George N. M.

I believe so. I have heard of using wooden wdges and them pouring water on the wedges to expand them and exert lateral splitting pressure. I've seen videos of folk in Norway removing large boulders by building a fire and getting the rock hot and then throwing water on the rock to split it from thermal shock. Seemed to work pretty well. Then you have to haul away a pile of smaller rocks and gravel. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Billy, you used a term that is new to me. It may be an Oklahomaism. Growing up in Illinois we called the low area on both sides of a road simply "the ditch." When I came to Wyoming the term was either "barrow ditch" or "borrow pit." So named because you "borrow" dirt from it to make the road. This is the 1st time I've heard it shortened to "bar ditch." I've also seen an area where fill dirt is removed and hauled away referred to as a "borrow pit." I'm wondering if your term is common in your area and what other terms are used around the country or world. I've always been facinated by differet regional terms for different things. For example, is the piece of furniture in your bedroom with drawers a dresser, chest of drawers, high boy, or something else? And is the long piece of furniture upon which several people can sit a couch, sofa, or davenport? I've always liked the southernism that all soft drinks are "cokes", e.g. "I'm going to the cooler. Do you want a coke? Yes. What kind? 7-Up." Thx, George

The ancients did just fine splitting stone with wrought iron wedges and feathers. So, mild steel should work just fine. IIRC the ancient Egyptian used the same technique with copper implements. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Welcome abaord from 7500' in SE Wyoming. Glad to have you. As Goods mentioned, there are some very good blacksmithing videos on You Tube and some VERY bad ones too. Check out the list here on IFI. I like the ones (in no particular order) from Black Bear Forge, JPL Services (our own Jennifer), Torbjorn Ahman (from Sweden), and Christ Centered Iron Works. Some folk like Alec Steele but I find him kind of annoying. You will find all kind of folk here at IFI. Ages range from early teens to early 80s. Education from HS dropouts to advanced degrees. Blacksmithing experience from masters to absolute greenies. There seems to be a higher percentage of military veterans here than the general population. Just stay away from politics, religion, and sex and keep your language suitable for a family audience. Don't say anything you'd have problems explaining to your 10 year old grand daughter. Topics can wander fairly broadly and there can be a certain amount of good natured joshing. Also, there is a LOT of punning. I hope you find the craft as rewarding as I have. I started in 1978 and am still learning. It has helped me through good times and tough times for the last 44 years. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Applicability will depend on what code(s) your state or local government have adopted and what edition. Some places have adopted about every possible code and others haven't adopted any of them. And some places, usually large cities have their own set of codes that may or may not be the same as the national codes. Even if your jurisdiction has not adopted a particular code it is usually a good idea to follow it yourself in the interests of your own and your family's health, safety, and welfare. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Billy, Folk bring you electric devices because the last small appliance/electric motor repair shop closed 20 years ago. I'm sure that you find that many things have a sealed plastic case and cannot be opened up for repair or parts replacement. Yes, it is changing times like it always has been. Here in Wyoming coal miners are retraining to work on wind turbines. Like the blacksmith who learned to shoe horses in the 19th century or to repair automobiles in the 20th century you and many other folk will have to expand your skills and economic opportunities. For good or ill electric motors and batteries are replacing internal combustion power. I suspect that our next vehicle may be a hybrid. Electric might be OK in an urban setting but in the wide open spaces and cold winters out here I'm hestitant to go 100% electric for a vehicle. When you add decreased battery capicity from low temperatures to the need to run a heater I suspect that the advertised range would be reduced significantly. Some of the younger smiths here may see a need to go to an induction forge because solid fuels and propane are unavailable. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Some municipalities prohibit flammable gas storage tanks in excess of X pounds or gallons or require a certain setback from inhabited buildings. The propane supplier should know all the local regs and if a permit/inspection is needed. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

I also haul the garbage to the land fill ($12 tip fee) about every 2.5-3 weeks. Cheaper than the commercial service and I don't have to wrestle a wheeled can out to the road every Friday which is particular fun through the snow in the winter. Although the landfill is officially "No scavanging" if you are discreet you can pick up some interesting things. I have scored a Delta 8" grinder and several propane bottles (out of current pressure certification) and some other interesting things. I am always afraid to look in the metals dumpster for fear that someone will have thrown away a bunch of anvils and I'll either kill myself trying to get them out or go to jail for trying to bribe the landfill workers to let me/help me salvage them. Also, it is a field trip out of the house during covid isolation. Madelynn is VERY covid cautious and we are still pretty socially isolated. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

