Ferrous Beuler

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVwFxshpKMk

tsb, Welcome to IFI. Where are you located? You don't have to pinpoint it, just a general area or city is fine. I suggest you follow John McPherson's advice and locate the blacksmithing group near you. No matter where you are there is likely a group or even several within a reasonable distance of your location. I understand that you are a college student and this greatly limits your prospects for the time being but what you can do is attend some meetings. Many of the groups have reduced rates for students and may even wave your dues. Just go. That's the important thing. Even if you only observe that is a far sight better than not going at all. You will learn a lot just being there.

Rob you have to ask yourself how much do you really want an anvil, English pattern that is as this qualifies as the definition of anvil to most folks. Quad State is your best bet. There you will have an array of anvils to choose from and the best prices. Quad State is in your area and right around the corner. http://www.sofablacksmiths.org/conference2011/2011index.htm What it boils down to is how much you really want one. I'm not too proud that if need be I would be going door to door with a rake in my hand doing fall clean up for all the old ladies in the neighborhood and looking over my toys to decide which of them I can part with. Do I really need that pair or Rossignol downhill skis anymore? I love to fish but do I really need nine muskie rods? Why do I have two lawn tractors, can I live with just one? You get the idea, if you really want to you can pony up the cash and just go do it.

Actually the Champion-DeArment/Channellock company is not the same company associated with the Champion blacksmithing forge blowers. The blowers (and a lot of other blacksmithing equipment) were made by the Champion Blower and Forge Company of Lancaster, Pa. Two different companies, both using the name "Champion" but having no association with each other. Champion of Lancaster was founded by 17 year old Henry B. Keiper in 1875. It was this teenage whiz-kid who invented and patented the hand operated rotary forge blower. http://vintagemachin...ail.aspx?id=165 http://vintagemachin...px?id=165&tab=7 http://vintagemachin...px?id=165&tab=4

Hayden I have two of those blowers, among the finest ever made. Many say the finest. Anyhoo, this was covered here a couple of years ago maybe. Both of mine are identical in all respects except that one of them has the raised script Champion cast into the front half of the blower fan housing below the air intake hole and the other does not. Both of them have the same raised numbers 400 above the intake hole. IIRC in the older thread someone replied that the Champion script was added as a tribute or commemoration for someone important at Champion upon their retirement (?) Perhaps the foreman of the foundry shop? I don't know how long the practice was continued, perhaps only during one year? I really don't know. They do seem to be rather rare. I have never seen another in person and I believe I've only seen a few pictures of blowers with the script. Being that is the only difference between the two the value of either is the same in a practical sense because the one with the script doesn't work any different than the one without it. They are certainly a nice looking touch though. Collectors may put a premium on it and want to get more money out of one but like I said, it doesn't make a lick of difference in the shop. I hate to see old blacksmithing equipment squirreled away like leprechaun treasure by "collectors", never to be used again. If someone wants to collect things let it be stamps or butterflies and any old blacksmithing equipment that happens to turn up should be politely left at the doorstep of the closest blacksmith shop. (this brings the donor eternal luck, BTW) Maybe the old thread will turn up with a search.

P.S. Maybe you could try this guy but I don't think he has logged on in a long long time~ http://www.iforgeiron.com/user/13-t-gold/

Finding an anvil on Oahu is going to be tough,braddah. I was on Oahu for three years back in the 80's in the marines and I got to know that island pretty well. The only possibilities that spring to mind are the shipyards at Pearl Harbor, the old narrow gauge railroad that I think is now a museum and maybe the Dole plantation or the sugar mills in Ewa. You might find one in one of those locations but getting them to part with it is a different story. Being that the shipyard is in Pearl Harbor it is of course off limits to the public but most of the workers there are civilians. If you can locate one of those guys maybe you could offer a finders fee to see what they can come up with. DiverMike on this forum also lived on Oahu in Kaneohe. You can find him in the New York State Designer Blacksmiths in the blacksmithing groups forum. Shoot him a PM, he might know some folks out there who can help you. Likely you are going to have to buy one stateside and have it shipped. I did a quick little experiment that way online, it wasn't pretty. A 260 lb JHM Competitor runs $1,088.90 retail. Shipping from Lexington Illinois 61753 zip to Honolulu 96818 zip is (take a deep breath) $1,500 to $1,800. Yikes! You could go with maybe a 125 lb farrier's anvil to shrink those numbers a bit. Hope you got da kine good luck, braddah!

To jump ahead right up to the part about the wooden block floor it starts at 16:48 in the video. That really is a great video. I think it was linked to also in another thread here on IFI a while back. Francis, how about posting that link again on its own in a new thread just because it is a fine video on hinge making?

