound straight peen today to spread a hatchet bit. I love 'em.

My answer has a little bit to do with the way our society is oriented. I was in school in the 1940's and 50's, and was informed that white collar desk jobs were more desirable than blue collar work. Partly because of that emphasis, we in the U.S. eventually entered a bigger service economy than a manufacturing economy. By hearsay, I heard that more Master of Business Administration ( MBA) degrees are given than those given in the other Masters programs. This makes one wonder who is left using their hands or making anything. My dad taught me after a fashion how to hammer, saw, chop wood, and use a screwdriver. But when I got to blacksmithing, I had to really concentrate on eye-hand coordination, and I was "mechanically declined." I had to study hard the moving parts of hinges, latches, and bolts to internalize their mechanics. Early on, I made a lock and key and was successful at it. That was a breakthrough. If you are a professional, you will meet the client. Then comes a presentation drawing and offering a quotation, Following that comes stock selection and cropping to size. Next comes some forge work and assembly. There is the finish, perhaps painting to be done. Installation is often done by the smith if required. You'll be fortunate to be in the fire 15% of all that time.

Looks like one. The included angle should be 60 degrees for use on mild steel.

Not a tool but a little tip for bottom blast coal forgers. On my forges, I have weld/extended the clinker shaker handle shank on the back side of the firepot with a downward bend and a weight. My cast, triangular tuyere connections are now self centering.

Brings up the subject of pennies not being worth much. In Australia, they got rid of pennies in the 1960's when they revised their monetary system. They also got rid of bobs, shillings, etc. In the U.S., we keep trying to mint cheaper alloyed pennies. Shouldn't we get rid of them altogether, and perhaps use nickels as a substitute?

For those who enjoy J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy, I recommend the novella, "The Smith of Wootton Major." It tells of a blacksmith who is able to visit the land of Faery.

One of my first jobs was as a carhop in the evenings at age 15. In Omaha in 1951, all carhops were male. I don't know why, but we did hustle! We had low pay, but made up for it in tips. Nowadays, with less gender bias, I see more male carhops at Sonic.

Some Swedish anvils had flats on the feet.

I've abstracted some of the information from the "Directory of American Toolmakers" Editor, Robert E. Nelson; Early American Industries Association; 1999. ATHA TOOL COMPANY. The company was incorporated in 1891 by Benjamin Atha and may have been established as early as 1875. From 1884 through 1898, they bought out several companies. They were themselves bought by the Stanley Rule & Level Company in 1913, but Stanley retained their "A" in a horseshoe trademark until present times. They were especially noted for farrier tools but also made mining tools. There is some question as to whether Atha was formerly the Newark Steel Works.

If it hasn't been mentioned, I would suggest that Hunter tune into www.longshipco.org, an interesting group having to do with 'Viking ships' and northern European material-culture.

I get my W1 from Travers Tool. It is sold in 3 foot lengths. MSC and McMaster-Carr also carry it. All three companies have huge, helpful catalogs on line.

I hardly ever make knives, but here are two recent ones. The larger one is 9 1/2" long overall. For the sheaths, we Barge/glued thin leather to rawhide inserts and sewed the two together. The blades were forged from W1 drill rod.

Often called "pipe tongs" in the old catalogs. Some were adjustable with a movable jaw that could be set with a thumb screw.

Thanks for the list.

I'm going through my stored photos looking for items that might be of interest. Maybe 30 years ago, I would get written material from Sumitomo Steel of Japan, and the corporation also sent these two items. The tsuba with the crane I think was copied from an original, but this one is cast and has a Sumitomo ad on the back. The doughnut shaped piece is a Japanese sleigh bell and has a little iron piece inside for a "clapper." I has a nice ring.

Hey now! I'll be 79 next month. I'm just reviewing some stored photos, telling stories, and posting them.