Jobtiel1

These are indeed very rare, in the Netherlands I've seen 2 champion blowers in 2 years, no buffalo's so far. Very nice catch!! I've been wanting for a hand crank blower for a while now... ~Jobtiel

Osage Orange is a very good wood for an axe handle. Since you are making a splitter I would prefer it over hickory due to higher elasticity and shock absorption. Hickory is a good wood but if you use it make sure you thin it properly to really benefit from it's strength and not shock your wrists to death, commercial handles are way too thick. My favorite is ash due to it's availability in Europe, and due to it's lower hardness you can have slightly thicker handles and still have great elasticity and schock absorption. Another great option is Robinia pseudoacasia but I can't get my hands on it. All in all make sure you have a handle that will absorb the shock from the impact and not have your wrists absorb it. Thin it. ~Jobtiel

I have the same issue, I don't have much forging time so for now bending over the horn or edge is good enough. I do have a small bick I made a while back which really helps a lot for those small curves where scrolling tongs work nicely. ~Jobtiel

My anvil is from the 1787 and has a similar wear pattern on the face. What Thomas said is probably the cause there as well. You can see it slightly on this picture. ~Jobtiel

Thanks! ~Jobtiel

Billy, can you make a picture of how the grinder gearbox is attached to the blower? I'm wanting to do something similar at some point. ~Jobtiel

Hi and welcome, I can't post links due to forum rules, but try looking up smeedwinkel and 123smeden. also Angele forge in Germany might have some stuff for you. I would also consider a solid fuel forge with coal or charcoal. For me that is cheaper than a gas forge to operate, you'd have to find out how it works out for you. Good luck and if you have questions don't hesitate to ask. ~Jobtiel

Google a steel temperature colour chart and you'll see some rough estimates of the temperatures of different steel colours. ~Jobtiel

If you decide to sell them, there's good money in those planes. I don't know how familiar you are with pricing in your area but don't allow yourself to be ripped off, plane prices have risen considerably, and yours are looking like older models so there might be collector value as well. Especially the low knobs are popular, and the scrub (#40) is quite rare. Good luck with them and they're looking like amazing users, you can still decide to make some custom furniture with forged ironwork. ~Jobtiel

Welkom op het forum! If you add your location to your profile it's easier for us to remember after leaving this post. If you have spare steel do a test piece, do that first. Heat until it's non-magnetic, and then a little bit more, and quench in vegetable oil, if it doesn't harden then try quenching in water. When it still doesn't harden then the piece is probably not hardenable. Another option is to do a spark test but you'd have to grind material off to do that. For the final heat treat you should also normalize, there is plenty of info on the forum for proper procedures on that. ~Jobtiel

The flashpoint of a liquid is the temperature at which the liquid gives of sufficient vapor to form a combustible vapor/air mixture, it will not ignite without external ignition source at this temperature. What you are describing here is the auto-ignition temperature, which is the temperature at which a liquid will spontaneously ignite without external ignition source. This is quite cool to see, we did experiments to determine auto ignition temperature in the lab once and when you put something over to remove oxygen and kill the fire the liquid will ignite instantly again when you remove the cover. This is however not the case at the flash point. ~Jobtiel

You really need to find a niche on Etsy. If not you are out-priced by companies selling stuff as if it is handmade. ~Jobtiel

Etsy does take a significant cut on your gains, For a while I sold some axes on there, and I think Etsy takes about 10% of everything, and then taxes also apply. You do get a lot of benefit from it, but also a lot of competition. I also sold firestrikers for about 22.50 euros, It was a design no one else did on the site and not very easy to make and they sold quite well, but I also had the basic viking firestriker in stock which some companies sell for about 5 euros if not less, I didn't sell one of them at my price of 15 euros. I since quit since I hated having to make something to sell every time I light up the forge, I now only make my own stuff, gifts, and commissions for friends. ~Jobtiel

I'm hoping for a fast recovery Frosty! ~Jobtiel

In my experience mild steel can work, but if it's too thin it will bend instead of act as a spring. ~Jobtiel