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When you say "tanged mount" do you mean the type with the two wedges that holds the actual mounting plate to the piece of bent flat bar that that goes around the spring and stationary jaw? Pnut

Justin Topp is a youngster too and has progressed with lightning speed. Pnut

They use strangler figs for that. It's pretty amazing. Pnut

I'm having some issues with my "good" shoulder now. I did something to it while sleeping. The pain jerked me awake and it's not getting better. I've not noticed any pain in it prior to that night either. I'm going to see a doctor unfortunately. Strangely enough it doesn't hurt to hammer. Just to rotate it either direction like putting deodorant on with my right hand or rotating it the other direction like giving five down the line after a little league baseball game. Pnut

Moore's law Pnut

They're about the same dimensions a rivet Forge. I've seen pictures of harrow disc forges but haven't used one. Seems like it would work fine for coal. You'll need a ducks nest for a firepot though. Pnut

Grain run out would be my guess. I've had the same problem with the first couple bows I made as a kid. Pnut

Mine too. A few even got past their thirties or at least cousin Lefty did. Unfortunately his right hand didn't Pnut

In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is freedom, and in water there is dysentery might be more accurate for the period. Pnut

That's what Cumberland Elkhorn sells bagged coal for too. I've bought one just to get familiar with using bituminous. I still have a little left. I liked it but it just didn't like my side blast jabod so much. I have all the parts to make a brake rotor forge just not enough time to get around to it. I found a nice big SS prep table to use. Just got to shake off the laziness and the back ache I've had for two months. Pnut

Is the back of the chamber open like the front? If so you're losing a lot of heat out of both openings. Some firebrick doors might help. You don't want to seal it off completely though. Pnut

Here's a thread with the links that helped me get started. Good luck, be safe, and remember it's supposed to be fun. Pnut

Mixing gun totin' and corn saueezins usually lead to trouble. Pnut

Any postage scale will work. If you were closer I'd give you one. I'd just go to the local head shop and pick one up unless you're wanting to weigh hot metal. Then a laboratory triple beam or industrial toledo brand scale would be the thing. Pnut

Cumberland Elkhorn has never had that low of a price in the time I've been keeping track of such things. I remember a couple years ago it was $260/ton but this isn't a mine just a distribution point so maybe that has something to do with it. It's still doubled in price over the last 2-3 years so that's a significant increase. Pnut

I think the person is trying to take advantage of you. It sounds like he's looking to make some money off of it. $600 would be a very fair price. A steal almost in my opinion. I'd tell him to go buy whatever else he seen that's a better deal. Your anvil would easily have an ASKING price of $1000 in my location. I think 600-800 would be fair. Pnut

Osage makes wonderful bows. I haven't made a bow in about ten or fifteen years but there was a point when I was spending all my free time making bows. The only problem I've had with Osage is twisted grain and grain run out but every piece is different. Are you planning on backing it with anything? I've used everything from snakeskin to drywall tape. I've been thinking about making a laminated steam bent recurve from store bought lumber. It's definitely not something I have at the top of my to do list though. Pnut

Cumberland Elkhorn coal and coke in Louisville has plenty of bituminous coal but the price has gone up. I just checked it's $500/ton. Pnut

I have a three dollar toaster oven I found at the thrift store and a nine dollar digital thermometer I found at walmart. For anything except knives I just quench the tool and use the residual heat for tempering. After the hardening quench I quickly polish the cutting edge and when the edge gets to the color I want I quench it again. It usually takes about two or three times at least before the temperature gets low enough for the colors to stop running. Pnut

Someone always messes up a good thing. I used to work at book distribution center and we were allowed to take five returned books a month for free. They found a guy at the flea market selling books. He would get textbook lists from the four colleges and universities in the area and steal the books for required classes. The days of free textbooks came to a screeching halt. It was a sad day. Pnut

The price I stated was for 44 twenty pound bags. I've seen cheap bulk charcoal for sale from overseas distributors on Alibaba for good prices but the shipping etc would make it just as or more expensive than buying domestically. I found a place called Custom Wood Products online that sells wholesale but they wanted name, email, phone number etc before you they would quote a price. It's bagged too though. If you decide to check it out I'd be curious to know what their prices look like. Truthfully I doubt they'd be much cheaper than 40 or 50 cents per pound but you never know. Pnut

Even through the restaurant supplier that the hotels I work at use it was still pretty expensive. I think it still worked out to about 40 cents per pound and you had to buy 840 pounds to get that rate. Making it is the way to go in my opinion. Pnut

The equipment bar is what I was referring to. It was truly shocking when I learned how little you really need in the way of equipment. An eye opening revelation to be sure. It's one of the things I stress most to anyone I come in contact with that shows an interest in blacksmithing. Pnut

In high school just to prove a point to a teacher that it could be done I mailed a potato with a label and stamps and a baggie of white powder wrapped in packing tape with a paper label. He received both parcels. I don't think I would want to try it now though Pnut

Like Frosty said there's always this option. I've used it and like it. Pnut