George N. M.

I have heard that heating to forge welding temps will not "heal" micro fractures in a spring but I do not have any first hand experience. I yield to those with more specific knowledge. GNM

Back in the late '60s and early '70s I had a friend who had an elderly great aunt who lived in the back of beyond, West Virginia and cut her tall grass with a scythe. She complained that you couldn't get goof, American made, scythe blades any more and she had to buy imported Austrian (IIRC) made blades. There is a great hardware store (Arp Hardware) in Boulder, CO which still stocks scythes along with all the other shovels, rakes, etc.. If you are ever in Colorado Arp Hardware is worth a trip to Boulder. There is very little that a person needs in life other than food and clothing that they don't stock. GNM

There was a similar incident in Laramie in IIRC the 1890s. A lady whose mother was expecting at the time was always told that she had been born when there was an elephant in the back yard. Every word true. GNM

I have seen miners' picks with a similar curve. The idea is that they are easier to swing in the confined spaces in an underground mine. The idea may have been that a curved head is more ergonomic and follows the arc of a swing of the arm. Others may have more details. There are old Atha Tool catalogs on line that you could go through. Here is a link to the 1912 catalog: https://ia802309.us.archive.org/22/items/atha-tool-co-catalogue-1912/Atha Tool Co Catalogue 1912.PDF "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Yeah, the buggy eyes are reminiscent of Peter Lorre. Also, Marty Feldman. Why the last one? G

Old car springs, either leaf or coil, are a good source of fairly high carbon steel but they have two possible drawbacks. One, they may have thousands of little microfractures from long use of many, many cycles of being compressed and relaxed. These can result in failure points when forged into a blade. The newer the spring the better. A good source are places that do custom suspensions where they take off and discard the brand new factory springs and install some sort of custom kit, e.g. lifts. Second, some newer springs are odd alloys which are harder to work in a home shop. Always, experiment with "coupons" to see how a particular spring will work, harden, and temper. Once you have hardened it you can snap it in two and look at the crystal structure on the line of the break. The smaller crystals the better. Do you have some particular reason for wanting to make a sickle? Maybe hanging it on a wall crossed with a hammer to symbolize agriculture and industry? ;-) "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

OK, a couple things: First, rebar is probably not the optimum steel to use for this because it varies in compostion pretty fast along the length of the bar. It may be fairly high carbon at one point and a few inches away it is very different. Frankly, given the amount of work and time you are going to put into this you are risking losing a lot of effort because the sickle may fail at an unexpected spot during fabrication or in use. You may have a nice hard edge at one spot and it will bend like a noodle a few inches away. I think you would be better advised to use something of more consistent content like a spring if you are using scrap steel. Experiment with a sample (a "coupon") to see what quenching medium and tempering process works best. You are more likely to come out with a good, usable tool. Second, a sickle is nothing more or less than a specialized knife for cutting grain stalks. Grain stems are pretty dulling to a blade because of the silica spicules in the stem. So, I'd think that you would need a fairly hard edge so that you don't have to resharpen as often. The blade is fairly long and thin. So, I think you'd need it to be somewhat springy even though it may not get much in the way lateral forces in use. I'd try for a differential temper with the edge being dark yellow or bronze and the back of the blade a blue. I don't think work hardening is going to be much of an issue one way or another. Yes, you could get some work hardening on the edge by hammering but IMO that would be of minimal effect compared to proper hardening and tempering. And, yes, if you do have something with a resaonable amount of carbon, harden it, and then "bonk" it you will likely snap it off. That is why you temper hardened steel, so that it is more bonk proof. If you don't heat treat it at all you can sharpen it but it will dull quickly in use. Basically, you have made a wall hanger, an object that looks like a sickle but is not very good at doing what a sickle is supposed to do. Yes, prior to easy availibility of steel scickles were often made of wrought iron but I suspect that in use the scickle wielder spent almost as much time resharpening as cutting. Finally, it is kind of tough to forge a curved blade with the edge on the inside because as you thin the edge the metal wants to curve away from the edge because while the metal is being made thinner the excess has to go somewhere which is spreading out. Yes, it can be done but it takes good hammer control and a feel for how to counteract the tendency to curve away from the edge. You may need to start with the thicker piece of metal than you would for a straight blade because in controlling the inside curve you may need more metal to avoid over thinning the back of the blade. I suggest forging a practice one in mild steel or a piece of rebar and then, once you feel comfortable with the technique, make your final version in good, high carbon steel and then do your heat treating. And, remember, if something is too thick you can always grind or file the excess metal away. There is an old expression of "If a good blade you would win, forge thick and grind thin." "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Since the leg vise doesn't appear to have a spring for the moving jaw or the original mounting bracket (I am assuming that the thing under the screw housing is some sort of "after market" mounting bracket and that you are unable to see the condition of the screw I think that I would pass. Yes, you don't see them every day but they seem to be commoner than decent anvils. Post vises are nice but you can make do with a bench vise until a post vise in decent condition and at a decent price comes along. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Billy, for dry leather you may want to try neatsfoot oil. Sometimes leather is so dry and brittle there is no way to bring it back but I have found neatsfoot oil works about the best of anything I have tried. It will darken leather but almost anything will. Trivia factoid: A neat is an old word for a cow. Neatsfoot oil is made by boiling the lower legs (not hooves) of slaughtered cattle and collecting the rendered fat. GNM

