Charlie M

If anyone is curious the outcome of the vice was it didn't seem to forge well and it cracked- tho I have had a few similar old tools that did the same thing.  Maybe I am forging that specific material wrong.

The attwood vice was weldable, and I was able to get the leg and cracks welded.

I also forged out the mounting bracket, wedges and spring for it.

I also decided when I was waiting to get it fixed, as I can't weld.. I would buy another. Alot bigger 125lb, 6" jaws- it gets more use than the wee one now.

Boy don't I look silly haha. I meant toughness- is there a certain number the toughness should be at?

What is the best depth of hardening?

Thank you for the reply

I am considering getting some anvils cast- do you think it would be wrong to put windows on both sides? I am thinking 2 windows on one side and 3 windows on the other. I plan on having no slope on the sides tho, and a 5" wide face- so for that reason only making the windows a half inch deep.

Also how deep would you harden the face, 1"?

And what tensile strength, and yeild strength.

Sorry this went a bit off topic

I'm a bit late to this one, but why do most church window anvils only have the window on one side and not both? Also, would the windows be hardened to some degree?

You could very well be right, the thing that made me think that it was wrought was a small crack on the hinge plate. It looks like it is layered, a bit like a grain on the left side.

Frosty I don't quite understand still after a few reads.. would u have a pic? I have been doing a few things that have involved mortice and tenon rivets, stuff with odd shaped ends on it, that is what is making me think of using the vise.

I decided to give the outer leg a wee bend, and it seemed like a good idea at the time, but it has put a crack in it... I am sure it is wrought iron now. Would this crack affect it, or can I use away?

Before someone says forge welding. I have only tried it once before and it wasn't successful.. and to top it off it's a pretty awkward place to forge weld together again.

Yeah, I get that. But surely they would need to line up a few mm open for making rivet or nail heads?

So I went for it today, and I straightened the back leg, it now looks symmetrical with the other leg. The only problem is the jaws don't line up well now... I don't quite understand why as they are even on both sides. It looks like the movable leg is 1/8" bigger than the other.

I'm near tempted to get the grinder out, or is that just bad on this piece of history?

The actual height difference in jaws is the middle picture

Hmm, the pivot screw has no wear on it, and is holding the front jaw in place with no movement.. and also the hinge plates are just a weird shape, they aren't actually square in shape they are a trapezium. By my eye they r where they should be- I hope haha.

I have a piece of 16mm bar for a leg, could I weld mild steel to wrought iron? And also what is an acorn? Is that the bottom of the leg?

Also I put boiled linseed oil on the vice about a year ago. It's dry now, can I stick that in the fire or would it go up in flames?

I've had this old attwood Stourbridge  vise for a while now and have always had problems with it not holding work that I am upsetting, like riveting pieces together. I pulled it out 2day and on looking at it, I have noticed that the back leg seems to be bend backwards. I'm wondering if this would affect the gripping power, and if I should heat it and bend it forwards? Though at the same time, the jaws seem to be flat to each other with no gap..

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I like that idea. It would also solve a problem I had with the vice wanting to pull in the same direction as the handle when straightening somthing like coil spring.

Thank you :-)

The forge it's self is pretty good, I'm used to it. I think it is a better design for coke. It's a bit hard to feed coal to come it right, because the hearth is near at 90° to the top of the bowl because of the curvature. I think coal would work better in more of a tapered firepot, like about 45°. I still need to get a hood on it.

See, if I put a leg on it does it touch the ground? Or does it sit a little high with a few wedges under it. Could it chip the bricks on the ground?

The hardy and pritchel work well for tooling, but if it is hot steel going further than 6mm I risk setting fire to the base. I do like being able to cut on it tho. It is very light even with that base the anvil walks around a fair bit. Sadly I have more time than money haha. I would love to get a big one, but with the weather conditions I like being able to lift the anvil back into the shed when I'm done. I've been searching about but no good ones at the minute. I mounted at a knuckle height (believing at the time that was the proper way), tho I have been finding that I am leaning over a bit.

As a joiner by trade, I find that I can hit the piece accurately from standing straight, but I can't half see it haha.

So my setup is really based around the factor of the small amount of space and having neighbors gardens joined on to mine. So I am working in an 8x6ft steel shed. I bought the forge and anvil about 2 years ago, when I had very little knowledge of how to use them or what to buy. So I bought the mini hand crank forge- the exact same one that GS tongs has been using in the past few of his videos. I believe that it is a cast iron bowl with a cheap blower, it rattles about a bit and I have had it open before to try and make it quieter. It seems to put a good bit of air flow through. The 2 downsides are you can't heat the center of a long bar without a a hearth- otherwise your coals would fall out (can't build a cave for instance). So I cut 12mm plate so the bowl can fit in and the plate becomes the hearth with some legs and edges on it. Second is, there is no ash dump, just a door- no problem, just takes longer to empty.

