Ferrous Beuler

Billy blacksmith took an axe, gave his mother forty whacks. When he'd seen what he had done he gave his father forty one...

"Where do blowers come from"? I think they come from the blower fairy, honestly. I bought a Champion 400 from a man once for $50 and he threw in another complete but disassembled 400 for free. The blower fairy works in mysterious ways...

Awesome! Sounds like a plan but can I still go to the parade ? Pwitty pwitty pweeeeeeez ???

Cool. It's nice to know they are still there after all these years. Too bad about the huge amount of wrought iron work lost in Europe with all the bombing, etc. in WWII. Haven't been up to Toronto in a few years, maybe I'll make it a point to get there for the St. Patrick's Day parade in '11. I've been to a few of those in Toronto and they're always great.

Could prove to be the best twenty dollars you ever spent. I spent about twenty minutes just glancing around and learned a bucket full of stuff right there... Hey- Anybody here from Toronto ??? Have a look at page 42 and notice the picture of the wrought iron work then located atop the Alexandra gates at Queens Park in Toronto. It would be very interesting to see if that work is still there today.

Ha Ha, reminds me of all those ants and plastic army men I fried on the sidewalk with a magnifying glass when I was a kid.

Mark, Do you have a fireplace with a proper brick chimney in your living room? Oh sorry, it just dawned on me that I should have asked if you're married first, never mind.

Old military cavalry farrier's forge methinks, it's been covered here on IFI some time in the past.

Howdy Cuz, My mother's maiden name is Riley. Legend has it my Grandfather's Grandfather came from a little town called Cootehill in County Armagh Ireland way back when.

Looks good Mike, nice job but are you sure you can part with it ? Mount it by your front door for a week and I'll bet you can't!

Semper Fi Bros !!! Happy Veteran's Day too...

Welcome aboard Quinn, Along with Stewart's link check out these guys as well- www.northeastblacksmiths.org www.nysdb.org Depending on where you are located you are bound to find a group near you. Good luck ! :)

Yessiree !!! I voted for the "Price Of Coal Is Too Dang High Party"...

Saturday October 2nd 9:00 a.m. Auction of Otis Kirch estate in Penn Yan New York, Finger Lakes area. www.cnyauctions.com/dannauctioneers.htm

What Bad Creek said, I'll bet he knows exactly where everything is! That pile of smithereens he is standing on must be two feet deep.

I've had the usual assortment of intruders, weird spiders, birds, bats, mice, northern water snake, stray cats and potentially the scariest of all because it could have gone bad- a three year old boy. I had been in the shop, a one car garage which is only about five steps from my back door. Came into the house to answer the phone and was back out in the shop in less than two minutes, there he was just standing there in the middle of the floor. Right in front of him was the anvil with a hinge resting on it that had faded to black but was still screaming hot, hot tongs, hot hammer, could have been really really bad. Just as soon as I saw him there through the open front doors his Grandma, my neighbor emerged from her back door and said have you seen... I just pointed at him and she called his name. I don't think little Tommie will be back any time soon after getting his hide tanned by Grandma... I'll wager I've had the biggest foreign critter of anyone in their shop- a Belgian draught horse that wandered in from the next road over when I lived in Geneseo. That shop was in the barn there which had no doors on one end so he just wandered in and hung out for awhile. Scared the crap out of me because it was dark and I had gone out to retrieve something, turned the corner and was face to face with likely the biggest horse in the county. He was real freindly though and had feet bigger than Frosty's :)

Just giving a shout out to the old crew, wish it wasn't so far to the forge or I'd still be attending. Good luck fellas, Cheers !!! :)

Congrats Sam, nice anvil. Looks just like mine which I think is a PW but I'm not sure, mine has no maker's marks anywhere just 2-1-17 in the waist. Mine has a 1 1/4" hardy hole. I found it at a barn sale back in 2001, asked the pair of old ladies what they wanted and they had to make a call to old lady #3 as it was hers but she was at home and not at the sale. The phone was so loud I could hear every word. "Not a penny less than $65"!!! She put her hand over the mouth piece and said to me "would $65 be alright"? I tried to give the impression that it was a hard decision... ;)

Just remembered, the condition my wife had in her right elbow is called a "trapped tendon". Very painful over a long period until finally surgery was ordered and a long road of recovery but good as new now. :)

Oh, I thought that said "Folger's elbow" which I think I may have (and "Molson's elbow" which I know for sure I have). Seriously though, my wife had surgery on one elbow two years ago to correct a torn tendon, scraped the bone and reattached it and then a LOT of PT but now it is fine. Perhaps you could look into incorporating a flypress into your shop as a means to alleviate some stress. Also there is an Israeli smith named Uri Hoffi who has done a lot for smithing with an eye toward minimal impact on the body, he is on this site now & then. In any event I would get a referal to see a physical therapist and see what their input might be. One in a while a bit of the afformentioned beverage therapy works wonders... :)

When I was in the Marines in the 80's I served with a lot of guys who had served in Vietnam, they told me stuff, always looking out for the young guns just in case for next time around. Now I'm not condoning or suggesting anything here, just offering a bit of satirical respite for entertainment purposes only, kinda like a get well card..

How well can you drive a skid-steer? Seriously, take a drive just outside of town and talk to some farmers. There is always work that needs to get done on a farm and only so many hours in the farmer's day. Also with money being always tight on a farm they are often agreeable to work for trade, etc. Perhaps you could put in some time doing odd jobs/ farm chores to earn a little hammer time and a corner to keep a small gas forge and an anvil. I did this for years when I lived in town to earn deer hunting privileges, worked out just fine. Good luck.

Hiya Mike! Can I borrow your old sneakers for an afternoon? I just want to walk a mile in your shoes... Congrats! That is really nice to hear.

I have a "day laborer" in the shop at present...

Very nice Mousehole, congrats! I have one about the same size but mine has no shelf, just a horn (and a couple of cold shuts). I love how these anvils have such wide faces :)