I have a theory that a person's taste in music is largely formed by what was popular in their early teens. For me, that was the folk music period in the late '50s and early '60s. I like some othe genres but I still probably play more folk than anything else. GNM

Here is a suggestion to keep the vise and stand from moving when in use. Drill a couple of holes near the front corners of the base. Drill a couple of holes the same distance apart with a star drill or a masonry bit in your concrete floor at the location you want the vise. Line up the holes when placing the vise and then drop a couple of bolts through the base holes into the floor holes and the vise will be much more resistant to moving in use. Probably, the longer the bolts and the deeper the holes in the concrete the better. You can keep shorter bolts in the holes when not in use to keep dirt and gruck out. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

I'd say to put in the equivalent bid of $US 5-10 and if you get it and it is wrought iron, great. If it is mild steel that is still OK because you will have paid not much over scrap price (25 cents US/pound the last time I checked). I'd guesstimate that there is about 30 pounds of metal there. Others may have a more accurate estimate. The post vise may be the better prize. Scrap steel is pretty common but post vises are more rare. You might call the auction house and see if you can inspect it. Is it an on line auction or an in person auction? If the latter, get there early enought to inspect the threads on the post vise. If they are worn, walk away. GNM

If you want to go down a rabbit hole regarding thermal stress in glass look up "Prince Rupert's Drops." Very cool and amazing. GNM

If you are wrapping the marbles up in with the metal hot the cracking is due to thermal shock on the glass. You might heat the marble some or do the last bit of wrapping cold to avoid the cracking. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Red, if it isn't too costly I'd say to get it. If nothing else, you can use it as trading stock with other blacksmiths. BUT, I would make sure that it is really wrought iron. You can do this with a spark test. You touch it with an angle grinder or touch a piece to a grinding wheel and look at the sparks. Wrought iron will send out stright streams of sparks with no secondary bursts (like little fireworks bursts). Steel will have bursts, generally, the higher the carbon the more bursts. There is much more to spark testing but you can look it up easier than we can explain it. Just because it was used in a "wrought iron" railing does not mean that it is actually wrought iron. Wrought iron largely passed out of common use in the late 19th and early 20th century when steel became cheaper. So, if the railing came from a house built in the 19th century it may well be wrought iron. If it came from a house built in the 1950s it is likely mild steel. Also, if it is rusted fairly deeply you can can see a "wood grain" pattern because the iron and the included impurities will oxidize at different rates. Wrought iron works differently than mild steel, usually at a higher heat, and it has "grain" like wood due to layers of impurities. It is often used in knives (with a higher carbon steel edge welded to the iron) to give a pattern similar to pattern welded steel (aka "damascus") because the grain will become more pronounced when it is acid etched. Also, it tends to weld more easily because the impurities in it make it "self fluxing." If you can post some pictures we may be able to give more informed opinions. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Ah, I knew this would go into conspiracy theory sooner or later. Ted, I think we should leave this topic and get back to blacksmithing. We'll end up irritating each other. George

If there are legitimate hair, skin, or scat samples DNA analysis should show that there is an unknown species out there. Crowd funding could pay for it. And where are the bodies? All creatures die, naturally or accidentally, and leave remains. Something should have been found by now. And there have been no primate fossils found in North America younger than the Eocene (about 35 million years ago). That, of course, is not proof of non-existance but it is circumstantial evidence which points toward a conclusion. As you say, all evidence, both positive and negative needs to be considered as well as probabilities. And given human nature, it seems improbable that with all the reported human/crypto primate interactions that none of them seem to have resulted in a fatality for the primate and resulting remains. Given the prevalence of firearms in the US and the tendency of many folk to shoot first and ask questions later, particularly when encountering something big and scary, it seems improbable that something like this has not happened. All that said, I, personally, would find it very cool if hard evidence turned up of the existance of a large primate species in North America. However, I really don't expect that to happen. I recall that the yeti scalps in the Himylayas turned out to be made from goat skins. GNM

