Greebe

Where does one find old speaker magnets these days?

Now I will just need to figure out how I want to make a stand for it and what height to set it. I am inclined to make a heavy rough sawn oak frame for it.

1 hour ago, JHCC said:

A more pointed question would be, Would they stand under it?

LOL, that would be the true test wouldn't it?

I went ahead and ordered it, so I will let you know what I think when it arrives.

I talked with one of the guys from Holland, and he said I would not have to worry about breaking it. I asked if I could break it would they stand behind it, he said yes but he still said he didn't think I could break it. I think I have been offered a challenge. LOL

I bought a 2 ton engine hoist about 12 years ago and it has been a great use around the shop as well. I have move my metal lathe and mill with it several times. However I almost crushed it this past year trying to pick up a new 9x49 Bridgeport Mill off my trailer. Not a smart move. It bent the top arm plates and leaned sideways almost dropping the thing on me. I was fortunate to be able to shore it up and have a friend with a large track loader pick it up and move it for me. Other than that near fiasco, it has been great. I also have a 5000lb pallet jack which has been really useful.

These should demonstrate what I am talking about with forging the shoulder on a hardy tool. You could do this on the anvil, but if you are making a hardy for a different size then a swage block helps. Also the type of beating I have done when forging tools like this makes me worry for my anvil. Maybe I just need a striking anvil one day. It has been a few years since I have been a striker on a multi man team. It is a load of fun and miss it.

A thief trying to steal my swage block? That sounds like crazy talk. LOL!  I guess the fellas who live around people might have to worry about that. Out here I could leave it sitting by the road and no one would mess with it. Beside people know me, and if I caught someone trying to steal my swage I would drop it on their head. Mwahaha!!!  However, being able to carry it might be a handy feature in the shop.

Wow, that is the nicest swage block stand I have ever seen. Good work.

Yeah it looks like a great solution to spending the $$$ they want to swage blocks.

Thanks for the reply Frosty.

I agree with what you have said. However, on operations that I have done in the past on other smiths swage blocks, such as forging the shoulder back on a hardie tool, you have to strike quite hard with a heavy sledge to forge it down. This is especially true when forging hardie tools out of H13.

Also, I was thinking of just buying the swage block and building my own stand. They want an arm and leg for that stand.  I suppose if I built a stand with support in the middle unlike their stand, it would be plenty strong.

Is there any disadvantage or advantage to a long rectangular swage block like this vs the more traditional square blocks?

Thanks again.

Cool. I might try that some day. It is a great idea for making special shapes you might need. Plus I got you to come back to the forum after a two year absence.

Very cool. I too would be interested to see how it is holding up. I like the idea.

A possible better option, which is used in large CNC machines, might be epoxy granite. It is very stable and robust. It might hold up better in the long run.

I was looking at getting a swage block for drifting eyes on axes and hammers. I am leaning towards this one by Holland. My only concern though would be that it would be prone to breaking when used in the middle with a sledge hammer.  What are your guys thoughts?

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Fair enough!

Wonder if it could though if the shelf is sticking out 3 inches farther back? Maybe not a problem, just seems like the shelf works better on the back left side because it is out of the way. This anvil, as in my drawing, puts the shelf on the far right side by the horn which seems like it would get in the way as a right handed smith. Just my thoughts, the shelf on the back left works well though because it is not in the way if you are right handed.

BTW, I am not trying to discourage the new owner of this anvil, it looks quite nice, I just am wondering about the design decision of the shelf placement.

8 hours ago, JHCC said:

I'm having a hard time envisioning what you're asking. Could you rephrase that?

I am not an artist so don't laugh, but here is a drawing to clarify what I am talking about. When hammering on the back side of the anvil, if you are bending a piece of material down the back to make a 90 for instance, your hand will be right over and potentially into the edge of the shelf. Hopefully that makes more sense.

I was looking at those a while back because I like to forge with the horn to the right, and yes I am a right handed hammer man. It is the only anvil they sell with the shelf what will allow the horn right and the shelf to the back. However when you are working over the back edge of the anvil, not the shelf, it seems like it shelf could get your fingers if you were not careful. Normally the shelf is on the back left side for a right handed person and not the back right side. What are your thoughts?

Thanks for the info.

Thanks, I will look to see what I can find there. I was having a hard time finding anything other then those cheapo's and the expensive ones. Are you talking about this red one? Are they pretty good?

