George N. M.

Shaina, I would be hesitant to put a propane tank directly under my forge. First, it is kind on inconvenient for reaching the valve and, second, I wouldn 't be comfortable having that much flammable gas that close to an igntion source. It seems like that is asking for a disasterous outcome. My gas forge is near the door to another room and I keep the 30# tank there with the fuel hose coming through the door to the forge. I do want to get an armored hose so that if a large and hot piece of metal ever fell on the hose it wouldn't be both a way to cut the hose an an ignition source. G

In Colorado, and I beleive most states have a similar system, a person, usually farmers and construction or other industrial users, can order gasoline and diesel fuel from a supplier and have it delivered to tanks on their site with a minimum order of probably around 500-1000 gallons but because it is designated for non-road use it is dyed a different color than what you would buy at a filling station and does not have the road tax included in the price. IIRC road tax is often around 30 cents per gallon but some states are significantly higher and lower than that. It is illegal to use industrial or farm fuel in a vehicle that is used on the public roads but the practice is not uncommon. However, if the state Department of Revenue suspects that someone is abusing the practice they can get a warrant, stop your vehicle, sample the fuel tank and if it is the wrong color you will get a bill for the estimated unpaid taxes plus interest and penalties going back several years. IIRC there was a construction company that got caught this way and was looking at a tax bill of several hundred thousand dollars. All it takes is one disgruntled ex-employee to tip off the DOR. GNM

Scott, the difference between a bad haircut and a good haircut is about 4 weeks. Human hair and beard grows about 6" per year. So, about a half inch in a month should cover up most of the problems. GNM

Jennifer, 300k BTUs/hour will heat a good large space. I have the little brother of this one with propane fuel (50k/hr). Do you have any problem getting bulk kerosene or #2 fuel oil? G

Alsn, welcome abord from 7500' in SE Wyoming. Glad to have you. Yes, it has been well used. It is what is known as a cross pien (or peen) hammer and is one of the commonest types used by blacksmiths. If you want to use it yourself rather than just a souvenier and memory of your father-in-law please grind off the mushroomed portions before use. Any tool that is mushroomed like that is apt to have the mushroomed portion break off and fly around the shop at high speed and because they are sharp when they hit you or someone else they tend to cut deeply and let out the red stuff inside. Still, a cool and well used tool. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Welcome aboard from 7500' in SE Wyoming. Glad to have you. It would help if you put your general location in your profile. This is a world wide forum and we don't know if you are in Lapland, Tasmania, or Kansas. The only thing I can help you with is that your anvil is likely of English manufacture because it is marked with the English weight system. The first number is hundred weights (112 pounds), the second is quarter hundred weights (28 pounds) and the third number is pounds. So, your anvil, when it was originally manufactured, weighed about 140 pounds. Beyond that, I can't help much. Maybe one of the anvil gurus will have more. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Very nice set up. I don't thin k that I have seen that material used for an anvil base before. How did you come by it? Also, the stainless pieces holding the corners of the base are unique in my experience and very nice. The 2 groups of 3 punch marks appear to be intentional but I cannot guess any reason other than perhaps to note something, e.g. an inspection, during the manufacturing process. These are different than the chisel and punch marks you see on the sides of anvils. On my Peter Wright they obscure 90% of the manufacturer's markings. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

John, only you would write "ars longa, vita brevis" on your forge. Never under estimate a classical education. G

At one time I had a shop in a rented garage/storage unit. At the time I had a coal rivet forge. I would pull it out of the door and had the anvil just inside the door. The Wyoming wind would often blow the smoke away but sometimes it would blow it back in. You have a much larger shop area and door than I had. I suggest that you put a hood on your forge if you don't already have one and put one or 2 pieces of chimney on the hood. This will take the top of the chimney up to about 8-9'. Then lower the door to about 6-7' depending on how much you need to clear your head. That should keep most of the smoke out. Also, with proper fire management a coal forge should produce very little smoke except, perhaps, when just starting the fire. You are really burning coke which is created on the edge of the fire by baking the coal. Or, you could start using coke for a fuel which takes different fire management but is essentially smokeless. A properly managed coal fire or a coke fire should not smoke up the inside much, particularly if the big door is open. Or, as many folk have done, acquire or build a propane forge. Personally, I like forging with a coal or coke forge but I end up using my propane forge more often because it is so convenient. BTW, it is aways a good idea to have a fire extinguisher nearby and a CO detector if you are running a cola/coke or propane forge inside. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

