shortdog

Man! Your Dad has some really cool things at his place! I, too, dig the anvil/ vise. That's kind of the ultimate anvil there. What are the gears on the left hand end about?

Brian- I had to watch the video twice to be sure that you did it in only one heat. That's really impressive. My buddy and I just finished making some tongs a couple of weeks ago. Took us a good bit longer. I sent him the links to your videos with the caption "Now don't I feel inadequate?" I'll be trying your method soon. Thanks as well for the clay tutorial. It really clears things up. - Wesley

Congratulations! Whatever it is, they are rare and you have one of them! Aunt Opal's milking stool is the best explanation I have heard so far. Think I'd go with that.

I'd guess that it's the kick- start pedal to a 1952 Vincent motorcycle....... Or it could be some part to a coal furnace. Either way, it's kind of neat looking and should be used for something. Maybe a trivet for the kitchen or the shop? It will surely be a conversation piece. Those are worth their weight in gold.

Thanks very much for sharing that. I can see how it could be adapted to other things. Do the hoops made actually go through the ears, or do you attach something else to them. I ask because mild steel doesn't seem like the hypo-allergenic thing to have in your earlobes. Either way, I have to make some.

There's not a thing wrong with that! Pretty cool!

I feel like it's good to have so many youngsters here. The drive, energy and curiosity some of you bring are often inspiring to me. I'll bet other members get that as well. It's refreshing to see people your age here in a time when so many other kids are sitting on their butts playing Call of Duty or some other non-productive past time instead of actually getting outside and working their bodies as well as their minds while exercising their spirits. It's just really good to see that these days. Good on you!

If it was me ( which it isn't, but here's my two cents), I'd put those teeth up for a future project that might need hardenable steel and try to find some mild steel somewhere for hooks. You'd be surspides what you can find just lying around. I just started buying mild steel for an ongoing project and was amazed at how cheap some of it is. I think I'm paying .40/ft. for 1/4x 3/4 flatbar. I had put buying off because I'm cheap and on a very tight budget, but found that the ten dollars or so for twenty feet of steel was cheaper than scrounging it. I still won't walk past a piece of discarded steel without picking it up.

I, for one, have no earthly idea how a blade would come from the forge smooth and finished. I might suggest a magical forge. All of my stuff comes out looking like a cross between an asphalt shingle and a cinder block. My files and my bench sander, they comfort me. At demonstrations, I have made little squirrel tailed knives for kids, leaving the edge thick and the point reasonably dull. I'll only do this after they bring me a parent to OK it. They could still poke an eye out with it, and it's probably a very bad idea. One of those kids might grow up, find that blade among their childhood things, and decide to finish it, thereby getting started in this sickness we all share. Or they could poke their eye out.

1. Buy a ham 2. Cook the ham 3. Eat the ham 4. Use ham bone for a knife handle 5. Send me any leftover ham ;)

Brian-- The hammers look fantastic. I like the shape and balanced look they have. That's some very nice work there! Any chance of you posting some pictures of the tooling you used on them. I'm assuming a top/ bottom fuller, but what else? Thanks-- Wesley

As far as a bellows goes, you could make a jug or bucket bellows. I tried to steal a picture of this to post here, but it didn't work out. I'll try to describe it. Let's go with the jug.... A gallon jug with the bottom cut out is the start. Duct tape some sort of hose ( an old vacuum cleaner hose was used in the picture I saw) to the neck of the jug. Cut a small opening in the side of the jug near the top. In the picture, a plastic flap was taped on the inside at the top of the hole, so as to cover it, but still be hinged. This flap would have to seal. Another option for this would be to just cut a palm sized hole and have someone run the bellows by covering this hole with their hand while working it. The jug assembly is now placed bottom down in a bucket of water. To operate, pull the jug up until the bottom is still submerged. Cover the hole in the side and push down. Viola! Air blows out of the hose! This could be done with a bucket and drum as well. It would probably be a good deal of work after a while, but it would allow you to get more people involved with the project. Other than the tools everyone else has mentioned, I'd suggest various sized drums. One for a slack tub. One for a heat treat quenchant. One for holding vermiculite for annealing. Good luck with your project. If you start out with the basic minimum tools (something to get it hot, something to hold it, something to beat it with)and a source for advice when you get stuck, you can make whatever tools you need to complete nearly any project. Again, good luck.

Aren't Ka Bars stamped like so many other production knives? I have a buddy who works for a company that grinds railroad crossties among other things. One day while running the grinder, he happened to look down at the conveyor and found a Ka-Bar blade blank resting on top of one of the crossties. The blade is marked on both sides, but unbeveled. Alas, he will not part with it for love nor money. Says it's too good of a converstaion piece.

