Chris C

Dang! That's nice.........................I mean, surely you could get that silly ball to bounce higher! ( you know I'm gonna rib you about your good fortune forever, Dan, so get used to it!) I keep asking folks and all I get is comments like "I hear rail road rails make great anvils".

Okay, okay, enough of this gloating! Donchya know there are those of us "out here" who could be driven to absolute insanity with all your self-centered gloating over that ugly big chunk of steel? Give us a break and just quietly enjoy your good fortune alone in your own, private shop and stop making those of us, less fortunate blokes, who have no such "ugly big chunk of steel" in OUR shops feel so abandoned. For cryiin' out loud, man, can't you have some decency for the feelings of the rest of us? Okay, off the rant box. That beautiful anvil just gets more beautiful every time you post a picture of it. Congrats. (Dang that was hard to say!)

I've never needed to etch wrought iron, but I've read that Sodium Bi-sulfate, the same chemical used for swimming pools, is a very aggressive etchant.

Better to exhaust air out than pull it in. Push it out and all the bad air is going directly toward the exhaust fan. Pull it in and it'll sort of have to "hunt" for the exhaust vent...............if that makes sense. Always better to have a large exhaust fan. I'd recommend an attic fan one often sees in homes. Just mount it horizontally in a wall higher up. I wouldn't exhaust through the ceiling into the attic (if you have one) because it might not find an adequate way to exit the attic. I'm no expert, but that's the way I'd do it. We had 2 6' exhaust fans in our business and they were mounted that way. Worked great.

Gettin' there, indeed. Lookin' good, 58er.

Well, guys, due to your comments about the weight of my forge body and the fact it's center is 53" off the floor....................plus all the grunting and moaning moving it around the shop, I've started considering skeletonizing it. It presently weighs 52 pounds. But I have access to a plasma arch cutter and can cut out 24.8 pounds fairly easily. I'd replace the removed metal with thin galvanized sheet metal just to protect the soft brick from any abrasive contact of any kind...............plus it would keep shop dust off of it. (easier to dust metal than that danged brick !) Not worried about the galvanizing because the refractory and brick ought to keep the heat away from the outside of the forge body anyway. That would bring the weight of the forge body to 27.2 pounds plus 4 pieces of sheet metal. I'll have all that brick and refractory materials to add to it, but will have shaved almost 25 pounds off it's total weight. Any thoughts or comments on my plan?

Man, if you were close I'd be helpin' you out. I know what it's like building alone. Looks as if you're making headway.

In my opinion, Frosty, Dan Mac found your "Volkswagen size gold nugget", so don't waste your time waiting around. Some folks have all the luck.

Concerning your first comment, that's great. That's why the one I'm building is on rollers. Second comment. Remember, it's a "show". Carefully choreographed and there's always the need for something spectacular the judges can perk up and holler "Whoa !" over. I know a knife-maker who came in second on the show and he said there's a whole lot you don't get to see on the show and a whole lot of things no knife-maker would ever do that are done on the show for........well.......just for effect!

Haybudden. 152 pounds. Free. JACKPOT! That's incredible. You're actually pulling our legs, right? You really paid $5 a pound for that beauty, right? Based on what I'm finding in my area it would more than likely go for between $5 and $6 per pound, especially in that condition. You are one lucky stiff, to say the least. Congratulations!

Just remember, MC Hammer.....................the time it takes to go from your forge to the quench tank is critical. With some steels you can have as little as 1/2 second before the carbon starts moving back to it's original orientation. The whole idea of quenching is to "freeze" the molecules quickly in place. That's what hardening/heat treating is all about. So I'd rethink putting your quench tank too far from your forge.

K26 or M26 soft insulating bricks with a Kast-O-Lite coating will do much to improve your forges long term capabilities, harmvdw. They withstand 2600 degrees. The Kast-O-Lite protects the bricks from the flux used to forge weld. I can't help you much beyond that because I'm still in the process of building my forge and I'm just passing on what I've been told.

Only in my dreams, Frosty, only in my dreams.

Pretty 'ol anvil. (drool!)

Looks good.

Nice work, Jennifer.

That's tragic. Maybe next time you should build with concrete block. "I'm gonna huff and puff and blow your house down!"

Okay, Hammer Head Tongs it is. Don't wanna mess of my terminology in front of a bunch of experienced blacksmiths.

Well they look mighty handy to me. I'd love to be able to make hammer heads, even though I don't have nor will I ever have a power hammer. I'm sure smiths have done it for centuries, so surely I can learn to do it also.

What are these tongs called? I've seen a lot of videos where these are used to hold blocks when smiths are making pattern welded steel.

PM launched.

Dang, Les, that's a satchel full of hammers and tools. They all look first rate. I'd love to do a class like that some day when funds allow. How many days was the class? I can't imagine doing all of that in one day. JHCC, I think you need to give The Pressciouss some pep pills. I'm far from being able to comment from experience, but will the metal have time to dissipate some of it's heat to the dies before it gets squished and released?

Have to admit I've been tempted (only tempted) to turn these into Wolf Jaws, but I thought better of it. I need to start acquiring tongs, not turning this tong into that tong, etc., etc., etc.

Thought so. My first pair of tongs were flat jaw, and I think they'll really be good for what I'm planning on working on. The next set of tongs in my "plan" were to be Wolf Jaw.