ohowson

no, if something like that goes you either hide it inside the bin and hope the collectors don’t notice or are responsible for taking it to the council recycling centre. All of which are shut due to lockdown. 

Thing is, if I could get to somewhere with old microwaves I could get to somewhere with old speakers - or old chain...

We’re just lucky we’re allowed miles

There’s not many people in this country with that kind of land, rural or otherwise. 

We leave the house for exercise once a day or essentials. That’s it. The anvil is 200lb btw. Ill order some caulk on amazon and when I can get some steel I’ll make some chain. Not for deadening but because it’s a worthy thing to make. 

I don’t think you’re quite seeing the issues of lockdown. Although there is some logging in the uk, it’s not much. But unless they sell it at Tesco on our once-a-week shopping trip it has to be delivered. 
 

but the main thing is I just want to know how much is needed! 1’? 3’? 9’? One wrap or ten wraps? Does the weight of the chain matter? I can get chain I just don’t want to buy 30’ and find 6” would have done. 

12 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

Consistent rings are more a factor of cutting your stock to the same length.

I was surprised when you said that large enough magnets were too costly as I was getting them free or at 20 US cents a pound from junked speakers. I have 8 or so on the metal door in my shop. I wrap a plastic bag around them and use them for cleaning up filings, shavings and grinder dust from my workbenches. 

Of course I also get my chain at the scrapyard too.  A lot seems to have been cut apart into fairly small lengths, often with a lock still attached.  Pretty easy to make a mending link to join the lengths. Kind of fun to mix sizes and configurations that way too...

Both junked speakers and scrapyards are hard to come by when you've been in lock down for two months.

Ok, maybe faster wasn't the word to use. As I mentioned my horn tip isn't usable for this kind of size chain link (and I'd probably be using 8mm and a bit narrower a bend so the horn certainly wouldn't work). So would need to make a tool to bend it around - And if I'm going to make that then may as well make something I could do both ends with to get a nice consistent ring. None of that will involve less swinging of hangers.

I'll have to modify that a bit as the tip of my horn is snapped off - but it looks like an interesting thing to try. Assume could make a multi-pronged hardy tool for bending links in the right place even quicker. 

7 hours ago, Irondragon Forge & Clay said:

Set the anvil in calk to stop the ring, then make the chain for the hold down, kill 2 birds with one stone.

Like it

5 hours ago, JHCC said:

If you are trying to decrease the ring of the anvil, the same effect can be achieved more affordably by either adding a heavy magnet to the underside of the heel and/or attaching the anvil to the stand with a layer of silicone caulk.

I need to attach it to the stand as well so was hoping to combine the two; heavy (enough) magnets also not particularly cheap - caulk I have but I much prefer the look of a bit of chain.

4 hours ago, jlpservicesinc said:

Make the chain.. If you have 1/4" to 3/8" round or square stock, just make it.   It's great practice and fun.  Great way to perfect your forge welding. 

While I'm not averse to the idea, there are three issues with that. 1) I don't have enough stock and we're under lockdown 2) The neighbours - and my brain - would prefer the anvil to stop ringing *before* I make a load of chain and 3) It doesn't solve the problem of how much/what size

How much (length and size) chain should one be wrapping around ones anvil? It’s not cheap and not particularly easy to Get hold of in the current situation 

Top tip: don’t do that!

Just now, pnut said:

Yes indeed I did. I was at work when I read your post. I reread it and realize your talking about two different methods of making a negative stamp.

Pnut

No worries - I appreciate the effort in getting back to me

Thing is you see I bought a rotary tool and needed to decide what to do with it! 

I'm going for a simplified pushmi-pullyu

2 hours ago, Benona blacksmith said:

They understand what you mean. There trying to give you another idea to achieve the same/different result (if that makes sense)!

Not to me - I may be perennially stupid though. 

2 hours ago, Kozzy said:

If you do a positive and make the negative from that, be sure and make the raised/depressed areas of the positive a bit taller/deeper than you need.  There will always be a bit of a "blurry" edge (for want of a better word) on the negative you create from it so you can grind a fraction off and polish the end of the negative to get the crispness that looks good when stamped.

Thanks, that was the answer to the question I intended to ask. I don’t want to go professional - if I had the money I’d spend it on steel. I have a touch mark design which is simple like chisel marks so I guess I’ll try method 2 and follow your advice, see how it goes  

Again, Glenn I think maybe I've not described this properly. When I said touch mark I think I should have said touch mark stamp or touch mark die - I'm curious how to make the die not the mark itself. 

Sorry pnut I think you've misunderstood; both result in a punch with the design raised - it's just how it's made that's different...

I've seen two ways of making touch marks:

1 - Cut the reverse image on the end of the stamp

2 - Cut the *correct* image on a piece of steel, then drive the stamp into it (when hot)

Pros/cons of each?

I was very proud of my vise stand. Until it broke the other day. The problem isn't the stand itself, it's the chunk of scaffold board I put on top to bolt the vise through. So something thicker and lag bolts next time

I think the gotcha from this lot is the grinder will be living under the lean-to outside. Also I want a respirator. 

That’s no better, then it would cover my camper van

As it's getting colder and I'm getting more into this, I need to think about space. So far I've been forging in a brake-disk/hair-dryer forge and grinding on a 2 x not-a-lot grinder from Aldi which I pull out from under my workbench when needed. Well the grinder ate itself so I'm building a 2x72, but I need to think about where it is. I'm preferring the idea of having it set up in the garage, but at the moment the outer (door) end of the garage is going to be my home-office work room. I'm not bothered about having tools and stuff around but I am bothered about metal filings and dust getting into my PC and coating my monitors. Does anyone else have a PC in the room they work/grind in? Would a welding curtain around the PC and shop vac (or hoover more likely) near the grinder solve the problem?

At the moment I can heat about 2". 6" would be a luxury!

Yeah I can - but it’s a bit of a pain. I need to work out a stock holder as well. 

I already have a coal forge. Smells better than charcoal.  The reason I’m considering a propane forge at some point is the ease of sliding long pieces of material in and heating a reasonable size length evenly.