George N. M.

MJ, 12" guns were used on both dreadnaught and pre-dreadnaught battleships of the US Navy from the 1890s to about 1912-13. They were also used on the Alaska class largre cruisers in late WW2. The US Army also used 12" guns for coastal defense from the 1880s to through WW2. However, the gun in question has a large bracket above the breech with 2 large holes in which was part of the recoil system. Most of the US Army 12" guns were mounted on disappearing carriages which did not have this. However, the M1912 barbette carriage had recoil cylinders on top of the barrel but when you compare this gun with photos of the guns on Corregidor the holes in the recoil bracket appear further apart on the gun in the Philippines. So, my guess is that because of this and the traces of gray paint it is of USN origin. The last 12" gunned USN battleships were the USS Arkansas and the USS Wyoming. The Arkansas was sunk during the atomic tests at Bikini Atoll in 1946 and the Wyoming had the last of her 12" guns removed in 1944. The cruisers Alaska and Guam were broken up on the east coast about 1960. So, and this is, as they say in the legal profession, "mere speculation," I suspect that this gun was either from one of the WW2 cruisers or was a spare barrel for them. If Thomas is able to find any markings on the breech it might narrow down the origin and history of the gun. This is probably more detail than anyone was expecting but when I get on a military history nerd roll I can go on a bit. GNM Thomas, just read your post. This means that is definitely a USN gun. 1908 is likely the year of manufacture. So, it could be off one of the older battleships scrapped after WW1. Or a spare barrel for one of them. Thanks, that is a great help.

Nat, a couple of things: First, I'm not entirely clear about your most recent question but I think that it is a problem with translation. Many leg vises have had the leg cut off. I suspect once they were not used by a blacksmith they were converted to bench vises and the leg was in the way. This can be corrected by welding an extension on or building up a base to support the short leg. My primary post vise would be too short for me if the leg was on the ground (I'm fairly tall, 6'2" (1.83m)). So, I have a block of wood under the bottom of the leg to bring the jaws up to a comfortable height. I'm not sure I understand "woulnd shorter leg make anvils shorter". The vise and the anvil are mounted separately and one does not affect the other. If a spring is missing either a leaf spring or a coil spring will work as a replacement. I have seen both. It does not have to be very "springy" because all it is doing is moving the jaw enough to let gravity take over as you are opening the jaws. If the screw and box are in good shape and the price is right I would buy it. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

MJ, what I have used on my Peter Wright (which has steps on the feet under the horn and heel) are two pieces of angle iron with holes drilled in them over the steps and 4 lag bolts through the holes into the stump. It has worked well for over 30 years. They are easily removable if necessary, unlike staples pounded into the stump. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

We had bagpipes at both my weddings to Martha and and to Madelynn. When the organ and the pipes joined in for Amazing Grace you could feel it through the floor. I expect there to be pipes at my funeral. They played to me at two of the best days of my life and they can play me out of this one. Ode to Joy is the national anthem of the European Union. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Yves, how does it draw, particularly in the winter? I have heard of long chimneys where the hot gases/smoke cooled enough on the way up that they stopped moving and the chimney wouldn't draw. Thanks, GNM

I think it depends on how much work you expect to be doing with the tools. If you are planning to make a bunch of mortise and tenon joinery projects I'd suggest the tougher steel. But if you are only going to use it occasionaly mild steel is probably fine. I'd probably use super quench on the mild steel rather than messing about with case hardening. Speaking of Ralph Vaughn Williams, years ago I turned on the Denver classical radio station on a morning when it was a blizzard in Laramie and they were playing his Sinfonia Antarctica (expanded from the movie score for Scott of the Antarctic). One of the most appropriate pairings of music and weather that I have experienced. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

John, lovely. Thank you. But if I had to choose one piece of music to beam out to the stars to represent humanity it would be Beethoven's Ode to Joy. GNM

Dax & Irondragon, I really like old time acoustic country music (NOT the twangy road house stuff) but I have to say that the best music in the world has to involve bagpipes. GNM

Thomas, I have done the same thing but used an electric drill on a low rpm setting held in a vise and kept everything wet with a spray bottle. I have more confidence in the soapstone sold at Hobby Lobby for carving of being asbestos or tremolite free than something from a random ourcrop. I don't know about the soapstone used for sinks and counter tops but, in my experience, it is harder than that sold for carving. BTW, soapstone makes a dandy mold for casting spindle whorls. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Thomas, no, but manufacturer, serial number, and any dates might define it's origin. I suspect that it is USN origin because of the gray paint. If it is of WW2 vintage it could be associated with either the old battleships Arkansas or Wyoming or the large cruisers Alaska or Guam. There may be a military museum which would be interested but I suspect the cost might be prohibitive, particularly the cost of transportation but you never know. Thx. GNM