I was always pretty sure that there was a lot of hilt work done off camera at the home shop and that there was more work than could have been done in the alloted time. It also irritated me that they tempered the blades off camera. That seemed to me to be "cheating" because tempering is such an important part of the blade making process that doing it that way did not test that skill of the contestants. Also, it would have been, IMO, visually interesting for the viewers and added to the interest of the show. I thought the "Forging Down Under" which was mentioned here a few months ago to be a better presentation. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Welcome aboard from 7500' in SE Wyoming. Glad to have you. Nice anvil. Take care of it and avoid the things that Irondragon mentioned and your grandchildren's grandchildren will be using it. I have a 200# Peter Wright which is my primary anvil and it works great. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Yes, you are correct. The stick thing is the hair piece, not the penannular. It was late and I think I was making an assumption based on people looking at penannulars on my goods table and asking if they are for the hair. Sorry. G

Aric, health insurance is a BIG deal, particularly because you have kids. Is it possible for you and the girls to be covered through your partner's insurance if she has it at her job? If not, you will have to look into private insurance. Also, most states have an insurance exchange where you can get health insurance if you can't get/afford it on the open market (aka Obamacare). This is one of those things that you always hope you and your family will never need but if you do it can get very expensive very fast. My late wife, Martha, used to say after she was diagnosed at age 53 with terminal cancer that everyone is just one diagnosis away from a life changing train wreck. I would say that unless you can figure this issue out it could be a deal breaker. I would ask the owner of the new place what he does for health insurance and what the other employees do. If they run bare and just pray that nothing bad happens that is not good. A lot of small employers cannot afford to offer health insurance any more. Maybe some of the folk here who are in a similar situation or are self employed can share what they do about this issue. George PS I don't recall if you are veteran but if you are you might check out coverage through USAA.

Chad, penannular brooches are not intended for the hair. They are fasteners for things like capes, cloaks, shawls, scarves, etc.. They are an early form of a safety pin and were used in the same manner. They generally date from the first centuries BC to the mid medieval period. They are probably too heavy for use in holding hair but I won't say that they couldn't be used as such if the pin were light enough and the wearer had heavy, thick hair. GNM

I have had better luck with DO doctors reater than MD doctors. This may be because DOs are trained more to treat the whole person rather than just prescribe drugs. It gas worked for us. GNM

I just got back from seeing my doctor and while I'm generally in pretty good shape and you folk are going to have to put up with me for some time yet he did tell me that I could stand to build some muscle mass. When I told him that I was a blacksmith he said that that sort of work and swinging a hammer is good exercise. So, I told Madelynn that if I am out in the shop it is on doctor's orders. It's not something I want to do, it's something I have to do. If necessary, I will ask him for a script that I need to spend X hours per day or week in the shop. Just a thought that y'all might want to ask your doctors abut being required to spend time in the shop. It is certainly more healthy than sitting in a recliner with a fermented malt beverage in your hand. And, IMO, much more enjoyable. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand." +

IIRC, cultivator teeth are fairly high carbon steel. For beaks they fook like they belong to one of the corvids, crows, ravens, etc.. GNM

