George N. M.

An interesting twist on this is that the cost of steel appears to have been advancing at a higher rate than general inflation. The US Dept. of Labor's inflation calulator only goes back to 1913 and the chart as posted only goes up to 1954 but $1 in 1913 had the purchasing power of $2.72 in 1954. The cost of $1 of steel in 1913 was $3.05 in 1954. Also, I assume that the published steel prices were FOB at the steel mill and transportation and middleman and retailer profit and overhead would be added to the retail price. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

John, one interesting thing about super quench is that the sound is different than oil or water when you put hot metal into it. It is high pitched and more of a squeal that the hiss of water or oil. I attribute it to smaller bubbles forming on the surface of the hot metal. GNM

Thomas, I thought I was the only non-farmer/rancher who knew that. I have found ox shoes along the Oregon Trail. GNM

A giant lumberjack? In the upper midwest that would be Paul Bunyan. And if you build Paul you have to build his blue ox, Babe. "Yumpin' yiminy, I tink I go back a vork in the lumber mills in Visconsin. Ya shure. Uff Da!"

Looks much better, MJ. I agree that a hammer would be too much. Now, you have to decide how you are going to strike it into your work. You could have one made commercially (about $US 100 IIRC the last time I checked, about 5-6 years ago). You can strike in the mountains with 4 chisel blows and have the anvil as a separate punch. IMO it would be pretty demanding to make your own punch with this design, not impossible but not easy. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

MJ, I suggest making one peak a little lower than the other. That way there is less confusion with the letter M. Also, if you can make the outline of the mountain a bit irregular they will look more mountainous. Right now, the straight lines make it look like a combination of the letters M and Y. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

BTW, "ASO" is "Anvil Shaped Object" which looks like an anvil but is pretty useless to actually be used as an anvil. Something that is all cast iron is an ASO because cast iron is too soft.

Welcome aboard from 7500' in SE Wyoming. Glad to have you. How much does the anvil weigh? You can use a bathroom scale. Assuming that it has a hardened tool steel face it looks like a smaller anvil used for fairly light work. Again, assuming the tool steel face it should be worth around $3-4/pound depending on the market in your local area. Some places will see used anvils go for $1/lb. and some $5-6/lb. Do a bounce and ring test on it. Drop a 3/4"-1" ball bearing on it from 10" and measure how much it bounces up. 90% is excellent. 70-80% is OK. Anything under 50% and it is probably a piece of junk suitable for a boat anchor or door stop. Tap around on the face lightly with a hammer. If the ring is consitent all is well. If there are dead spots that means the face has delaminated from the body. If light to medium blows with ahammer mar the face it is cast iron throughout and is pretty useless as a blacksmithing tool. If the tests pan out you probably got a good deal at $49. If it turns out to be a cast iron hunk of junk, well you didn't lose that much. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Welcome aboard from 7500' in SE Wyoming. Yes, that tool is generally known as a hardy (hence: hardy hole) and is used to cut hot metal in the manner you describe. They are about $50-75 new. Don't use it on cold metal. The advantage to boiled lindseed oil is that it is a drying oil which will form a hard surface over the metal like shellac or varnish whereas something like mineral oil always stays a bit sticky and accumulates dust and gruck. This is why BLO is commonly used as a finish on forged metal. It can be mixed with turpentine or another drying agent so that it dries faster. I hope you and your friend find the craft as rewarding as I have for the last 44 years. It has been fun in good times and has helped me through tough times. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Nodebt, I hear you. When I need something I would much rather go to a brick and mortar old fashioned hardware store but with covid we have gone to internet shopping for lots of our needs. Also, when you live in a rural area there are not the same density of small. specialty suppliers as in a metro area. So, the internet is a god send for things that your local small or big box doesn't have. This is particularly true for books. If you even have a local book store how many blacksmithing books will be in stock? "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Here in the US I can get bagged coal and coke at a farrier supply place about an hour and half away from home. I'm sure there are farriers in NI. You might contact them to see where they obtain their fuel, if they are not using propane forges that is. Around here some farriers use solid fuel and some propane, pretty much as a person preference. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Most western states have a state office of brand inspection which maintains books of registered brands. Brand Inspectors are sworn law enforcement officers (like game wardens) who have full arrest powers. Using someone else's brand or an unregistered brand is a criminal offense. Branding household items, yourself, your kids, etc. isn't a problem but if you use an improper brand on livestock things will get pretty old west real fast. And, yes, cattle rustling and horse stealing are still a serious criminal problem. Even buying livestock without the proper paperwork or brands is a criminal offense. Brand Inspectors do a lot of their work at livestock auctions. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Welcome aboard from 7500' (2286 m) in SE Wyoming. Glad to have you. Boy it is really tough to answer your question from almost 5000 miles away. I could give you some educated guesses in the US but not the UK. It sounds like you have a high grade bituminous coal which may have been sold for home heating in open grates (coal fires) or other specialized uses. You may have to do some research in coals of Ireland and the UK and what may be available today. You should look for high BTU content, low ash content, and good agglomeration (coking). As Irondragon says, someone with better local knowledge than us Yanks will probably be more helpful. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