I think one of the sources of feeling like an imposter is lack of faith in your own knowledge and abilities, sort of the opposite of the overconfidence of the Dunning-Krueger Effect. I ran into that at the start of my legal career. When I graduated from law school I was in my early 40s and about 15 years behind in experience than my age contemporaries in the field. I never got treated like a rookie because folk assumed that I was more experienced than I was because of my age. However, I knew that I was green and as a result was cautious about my approach to some cases. However, once I had done some trials and won some motions and appellate cases I realized that I was pretty good at this legal stuff. I realized that the other, more experienced lawyers, weren't that much better, if at all than I was. That helped my cofidence in myself. So, when you compare yourself to others who are doing whatever it is you are doing how do you size up, on a dispassionate judging scale? Very often, you will realize that you are as good as anyone. It gets a bit harder when you are competing and comparing inside yourself and possibly setting unrealistic standards for yourself. All I can suggest in that case is try to be realistic about your expectations. Have you done this before? Did it turn out OK? If you make a mistake or break a component or a tool is it the end of the world? And even if you really screw it up is it really that disasterous? It is usually better to try and fail than not attempt it at all. And we all fail from time to time. As Frosty says, that is part of being an adult. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained." "“The only man who never makes mistakes is the man who never does anything.” - Theodore Roosevelt GNM

Welcome aboard from 7500' in SE Wyoming. Glad to have. Always glad to have another vet. There are quite a few veterans here. I suspect that perhaps a higher percentage of vets than in the general population. There may be a potential sociology or psychology thesis on the correlation between military service and blacksmithing or crafts in general. Nice anvil. I'd say it is just nicely broken in and has generations of service left. You are only the custodian for this generation. GNM (late of 1/C/1/12 Cav/1 Cav Div (airmobile), Republic of Viet Nam, 1970-71)

Welcome aboard for 7500' in SE Wyoming. Glad to have you. You can actually start blacksmithing for little initial investment. A JABOD (Just A Box Of Dirt) forge. An improvised anvil (see Frosty's link above). An inexpensive cross pein (AKA engineer's hammer, about 2 pounds) hammer from a big box store, and some sort of grabber, tongs, vise grips, channel locks, etc.. If you decide to move on with the craft you can gradually upgrade from places like tail gating sales at local blacksmith events and making your own tools. Buying top of the line tools and equipment when you are starting out is like buying a Formula 1 race car the day after you get you learner's permit. I hope you find the craft as rewarding as I have for the last 44 years. It has helped me get through good times and bad. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Thomas, the next time you go could you please see if there are any markings on the breech end? Thx, GNM

Cool. Thank you. Any idea of the ages of the tools? I find it iteresting that the labels are bilingual, in Serbo-Croat and English. I would like to see more information on them such as date and point of origin. However, there is a school of thought in museum management to put the minimum amount of information on labels because most folk only look at a display for a very short period of time. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

I did some swag calculating and assuming that the water bottle is 8" tall I estimate the diameter to be about 30" and I am guessing the piece is about 5' long. Allowing for a 12" long hole through the middle I calculate it to be a bit more than 20 cubic feet of steel. At 491 pounds/cubic foot of steel that comes out to a bit north of 10k pounds or 5+ tons. That would be about $2500 to the scrap yard at .25/lb. Plus probably thousands of dollars in transportation costs. But can you put a price tag on uniqueness? However, if that is a 20 oz water bottle which is taller than my estimate (a 16.9 oz bottle is about 8" tall) this could be a piece of a 14" or even a 16" gun barrel which ups the numbers considerably. I have seen photos of complete 16" gun barrels being transported on rail cars and truck trailers and it is impressive. Thomas, have you thought about tailgating it at Quad State? "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Billy, I know you are "just funnin'." Actually, where I'd like to see it end up is at an old coast defense fort which is now a museum, e.g. Fort Worden, WA near Port Townsend, which was armed with 12" guns and mortars but they were all scrapped after WW2. This would give folk visiting an idea of the size of the guns. And, yes, it would be a great lawn ornament. No one else would hve one. ;-) "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Thomas, I am estimating that the piece of gun barrel is about 12" caliber based on the water bottle being about 8" tall. 12" guns were used on US Navy battleships from the 1890s to about 1912. There was also a class of very large cruisers in late WW2 which were armed with 12" guns. The US Army also used 12" guns for coastal defense from the late 1880s up through WW2. This could be from either source. It could have been from a gun that actually served or from a spare barrel. Large caliber guns tend to wear out their rifling fairly fast and the military always acquires spare barrels for each weapon. I would guess this piece is from near the breech because of the thickness of metal comared to the bore. Have you noticed if there is rifling in the bore? "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Thomas, I was using the lay, rather than statistical term. And, yes, I know the difference. My mother had an electric mangle or "ironer" to press sheets. I had an old girlfriend whose left forearm was covered with scar tissue from having her arm sucked into one as a child. The thought still gives me the willies. TW, your porta potty delivery man may have been, as my grandmother used to say, "not quite bright." "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

