George N. M.

Thomas,

It may not be a traumatic brain injury.  As we get older two things start to happen to us.  First, you start to lose your memory.  And I don't remember the second thing.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Dear All,

I bring this up because Jennifer, not to pick on her but she started the thought process in my head, admitted to having 16 anvils and counting.  Almost all of us, by nature, are folk who acquire things that we may not have an immediate use for but see a potential use in the future, steel, tools, anvils, blowers, etc..  I do it and I think many folks on IFI do it.  If we didn't we wouldn't have an "It followed me home" thread.  However, when does acquisition for the future turn into hoarding, particularly when it is the sort of object, such as anvils, for which many people are searching?  I have seen photos on the internet of people who have what must be hundreds of anvils in a barn.  My thought is, "How many of those could be put into active use and promote the spread of the craft?" 

At some point the collecting of anything can become an unhealthy obsession which deprives other people of the use/enjoyment of the things being collected.  It is one thing to collect things that do not have a useful value, like stamps, and another to collect useful objects that can be put to a productive use.  Thoughts?  Confessions? Philosophical musings?

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

You have a good use for coal clinkers in NY.  Break up the clinkers to pea gravel size and put it into a container about the size of a 2 pound coffee can and put it in the car as winter traction material.  There is nothing better because the fragments have sharp edges.  It is much better than gravel or kitty litter.  Put a bow on each container and give it to all the museum staffers for Xmas.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Dear Saint,

It sounds like you want to build a kiln to fire ceramics.  Someone with more experience with pottery can better answer this but the one time I tried to fire some clay items in my propane forge it was a dismal failure.  In fact, they disintegrated and disappeared.  I was told that with a kiln you have to bring the temperature up very slowly.  I'm not sure your proposed set up would do that.  Good luck though.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Some of what Glenn illustrated is getting towards "carbonaceous shale" from what would officially be "coal" geologically.

There is another quality of coal that is significant for a blacksmith, "agglomeration."  This is how "sticky" the coal is when it is burning.  It also is a major factor in how well the coal converts to coke as it is exposed to the heat around the fire.  A good coking coal has a fairly high agglomeration index.  

So, if you can get an analysis of the coal from the supplier you want high heat, low ash, high agglomeration, and as low sulphur as you can find (eastern US coals tend to be higher sulphur than western coals).

In my experience, the rocks in coal tend to be more rounded than the coal fragments.  Because of this my theory is that they do not originate in the coal seam or nearby rock but in the processing after mining. After going through the crusher and screening to make the appropriate fragment size the coal may be stacked in a pile and then loaded with a front end loader into the next process and machine to bag it.  If the sized pile is on a concrete pad all will be well but if it is on the bare ground the loader may scoop up dirt and rocks with the coal, particularly if the loader operator is not well skilled. The last lift from the pile may get the underlying dirt and rocks when the earlier loads did not. I have seen rocks included in bags of coal that are clearly limestone pebbles.  Limestone and coal are from different depositional environments and the limestone must have been introduced into the coal at some point after mining.

I had one batch that had so many rocks that I was tempted to save them and take them back to my supplier and demand an equal weight of coal.

I don't know of any way to separate coal from rock other than what has been suggested above.  Frosty's suggestion of using available children as coal/rock separators probably will work pretty well but I'm not sure the parents will be best pleased by the return of coal black children.  A blacksmith is expected to get black, children get grubby but actually blackened with coal dust may be exceeding expectations.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand." 

A not well known historical factoid is that kerosene (paraffin to you Brits/Aussies) light and paraffin candles are a result of the discovery of oil in PA in 1859.  Prior to that lighting was beeswax candles, whale oil lamps, rush lights, etc..  Much of the popularity of kerosene was the result of advertising by Standard Oil to develop demand for "rock oil" products.  Paraffin is a by product of refining oil. 

Also, many people do not realize that biblical and medieval oil lamps burned vegetable oil, not kerosene.  There have been a number of fires caused by someone trying to burn kerosene in a reproduction clay oil lamp with a cloth wick.  A properly adjusted olive oil single wick lamp puts out about as much light as a candle (1 candle power?).

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand 

Well, we are about 2000 miles apart but I hope that we sometime will meet face to face.  The only regular on IFI that I have ever met in the flesh is Thomas Powers and that was through the SCA and before I was seriously participating on this forum.  I also hope to meet some of the other regulars that I feel I have gotten to know fairly well.  If I had the time and money I'd like to visit the IFIers in Australia and then on the way home stop in Russia and watch Alexandr work his iron magic.