I generally forge, let blade cool down in the forge after I shut it down (gas forge). Anneal next day and let cool in vermiculite. Grind/sand to 600 grit, leaving the edge roughly as thick as a dime. Harden and clean oil from blade surface. Differential heat treat with either a torch or a heavy block of heated steel, depending on blade size. Finish sanding the blade. Assemble. Sharpen. The sharpening is slow because of the hard cutting edge I leave, but well worth it once I get there.

I've been making a bunch of oyster knives this winter and have found that a good soak in vegetable oil sets them up right. Wash after use and recoat as needed.

I forge as a hobby and sell some of what I make. Mostly, I've been selling knives. I may not belong in this converstaion, but I can see how a hobby could turn into a job. Forging is far more physical than many of today's jobs. Standing for long periods of time swinging hammers of varying weights in a hot environment where injury is a constant companion isn't for everyone. Coupling that with people coming up and saying "OK, Make art....Now!" also can be trying. When you combine all of these with the need for income and an overhead to cover, it makes you wonder why anyone would want to do it. Who needs all that? When you get that hammer in your hand and create something from a piece of steel that was nothing, or when someone really gets what you're doing, I think that's the real payoff. Best of luck to all of you who are living the dream. It is my wish that from time to time, you'll have one of those moments that reminds you why you came this way. Happy New Year, all! Wesley

My birthday was a couple of weeks ago. My buddy Steve gifted me a very special hammer. It is a Peddinghaus 1000 gram French pattern cross-pein. I know there are a bunch of these around, but mine is an Amy Pieh autographed edition. Ever since I saw that picture of Amy kissing the frog on this forum, I've joked with Steve about writing her and asking for an autographed copy of that picture to set on top of my gas forge to help it get up to a welding heat. He did me one better. Now he can't understand why I'm not using the hammer yet. I'm still waiting for the polyureathane to dry. I'd hate to lose that note and signature. Thanks, Amy!

Amazing, the stuff you run across. I was talking to a guy yesterday who told me a story of a hunting trip to Montana several years ago. Seems in the exact geographical center of nowhere, there's a group of abandoned buildings beside the road. One of those buildings has what sounds like a 300lb or so anvil sitting in it. Why couldn't that have been me? There's a fine line between theft and salvage in a case like that. It's salvage if you don't get caught, theft if you do.

Wait a minute! What if I called my insurance company and told them that just my anvil and several pairs of tongs and a couple of really nice hammers burned?

Brewery blacksmith? Do they have any job openings for that?

I was stolen from my parents by gypsies as a small child and sold to a blacksmith. After many years at the anvil I became strong enough to lift it over my head. The smith told me it was time to make my way in the world, and turned me out... I loved to weld as a kid. Making something out of nothing appealed to me. A couple of years ago, I met a very patient smith who has taught me everything I know and is helping me to get set up. I still have tons to learn, but I'm enjoying every step of the process.

I have an old 160 lb anvil that I bought off a guy for $20. It is currently undergoing reconstructive surgery to replace the edges that were knocked off by someone with no respect for an anvil. My buddy suspects that some 14 year old kid discovered that hitting the edges with a sledgehammer would make a chunk of steel fly off, and kept it up until there was no edge left. My anvil's story would be one of abuse and neglect. We have the technology... We can rebuild it.

It might be cool to will them to an organization such as the local community college or historical society. A buddy of mine teaches the occasional blacksmithing class at our comm. college. He's teaching on some of the nastiest looking pieced together anvils you've ever seen. Our local historical society is setting up a blacksmith shop at the heritage center in town. They've scoured the whole county and picked up forges, leg vises and the like. They have invited local smiths ( there's five of us here) to do demonstrations for school groups and such. Our old tools can go to good uses. I don't feel good about my tools going to just anybody who knows how to use E Bay. I'd feel far better giving them to someone deserving that would appreciate the gift I've pased on to them.

My family and I have a little farm with horses, chickens and one free range goat that thinks she's a dog. Working around here keeps me plenty busy when I'm not at my day job (cable TV tech.). I enjoy making and drinking beer and wine, playing guitar and mandolin with my kids, shooting, reading and drawing. I'd have to say that my wife and kids are my life, though it doesn't hurt to get out in the shed with Pink Floyd or Creedence for an afternoon of mindless filing or sanding. Bladesmithing is theraputic for me and helps me cope with the rest of life.