Les L

Thanks Frosty, I’m going very easy, as you can tell from the project, going to wait a few days and then go again. Still doing PT, but the Doctor said to start trying a little at a time. Hefty, it’s steel, with a copper sulfate finish, then I stuck the top of the Lilly over the fire to add some colors. It doesn’t show in the picture, but there’s blue and other colors on the top of the flower

Today was my first day firing up the forge since I had a shoulder injury in March, so I took it easy and made my first Calle lily to find out if I was ready to start swinging a hammer again. Shoulder did good, hammer control needs improvement, but I’m satisfied with my first try at getting back in the forge

Prayers sent for your grandfather and your family Thomas

Scott, Or any other place inside your clothing it gets. When I was in my early 20’s I started working in a shipyard, I was working a repair job on a barge and they sent me inside the rake, against the front header, to cut out brackets with the air gouger, first time using one no instructions provided. Didn’t take long to learn how to use it

That’s the kind of mail box I like to open!

Hefty, Three ways I've removed the oxides from the copper is to soak the item in: 1) white vinegar, 2) a mixture of PH minus (used in swimming pools) and water, or 3) Ferric Chloride. It doesn't take much of the PH minus, I'd start with 1/4 cup per gallon of water, more or less won't hurt it will just make it work faster or slower. After soaking brush it with a nylon brush or scotchbrite, sometimes it take a couple of soakings

Oh, so now you’re going to rub it in? Great food, I would love to have a place like that in my area to go to, but it would probably cause a lot of problems at the house, so I’ll just have to look at your pictures and wish Das, great finds

Good haul John

That’s a good one John, thanks for the laugh

Frosty, it’s not loud anymore, I took the advice from this site, I built a tripod stand and bedded the anvil with silicone. Working over the body is very quiet, more of a heavy thud. The only time I have a ring is on the end of the horn or heel, but that’s not too bad. Testing with a ball bearing before buying it range like a bell, with it covered in rust and sitting on a dolly. My 130 Mousehole is set up the same way and I can’t tell any difference in the noise, until I get on the ends of the Soderfors

Will, a couple of places I can recommend to visit to view the work, and talk to the blacksmith making the items, are Colonial Williamsburg and the Sam Huston museum. All work is performed period correct by the workers.

Das, that was the same way I was lucky enough to get my 230# Soderfors earlier this year. The Forman told one of the men working at a repair shop to clean up the outside of the shop, throw everything away, but he could keep what he wanted. He found the anvil, brought it to his neighbor, one of our club members to sell, and I was lucky enough to go early to help set up for our clubs meeting that day at his shop

Great work Rojo Nice anvil Tim, I missed out on a Peter Wright earlier this year, that the seller would have let me have it for next to nothing, I found out about it the next day and it was sold already. He apologized for not checking with me, but I told him he came out better because he got almost 5 times what he would have sold it to me for.

Das, congratulations great job on both. You’re going to enjoy the Fisher, I have one with good face and edges, but the heel is broken off 1/2 way through the hardy, 112# left. Enjoyed working on it, It was my first anvil and I was fixing to build a portable hardy for it when I was given a 136 Mousehole so I set it on the side until I get my portable forge set up.

Thanks Irondragon, that was my suspicion. I’ve seen plenty of trucks with them broken off, but haven’t seen any on the side of the road yet. There’s plenty of scrap haulers in my area that keep the side of the road pretty clean of metal.

Are the mudflat bars mild steel or spring steel?

Great work Alexandr. Welcome back, I enjoyed the pictures you posted of your vacation

MacLeod, Great looking roses, much better than my first few attempts. A couple things i do different, I texture the side of the petals, that are on the inside and will show when looked at. I use 20 gauge metal and texture it cold, using a peen with a pretty sharp radius, then assemble and shape. I'm not saying mine are perfect, because i learn something new every time I make one, just that this is a different way than yours that I make them. I will PM you, and any one else that wants it, the pattern I use for my roses. I'm not saying it's perfect, but it's what I use and i make adjustments to each as needed. Glenn, if the pattern is something we can put on IFI I can send it to you to add to the site.

Back in the 70’s I was working with 3 farmers in Oklahoma, that had a lot of imagination and skill, and one day we came up with the idea to build an acetylene cannon to shoot the small 6.5 oz coke bottles from the cooler in the shop. After work for the day we’d sit back and drink a couple of Uncle Adolf’s coolants then charge it up from the acetylene generator and send a bottle across the section of land in front of the shop, that they owned. We retired it when an old gentleman showed up with pieces of the bottle and showed us the dent in his truck where it was hit a mile away on the section road north of the shop. We may have had a little too much courage in a can that evening when loading it, but we learned our lesson and gave thanks that no one was hurt

MJ, silver solder will work, don’t forget to neutralize the flux after you make the weld

You can wrap the top section of your hanger around the leg 3-4 times and it will do the same thing as the extra piece. Slide it to the desired height and the weight will lock it in place

John, Thank you for taking the time to share this with us.

Beautiful, as usual.

John, your archway came out great! I’ve been watching everyone’s work and getting ideas for projects, but I haven’t been able to get into the forge since March because I messed up my shoulder, but I was able see the “Little Blacksmith” demonstrate again at our club’s Saturday meeting. If anyone’s club is looking for a great demonstrator for one of their meetings, or conference, I would suggest contacting him. Just be ready for the “Energizer Bunny” to arrive. If he can arrive early and stay on site it’s not unusual for him to be in a forge until 4:00AM the morning before, do his demo, then work open forge with everyone until everyone else gives up.

Thanks for the advice on the side hole. I cut mine to length with a band saw, or my side grinder, and then grind the top round. I don’t heat treat and have turned them over and used the struck end for a different effect on items. I’ve never had any mushroom problems or change in hole size with them. Another place to find the rock drill shafts, for people not in mining areas, is to check with your local natural gas distribution department, they use the rock drills to bore through roads and sidewalks to pinpoint gas leaks and usually throw the old drill shafts away