One of the current theories is that the Easter Islanders "walked" the moa statues from the quarries to the platforms where they were placed.  It makes sense to me but I'd like to see a full scale experiment.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Dear Jennifer,

Well, you are a better (or stronger) person than I am.  I can dead lift a 100 pound anvil into the back of a vehicle if I have to but that is about my maximum given age, knees, back, condition, etc..  I wouldn't begin to attempt some of the tasks you mentioned without serious mechanical advantage and assistance.  Yes, having a chain fall in reach is a major advantage.  My new shop has a roof of 2x4 trusses and I have been looking up trying to figure out how much load I could put on 1, 2, 3, or more of the 2x4s on the bottom of the trusses.  As a swag I am thinking that I could safely hoist 250 pounds per truss.  I might reinforce them by putting additional, short 2x4s between the horizontal bottoms and the inclined tops of the trusses.

Thanks for the info.

"By hammer and hand al arts do stand."

Assuming that the fire/forge is out of the picture in the foreground I think the anvil would have been closer to the heat source.  Also, are these re-enactors or good mannikins?  Even for a boy I think the bellows operator would be sitting cross legged or kneeling rather than just squatting flat footed.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Dear Jennifer,

This is something I have wondered about folk with large anvils and other large equipment such as power hammers.  How do you move them around?  An overhead crane of some sort? A crane or davit mounted on the back of a truck that you maneuver close enough to pick up heavy object?  Some sort of temporary gin pole arrangement?  An auto engine dolly?  I just moved my shop 150 miles and moving my treadle hammer involved pry bars,  a come along, and a handy man jack.  Moving bigger stuff seems impossible without some serious machinery or LOTS of friends/employees/apprentices/bystanders.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

I have seen construction where sand bags (smaller than yours) were filled with concrete and stacked which allowed them to droop and nest while the concrete was soft.  This locked them together.  after a few years the sand bags disintegrated from UV but the concrete remained solid.  I think the trick to constructing something like this would be to mix the concrete and fill the bags at the same rate as they would/could be placed in the construction.  Timing and synchronising of all the steps would be crucial.  Also, bags of the size you mention would be HEAVY when full of anything.  You would need machinery such as a back hoe or a good size fork lift to move them around.  It would not be hand work.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Dear CGL,

I just had an idea about a candle holder from a horse shoe which keeps intact the nail fuller:  Curl up one end in a spiral with one caulk drawn out and pointed up as a picket to place the candle.  Then, curve the shoe, with the nail fuller gradually in the opposite direction and make a reverse spiral at the other end.  This just popped into my head when I read your post and may or may not be what you have in mind or find pleasing.  Feel free to use the idea if you care to.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Were you just demoing or were you also selling your wares?  I have found that by myself I can do one or the other.  If I am demoing I can focus on the work and keep a a patter and conversation with the spectators but I can't also talk about the goods table, make change, etc..  If I am going to do both I have to have someone helping with the commercial side of the operation.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

I have a similar tool and have always assumed that it was a crimper of some sort, possibly for swaging a lead or soft copper sleeve over a wire splice.  The pattern on the inside looks like something to tighten down a soft metal.  It came in a misc. box from an auction.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Alexandr,

All I can say about your work is, "Reverente vidite, mortales, heroem laborare."

("Look on in awe, mortals, a demigod is at work.")

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Dear Ted,

My hardware store weed puller/cutter has the inside edges of the fork sharpened to cut tap roots and works well.  I think the moveable fulcrum on yours will work better than just the curved handle on the commercial one.  Nice wrapping work on the handle.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand"

Dear Jasent,

I post this just to let you know that troubled teens sometimes do grow out of it.  My son was depressed and apathetic as a teen.  It didn't help that his mother with whom he was very close was diagnosed with terminal cancer when he was 16.  He was my assistant care giver during the 6 years she fought it.  He was treated by a psychiatrist and was on anti-depressants and just drifted.  He graduated from the local community college but when he went away to a 4 year university he did not have focus or motivation and dropped out several times.  He finally found an interest that engaged him and is at the University of North Dakota majoring in Aviation and will be a commercial pilot when he graduates.  He is doing very well and has made the Dean's List.  This has been a great relief to me and is a great weight off my heart.  I no longer have the fear of him being 35 years old, living in my basement, and playing video games.

