MrTMichaud

Practice makes proficient.

I look at CL and ebay (I know, always too much $$ there) in my local area.  I keep seeing the same anvils for sale.  There's one, not too far from me, a 71# kohlswa.  The guy's asking $700 for it.  He'll probably be sitting on that little bit for a while.  Then there's a 125# Hay Budden, other end of the state, Seller's asking over $1300 for it.  At those prices, I'm better off hitting up antique stores.  LOL.  It makes that 125# Fisher Norris in New Hampshire for $395 a great deal.

I'll stick with the improvised anvils for now.

Buy it NOW.  That's less than 1 British pound per pound of weight.  Like Irondragon said, it won't last long.

I personally do not like chai tea.  I would consider tai chi, though.

You could probably cut that down to 16 or 20 inches by the 31.  That would make it really portable.

You first.

Free is always a good price. 

671, I can see the Singer frame as a stand for the lathe...

I wonder if anyone drinks chai tea while they do tai chi?

That's awesome.

It's usually stuff that probably ended up falling off up people's truck's on the way to the scrap metal dealers or the landfill.  At less than 100 a ton for mixed scrap steel, they probably don't even notice a pin or an old tie-rod falling off.  It annoys my wife that I pick it up.  BTW, not surprisingly, that pin was no longer around when I passed by on the way home yesterday...  It would have made a nice bottom tool.

12 hours ago, Frosty said:

Rather than angle iron for jaws I think you'd do much better with steel bar mounted crosswise with a little overhang on each side. Drill and counter sink the vise jaws, drill and tap the existing sections to match. I'm not sure how many screws would be enough or perhaps pins to help keep them from shifting. I think something around 1 1/2" x 3/4" - 1" thick should do the trick. 

This would allow you to make different jaw. . . Bits(?): Flats perhaps checkered for general grip, vertical V groove for holding round or square stock vertical, horizontal V groove to hold horizontally AND so on. You could even counter sink both faces of the bits so you could flip them around doubling their uses. 

I'd definitely be looking for an Acme screw and box, standard screws won't survive too long. Just the grit in a blacksmith shop will wear them out fairly quickly.

Frosty The Lucky.

Not a bad idea.  Maybe he could weld on some more steel on the back sides to provide more holding area for the screws?  Say some 1" tall by 1/2" thick?  Just an idea.  That way it should hold up better to the banging, not to mention any missed blows.  IF he did that, he should do some deep penetrating welds to hold it.  

cool

I don't think that 300 will affect them.  But it wouldn't hurt to check up on temps if you get it running several hours, especially if you're pushing a lot of air into the fire.  It wouldn't hurt to stach a wall of bricks in front of the hammers, if you want.

7 hours ago, pnut said:

I know this is a post about your forge but I noticed your hammers have some pretty sharp edges. You may want to look into dressing the edges so that they don't leave big dings in your work.

Your forge looks good to me. Like Frosty said you might want to cut a hole in the wind break behind the fire pot to pass long stock through.  Enjoy your forge and remember it's supposed to be fun.

Pnut

You could make a flap, of sorts.  Keep it closed when you work on short stuff, and open to pass longer items through.  something only 2 or 3 inches across would be ideal.

Also, I had a similar idea for that cart.  HF purchase?

Windows all over...  I can't make any promises on name dropping.    

20 minutes ago, JHCC said:

Ars longa, vita brevis.

Art is forever, life is short.

Most of what I find is roadkill.  There was a fairly large sized pin in the middle of the street on my way in to work this morning.  IF I wasn't already running late, I'd have grabbed it.  If it's still there on the way home, I'll grab it.  Not too likely though.

16 hours ago, Chelonian said:

 

It's not super ideal since I do have to hurry a bit back and forth between the anvil and the forge. (the forge is a side blast jabod in the barbecue in the background of the second photo) Unfortunately I can't think of any way to make them closer together, since if the forge was any closer, the barn doors wouldn't have clearance to close, and I also don't want it to be a fire hazard to the barn.

Not a bad set up.  If you're there with it while it's burning, you shouldn't have an issue with it being in the barn.  And you can still forge when the weather is bad.

17 hours ago, Frosty said:

Settlers Bay, no kidding!? That's 5 minutes from us.

Putting in 80 hr. weeks could turn him into one of those rich guys who . . . Nevermind, rule violation bubbling to the surface. I'll be good.

Deb and I have special dinners there a couple times a year. What's he do?

Frosty The Lucky.

He's the Executive Chef.  Nice food there.  I've only ever been there twice.  Once before he was working there.  He was at Great Bear back then.

4 hours ago, Neal the smith said:

CGL: Looking forward to you having that stand done so we can see your first project with the new anvil.

Meanwhile, in the UK, I have a fossil fan friend who wanted a paperweight. I was considering making a “rock” with a negative impression, but didn’t really have the stock (and it’s heavy enough already). Don’t really know how I would have gone about forging the negative either - anyone got any ideas?

 

You could take a piece of plate steel, a little larger around than the "shell" and heat it very hot, maybe just below welding heat.  Then use the "shell" in your picture to hammer the shape into the plate.

Will do.  He works a lot, so not easy to get hold of him.  I'll be he puts close to 80 hrs a week in his job at Settler's Bay Lodge.  With the time difference and all, I'm lucky to talk with him once or twice a month

The shelf is empty, most likely, because that's how the photog wanted it.  The missing bit of the face plate is because the anvil was being used.  There could be dozens of reasons, all of which would be conjecture on my part.  As far as maker, that is beyond my current level of expertise. 

15 hours ago, Latticino said:

Much easier way would be to turn the tire into a large pulley, still with the bike gearing, and get a blower with a shot motor. Use bike wheel as jack pulley and drive the impeller.

Great idea.

Nice find.

Rain always helps when it's dry.  His place is doing better.  He was about a half mile away from that little flare up the other night.  Since his house is 2nd to last on his road, they were awfully worried.  Luckily it turned out.  He was working at the time.  His father in law went over to help out, in case.

He may also be choked up a bit more on the handle of the hammer in order to steady it for the photo.  Also, that is simply a wooded plank sitting on 2 iron brackets, used as a shelf, probably for extra tools used in making an item.  Oftentimes a smith will need tools, other than the hammer and tongs, close at hand.  Those tools could include various top tools and bottom tools for swedging the work.  Often with the help of a striker.