We geeks have ILL ingraved on our hearts but for those who are only semi-geeks it stands for Inter Library Loan. It is a process by which you can access books from libraries all over the world. I have gotten books from as far away as the University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK. It is a HUGE resource when doing serious research. If you rely only on what the internet has, even as good and convenient as it is, you are ignoring a VERY valuable research tool. The internet is great for things like "what was the name of that guy in that movie?" but for serious, deep, and academic research you need to use written resources and ILL is a valuable part of that. I probably wouldn't be a blacksmith if it hadn't been for the references I got through ILL at my small town library in rural Wyoming. This was 1978 and before home computers and the internet, the Paleolithic, really. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Dad, First, I am not a welder. So, I am giving you my understanding as a welding lay person. Depending on when your vise was made and the manufacturer (it is fairly rare to be able to ID a vise maker. Most are unmarked.) it could be made of cast iron, ductile iron, or steel. The easiest way to tell is to do a spark test. You can look up details but it is based on the fact that different ferrous metals will produce different color and shape of sparks when touched by an abrasive wheel, often from an angle grinder but you can use a bench grinder wheel or a grinding wheel on an electric drill. If it turns out to be steel the problem is a lot easier to solve. Depending on what metal the vise is made of will affect how it is welded. Most welds are steel to steel. Cast and ductile iron take special welding rods and if the mass is large enough it may need to be preheated before welding and allowed to cool down very slowly. An alternative to welding is brazing which uses bronze rods to "glue" the two edges of cast iron together. A brazed joint is not as strong as a weld but, as I said previously, this will be a compressive force which will not put much stress on the braze or weld. As Frosty suggested, silver solder is another option. It is not as strong as welding or brazing but it might be good enough. Discuss all this with your welder friend and ask him to be honest about his experience and skill in working with metals other than steel. If he does not have the expertise go to a welding shop and discuss it. You may have to go to several because not every welder has the necessary skill and experience. Good luck and keep us informed of how it goes and post picture. We LOVE pictures. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Nobody, what has happened with baby powder is that it is no longer produced using talc mineral because there is sometimes asbestos contamination in some talc deposits. So, to avoid allegations of liability almost all the domestic producers now make baby powder using corn starch. My wife uses powder and the corn starch is lighter and gets all over everything in the bathroom much worse than the old actual talcum powder. It has been 3-4 years since I could find anything but corn starch powder in the stores. GNM

Dave, copper is a really attrctive metal but you have to be a bit careful with it when it is going to be used around food or beverages because it reacts with anything even a bit acidic to make copper compounds which are not a good thing to put into the body. Traditionally, the way to get around this issue was to apply tin to the inside of copper vessles and utinsels. Today you can do the same by using lead free solder, melt a bit in the copper bowl and spread it around with a piece of steel or a small wire brush. If you are only going to be using the copper with water or other non-acidic food, no problem. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

David, you may be correct, however, I think the consolidation of blooms into wrought iron bars would have been done at or near the point of production rather than transporting the raw blooms to a smithy for processing. It would be interesting to know if there were production operations in the area. Thanks for posting the link. George

Cool. It looks like the higher spar was hoisted up the mast first, before the lower spar rather than having them permanently fixed to the mast iike later tall ships where crewmen climb up to adjust the sails. GNM

Dad, if it were mine I'd try the welding/brazing the screw box back on but I'd make sure the welder had cast iron experience. Also, even if the screw box is unsalvagable the rest of the vise, as parts, still has value to someone. Also, do a spark test on the vise and see if it is cast iron or possibly cuctile iron or even steel. I suspect cast iron but the others are possibilities. And I agree with John, the past wasn't always better than the present. I remember tube TVs too. In the late '50s and early 60s if our TV went out I'f oprn up the back and see if there was an obvious burnt out tube and if there was I'd take it out and go to Walgreen's where they had a display of TV tubes and buy a replacement. More often than not that would fix the problem and my folks didn't need to call a repairman. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

PS Something else to consider is how much time and money you want to put into the project. If it is for the fun of it, great. But if it is about getting a working vise for your blacksmithing time and resources come into the equation. There are post vises on ebay for less than $200 (plus shipping unless it is close enough to pickup). A new Kanca at Blacksmith's Depot is $385 (+ shipping). And they show up on Craig's List and Facebook Marketplace and etsy and various other on line and local auctions. Post vises are generally better for a couple of reasons but you can do a lot of work with a Harbor Freight bench/machinist's vise for not much $. Just thinking of possible alternatives. GNM