They seem to be following the unfortunate modern museum display format of no labels. Maybe there were labels or descriptions off to the side of the case. I find it interesting how little the shape of some tools changes through time and materials. The crescent shaped blade could be a knife similar to a modern leather worker's knife. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Mike, I have never liked holding stock between my legs as a 3d hand. It just feels unantural and dangerous to me. I suggest you devise some sort of hold down to secure stock in place when you have to use both hands. A goose neck hold down that fits in the pritchel hole works OK but I have an old agricultural roller chain with a weight on the end attached to the far side of the anvil stump and if I need a hold down I just flip the chain over the work piece to hold it in place. If I wanted it even more secure I could attach a stirrup to the weight and be able to add downward force with my left foot. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Welcome aboard from 7500' in SE Wyoming, Mike. Glad to have you. Your vulcan looks very similar to my 1st anvil which I used for years until I upgraded to a Peter Wright. I hope you find the craft as satisfying and rewarding as I have. I started in 1978 and it has been a positive thing in my life through good times and bad. You can now call yourself a blacksmith. You can spend the rest of your life becoming a better blacksmith. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Welcome aboard from 7500 feet in SE Wyoming. Glad to have you. You have an anvil that still has lots of use in it. Someone in your grandchildren's generation will probably be using it a couple generations from now. The 2d hardy hole is unusual but was probably intended for someone who was doing a lot of work using a hardy of some sort and it made more sense to have it on the sweet spot of the anvil rather than the heel. How heavy is it? Once you wire brush it you can protect it from rust by applying boiled linseed oil (I ususally use it in a 50-50 mix with turpentine so that it dries for quickly). Some folk add melted beeswax to the mixture which is a good general iron finish/coating to protect from rust. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

To add to what has been said, the threads look to be more like a machinist's bench vise than a post vise. That is, it takes more turns of the handle to move the jaws a given distance. One of the advantages of a post vise is how fast you can close and open the jaws when you are using it to grab hot metal. My large (6") post vise takes about 1.5 turns to move 1", my large machinist's vise, about 6 turns/inch, and my small machinist's vise about 8 turns/inch. Another disadvantage of anvil/vise combinations is that if you mount them high enough for a vise they are too high to comfortably use the anvil and vice versa (vise versa?). Many bnch vises have an anvil shape over the screw box but I have never used it except for very light tapping when I didn't want to walk over to the anvil. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Dear Billy, If I have offended you or rubbed you the wrong way I sincerely apolgize. I did not mean to attack or offend you ar anyone else. I was pointing out the problem I have in resolving acquisitions and collecting of tools. And, yes, I may express this mental conflict I have in the future if it seems relevent to the discussion. There are enough folk who pass through here who might find it relevent. Us oldsters can often predict what one of us is going to say about a given topic. Again, I'm sorry if I gave offense. Yours, George

This kind of gets into the philosphy and ethics of collecting which we have discussed previously. If you collect stamps, coins, paintings, sculpture, autographs, hummel figurines, salt and pepper shakers, etc. which give you pleasure, good for you. None of these have any intrinsic use other than collectibles or esthetics. In full disclosure, I collect ancient coins and old legal documents. Martha, my late wife, collected old spindle whorls and other old fiber working tools (some shorls and other toold she restored to use). However, if you collect items that have some sort of actual practical use having them keeps them from being used by anyone else. Someone who has a collection of 30 anvils of which they use 2 or 3 is keeping them from being used by 27 or 28 other smiths. This is not the same as saving the anvils or other tools from the scrap heap. In that case the intent is often to pass them on to other smiths sooner or later, sometimes after repairing or reconditioning them. Most folk I know who do that may make a modest profit, e.g. Thomas' hoard of last year, but I wouldn't classify them as "flippers." Also, someone may be acquiring tools with the intention of having them used by students at some point in the future. That does not bother me. I'm torn in two directions when I hear of new smiths trying to find tools and seeing photos of a barn full of anvils somewhere. On one hand if someone has the money and the desire who am I to tell them what they should or shouldn't acquire? On the other hand, some collections start to approach "hoarding" and do not promote or advance the craft. I have no hard answers but for me I only get tools that I think I can use or that I can pass on. I like to see tools in use. It bothers me a lot to see perfectly good tools used as decor in a restaurant or someplace else. I have seen old spinning wheels and treadle sewing machines broken up to make chairs or planters. Martha always thought seeing a chair made of old spinning wheels was like seeing one made of human bones. Sad and a terrible waste. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Actually, what you NEED is an overhead belt drive to power all the machines in your shop. Preferably driven by a steam engine. Then, all you would need to do is engage a lever to tighten a belt to drive a blower, drill press, lathe or whatever. And minions to stoke the boiler for the steam engine. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

The question is similar to that of anvils and forges, how big a one do you actually need? If you are doing big work you need a big forge with a big blower. if you are doing small to medium work, not so much. Like anvils, it is easy to say bigger is better but the reality is that it may be oversized for your needs. That said, the Champion 400 is a beast. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

I've been using a section of ponderosa pine log for years with no problems. No elm or other hardwoods available around here. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

