Ferrous Beuler

I have a supply of 1/2" by 80" stock that i've been making some beautiful scrap out of as I learn. Upsetting is one more of those fascinating wonderments to a newbie like me. I got the idea for an upsetting block alongside the anvil for small/short pieces from german anvils I've seen with a block built right into them alongside the base, so being new I figured I just gotta have one. Dan:)

I have a couple for the floor, 12"x12"x2" and a monster 12" dia x 14". I guess what I was after here was whether I should bother inletting the longer billet into my stump or would the smaller one provide sufficeint mass, it's hefty but the longer size is HEFTY. Dan:)

Alan, I wouldn't modify this forge, but I wouldn't get rid of it either. These were intended for smaller stuff, i.e. horseshoes, tooldressing etc. If you want a bigger fire consider something with a greater capacity for your main forge and keep this one aside for when you don't need a fire big enough to roast brontosaurus steaks. Check out Centaur forge, they sell firepots and a lot of other stuff too. Dan:)

I have a question concerning upsetting blocks. I work in a machine shop so I have access to odd hunks of metal which I think might work well for an upsetting block. We have a lot of drops and bar ends of 4130 steel 5" in diameter. I plan to use one of these in my anvil stand which is a stump. I thought of inletting one on end into the wood alongside the anvil between the feet. I could go with one 8" and bore a hole for it to sit in say about 4" deep. OR I could go through a lot more work to sink in a 14 incher. Should I bother with the bigger one or would the 8 incher prove sufficient for general use? Dan:)

I didn't mean ON my anvil, I meant ON my anvil, as in standing on my anvil while playing my Les Paul... Dan:cool:

Cheap forge? Try gas instead of charcoal, might be in your interest if you seek economy and ease of assembly to get going. Ask around. Dan:)

My guess is a tie down like what you might see on a modern flatbed tractor trailer, but this one may date from the horsedrawn era, used on a dray. Dan:)

Hey Nuttman- welcome and what a name. How's things down in redroad country? That's how I remember Georgia being in the 70's passing through- lots of red clay roads, beautiful state. I too am a newbie and have always had smithing in my mind as an aspiration from an early age. I got it from grade school field trips to places like Old Fort Niagara with its Indian war and revolutionary war history here in this region and other forts like Fort Stanwyx and Fort Erie. All had blacksmith shop demonstrations and left an indelible mark. LIVING HISTORY ROCKS! To this day I can still vividly remember being in the blacksmith shop on a school field trip at Old Fort Niagara when I was in kindergarten at the age of five. I don't believe my teacher had any idea of the profound effect that had on the wee child that I was then, but it planted the seed right there and then as I was looking up on the wall where two wooden pegs in the hewn timbers supported a magnificent handmade rifle and the smiths clad in homespun pointed out how each screw was different, handmade and not interchangeable. I was FIVE and I remember that in so much detail. Shows how the iron draws us all in, if you have the calling- the rest of the class was probably thinking about fudgecicles at lunchtime or something but for me I was hooked right there. Congratulations Nuttman on your retirement! Here you will find infinite knowlege and sincere guideance from some truly talented folks. Good luck and keep on hammerin'. Dan:)

If you have a dog don't let it have access to it or you may be the proud owner of a dead dog (kidney failure from drinking antifreze) Dan:(

Sure, Irnsrgn, "porch beef" is the easy option to fill a tag and Chevy season runs all year but getting together with the whole gang in camp to soothe the itch of my neanderthal gene is the best part... Anybody ever forge broadheads for primitive archery? Dan:)

Anyone doing a specific forgings with deer hunting in mind such as gambrels, etc. or anything else for the hunt/ the camp? Dan:)

I can play "Purple Haze" on my anvil... even pick the solo with my teeth! Dan:)

This thread is a good place to share a little tidbit on anvil hight I have come up with. My anvil is set on a maple stump and pinned to it with four R.R. spikes. Knuckle hight like most people seem to prefer, it fits me. It does not however, fit a friend of mine who came by to see my tools, etc. as he is interested in getting into blacksmithing. He is shorter than I am. What I came up with was to stack some 3/4" plywood squares 40" x 40" and glue them together with liquid nails. I stacked four of these to make a laminated slab three inches high which proved to be about right. This he can stand on to effectively "lower" the face of the anvil so it fits him comfortably yet I did'nt have to make any changes to my trusty stump. It is a simple matter to just slide it around to the other side of the anvil or under the workbench until it is needed again. Cost- $0. Hope someone else can use this too. Dan:)

Ian, "Quick enough with the pins?" No worries mate, the pins is what's holding things up, not the jack. The jack only gets the weight up to where the holes line up and the pins put in then the jack is let off. I'm thinkin' PINS! - 1 inch or so, 25 mm. Some beef for the beast to set on. Two pins, one left, one right, each passing through two legs. No jack failure with things dropping in a hurry. I like the bottle jacks because they are beefy and pump up quickly compared to a scissor jack which is a cheap piece of xxxx. Why crank on one of those when a bottle is so much more dependable, quicker and has smaller space requirements? Also more capacity, better made and not likely to fail. With an automotive scissor jack the question is not IF it will fail, the question is WHEN it WILL fail. I thinksome things are better left in the junkyard because they are purpose built and marginal even in their intended design/purpose. Not to be jumpin all over yer stuff, but I've had headaches with those flamin' scissors- JUNK. Good luck on the World Tour. Will there be a leg in New York? Who's opening the show? Jackal? Keep on hammerin'. Dan:)