There are an awful lot of VERY clueless folk out there, even those who are knowledgeable in their own area. And, let's face it, half the people out there are of below average intelligence. And for some of them it is really a wonder that they can dress themselves and function in the world. TW, you were dealing with a Bubba who delivers porta potties, probably not the local intellectual giant. One thing I have noticed that modern, very electronic savvy, folk often do not understand is mechanical and analog gadgets such as a forge blower or a mechanical apple peeler. They see it moving and what it does but have no idea how it does that. I have had plenty of folk at demos who were mystified by the blower handle windmilling by itself. If I had told them it was invisible spirits or a captive demon turning the crank they would probably have believed it. And, as a result of not understanding machines, they do not realize that machines can hurt you in very bad ways that electronic devices cannot. Once, my late wife, Martha, was recruited to demonstrate a collection of old time, mechanical washing machines which had exposed gears and machinery at a historic village event. She would warn people, both adults and children, to keep their fingers, etc. away from the moving machinery or they could get hurt and some could just not resist the temptation to try to touch the moving parts. In the military, we called it "situational awareness." It is being aware and understanding the world around you. Many people just don't have it. It is too bad but I am glad that I and my people are not walking theough the haze that surrounds many. I think most folk on IFI are more aware than the average bear. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

I used to work at a flourite mine and mill in Colorado which had the same attitude: "Run it till it breaks, then fix it for the lowest possible cost, and if it can't be fixed replace it with the cheapest used item." This was in the mine. The mill had a smarter maintenance program. They could have saved a bundle if they had hired one maintenance guy to go around with a grease gun and a wrench and lubricate and tighten things on a weekly basis. They would have paid for his salary many times over. A classic case of "penny wise and pound foolish." "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Welcome aboard from 7500' in SE Wyoming. Glad to have you. As others have said what is setting off the radiation detector (and how low is it set?) could be any number of things. The bricks could have been made from clay with a higher than average natural radioactivity (although U does not commonly bind to clay particles but it can happen). I have even seen natural gas which has measurable radiation. (sidenote: That was the problem with the experiments in the '70s using nuclear explosions to fracture tight natural gas reservoir rocks, it was great at fracturing the rock and mobilizing the gas but it made the gas radioactive.) Also, are you and your boss sure that it is the firebricks causing the elevated radiation? The first thing I would do is check the alarm to make sure it wasn't regestering a false reading. Also, where are you, generally, located. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Proves the old adages of "too much is never enough" and "anything worth doing is worth overdoing." "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

I find 1/4"/6mm square hot rolled to be useful for small projects such a S and J hooks. Flat stock such as 3/4"x 1/8" (18-20mm x 2-3mm) is useful too. Unless you need very crisp, clean right angle edge cold rolled stock is more expensive than hot rolled and is the same metal. Cold rolled is sometimes sold as "key stock" and comes in 12' (scant 4 meter) lengths. Once it is forged you often cannot tell whether you started with hot or cold rolled stock. That said, I have found that recently manufactured stock can vary in quality and attributes along the length of a piece of stock. This did not used to be the case. It is not as bad a the variations in rebar but I have noticed it. I suspect that bar stock may now be made in the same continous casting method as rebar with a bit more control on the feed stock. I suspect that much of the steel in NZ is imported. There may be a difference in steel coming from Oz and that from Asia. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Back in the '70s when I was a young and eager US Army Lieutenant I spent a number of years as an Aerial Observer to adjust artillery fire. When I started we had OH-13s (the kind you saw on MASH with the big bubble front and a radial reciprocating engine) which were later replaced by OH-58s (Bell Jet Rangers with a turbine engine). Both were pretty loud but we had flying helmets which attenuated the sound pretty well. The pilots taught me enough to fly and get back on the ground if something happened to them. I never bent the skids but I also never set it down very gently either. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."