I am working on building a propane forge with a 3/4" Mikey Burner and was looking for a regulator for it. I was planning on just buying one of these cheap ones found on Amazon, but when reading the reviews it sounds like a lot of people have had problems with leaks, and hoses flying off the barbs causing fires. So don't think I want to go down that road.

So instead I started looking at real regulators make in the USA by welding companies, and found this Harris 25-50C-510. It looks way better, but then I will need a grade T welding hose and split the two lines apart or a dedicated propane hose which is more money, plus order some extra fittings, and it will add quite a bit to the price.

What do you guys think?

You could just mill the die block if they are not crazy hard. Do you know what the dies are made from? The other option would be to make a new top die with smaller dovetail. Then you could save the original without worry of wrecking them. What are the dimensions? I have a machine shop and could do the work for you if that is something you were interested in.

On 4/22/2021 at 12:01 PM, Frosty said:

Granted, there are places where the only steel was/is brought in. There are many places in Alaska where a piece of angle iron has to be flown in as an external load on a ski/float plane or on a sled behind a snowmobile in winter. If you live in one of the large towns you can have it air freighted in or freighted on a barge a couple times a year. 

I understand hard to get, I live in one of the largest cities in Alaska and have to special order many things folks in the lower 48 think of as off the shelf. 

The point I was making, evidently not clearly enough was. If all your responses to offers of advice are negative, eg. that won't work. People will stop offering ideas and advice.

That has nothing to do with the reality of your "situation" it has to do with human nature. Seriously, if none of my ideas are any good why offer them?

Frosty The Lucky.

Yeah it is all good. I understand the Alaska issue as well. I lived there most of my life until 2009 when my wife and I moved out to buy a large piece of land in the lower 48. It is nice to have land, but we regret leaving Alaska most of the time. The last three years there we lived in Nome, and I worked for the state traveling all over western Alaska to villages. Blacksmithing could be a challenge up there though because of having to try to find equipment to buy and fly in. When we moved I sold pretty much everything off because it cost so much to fly it back out. Funny part is though if you were a scrounger there was more metal up there from old mining then I could ever hope to find here. Now I have a machine shop which is something I could never do up there, so that is nice, and I am building up a blacksmith shop again. Every place has its advantages and disadvantages I guess.

Edit: Found the old thread when I first came to the forum and talked about leaving Alaska. We talked on the phone or through email back in 2003-4 about doing some smithing together, but never made it happen. Time flies.

Sorry for derailing the thread.

Justin--

Nice it looks like it is working out well for you. Glad to see that.  I bought a Leeson 2hp 1750 TEFC Motor to build one of these, but still am trying to get my press shipped through Canada so I am waiting on that first.

On 3/17/2021 at 6:08 PM, Frosty said:

Justin: People have been suggesting places to find suitable steel for some time now. If you keep telling them how they find stock won't work they'll stop suggesting things to you.

Please, don't explain how insurmountable finding stock is for you, I've heard it more than enough already.

To his defense I am in the same boat here as well so it is an issue depending on where you live. I live far out in the country in MN, and the closest city, 2300 people, is about 40 minutes away. There is pretty much nothing out where I live and the few farms that are still around have sold off anything made of metal to help "save the farm".

For a few years you would see scrappers driving around buying anything they could for cheap to sell as scrap. As a result there is really nothing around here. The one guy I knew that had a potato farm had a large pile of scrap, but he would not sell any of it to me, because he wanted to have it hauled to the city and auctioned off. I thought that was quite weird, but to each his own.

Not trying to create an argument, just stating that there are areas that are iron scarce, I can attest to that.

Joe, sorry to derail your post. I will try to take a look at the add thing and watch your video. Thanks for taking the time to make it. It is a lot of work to film and edit videos.

Sorry. I like your videos by the way, but this one has tons of adds for me. I thought Youtube content creators chose how many adds to run which is why I said something.

Here is a screenshot of all the adds that are marked with yellow boxes at the bottom. For me at least they were 2-3 minutes each and did not allow me to skip them. That is nearly an additional 30 minutes just in adds with 16 adds now shown on the video for me. Maybe I am getting more adds for some reason. Wonder why others aren't getting them?

Looks like it would have been a cool video, but having 15 adds on it made me turn it off. Why did you put so many adds in your video?

Haha! No worries.  I figured it was a joke. I was going to make a smart xxx comment in response, but didn't because people are so easily offended these days. LOL! I am thick skinned, and hard headed, so I am good. I would give you $300 for that anvil though. Hehe!