Welcome to the show! All kinds of metalwise extra wise guys to learn from here. Give some take some. Enjoy. Dan:)

Glenn, I so want to get in on this... frustrating though as I don't have a scanner or digital camera. Was shopping at the X-Mart with the wife the other day and attempted to purchase a digital camera but the Colonel put the stops to it and told me she thinks Santa might bring me one. All I can do for now is be bad, very very bad so I wind up with as much coal in my stocking as possible:cool: I have a very workable design idea incorporating a bottle jack in the bottom of an angle iron frame. The top has a plate for the anvil and is integral to angle which parallels the four legs, inside each other. Slides up and down. Evenly spaced holes in the angle iron line up as adjustments are made. Pins are then inserted and the jack lowered so it does not recieve the stress of blows, it only serves to make adjustments. Hope someone can maybe use this for inspiration. It's a simple settup. Good luck and keep on hammerin'. Dan Dan, semd me the drawings and I will post them for you. Address is at the bottom of the IFI pages. Glenn

Mr. Thomas, Yes I am aquainted with the NYSDB and have sent in a membership application. I attended the last meeting of the Genesse chapter which was in September. The July and August meetings were up in the air as to wheather they would happen or not as after several years of meetings held at the local BOCEES campus, that venue will no longer be available to the group. Too bad as this was the perfect settup, the group had its own building with eight forging stations. It seems there is a new administration whom are all of the idea that they don't like the notion of blacksmithing on the BOCEES campus(liability I suppose). So no July meeting, no August meeting and September's was held at one member's place of business- a railing fabricator's shop in the area. The Genesee chapter is looking for a new home. Also, a smith I know in the southern tier tells me there is talk of possibly forming a new chapter affiliate there. It is a long way to Corning/ Binghampton where the "Southern Tier" chapter meets. It seems there are enough smiths in the area of Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua counties to warrant starting a new chapter. We'll see. Thank you and keep on hammerin'. Dan:)

Thought I'D chime in with another common problem here in the northeast- red squirrels. Have had some headaches this way until a friends mom unknowingly gave me the remedy. She is an animal lover/hunter hater and just LOVES red squirrels, feeds them apples which they relish so she says. Well I tried it out by tossing some apple slices around for a few days and yup, they love 'em. Had a golfball size hole under the eaves by the chimeny and noticed one of these little buggers pop out of it one day, run the peak of the roof, jump into a pine and scoot. Checked out the space above the cieling (ranch house, no attic) and found a TRUCKLOAD of debris from wall to wall. Pine cones, apples, sticks, leaves, and the scary part- bare copper in a lot of places on the wiring where I shined the flashlight around. So here's what I did once I got them coming to the apple slice buffet; I put a plastic squirrel gaurd around one of the pine trees with a victor spring type rat trap nailed to the tree under it, with the bait end down. The gaurd Like you see under a post mounted bird feeder, keeps them from coming on the trap the wrong way. They can't resist the apple slice on the bait tab and whap! See ya! The .22 gun salute isn't always possible and those buggers are quick but Mr. Victor doesn't miss. Dan:)

...Cool...

I want to thank everyone for their input here, all was most helpful especially you Glen -Der SchmiedMiester- and I have to agree with ApprenticeMan, coal is just plain cool. Yes, there is certainly a lot to be said for gas and having both options in the shop is the way to go- coal when I want to be old timey and gas when I want to be efficient. The corn thing is interesting, does anyone have any corn-y stories to share? Good luck and keep on hammerin'. Dan:)

OOPS; before I forget, anyone have any experience or advice on any alternate fuels besides hardwood charcoal? Does any such alternate exist? Dan:)

I have a question regarding coal. I did a search on this forum but didn't quite find the answer I was looking for but might have missed it there. Here's my question- I would like to find a source for coal which does not involve a three hour round trip from home. There are two sources where I can obtain good blacksmithing coal (pocahontas). One near Syracuse N.Y. and one near Buffalo N.Y. I'm right in the middle between the two so it's a roadtrip either way and takes the better part of half a day. Also now that winter is approaching that means wet coal as both suppliers have it outside in the open. Can I use the coal which I see advertised locally which is intended as home heating fuel? What is the difference? Thanks for any advice here. Keep on hammerin'. Dan:)

Ten Hammers has good advice- all of those products by D-con are effective. You can run a trap line even though the price on pelts is down lately. If you have a mouse problem and opt for the trap remedy you will notice quick results and put a big dent in the population right away, then it tapers off. If it doesn't and your trap line regularly produces lots of victims then take a look around and asess the situation- you are probably inadvertently providing ideal conditions for them, i.e. food/shelter etc. There is a lot to be said for keeping a clean shop. If you have a bigger problem such as rats, then I suggest from experience you avoid the poison option and stick to traps because traps work immediately and poison doesn't. This can leave you with the body of a sizeable critter mouldering away inside a wall or cieling somewhere, whew! A friend of mine who keeps his motorcycle stored on a trailer in the back room of his shop keeps a bunch of mothballs scattered around the bike on the trailer. Before he did this he had trouble with wiring being chewed on by rodents- no more since the mothballs are on gaurd duty. Happy hunting. Dan:)

...And quite sadly, some folks who migrated here never developed a sense of humor... Dan :rolleyes:

Just a wild guess here but I was thinking if the plains indians had no trees to make charcoal from and buffalo chips won't coke, maybe they just gave up the whole notion of blacksmithing? Dan:rolleyes: