Charlotte

I lust after a hydralic press myself. Can you post pics?

Well my dears, I have a solution for you. The universally admired and lusted after copper S scroll plant hanger. Go to your local hardware, scrap yard, friendly neighborhood, electrician and lay in a supply of the largest diameter solid copper ground wire you can find. Cut it up into convient lengths, bend some scroll ends, Begin meditating on Mr Hofi's hammer technique, flatten enough hold the curves. pass a little steel wool across it et voila a ready sale item. This is I admit, cold work at its lowest level, but with spring here I'm getting requests for plant hangers. The faceting produced by using a rounding hammer seems to attract like sparkels on a fishing lure. The amount of labor invested in these is minimal. The materials are available where ever electricity is sold and even those who think iron is nasty will buy a copper plant hanger with no finish on it and think it is lovely.

My only suggestion is to place a helix of perforated metal just before the igniter. Start with min gas and minimum air. I'm suspecting your air/gas mixture is flowing just a little too fast and is not well enough mixed for the weak pizeo spark to ignite. With all the air you blower generates you will not have trouble by adding a small mixer. You could make some kind of alternative spark source but that is beyond my expertise. Maybe radio shack has something if you can find someone there that knows anything.

Min wage for independent crafts person $ 30 /hr. + insurance and materials + depreciation of equipment + inventory costs+ Transportion+ advertising+ realestate costs= ? Depends on each individual but I note that painters and home repair these days goes for like $100/hr when you contract the work. Artists around here price their work at what seems to be around $150/ hr

Welcome to the best little giant blacksmtih. bladesmith on the web. We're glad to have you. Check out the Bladesmithing forum and folks will line you up with what you need to know. It does help if we know what state you are in. There is probably someone near you that knows of local sources. Welcome again.

Assuming that every thing is correctly grounded your gas mixture may be wrong. Just because it burns does not mean that it will ignite with a spark. Try going richer with a lower total velocity.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I haven't made my mind up yet but I think 20 gallons will be about right for my needs. Counting costs a small galvanized looks like it will be the ticket if I can find one. The price of resin and glass has gone up a lot I like to have a good sized bucket because on one or two occasions I've started small fires when using a cutting torch. and I got used to having a lot of water around when I ran a coal forge. The water was important to building and maintaining the fire.

Yes, there are professional anvil shooters. And, Yes, I have been present at a number of shuch events. I have a picture of a 100 lb anvil buried to the step in Mississippi Leos dirt. Makes no difference. It is dangerous to a fault and every so often people get seriously injured. As I said, when it's going on I find some place else to be.

Thomas, I looked repairing but it is not just an isolated pinhole. I did think of doing a quick polyester fiberglassing of the whole thing. However, my glassing resin and catalyst had gone bad and so gave up on that Idea. I'm toying with buying some cedar fence pickets making a "faux" wooden bucket outside and then glassing the inside with new resin. I haven't done a demo in years but it would be kind of cool as a demo piece. I'm looking for the cut off barrels. Rt now I'm using the old bucketil as a liner for a plastic diaper pail. I need to make a bunch of s hook plant hanger scrolls before saturday. Could do cold but where's the fun in that? I follow George Dixon's maxium: "Every inch of every piece of steel I sell is passed through the fire"

Thanks for the link, I learned a lot in a quick read. My reading of Roman Histroy had lead me to suspect that the "Museum Reproductions" were more geared to movie influenced expectations, and manufacturing ease than accuracy.

Anvils are not made for that activity. More than one has come apart and blown pieces of Iron through bystanders. Old timers would go for maybe 10 ft. Just enough to make a little noise. I tend to find other things to do unitil after the anvil has landed.

Anything that is remotely hammer shaped and has a hole through it is worth at least a buck. Don't find as many good old files as you used to. I keep buying jackhammer bits.

Years ago I stockpiled a number of 5 gallon metal buckets that have served me well in a wide number of roles. This afternoon the last bucket with out a hole sprung a leak. No more slack tub. I've been in shops that used every thing from galvanized laundry tubs to garbage pails, Cut off steel drums and Plastic barrels get quite a few votes I've seen quite a few whiskey and wine barrels used. If you are lucky some times one of the stainless steel beer barrels turns up available. A lot of it the better items rely on being at the right place at the right time. I'm tending toward the wooden barrel solution but wonder if anyone has plans that address this with out completing an apprenticeship in cooperage?