Welcome aboard from 7500 feet (2285 meters) above sea level in SE Wyoming, USA. Glad to have you. Please do NOT grind on the face. You will do more damage than any improvement would justify. Yes, some fool has used chisels on the face without a protective plate under the work but the damage is not serious enough it interfere with normal work. I'd be happy to have it in my shop just as it is. If taken care of your grandchildren's grandchildren could be still using it. What part of Poland are you in? Some of my ancestors came from the area of Poznan in western Poland (one of those areas which has been either Polish or German depending on whose army most recently passed by). "By hammer and hand alla rts do stand."

I'm skeptical of bigfoot because of the lack of physical evidence, a critter hit by a vehicle, bodies, scat, fossils, etc.. Also, particularly in the coniferous forests of the Pacific Northwest there does not seem to be as much opportunity to feed a large omnivorous primate as in a more temperate climate. Even if it was a dietary analog to a bear it would leave more signs of its existance and give more opportunities for hard evidence such as photos and videos. And it is hard to assign levels of credibility to sighting reports. Some are going to have a high confidence level but a lot are going to be mistaken, seeing what the person wants or is predisposed to see, and just plain old frauds and pranks. Is it possible that there is a large undiscovered primate out there with a large enough breeding population to keep the species going? Yes. Is it probable? IMO, no or at least a pretty low probability. I agree with Frosty and Carl Sagan that the more fantastic/improbable the claim the more evidence you need to support it. As an attorney I am well aware of the need for evidence. To prevail in different sorts of legal actions you need different levels of evidence. In a plain old civil case, e.g. a contract dispute, you only need a prepondance of the evidence (aka the 51% rule), in certain cases you need "clear and convincing" evidence, and in criminal trials you need to disprove the presumption of innocence by "beyond a reasonable doubt" evidence. I would need at least "clear and convicing" evidence to think there is a high probability of the existence of a previously unknown large primate species. BTW, Frosty, The Whiteboard is one of the first things I read when I turn my computer on in the morning and have for the last 15 years or so. GNM

TTB, also, look up scythe anvils, aka peening anvils. These were used to realign the edges of scythes in the field and were just driven into a log or the ground. Many medieval smiths had nothing larger or better. Frosty mentioned paper bag bellows. Bags of any sort can be used. Leather bags were common. Two squeezed alternately give a more or less constant blast. You mentioned you have 2 kids. One or both of them may be old enough to be a bellows boy/girl. All you need is a heat source, a pounder (hammer), something to pound on (anvil), and a grabber (tongs, vise grips, channel locks, pliers, etc.) I bet you could put together a very workable kit that weighed less than 5 kg. and would fit into a shoe box. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

TTB, I second what Paul has said. You can forge on very minimal equpment. Small projects take small tools. That is what travelling medieval smiths did. You can even use a flat rock for an anvil. Frosty can tell tales of forging in a camp fire with a rock for an anvil. You could even use the ball of your trailer/caravan hitch. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

I like him. It is good that you didn't follow the Kokopelli model too closely for a G/family audience since in many depictions there is no mistaking his gender. GNM

I've been to Rhodes and there is nothing left of the Colossus. The modern symbol of Rhodes is a statue of a deer on a column. There are periodically proposals to re-erect a Colossus but nothing has come of them. Incidentally, almost certainly the colossus was NOT astride the harbor entrance with ships sailing between its legs as is often depeicted in old prints. That would have required a much larger statue and would have probably required mor sophisticated engineering and construction techniques than were available then. Fun fact: The Colusseum in Rome is named for a large, "colossal" statue that originally stood near it.' "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

One more thing to consider: Some schools are pretty restrictive about anything that could be construed as a "weapon" which may well include knives of any sort. If you are going to be doing anything that is sharp and pokey or cutty I suggest a discussion with the teacher and/or the school administration. You don't want any unpleasant surprises. I've brought firearms and large knives into schools when doing presentations on Viet Nam but always with trigger locks and prior approval. But these were schools in rural Colorado and Wyoming which have more realistic attitudes. GNM

Good book. It has been on my bookshelf for years. I probably got it in the '80s. G