pnut

The race is a pretty big piece of stock too. Pnut

Well, best of luck to you. I hope it works out. Pnut

Have you made contact with the seller? pnut

Look at the bright side Chris, you still have one more anvil than a lot of folks. I'd be more than happy to take that fifty pound Vulcan off your hands Pnut Also you have the cash to spend on an anvil so you're halfway there. Just imagine the heartbreak of finding an anvil but not having the money to buy it.. I saw a 175# PW for 350usd. I had the cash but it was earmarked for something else.

JLPSERVICES, Maybe what I thought was lower quality WI was the hot short variety you mentioned. I haven't been able to get much wrought iron. I would definitely like to try to forge pure iron and I'm curious about nickel iron meteorite material also. I don't plan on making anything in particular out of any of those materials wrought iron included, I do like trying new old things though. Wrought iron was such a big part of smithing for such a long time that I wanted to see what it was like first hand. I guess it's kinda like trying a new to you food or listening to a new kind of music. You don't know unless you give it a try. I did notice quickly that WI liked being square better than having a round cross section. I thought the fibrous grain had something to do with it. I guess I got lucky. Thanks for the info. I didn't know nearly any of it. Pnut

I've not had the chance to work much wrought iron but the few times I have I had to resist the urge to pull it out of the forge and when I forced myself to let it get hot enough it was a pure pleasure to work with. I did run into some that seemed to be of a lower quality which I had problems with. The good WI was much different than 1018 or A-36. I liked it much better. Everyone should try to get some and give it a go just to see the difference between mild steel and WI if for no other reason than to try something different. Pnut

I had to maximize the pictures to really see what was going on. Pretty cool though, cutting the head like that. Pnut

Even if you're not working hard a piece of mild steel heated up and sized appropriately and put in your slack tub to raise the temp like when you heat oil for quenching should do the job. I haven't been able to find what the upper survivable water temperature is for larvae. I would think not much higher than 140f should kill them but I don't know yet. I'll keep trying to find an answer. Pnut

L'anse aux Meadows is what made me take a closer look. It's not hard to believe that a water route via the St Lawrence river would have made trade between inland north America and the British isles possible. Viking long boats resemble the inscriptions that were mentioned earlier. Pnut

I like the smell of coal too. When I use charcoal there's not much odor good or bad. A gas forge does make heating long sections easier. I don't have much experience using a gas forge though. The little I have used one made it obvious that there's certain things a gas forge is better suited to and others where solid fuel is better. I would like to have both but it's going to be a while before I can make it happen. Pnut

I can find no manufacturer info on whether the metal ring faces the machine or not. The only thing I could find is that is where the manufacturing date is located. Pnut

I do agree that people can do whatever they want to do to their property and it's really no ones business. In this particular case though ,they're not living with it ,they're trying to sell it to someone who may or may not know how much damage has been done to it. Hopefully they're being honest with whomever they're trying to sell it to. I use a vertical rail and am happy to have it, but I would like to have a German or London pattern anvil ,so it does make me a little bummed to see an anvil that might have been usable turned into something unusable. Oh well there's more anvils out there. I just have to go out and look for them. Pnut

Have you considered charcoal? It makes a clean fire and was the fuel for most of the history of blacksmithing. Each forge will consume propane at a different rate depending on the efficiency of construction and insulation and what you are working on not to mention how the burner is designed and constructed. Pnut

Salmon ladders are used on the TV show American Ninja warrior. If you Google those search terms a lot of pictures and info comes up. Pnut

Me too. I periodically use a bow and drill just to keep in practice but not for a forge fire. If I don't use the torch I loosely wad up a piece of paper bag and light it and put a couple of small pieces of charcoal on and around it with the air barely on till the charcoal catches good and then I put a few scoops of charcoal on and turn the air up some more and get going. Pnut

671jungle , good find. I'm glad it was found by someone who can use them and appreciate them. What's the odds? Pnut

I can and have started fires with a bow and drill,striker and steel, magnifying glasses but I prefer to use the time and energy to work steel. There's no difference to me between using a match, lighter, or torch. I agree it is a skill that should be learned, but fire is a tool,and I use it like one. It's good to know as many ways as possible to get a fire going just like draw filing a knife is a good skill to have, but I would prefer to use a belt grinder. Just my two cents worth. Respectfully, Pnut

I agree Frosty, I thought slack tub was the term and would have kept the confusion to a minimum. I have enough trouble keeping words straight in my damaged head. I unfortunately do have to substitute words frequently and it bothers me. If I want to finish a thought though it sometimes has to be done. The more tired or fatigued I get the worse it becomes. Isn't TBI fun? Pnut

Indeed, the carvings do bear quite the resemblance to Phoenician vessels. I've heard this theory bandied about for at least the last ten or fifteen years. I even seen a television series about a geologist that would do analysis of stone carvings and inscriptions did an episode about it. I think that was the first I had heard about it. Very interesting. You are right it could be put to rest fairly quickly with isotope analysis. It may have been done by now, I haven't actively done any hunting for info in a long while. Pnut

Yep, if you use a cut off wheels enough you're bound to have some fail. The guards are there for a reason. It didn't get you did it? Pnut

The weep hole is for steam to escape during drying and use. Pnut

I haven't been able to resize pics either. I do everything I'm supposed to do and the file size never changes so I haven't been able to post any pictures. It worked the first few times but not anymore. I have an old phone that has been acting strange so it's probably the phone. Pnut

I use a jumpstarter/power station to power the electric mattress pump I use for the air supply to my forge. Unfortunately the 120v outlet doesn't have enough amps to run much else. It will only power things under six amps. I found a little generator at horrible freight for 95 bucks that I've been thinking about buying. It's not much bigger than the jumpstarter. Pnut

Propane or mapp torch and lump charcoal is probably the easiest way to go. Use the torch to light the charcoal and the charcoal to light the coal. At the end of the day make sure to keep some breeze (coke) to light the next fire. Pnut

I thought I mentioned speculation about this very thing but going back and reading my post I did not. Oh well. Thanks for the link to the article. Pnut