So, sometimes these stories have happy endings.  Hang in there and do your best.  Sometimes you have to present them with 2 uncomfortable choices, e.g. get a job and pay rent or move out.  When you love someone it is hard not to let yourself be an enabler and part of the problem.  It is not easy but a lot of us have been there.  You may need counseling yourself to keep on an even keel.  Good luck and you are in our prayers.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand." 

The only difference between hot and cold rolled steel is how crisp the edges are and how smooth the flats are.  Cold rolled has sharper corners and smoother flats and is usually more expensive for the same size as hot rolled.  There is no difference in the metal.  There should be no difference in forge welding as long as you have prepared your welding faces properly.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

In my new shop I am finally getting to mount the post drill which has been under my bench for 25 years.  I am wondering if there is a "correct" height to mount a post drill similar to mounting an anvil at knuckle height and a vise at elbow height.  My guess is that the most ergonomic position would be having the axle for the crank should be at the same  height as your shoulder joint.   Any thoughts?

I'm not sure that I will use it much when I have my electric drill press nearby but it does add to the blacksmith shop atmosphere and decor.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

If you don't want to forge or arc weld you could treat the two ends of the loop as rivet heads by inserting through the holes in the bar and peening them over from the back side.  It may be sufficient and easier than welding.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

There has to be a balance of tradition and innovation.  Without some generally accepted "rules" things can get pretty chaotic.  If someone says, "Me go store." he has conveyed accurately who is going where but his lack  of syntax and grammar will communicate more information, intentionally or unintentionally, about the speaker.  If someone on IFI speaks of holding hot iron with a grabber and hitting it with a pounder instead of tongs and a hammer we will probably not give his or her opinion as much value because the generally accepted rules of nomenclature are not being followed.

That said, language, music, ways of thinking and doing things, evolve at a greater and lesser pace.  That is the natural order of human affairs.  The rate of change will vary and sometimes for no obvious reason.  We could intelligibly speak with someone from the court of Henry VIII of 500 years ago but the Tudor courtier could not have made himself understood with someone 150 years before his time.  Why? No one has come up with a convincing explanation of why Middle English shifted to Modern English in just a few generations.  You will see similar jumps and rapid changes in types and styles of music.

This does not mean that change or tradition is good or bad in and of themselves, just that it happens.  The subjective value of changing or not changing is personal.  I may think a particular change is a terrible thing that is an indicator of the fall of Western Civilization or I may embrace it as something much better than what has gone before.  Those millions of individual decisions are what makes up the decision of a society of whether to change or not.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Don't be hatin' on vice grips.  I've been forging for over 40 years and I still use vice grips about 75% of the time when I can't hold something by hand.  Tongs are good for some applications but IMO vice grips are better than tongs in other situations. 

I'll do a little digging and send/post contact info for the SCA group in Sioux Falls.  From what you say I think you and your family would enjoy it.

Treozen,

Check with farrier supply places in your area and on line for both coal and coke.  Generally, farrier coal is very good for general blacksmithing and coke does not put out smoke, etc. but does need to have forced air to it all times or it will go out.

Without going into a long geologic posting there is coal and there is coal.  Not all of it is good for blacksmithing.  There isn't any currently mined in the Pacific Northwest to my knowledge.  So, one way or another it has to be shipped in.  Stay away from anything mined in Wyoming or Montana.  It is used for power generation because it is low in sulphur but not terribly good for blacksmithing usage.

Both the forges look good to me but IMO are at the upper end of the reasonable price range.  That said, everything connected with blacksmithing has inflated dramatically.  Some of that is the Forged in Fire effect.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Dear Jay,

My guess is that the Ren Faires which are single weekend events my be locally organized non-profit events and multiple weekend events on a dedicated site are probably commercial operations.  There are probably exceptions to this rule but I bet that it is valid a majority of the time.

I'm not saying that non-profit equals good or that commercial equals bad.  You can have fun at both and sometimes the commercial ones have more professional entertainment, e.g. jousters.  But if you ever want to get involved beyond being an attendee it is good to know with what kind of an organization you are dealing.  And knowing that it is an entertainment as much as a sporting event, play, or concert helps put things into perspective.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."