PHDforge

They also make good bases for stringing chain to surround a demo area. I took some 1/2” square bar and forged a couple of loops for bolts in the rotor and did some twists for the vertical with a loop at the top. You can get creative if you want

Got my card today! I did notice the abundance of stickers decorating the envelope. Thanks for thinking of me!

I have a suggestion to give the reins more support. Put a bend down the length in the middle of the flat (Exaggeration: think angle iron with opening toward inside). This will stiffen the reins and may be more comfortable in the hand. bob

I have a portable forge setup that I bought from Centaur with the sheet metal hood. The hood was rather thin sheet metal and rusted through pretty quickly and I patched it here and there. It only lasted a couple of years. Instead of buying another one, I decided to make my own with thicker sheet metal. This second hood I also painted both inside and outside with a heat resistant paint. I work outside under a pop up during the warmer months in NH. After breaking down my setup for winter, I inspected the hood and it doesn't have any rust that I can see yet (two years old now). I was surprised that the paint has held up too. I will probably give it another coat when I setup in the spring.

I bought the 5” Kanca vise a few years back when I first started getting into forging. It is a good rugged vise. The only complaint I have is that the jaws have deep serrations. I have to use sheet metal jaw covers to not mark the work. I’ve since picked up two other older vises. Funny that once you get your first one of something, others happen to become available.

I came up with an idea to mount various pipe sizes to a hardy shank I can change to different pipe sizes to form different radii with the adapters. What I didn’t include was a stop to hold the piece close to the pipe. if I had holes in the plate, I could mount an adjustable stop- like ones used on milling machines. I may grind out the welds holding the plate to the tube to be able to bring the plate back to the mill for extra holes someday.

I happened upon 12 x 12 x 1 inch plate and decided to make a stand for it. Have access to a milling machine and milled a 1” square hardy hole. I set the height lower than my anvil to make it easy to use with my guillotine tool. (Lowers hammering height) Only problem is that I wished a drilled some additional holes in the plate before welding it to the stand.

TW Got your Christmas card a few days ago. My wife and I liked the decorations on the image(don’t want to give away the theme). I take it that it was Max approved. I had never thought that I would actually like to get coal until taking up this blacksmithing hobby. Bob

TW- I haven’t been able to get back to the forge lately with other chores keeping me busy. Finishing my ghost (or bird) letter opener will have to wait for another day. Great work everyone! This was a fun challenge and many excellent ideas emerged. There is much talent in this group!

Doing simple things with a twist. Kids seem to like seeing a twist. I do S-hooks with a twist in the middle.

Jennifer, that bolt header vise is an interesting piece. I can see the idea now. There is so much to learn about old tooling.

Jennifer, Excuse me for not knowing but what is a bolt header? Is it a similar tool like a rivet header?

Jennifer, that vertical holdfast is a fantastic idea. I see in your video that you do not take credit for the concept but you state that you have not seen another one. How did you come up with this idea? I have a background in design engineering and after watching the video, I tried to think of other ways to accomplish what this item can do. All other vertical clamping ideas I came up with would not let the work piece lie flat against the anvil. Great design! Bob

JLP: I did stop by your trailer, and watched you working. You make it look so easy. You showed me your vertical hold down hardy clamp tool. Watched your video on how to make it too. I may give it a try sometime.

Nice work everyone. I like those pumpkins, cool idea. I went to the Fitchburg Forge-in last week. I didn’t compete because I knew I could not do the projects in the allotted time frame. So I tried one project today, it took me 5 hours (vs. the allowed 1 hr). Not perfect but I think it came out OK. Had fun anyway. Bob