Apparently wood block can last for quite a while~ http://cchsnys.org/m...brick_6_07.html And an old shop photo from the same area, then & now~

Whaddya say we all band together and resurrect this old ghost town. We could have it up and running again in no time,LOL! http://stuofdoom.com...tag=adirondacks Also, don't miss "Hopewell Furnace" elsewhere on that site. :)

Sweet. Last time I saw an anvil that crisp was when I almost tripped over one lying on the floor of a hardware store in Machias N.Y. about 20 years ago. It had the number "144" chalked on it and was brand spanking new. Yours looks to be, well, brand spanking new! Congrats.

Beauty! It almost looks alive. Hmmm... if you made a 50" muskie to chase it and make it look scared then it would really look alive! Nice job. B)

Hmmm... What came first, the chicken or the egg?

Junksmith raises some good points. With the price of fuel today and whatever you consider your time to be worth, is it even worth it to drive out to a stretch of tracks somewhere and search for cast off spikes? If they can be had legally, purchased new for a buck and a half each with no risk of legal troubles then why bother going out of your way to find old spikes? New spikes are also not rusty, pitted and corroded spikes either. Also, I'm with Spears. Thieving varmints should be fair game. No closed season, no bag limit.

What Phil said, the back of a leather sofa could be a good source if you can find one. Call around and find out when the semi annual dates are for large item disposal in the higher end neighborhoods in your area. You will be amazed at what you might find at the curbside showroom by the McMansions on the cul-de-sacs. That's where I would look for a free leather sofa (arts of the scraphound). A couple of jobs I have worked were in furniture repair for a large furniture sales chain and in upholstery for a large office furniture manufacturer. That's where I learned that even the better leather sofas (Natuzzi, etc.) have vinyl backs. Finding a whole leather hide is easy but finding one at reasonable cost is the challenge. The factory I worked for, Gunlocke in Wayland N.Y. has an outlet store there where they sell scratch & dent, surplus and discontinued upholstery and imperfect leather. Even these are well over a hundred dollars for a full sized split and chances are they will be colored but you could look them up and see what they might have on hand. If you have an Amish community in your area you could try them too. I was shown a hide once by a guy that runs an archery/ muzzleloading shop that was made by Amish in Chautauqua county N.Y. He said they used a vegetable process in their tannery. This made a very soft and pliable hide but it was very thick, about 3/16". He told me he was paying $70 per full split at the time, back in 2001. Deer hides are another option, might be cheaper too and thin/ pliable. Vinyl might be your best bet overall based on availability, cost and suitability. Try these guys~ http://www.diyupholsterysupply.com/Allsport-vinyl.html Good luck!

The railroads are not kidding when they say STAY OFF THE RIGHT OF WAY. They have good reason to guard against trespass~ http://www.tauntongazette.com/news/business_news/x530602459/Police-investigate-theft-of-railroad-tracks-in-Taunton-today-train-derailed Probably 90% or better of those who get into blacksmithing have strolled the tracks and gone home with the odd cast off spike or two. Easy to justify one's actions when a spike or old clip is found and it has obviously been rusting away there for decades. In the eyes of the railroad it is still theft. Little known fact- the railroad police (yes, there is such a thing) can write you an appearance ticket for any court in their jurisdiction. Their jurisdiction is anywhere their tracks go. That means if they really want to give you a hard time and arrest you for trespass in say, Chicago and their line extends all the way to Seattle, you can receive a summons to appear in that court. Is a spike knife worth all that hassle? Also, as someone else pointed out here times have changed. We now have Homeland Security and a whole slew of other Federali alphabet agencies that can really rain on your parade. Giving the tracks a wide berth is the wise move.

No way, not for me! With my luck I would sneeze and the bathroom would look like a crime scene when they found me. :o

My deepest heartfelt condolences to you and your family and to all of Sean's friends as well. Prayers.

Ha Ha! You guys make it sound like I am trying to get my anvil struck! I was just wondering what might happen if it did. I suppose the worst outcome would be the face becoming separated. Now that glen56 mentioned that large chain being welded together I can picture somebody here trying to harness that force and use it in the shop... (not a good idea!)

We just had a storm pass through here with quite a light show. That got me to wondering what effect lightning might have, if any, on an anvil. Besides the one inside I keep one out in the back yard too. It sits on a wooden base made from a pressure treated 6"x6" cut and glued up to form a 12"x12", that sits on a 2" thick concrete paver. So i was thinking, since it is a fairly sizable hunk of iron just sitting out in the open that it might attract a bolt. Would the wooden pedestal effectively insulate it? If an anvil did take a strike would it suffer any ill effects?

I Started working on the gear today before I had to attend to honey-do's. I got it mostly straightened out. Amazing how soft the bronze actually is. I could see how one side of the webbing area between the shaft and outside rim was raised up a bit and the opposite side sagged, with the gear on its side, shaft in the pritchel hole. I tapped down on the high spots with a wood drift and rawhide mallet, flipped it over and did the same. It flattened right out no problem. The gear still wobbled. I was hoping it was limited to the webbing part, causing the shaft to be off center but the rim is bent too. I simply identified the high side, as it sat on the anvil. I could see one side of the rim almost touched the face while the other side was a good 1/8" higher. I put it in the post vice and rapped it gently on the rim with the rawhide mallet, -gently- it is very soft stuff and got it a lot closer to true but that's when I got interrupted and hauled off on much much more important stuff (bridesmaid dresses,shoes and all sorts of happy hoo-ya). Back at it tomorrow. Once I get it right I'll clean up all the parts of that blower and post a picture heavy run down with an exploded view with all the parts and document the assembly process. I don't think that exists here yet on IFI concerning the Champion blowers. Yours may be some other model than a 400, judging by the smaller fan but it looks to have the same guts. I'm not sure but I think Champion had several models with the same gear box but different size fans.