I also bought an anvil- unknown brand, but it really does look like the vevor ones. It's 10lb. My first or second time forging (when I though an anvil was designed to take any abuse) I cut on the face of it, with a big chisel... Please forgive me. I then built the base and cut 6mm plate for a 1" hardy, and 1/2" pritchel hole. Mild steel plate that I now use as my cut plate as well- a little to late. Thankfully the cuts on the anvil face don't seem to mark the work. I don't know if it is steel or cast iron, it has stayed flat which makes me think steel? It has I think about 70/80% rebound when I did a ball bearing test.

I also managed to pick up this vice for £27. Most vices over here go for about £75. It's an attwood that comes from England, I think somewhere about 1850-1900ish when it was made. A fair bit of fighting with it to get it to a pretty functional state. Had to forge a mounting bracket and spring. I haven't decided if I want a leg on it yet. I put a temporary wooden leg on.

Is there any advice on how to improve this setup, or anything I should be using differently? I used to have a treadle hammer I built in there, but it took up too much room.

Haha, maybe I should build a canoe next, fit a couple of crates in it haha.

I got using that coke yesterday. I think I like it. It has pros and cons. I found it very easy to light and to keep lit with the hand crank. I thought it took a bit longer to get to heat each time tho, and I couldn't build a shield as well to trap the heat. On the bright side there was basically no smoke. seemed to burn very like the unknown coal I had, very solid short yellow white torch like flame.

Definitely a win, and I have enjoyed the conversation. I have learned alot more about coal than I thought I needed to haha.

Thank yous all very much, hopefully someday I can repay the Advice :-) 

as it always goes, fix one problem, and then another comes up... Looks like a reason to upgrade. ( Not a small chip, a big chip on a small anvil)

I think from the time period that this coal was bought in, it has come from the UK. It seems to be that most of not all the coal mines have closed there. It must have come from Kelly's coal yard which got it's coal from 3 different mines that are all closed. So I might just have to face that I won't get coal the same again.. it was really good stuff.

I found a place not far from home that sells coke for £12 for 25kg, normal house coal over here is about £10, so not too much more. I bought a bag of it yesterday, and I will give it a go tomorrow. I don't know how it will go with my hand crank blower.

Most coal over here is just sold as anthricite, house coal, or house coal doubles. You don't really get much more info haha. Most people selling it don't even know what the word bituminous is.. I think that the "doubles and singles" is really our sizing terms.

I really appreciate all the advice. I will let yous know how it goes :-)

Would stroker coal the same as "house coal" or is house coal purely for a fire place?

I have found 1 farrier supplier in Northern Ireland. I will see what they can do tomorrow

Thank yous all very much for your replies. I'm happy 2 be aboard :-)

Now I'm not sure, but I don't think it is coke for 2 reasons, first being it was a house coal that sat out in a bunker for about 50 years. And the second being the colour, it is a dull powdery looking coal which I can only break with a hammer, but when it is broken, parts of it look shiny like glass.

I don't know where it would of been mined, or who the supplier was. I only know that it was delivered to a wee place below Belfast.

I am able to buy coke from the internet, but because I don't live in the UK mainland it is an arm and a leg to try and buy it because of shipping. And really u can only buy in bulk which is more than I need..

Are all Columbian doubles the same, or do you get different grades of it? I seem to be able to get it from not far away.

I took some pics this morning of the good coal that I was using. Pic of it green, pic of it part burned, and another of it coked.

Another thing I noticed, when it is part burned it really doesn't weigh much less than when it is green.

green coal- hard 2 see but the bottom tiny piece is glassy looking

Before it cokes ( I forget the word)

Coke

Hi all. I have a question for someone of experience, ( or more than I do) of solid fuels. I have been using a coal forge once or twice every few weeks for about a year now. I have been using some sort of unknown coal from an old relative, and I have nearly run out. Sadly they are no longer with us and I can't ask where it came from.. It seemed like magic coal. It seemed hard and shiny like anthracite, but it lit very easily like bituminous. It could be left for a half hour unattended- and come back and keep it going again like bituminous. I use a hand crank forge. Gave off good heats - to a forge weld, and also didn't burn wild like bituminous- green coal smoked for about 2 mins and then burnt clean with no smoke. It was able to coke- but it didn't bind like bituminous. I could have got away without using any water on those fires. I have tried several types of anthracite and haven't even been able to light them.. and I tried out bituminous today and smoked myself out. Despite that I found it very hard to control that fire. Every time I got the surface flames out, I would of taken a heat, come back and they were going again. Would anyone have a clue what type of magic coal I was using?

sorry for the long description. I would really appreciate some good knowledge.

Charlie from Northern Ireland