rich_c

It followed me home… … after I signed the delivery receipt and walked back into my house.

JHCC, those gosh darned dogs just don't understand the effort that goes into designing stuff. Hahaha!

Since my "shop" is packed up in my shed until the weather improves, I have been on YouTube University rewatching videos and trying to not go crazy. I hope that all is well with everyone!

That's a good idea for a helmet hook! The cracks might be from forging at too cold of a temperature? I'll defer to those with more experience and knowledge, hence the question mark.

I immediately thought of stump anvils when I saw them. I’m going to clean them up a little bit, so I’ll keep an eye on their sparking when I do. The shorter one has some marks on one of the long-side faces. It looks like someone tried to drill into it and there are some chisel/punch marks, also. That side will probably be kept down against the stump.

I picked up these two chunks of steel today. The one on the right is 3-1/4” square, about 9” tall/long. The one on the left is 3” x 4” rectangle about 5-3/4” tall/long. There is evidence that they were each cut off from something larger. I don’t know what grade of steel they are, but I’m thinking of using them as small striking anvils using my homemade stump as a base.

You're shop is looking good, Paradigm11.

That looks nice. I'll admit to being a bit jealous.

As an aside to the serious conversation here, I'd like to add that Black Bear Forge is John Switzer's shop/YouTube channel. He is, as I have heard another blacksmith say, the "Bob Ross of blacksmithing".

Shainarue: I run an electric cord out to my forging area for my coal forge blower and a light for working after sundown. I’m going to try setting up my box fan. Frosty: Thanks for the advice! I’ll look into the plants. I used to have some really good bug repellant that I had “held on to” after getting out of the Marines. The warning label mentioned it could melt some plastics, though. Hahahaha! jlp: That looks awesome!

The two bottle openers are made from mild steel. The hook-shaped bottle opener was made from 3/8-inch round bar. The “loop” shaped bottle opener was made from 1/4-inch by 1-inch flat bar. The leaf beneath then is made from copper.

I made these recently.

I gotten eaten alive by mosquitos, so I called it quits before really doing anything. I really need to build something to work in, instead of standing in my backyard under a shelter tent.

Frosty: Sorry for misunderstanding you. Yes, the second photo was for the leg vise stand. As a matter of fact, here's a picture of both of them. The leg vise is sitting in seated in the bottom "catch" ring and held to the table with a c-clamp so I can mark out the mounting holes. Both are tripods, based on the information I've found here on the forums and from a few blacksmiths. It's the best option since my forging area gets stashed away into my shed when not in use for long periods of time, bad weather, etc. Some day, I'll have a structure to have a shop to work in.

JHCC: I forge outdoors, but my forging area is in the back corner of my yard by the shed. It was more about getting them out of the back of my truck and inside my fence line. Frosty: Yes, that’s my vise. It was resting upside down at that moment. Once I get it in place on its stand, I’ll take another photo. I need to drill the holes into the plate first so I can mount it.

My new anvil stand and post vise stand. These were made with a lot of help from Dave Collier/Broken Hammer Forge in Henderson, MD. I can’t thank him enough. Now I can get back to work! Following up: this isn’t my forging area. I took them out of the back of my truck and set them in the yard, at the edge of my driveway, during my lunch break. I’ll move them into my forging area later today.

I am getting set for a new anvil stand to replace the one I made out of 4x4 fir posts earlier this year. I am also going to make a stand for my post vise. I bought the steel needed to make a tripod stand for both the anvil and vise, and have scheduled some time with a blacksmith who has the facilities and tools to help me with the build. I honestly can not wait to get them built so I can get back to forging.

Thanks, Frosty! That’s her routine for me. She doesn’t act that way for my wife. My wife brought her home two years ago, but she immediately abandoned my wife and has been next to me since.

This is Presley, one of our two dogs. Remy doesn’t come outside to the forge. Presley follows me everywhere, but keeps a safe distance from the forge unless I call her. So she’s my “shop dog”. I took these photos before I started doing some work today.

I've been working on my ABANA NC Level 1 homework. The online presentations are good, especially when coupled with Mark Aspery's book and other resources. I set up my forge in the back yard and do my work on Wednesday (took the day off from work) and yesterday afternoon. The tapers came out half decent. I'm going to make another go of it, though, to achieve the recommended taper length. My s-hook shape is good but I made the ends two different designs: one was flattened, the other curved. I'll repeat the exercise, also. And my stylized leaf came out fairly well, also. I have to start working on the second assignment, which is making a punch, a slitter, a hot cut chisel, and a drift. This is working towards making other tools necessary for the final project: the gate latch.

I think I got lucky finding this vise, and the seller was nearby to me in NJ There's another in the Chalfont, PA area up for sale by a different person that I bought mine from on Facebook..

I got myself a proper post vice. It has 5-1/4-inch jaws. Screw is in great condition.

This is my work table. Finished it last week. Closing in on having my back yard shop in operation.

I like that rivet forge, Duckwalk. I’m envious. After using a coal forge this weekend, I want to get one to add to my gas forge. I made my first thing over the weekend! It wasn’t my shop, but at an Intro class I took at Broken Hammer Forge in Henderson, MD. Dave Collier put on a good class and I learned a lot through his instructions and examples, and then practical exercises. I had a great time. The forge rake/poker came out decent. Nails, not so much. That’ll come with practice. The motivation from the weekend carried through to today, which had me continue building my back yard set up. I have the frame for my shop table built, and my Mr Volcano forge will be getting it’s first round of satanite coating tomorrow. I’m also taking the ABANA Nation Cirriculum Level 1 course online. Our first meeting (on Zoom) is Tuesday, 11 April. I bought most of the steel I need through a local supplier. I just need to source a piece of 4140 for the tool making. Online distributors are about 2.5 times more expensive compared to local sources.

Since today will be the only “nice” day in NJ this week, I finished cleaning up my anvil stand and test fit my 80-pound Holland anvil on it. That’s my 6-year old son in the backround of the third picture. He was supervising my work.