Hey utah, I have the same problem. When I bought my 400 the man I got it from also gave me a second one for free. One is complete and operating and the second one is mostly disassembled, a bucket full of parts. It's all there but I've never put it together because I have the other that runs like a champion (I think I just made a funny?) and the disassembled one has a slight bend in that same gear. It is bronze. I think what likely happened is the guy had it apart to clean everything and probably stepped on it. To the naked eye the bend can't be seen but put it in a set of V blocks and spin it and it wobbles ever so slightly like a bent bicycle rim. He told me it would lock up if I tried to assemble it and run it so I think he tried and gave up on it. Apparently a little bend goes a long way with one of these. It must run true or the teeth will get chewed because the other gear it runs against is steel, I think. When I first got mine it had motor oil in it, I think, not sure, fairly heavy oil to which graphite had been added. He gave me a little bottle of that too, the oil with the graphite in it. It worked fine that way for me for two years, what did a noob like me know? Quite a while later I saw a thread on here about what sort of oil to run in these blowers. Most recommended lighter was better. If you've got hypoid gear oil in there you aren't doing yourself any favors, not that it's going to hurt anything. After reading that thread I cleaned mine out real well and ran ATF. A world of difference! Thicker oil just gums things up and slows it down. I knew mine was "slow" because I had seen other people's 400's and they seemed to run much smoother than mine, with "glide" that just went on and on after you let go of the handle. Mine didn't do that, the glide went around maybe once before coming to a stop. I just figured mine was worn and I didn't want to monkey with it and wind up with two dead blowers. After I cleaned out all the old gunk and put in the ATF I suddenly had a silky smooth blower with that glide that keeps on coasting on its own. The difference was like night & day. You don't have to fill it to the gills, just enough so that the lower moving parts are running in oil. It will splash around in there and lube the whole works. If you do over fill it you will know by the puddle. It's not ever going to completely go away either, they all leak at the fan shaft so because yours does too doesn't mean there is anything wrong with it. Like I said, I haven't tried to fix mine yet because of having the good one that runs. Your thread piqued my interest though and now I want to get into fixing it. I'm not sure how to go about isolating the web part, the inner part between the shaft and the outside rim. That thinner web part is what is bent on mine. It is only about 1/8" thick and the outer rim with the gear teeth machined into it is a lot thicker, 1/2" maybe. I think what I'll do is place the shaft in the hardie hole on the anvil so the rim is lying flat on the face. I'll have to identify the high spot and gently drive it down with light blows. I think a section of broom stick for a drift would be a good idea. Part of me wants to put some heat to it first but being that it is bronze makes me leery because I'll have no way of knowing how much is too much and I don't have any torches so I'm going to do it cold. I'll let you know tomorrow if it works out for me or if I've ruined it. If I kill mine by doing it cold you might want to try another approach.

That's a misdemeanor in some towns! I have the twin of your PW, mine is 0-3-8. I'll get a pic on here tommorrow.

I buy my coal at a hardware supply about an hour away from me. In the past there were other places closer but they have ceased carrying bituminous because of slow sales. Both of these places had Blaschak St. Nicholas Brand blacksmithing coal in forty pound bags. Both places told me the same thing when they ran out of what they had, that they purchased a pallet of it (80 something bags) and it took about three years to sell it all so they weren't reordering. Anybody can order a pallet which is I believe the minimum order, 80 odd bags, I forget, 84 or 88 bags delivered on a pallet anywhere an 18 wheeler can take it. They are in eastern Pennsylvania, Blaschak Coal Corp. (570)773-2113. It is good soft bituminous blacksmithing coal. If you're in an out of the way place this may be an option that works for you. Now I get it at a place called Reboy Supply. I get it in bulk, bringing my own 5 gal buckets. I can buy one or a hundred, no matter. This is Pocahontas #3, regarded far and wide as the best blacksmithing coal available. Reboy will ship coal to you via UPS ground in 100 lb boxes. That's the good news. The bad news is they can't send it to Canada and right now (temporarily) they are not doing credit card sales.

Nice anvil Freeman. I love the story behind this anvil, a story with a good ending because it wasn't lost. You mentioned a broken off bar in the handling hole in the bottom of this anvil. My mousehole that I posted pics of yesterday in the "Show Me Your Anvil" thread has the same oddity. Definitely some broken iron stuck in there. I don't know why or what or how odd it is but I thought it was noteworthy.