I think part of the confusion on the nomenclature of the tool used to change a flat tire is that they were originally rwo separate tools. A tire iron was the pry bsr used to get the tire off the rim so thst you could patch a puncture and a lug wrench was the tool used to remove the lug nuts of the wheels. Since folk rarely fix punctures any more the only use for a pry bar is to pop off the hub cap. So, auto manufacturers decided to save a buck or two per car and combine the tools, a pry bar on one end and a hex wrench on the other, and for the old bumper jacks, a jack handle. My advice on scrap steel is not to get stuff that is too big for you to forge. You can look at a a leaf from a big truck spring and think, "Wow, look at all that good steel!" But, in reality, it will take a LOT of fuel and effort to reduce that big chunk of steel down to a usable size. I try to pick up high carbon scrap in small pieces, springs from compact cars, etc.. One of the best knives I ever made was from an old spring from the seat of a buggy or buckboard. Also, older springs tend not to be weird alloys that require special heat treating. Heat, harden with a quench, temper, and Bob's your uncle. If I had access to inexpensive plasma or water cutting I'd think about having large springs cut into smaller strips to save fuel and shop time in reducing it to usable size. This would be sort of like reducing a wrought iron bloom to rods to be sold to blacksmiths. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

I would be VERY careful about cutting into it unless it has been empty and open for a long time and there is no odor when you remove the valve. Even a small amount of something explosive in that large a volume could make a pretty spectacular explosion. As to suitability for a wood stove it strikes me that it may be like a long forge, too long to be practical. I'd think that anything that long would have to be stoked from both ends. I'd think anything longer than 4' would present problems. That said, you could always cut it in half and make 2 of them. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

BTW, we had a woman from the KC area on the forum recently who is a beginning smith and might be interested in some of the tools. GNM

Altitude is something we have to deal with regularly here at 7500' (and we can see 12 and 13 k ' peaks from the house and shop). Air tight packages, like Jobtiel's chip bags, which have been sealed at lower altitudes are "inflated" here. When opening something liquid or semi liquid, e.g. yoghurt, you always tip the container so that the gas vents when opened rather than blorting out the contents onto your hand or face. Baking has to be adjusted for altitude (more flour, less heat). things have to be boiled longer. IIRC the boiling point of water at 7500' is about 198 degrees F. I probably have to crank the coal forge blower a bit more than at lower altitude and I'm sure my gasser would be hatter if run at sea level. When I tell folk my birth date I usually add, "When the world was young and dinosaurs roamed the earth." If they are skeptical I tell them that I rode a dinosuar (tricetatops) to school every day, uphill both ways and carrying my little brother and the dinosaur. Our oxygenation level is about 90+% which is pretty normal because when your body adjusts to altitude it produces more red blood cells to carry the limited oxygen. If you go up in altitude too fast you can develop altitude sickness which, in a few severe cases, can be fatal. Altitude sickness occurs pretty regularly in folk from low altitudes who jet into high altitude Colorado ski areas. Usually, it can be treated with rest and some oxygen therapy but in some cases people have to return to lower altitudes as quickly as possible. When we go up to the Medicine Bow Mountains, about 35 miles west of Laramie, to close to 11,000' we notice that even though we are acclimated to 7500' we still can get breathless with exertion and have to rest more often. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

While the only thing that will really be the equivalent of years of experience is years of experience I can offer a couple of tips from my own limited experience. 1) Use new/sharp belts. Belts are not cheap and there is a tendency to keep using a belt to get the most value out of it. This, IMO, is false economy. The valuable thing is your time, not the belt. Once it starts getting dull toss it. there is also a tendency to thnk that there is still life left in it when their isn't. 2) If you can get a machine with a variable speed adjustment do so. You can use the high speed for hogging out metal with a coarse grit and a slower speed for more delicate smoothing/polishing with fine grits. 3) fine grit belts seem to wear out faster than coarse grits. Good luck. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Welcome aboard from 7500' in SE Wyoming. Glad to have you. I suggest you look up the nearest affiliate of the Artist Blacksmith Association of North America and think seriously about joining. Being a lone eagle while trying to learn a craft is not the best way to go. Several of us here have an SCA background. You will find hot work to be very different from working metal cold. There is an expression that blacksmiths go to hell for 2 reasons, hitting cold metal and not charging enough. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Welcome aboard, Kathy, from 7500' in SE Wyoming. Glad to have you. Sorry for your loss. If you post photos of your late brother's tools we can probably give you a decent idea of fair market value. A lot depends on condition. For example, and anvil can vary in value from 20cents/pound scrap value up to $5-6/pound for near new condition. Like anything else, value is dependent on what the seller is willing to accept and what the buyer is willing to give. This is really a wild guess but from your description and assuming everything is in decent shape I would hazard a guess of $5-10k but that could be drastically high or low depending on factors I don't know. Good luck.