L like the mountains and anvil but what does the T represent? GNM

According to the manual for my HF model the blade should be tightened just beyond where it is slipping on the drive wheel, no tighter. I think that if over tightened the blade would have more of a tendency to jump off the wheels and would put an unnecessary strain on othe components like bearings and might even break the blade. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Dear All, It is time for my annual Memorial Day posting to remind everyone that here in the USA this isn't just the first weekend of summer but a time to remember the men and women who were not as fortunate as I and the other veterans who made it home and grew old. I think most of the folk here, particularly the vets, are aware of this but I feel a duty and responsibility to those who didn't come home to make this reminder. "They will not grow old, as we who are left grow old. Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, We will rmember them." -Laurence Binyon- George LTC, US Army (ret) late of 1/C/1/12 Cav/!st Cav Div (Airmobile), Republic of Vietnam 1970-71

My experience with super quench and mild steel is that I have never seen something shatter or chip off. It hardens the mild steel as much as it can be but it doesn't get brittle. For a struck tool it will probably mushroom over on the struck end faster than a hardened and tempered high C tool but much slower than untreated mild steel. I'd super quench it and call it good. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Whatever type of hoisting arrangement you decide on I suggest that you "proof" it by lifting a weight twice or 3 times as heavy as the maximum you would normally expect to lift on a regualr basis. If something is going to fail you don't want it to be when you've got a customer's machine up in the air. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Mine is almost the same as Irondragon's but without the split and the leg attachments. I like it much better than my old one which just had a leather thong around the neck and one around the waist. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

The other question is whether you want to personalize it to yourself (MJL) or your business (TMI). If TMI has a negative connotation how about "Two Mountains Forge?" Or "Two Mountains Blacksmith?" Or, since you are in an officially bi-lingual country, "Forge des Deux Montangnes?" GNM

Nat, I think the amount of sociability or isolation a person experiences through his hobbies or other interests is dependent on a couple of things. 1) How many people are there fairly nearby who share your intersts in X? I started blacksmithing in Wyoming, the smallest population of any state in the USA and it wasn't until 12 or 15 years later that I met another smith. This was before the days of the internet. 2) How social are you to begin with? Someone who is very extroverted will make anything into a social occasion. Someone who is more introverted my prefer only their own company no matter what they are doing. If you want to share your interest in X you will probably seek out folk with a common or similar interest(s). It largely depends if you are a "lone eagle" by nature or not. Also, there may be a difference in social attitudes toward X. Here in the USA if someone finds out I am a smith the response is usually very positive because it is seen as an unusual and uncommon activity and the media, particularly the knife making TV show Forged in Fire, has portrayed smiths in a very positive light. There are plenty of misconceptions but the attitude is that it is a cool and positive thing to do. However, there are places, and maybe Bosina is one of them, where any kind of craft or working with your hands carries a negative connotation of being lower class. It's sort of ike attitudes towards sun tans. In some countries a good tan implies being fit and active and well enough off to have the leisure time to lie around in the sun. But in other countries a tan is associated with being a peasant who is out in the fields and sun all day. That is why the traditional women's dress is some countries covers much of the skin and an umbrella or parasol is often in use. The internet has increased the communication between folk with uncommon interests by orders of magnitude. IFI is a prime example of this. Myself, I like to keep a balance between things I like to do by myself and social activities but covid has pushed me very hard towards the former. GNM

MJ, yes, I like that better and it avoids my concerns. The only other suggestion that I have is to be conisitent with serifs (the little "feet" on the tops and bottoms of letters). Your T and M are "san serif" (no feet) but your I does have serifs. I suggest consistency one way or another. Personally, I like serif fonts (the one we are using here is san serif) and studies have shown that people read a bit faster in a serif font. The serifs apparently "lead" the eye from one letter to another. Of course, that is of little concern with just 3 initials but I find it interesting. Whatever you find aesthetically pleasing to your eye. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Interestingly enough I tend to bounce between using imperial and metric units. If I am doing something where I have to divide into equal incriments I use milimeters because the divison is easier than to deal with fractions. I'm comfortable using metric to distance, weight, and volume but I can never get my head easily around the celsius temoerature scale. If someone says it is going to be X degrees C outside today I don't know whether to wear a parka or cut offs and tee shirt. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

MJ, I would go with the one with the single cross. I largely say that because I am of the opinion that faith and craft/business are separate parts of a person's life and should be kept separate, at least as they are presented to the outside world and other folk. An expression of faith or political belief can elicit both positive and negative reactions. A cross or an icthys or a political bumper sticker can turn people on or off and, IMO, it is better to avoid that particular can of worms. Even as a Christian I have always thought that a business listing or sign with a icthys was tacky because it seemed intended to attract customers because of their and the business owner's faith rather than business considerations. I've always thought that the name "Christ Centered Ironworks" is semi-inappropriate because of that and that it diminishes the faith by mixing it with worldly and mudane issues. I recognize that faith is very important to some people (me included) but I don't think wearing a symbol of your faith on your sleeve all the time is the way to go. IMO faith is demonstrated to the world by how you live your life and your actions rather than a label or sign. Just my 2 small currency units. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

If you click on my avatar photo twice, once to get to my profile page and once when you are there, and get to the rectangular, not circular, version you will see that I've got my touch mark on my apron. I've mentioned this before but it is the Anglo-Saxon rune for G. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."