Cold forging is not a bad thing. Cold forging past the point at which the metal wants to move is a bad thing. Cold forged metal needs to stress relived every so often because the crystals are getting over stressed. Annealing cold worked metals, if they need more work, is a good thing HF is not a bad thing unless you expect to serious use out off it. Take the chips back to them for a refund. Go to Sears and buy one of their blacksmith hammers. Not expecting High performance out of Low performance materials is good thing. Getting frustrated and hitting harder is a bad thing. Stopping and working on something else like a a cold drink or cleaning up around the anvil is a good thing. Got it?

The Anvil reference is to Arkansa. The site is run by a machine shop that is evidently finishing the anvils. Some what like one of the Farrier houses is doing. The only Louisiana Foundry that is likely to produce these anvils is at Amite, Louisiana. There is a Hauser Foundry in that has been, to the best of my knowledge, non-ferrous, dealing with Aluminum for the most part.

Graphite is dissolves on liquid iron:D. Nothing else is listed in the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. Mechanical removal with a sandblaster, or bead blaster, may be your best choice.

Ok here is an answer. I am not, repeat, I am not an engineer. Years ago I majored in math and physics and have maintained in intrest in those fields. The answer that I give is based on using a free online calculation session using the information you gave us, and comparing it some hand calculation's all based on Euler's buckling formula. Given the circumstances you described 18,000 Kg would be a reasonable expectation. This answer is for a load on the column top. One column one load. The more firmly fixed( "clamped is the engineering expression" ) the column ends are the higher the buckling resistance. Filling the column with concrete would obviouslly increase the bucking resistance. I strongly advise you to get advice from professionals before you commit any money or risk anyones life.

I like that! Good Design and till with much more grace anc charm than commercial work! Good job.

Just a quick comment: Cable welding is fun once you get a handle on it. Before I got a half round swage I used the step on my angle. Anhydrous is better than Twenty Mule team, but a little harder to replace so I use twenty for non critical welds.

Hmmm, well usually when welding cable I tack the out board end to prevent it from un-raveling and tack the inbord end to a handy piece of half inch or what ever I have handy. The next step is to heat into the red. When it gets red through out I slap it against the side of the anvil to get all the dirt and gunk out. I do this two three times. Then I bathe that cable in twenty mule team, heat, reflux, twist as tight as seems reasonable with the tongs, bring to welding heat and begin coaxing it graduly with the twist. When it starts feel like it is compacting then I re heat reflux and start hitting with a little more vigor. A couple of times and it beccomes a routine. I suggest that you make a nail header instead and forge about a hundred or so nails before worrying about welding cable. You need to hit soft and in direction to make it work right.

Indeed, keep the hook and look at it frequently. I used to take the first pair of tongs I made to demonstrations just so other smiths could ask me "What the is that??????" Not that I needed to remind my self to be humble. With the quality of work some of the other demonstrators were putting out I had plenty of humble for my pie.:D

Congratulations, and welcome to the best blacksmithing website around. We are happy that you have chosen to join us. Charlotte

Thank you for sharing your pictures with us. I'm particularly happy to see that you had some women participating. Thanks again, Charlotte

I'd like to second Ian's advice. Most of the smiths I know use something like a 2 1/2 or so hammer. If you look at the Hoffi hammer threads you will get an Idea of the fundamentals of a general purpose smithing hammer. I've only known one smith that routinely used a 3000 gm ( around 3.5 lfbs) as his primary hammer. Hammering at the anvil is not about weight but about hitting with certainty and precision. Please take a look at Mr. Hofi's tutorials.

Keith, I'm living in LaPlace which is at the start of I 55 where it splits from I 10. My good friend David, On line Editor of the LAMA gram (News letter of Louisiana Metal Smiths Association), Lives in Bougalusa. His shop was destroyed in Katrina, and the property further distressed by a tornado that passed by. He is currently rebuilding his house and shop. He has a site that you may be interested in: index Good info that will link to a lot of gulf coast stuff.